Protein Waffles

I made these this morning with my new supply of gemma pea protein powder. I've mentioned before how I really like this kind of protein powder for baking with, because it's really floury in texture. It's nasty in shakes (chalky and thick!) but great in baked goods. It does absorb more liquid than flour, so if you use it, you'll probably need to increase the liquid ingredients a little, or add some extra water. In the waffles, I actually couldn't tell that they were protein-y and not just regular waffles.

So, here's the recipe:
Protein Waffles
Makes 4 waffles, 163 Cal, 4g fat, 17g carb, 13g protein

1/2 c flour (60g)
1/2 c gemma pea protein powder (40g)
1 T cornmeal
pinch of salt
1/4 t baking soda

3/4c skim milk + 1/2 T vinegar (to make sour milk)
1T butter, melted
1 egg, separated
pinch of cream of tartar

Preheat your waffle iron. Mix the milk and vinegar together and set aside to sour while you prepare everything else. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix. Separate the egg, and beat the egg white with the cream of tartar until stiff. Add the egg yolk and melted butter to the milk mixture and combine. Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Spray the waffle iron with nonstick spray, then spoon batter into it. I cooked mine for about 3 minutes, but your iron may be different.

MMMM!

New Kettlebell move: burpee KB snatch

To make a burpee even more intense (like it needs it!), try doing a kettlebell snatch as you stand up between reps. :O

Another workout to do

From Ross Enamait, Work Capacity 101:

Complete within 2 minutes, and rest during any remaining time during the 2 minutes:

Pull-ups x 5
Medicine Ball Slams x 10
Burpees x 15
Jumping Jacks x 20

Repeat as many times as possible, with your goal being 10 rounds in 20 minutes.

iPhone armband

As promised, here is one of my crafty summer projects: an iPhone armband for my hubby to use while running. As a bonus, this is fitness related, too!

I am very pleased with how it came out. It has a buttonhole at the top for the earphones, and another large buttonhole on the side for the elastic strap the thread through. But the best part is the vinyl window. The phone is very securely in the case, but you can still use
and view the touchscreen through it. Awesome! :)

Fun (in a makes-you-puke kind of way) workout to try!

Pike Workout

I totally have this on my list to do after my baby is born. I can't wait to try it. I'm sure it will take me far longer than 30 minutes, though!

Get a Deck of Cards.
Shuffle them.

Spades: Burpees
Clubs: Mahlers
Hearts: Pushups
Diamonds: Squats

2-9 = Face Value
10-K = 10
A = 15

Go through as quickly as you can and keep time.

What I've been doing...

All summer, I haven't blogged at all, mostly because...... I'm
pregnant! I haven't been eating/workout obsessed like in the past, so
I haven't felt like I should be posting here. But, I have been busy
and I want to share. Here is a picture of my new best friend, found
for me by my Dad. It's a gorgeous 1950's Japanese sewing machine made
entirely of *heavy* metal, and it's the smoothest, quietest sewing
machine I've ever used. I love it!! I'll be posting some of the
projects I've done on it this summer soon. And there are *lots* of
them! :)

The protein/carb balance

I had this IM mini conversation with my husband recently. I thought it made an excellent blog prompt, so here it is:

J: So does the BFL [Body for Life] mantra still hold true in your eyes - for every carb you eat, you should eat a protein?

InstantBlue: Mostly, but not so strictly. If you're going to eat a carb, you should have protein to go with it. But really, it's about averaging it out across the day. It's fine to have just a carb by itself, if the protein balances it later and, you don't HAVE to have a carb always. Just protein alone is ok, too. For example, on BFL, you would not eat just a chicken breast and veggies for lunch, you'd add some whole grain bread or oatmeal or something too. Now, I often eat just protein and veggies, no carb. And I'll often save the carby English muffin from my breakfast and save it for about an hour after I eat my eggy-protein dish. In general, I try to keep my carbs to less than 40% of my daily intake, and my proteins to 30% or more. (I have no restrictions on fats at all, but it's pretty hard to eat too much fat if you're eating the kinds of things you should be eating anway! (: ) Works for me so far!

