So you know how it is with Celebrities and diets, right? They all brag up weight loss on this or that eating plan. That's great for Hollywood, but what happens when a real person attempts the regimen in real life? A U.K. mum tried Gwyneth Paltrow's diet recipes cookbook "It's All Easy." The results were hilarious and also helpful. Sally Whittle wrote about her foray in the Mirror and you'll love her refreshing candor.
'It's All Easy' well...isn't
The premise of the "Goop" originator's weight loss cookbook is to make dieting easy for busy folks. So, said busy mom test-drove recipes with her tween daughter "Flea" (only in the UK, lol). Sally Whittle discovered that what Gwyneth meant by quick and what a single working mom means are very different. The cookery book assumed that folks have lots of unusual ingredients on hand. It took Sal quite some time to shop for aioli, kimchi, Vegenaise, rare herbs, and other oddities. Some she couldn't find and most were freakishly expensive.
Tween turns up nose at Gwyneth Paltrow diet
Poor Flea...Anchovies and acai berries may appeal to Paltrow, but to the 11-year-old, not so much. Not even the lure of looking like a young Blythe Danner could entice the preteen to try these noxious foods. This author aspirated coffee through her nose reading Whittle's description of the superfood acai berry as "fish spawn." Anchovies are not only scary-expensive, they taste like droppings.
Weight loss cookbook misses sugar cuts
There were recipes from the celebrity cookbook that Miss Flea liked, such as the fried egg sammie. Mother and daughter both loved the layered breakfast parfait. Coldplay singer Chris Martin's ex calls for Greek yogurt, blueberries, granola, and honey or agave syrup.
The problem, from a calorie-counting perspective, is the granola and honey. Whittle said it tasted like dessert because it basically is. Even low-sugar granola is 200+ calories a serving. So try Special K Protein (110 calories and 7 grams of protein). And nix the agave and honey for fat-burning melon to beat obesity and type 2 diabetes.
'Goop' recipes inadvertently teaches food swaps
Whittle learned a valuable weight loss lesson on food swaps. When vegenaise was too pricey to swap for mayo, she used light mayo with olive oil. They loved the Vietnamese pho (noodle soup) which cuts carbs by substituting "courgette" noodles. Courgette is Brit for zucchini (they call such squash "marrow"). Invest in a cheap veggie pasta maker and turn zucchini and carrots into "noodles." Such tips lost Sally four pounds in a week and would work well for the gastric bypass diet that bariatric surgery patients of "My 600-lb Life" follow.