Zucchini Lasagna

Another pasta-less idea, using veggies instead of noddles, this time
inspired by the March/April issue of Clean Eating magazine. I changed
the recipe a little to make it less soupy. If you like this, you
should try spaghetti squash instead of noodles, too.

Nutrition: 235 Cal, 6g fat, 17g carb, 29g protein (based on my tomato
sauce)

1 lb ground beef, browned and rinsed
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 small onion, diced
3 medium zucchini, sliced 1/4" thick
1 jar spaghetti sauce ( I used Trader Joes Organic with Mushrooms, 25oz)
2 c low fat cottage cheese
1 egg
3oz mozarella, divided and shredded

Cook, drain, and rinse the ground beef and set aside. While the beef
is browning, steam the zucchini slices until soft, about 3 minutes.
Set the slices aside and let them cool slightly.

Spray your pan with non-stick spray and sauté the onion until
translucent, then add the garlic and cook for one more minute. Mix in
the beef and the whole jar of tomatoes sauce.

In another bowl, combine 1oz shredded mozzarella cheese, the egg, and
the cottage cheese.

Gently squeeze the steamed zucchini to remove excess water, then layer
1/3 of the slices on the bottom of a 9x9 pan. Spread half of the
cheese mixture over the zucchini, then add half of the sauce mixture.
Make another zucchini layer, followed the another cheese and sauce
layer. Finally, layer the remaining 1/3 of the zucchini over the top,
and spread the rest of the shredded mozzarella over everything. Bake
for about 30 minutes, until the cheese on top is melted and slighly
browned. Mmmmm.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

One of my favorite cookies is a bar cookie that my mom made when I was
a kid. They are an oatmeal and peanut butter bar, covered with a layer
of melted chocolate chips. Mmm! I love love love those cookies!

I decided that I should try to healthy them up, since a stick of
butter and 2 cups of sugar in the recipe means you can only have one
bite if you're trying to be good :( Now, I'm not going to lie: the
following recipe is tasty, for a protein bar, but it's not even close
to being as yummy as the real thing. I do like them, though, and they
will satisfy my chocolate-peanut craving for now :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars
Mix together:
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c splenda
1/4 c apple sauce
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1 egg white

When the above are combined, add:
1/4 c almond meal
1/2 c old fashioned rolled oats
2 scoops protein powder (60g total)
1/8 teaspoon salt

Mix until everything is well-combined. Pour into a greased 9x9 pan and
bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes. Don't over bake them or they'll be hard
and yucky. It should be just barely set, but not dry.

Spread 2 oz (4T) of chocolate chips over the top of the hot bars and
let them melt for about 10 minutes. Spread the melted chips over the
top of the bars with a knife. Allow them to cool completely (if you
can wait...hehe). I cut them into 8 bars. Mmmm.

Nutrition: 160 Cal, 7g fat, 1g sat fat, 17g carbs, 9g protein

iPhone Fitness Apps: Lose it!

I've been trying out a few different fitness-related iPhone apps, and a few are pretty good. I'm giving the food and exercise tracker, Lose it! a try for a few weeks instead of Fitday. It's a really nice program that works well for rough tracking, but is limited in how precise you can be. It is very pretty and easy to use, and has a very comprehensive food and exercise library. But more important, you can add your own foods and exercises. It's designed with weight loss in mind, so when you set it up, your only options are to maintain your current weight, or lose weight at a rate from 0.5 to 2lbs/week. It automatically calculates your target calories based on your goal, and it's really easy to change goals whenever you want. If you choose to lose weight, you choose the rate and it tells you the date you can expect to meet that goal by. The recommended calorie ranges pretty much agree with calculations I have done for my body weight in the past, assuming a sedentary activity level. And exercise you do is added to your calorie budget on a daily basis. So, if you exercise more, you get to eat more.



I like:

• customizeable nutrient tracking. If you want to monitor fat/carb/protein ratios, sodium intake, etc, you decide what you want to track and it displays it. You also don't have to see nutrients you don't want to track. I personally only care about fat/carb/protein stats, so that's all I've chosen to track.
• food database includes lots of fast food items and major brands you find at the supermarket
• every pre-programmed food and exercise has a cute icon, which makes it pretty to look at
• it fits in my pocket and I can log my foods anywhere without having access to the internet
• Under the nutrients tab, it displays both your current daily stats as well as your weekly averages. Very cool.
• You can create your own custom exercise, so if you use a heart rate monitor and know your exact calorie burn, you can use that. Very cool.
• It gives you immediate positive reinforcement when you exercise, because it adds on the amount you just burned to your daily calorie budget.
• Your current number of calories consumed so far are displayed at the top of your food log section in a cool mathy formula. It shows your total budget - calories eaten - exercise burn = your net calories. And your remaining balance is shown next to that. It toggles between a green "under" and a red "over" to tell you how you're doing.
• You can make your own recipes! You just add all the ingredients and then tell it how many servings it made and it automatically divides it up. It will definitely help keep your food log less cluttered!
  

I don't like:

• the food database doesn't have many units to choose from. Most foods are measured by volume (cups, tablespoons, etc) with no option to use grams or ounces. Boo.
• You may only select whole numbers of your unit between 0-99, and fractions 1/8, 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, and 3/4. It seems pretty good, but here's an example of it being a pain: My Greek yogurt has a serving size of 8oz or 227g. I wanted to input it in grams, but can't add more than 99g. blah. Also, sometimes I have 1/16 or 7/8 of a unit. I want those there, too!
• There is no option for a decimal point. For example, if you input a new food that contains 2.5g saturated fat, you have to either enter 2 or 3 grams. Boo.

All in all, this is a great app, especially considering it's free! If you want to log your food (and exercise) and you have an iPhone, I would totally recommend this app. It's much more convenient than a paper log or a web-based log.

A science experiment

I've been wondering for a long time just how much fat you get rid of when you drain ground beef. I've also been taking draining it to the next level by rinsing my ground beef in hot water to get as much of that icky melted beef fat out of there as possible. Yes, I realized I'm probably also washing away any special beef flavor along with the fat, but seriously, it's ground beef. Not the choicest of beef cuts, you know?? Plus also, usually ground beef is the base for some kind of saucy goodness, not the flavor of the meal itself. I've always kind of hoped that a significant portion of the fat gets removed by draining/rinsing, and it seems like it makes sense. There is a very large exposed surface area for all of the fat to exit the meat easily, and when you heat it up like that, it melts and separates itself out, right?

So, tonight my dear husband requested we have tacos, and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to see once and for all just how much draining and rinsing really helps. Here's what I found out:

I browned a pound of ground beef (well, 17.76oz, actually.), then I carefully drained as much liquid fat as I could off into a container and massed the drained fat. I was surprised to get 62g just by draining! The original fat content of the 17.76oz was (according to the nutrition label) 102g, so just draining removed 60% of the fat. That was way more than I expected.

However, I still could see the melted beef fat coating all my tasty ground beef crumbles. Bleh. So, I took the whole pan, beef and all, and massed it. Then I rinsed it out thoroughly with hot water, and drained off the water and massed it again. I rinsed off another 27 grams of fat. Woo.

So, all in all, my pound of beef lost 89 grams of its 102 original grams of fat. 87%!

So here's the bottom line:
Before draining and rinsing: (per 4oz) 290 Calories, 23gfat, 0g carbs, 20g protein

After draining and rinsing: 107 Calories, 3g fat, 0g carbs, 20g protein.

My Bento Boxes

I have a growing collection of fun lunchboxes to bring my breakfast, lunch, and snacks to work with me. In addition to it being practical, since don't have the option of going out for lunch on my job, it also makes bringing my food with me more fun. If I can pull out a cute or attracive (or both!) container, I actually enjoy my food more. Yes, it is silly, but whatever. My food is pretty and healthy. woo.

Here are a few of my favorites.

This is definitely my favorite lunch situation right now. It's the Zojirushi Mini Stainless Thermal Lunch Box, in a green. For me, it actually holds a lunch and a snack like yogurt or cottage cheese. I love it because it looks good and isn't bulky to carry around. It's main dish compartment is vacuum insulated, but I've never tried this feature since I have a refridgerator and microwave in my office. Unfortunatley, to be perfect, it needs one more container for breakfast items.


When I bring the Zojirushi Mini Green above, I usually also bring a breakfast omelet in this cute orange Daiso box. I got it at Marukai, my local Japanese dollar store for $1.50, and it seems to be just a good quality as the $10 Leaflet Tight box I have below. It's the perfect size for an omelet, and the seal around the lid means it doesn't leak that myster egg-water all over my bag.


Here's my Mr. Bento. It's a classic among bento-packers, and it's perfect for bringing my entire food supply for the day with me to work. It has 2 vacuum insulated containers, and two non-insulated ones. It ends up holding my lunch entree, lunch veggie, extra snack, and breakfast omelet perfectly. It's a true workhorse, but sometimes it bulkier than I want. I'm thinking of decorating it with stickers or colors to make it prettier....


I love this one, but it's a little big for just my lunch, and a snack usually is too leaky to fit in the extra compartment, so I don't use it as much as I would like to. :( But it just makes me happy to look at it and think about it's name: Leaflet Tight. (What? Sometimes the translations are so random and funny!)

Cathe's STS Ab Circuits: Yoga-Based Abs

I tried this the other day, in place of my Chalean Extreme ab routine I am supposed to do (but honestly...I HATE doing ab workouts, and if they're not built directly into a workout I'm doing, it's more than likely that I'll just skip it entirely....so I have only done the CLX ab workout once in my 4 weeks of the program).
It was surprisingly good. It was expecting it to kick my booty, and to be kinda challenging/painful in that yoga way that I hate...but it actually made me feel like I did a mini yoga practice that I didn't have to force myself through. I will do this workout again when I need to do abs.

It seems like one of those things that seems easier than it is. It starts with some rolls onto your back, kind of as a warm up. Then you do some boat poses/v-ups, which are more challenging the higher you hold your legs. Then we did bicycles, levitation holds in lotus position, levitation holds in pike position, some planks and side plans, and some down dog/crocodile/up dog sequences.

It was more doable for me than most Cathe workouts: I could do the whole thing without gasping in pain during any of it. But I felt challenged and well-worked. I think the yoga aspect of holding the positions for a long time was a nice change from endless crunch variations. I also think it's a workout that automatically adapts to your level - you'll hold your legs higher or lower depending on your current ab strength, so you'll be able to customize it to your level pretty well.

What I'm eating

Here's a typical day of what I've been eating recently:

breakfast: omelet (4 egg whites, 1c spinach, 20g feta cheese)
snack: toasted English muffin with 1/2T natural peanut butter
lunch: dinner leftovers, usually ~4oz lean meat and 1-2c steamed veggies or spinach
snack: 1/2c Greek yogurt with 1/2T honey and 1/2c frozen berries
dinner: 5-6oz lean meat with 1-2c steamed veggies (alternates between chicken breast, steak, fish, and pork)
snack: protein pumpkin bread or string cheese + fruit (- or- something naughty like ice cream a few times a week to keep me happy! :) )

Plus, I usually have 2-3 cups of magic coffee machine coffee throughout the day. I know, it's bad for me, but it makes me happy, so whatever. And if I have 3, one is decaf....

One thing that I have realized that that I don't have to go out of my way to eat low fat foods. Especially dairy products. I use full fat cheeses and low fat (instead of non fat) cottage cheese and yogurt. It's much tastier and keeps me more full and happy than when I tried to eat all non fat dairy items.

This pretty much works out to be equal portions of carb/protein/fat and usually just under 1400cal/day.

I tend to take it easy on the weekends, but still count everything I eat. Usually, one weekend day is much higher in calories and carbs, closer to 2000, but it still averages out to the macros I've been posting. I consider one weekend day per week to be a "refeed" and kind of like a high calorie zig zag day.

Macros Week of 1/31-2/6/09

STS is here!

I haven't had time to crack them open and play yet, but I'm so excited!!! I think this will definitely kick p90x's butt! I can't wait for a different workout every day of the 90 day rotation. I think I'll have to at least try some of these before I finish the Chalean Extreme rotation. Poor Chalean, it's not you... it's just that I've been waiting over a year for my Cathe STS, and now that it's here, how could I not try it out? :) :) :)

Macros Week of 1/24-1/31/09

Chalean Extreme Tracking Worksheets

***Updated on 9/1/09 to fix the link. It should work now!***
If you are doing Chalean Extreme and don't have something to track your weights yet, Beachbody has finally made some downloadable PDF worksheets for you. They're nicely done - they have the same formatting as the P90x worksheets. Enjoy!

Download here!

My Cathes Are Coming!!!

Woo-hoo! I got the shipping notice that my STS DVDs are on their way to me. I am so excited!!!!! Now, will I finish Chalean Extreme, or will I start STS.... Arg, decisions!

100 Calorie Packs Are Evil

I hate these things. But I have to give credit to marketers for thinking of a way to make junk seem like it's a smart, healthy decision. Seriously? Just because it's only 100 calories doesn't eliminate the processed flours, refined sugars, preservatives and nasty dyes in it. Sure, it might help you control your munching better than a huge bag of Oreos with no built-in portion control. But a small portion of crap is still crap. You'll still be hungry 30 minutes later, craving more carbs, and then want to reach for another, or go foraging for something else. And since you "only" had 100 calories for your first snack, what does it matter if you have another? :P

Personally, I would rather just have some string cheese and an apple - about 120 calories, but full of protein, fiber, and fat that will help keep me full for a while and prevent an insulin-induced repeat snack attack. And I didn't pay extra for a fancy label telling me it only has 100 calories, either!

Macros Week of 1/16/09-1/23/09

I'm decided to post only my weekly macro averages, since it's really all about the average anyway. This week turned out to be pretty much perfect:

If you lift weights at home, you should have PowerBlocks

Powerblocks are absolutely the best piece of fitness equipment that I have. They are a set of dumbbells that adjust in weight, so that you can have several pairs of dumbbells that only take up the space of one pair. I use them almost every time I work out (unless I'm just doing a purely cardio workout). I have two sets: the old sport blocks (3-21lbs in 3lb increments) and the old personal set (5-45lbs in 5lb increments).

Here is what I love about my powerblocks:

• they're fast to change weight
• they go as heavy as I would ever want to with a dumbbell
• they are smaller than standard dumbbells at heavier weights
• the mechaism used to change weights is simple and sturdy and does not have complicated moving parts that will get jammed or broken
• changing weights is fast - I can do it in about 10 seconds
• they don't need a special base to hold the extra plates that aren't being used
• they come with a 10 year warranty (seriously, what product can you buy today with that kind of guarantee?

The only negatives I can say (after using them for over 5 years) is that sometimes the plates stick together when you pull them up. I fixed this by coating each plate with some WD-40 and it solved it. Also, they don't rest well on your shoulders, if you want to put them there for lunges or squats. (I hold them at my sides and they work just fine.)

I love love love my powerblocks and would absolutely purchase them again. Actually, I'll tell you a little secret: I'm considering selling my current sport blocks (the up to 21lb size) because there is a new model that is SO PRETTY I just have to have it. Yes, the only difference is that it is grey instead of black, and the top is curved, not flat. But, I really want the new pretty ones!!

Here's a visual comparing the powerblocks to a standard dumbbell and the Bowflex Selectech. I love that the powerblock isn't HUGE. And, it's not going to get jammed or break like the Selectech (which only comes with a 2 year backing).

Spaghetti Squash....for spaghetti!

Just in case you haven't tried this yet, you should: spaghetti squash instead of actual spaghetti. Yep, just put it right under your regular spaghetti sauce or whatever you usually put on your pasta. It's a perfect way to add another serving of veggies to your meal and to eliminate a huge portion of starchy, processed, insulin-spiking carbs from your meal.

It's super easy to make. Just cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and strings, and bake it at 400F for about an hour. Let it cool enough to handle, then scrape out the innards with a fork. It naturally forms noodle-like strands as you scrape it. And, it has practically no flavor of its own, so it doesn't add or detract from the flavor of your sauce.

I consider this to be a pretty much perfect sub for pasta. Especially compared to other carb-less options like Shiritaki noodles (yuk, yuk, yuk!!).

Macros 1/17/09

Not bad, considering this includes Chick-fil-A breakfast and yellow cake with chocolate icing for dessert.

Chalean Extreme First Impressions

Like most of the fitness-video-obsessed, I ordered Chalean Extreme as soon as it was released, in mid-December. Due to shipping snafus and issues with scratched discs and then being sick for almost a month (boo!), I haven't really gotten to try it out until this week. Now that I have tried it somewhat, I can say that I am pretty much happy with the program.

For those that don't know, it's a 3-phase program designed to lean you and and buff you up. Pretty much the same goals as any infomercially marketed fitness program or device. I think it stands out from lots of other infomercial products, though, because it gives you a complete plan that includes exercise as well as a nutrition plan. It's put together along the same lines as P90x, so it comes with a lot of support material. The materials are very nicely put together books, one for nutrition and one for the workouts. There are lots of glossy photos in both books, and the nutrition book is more than half cookbook. I think this is a great package for the price.

Regarding the workouts themselves, the 3 phases are: burn, push, and lean. Burn and lean are circuit-style workouts, where you do super-setted-ish strength excercises to maximize fat burning while you work out. You usually do one lower body move, like squats, lunges, or deadlifts, followed immediately by an upper body move for each rep. You lift as heavy as you can, and you shouldn't be able to do any more reps than 12 in the burn phase (I believe it is 6-8 in the push phase, but I'm not there yet to say for sure.) The push phase is supposed to be more standard strength training moves, with no super-setting involved.

I like that the pace on these is slow, but it is a bit disconcerting that it's supposed to be at your own pace, rather than following a beat or following along with the exercisers on screen. In P90x, the go at your own pace seemed to work better for me. In Chalean, the cues switch between doing your own pace and following along with the people in the video. You're supposed to follow their slow pace, but then everyone on screen gets off beat from each other, and it's kind of confusing which rep you're on. The camera jumping from person to person all at different places in the move and in the set also adds to the confusion. What I do a video, I don't want to count my reps, so if the people on screen are all going at a different pace, I'm not really sure how many reps I'm doing.

Other than this one complaint, I'm pretty happy with the burn phase. The workouts are fun, and short. The cardio is challenging and fun. The recipes I've tried have all been very easy and very yummy. I'm sure that anyone following this program as designed (including the very restricted calorie plan) would get excellent results in terms of fat loss and definition. I'm not sure how good I'll be at following the nutrition plan for 3 months, but I know I'll still get good results with just the workouts alone.

Shameless Plug: Tassimo Coffee Machine

This isn't really fitness-related, but I can't hold it in anymore: I have found a new gadget that I honestly cannot believe I lived without for so long: a Tassimo coffee/latte/cappuccino/espresso/hot chocolate/tea machine. It is seriously the coolest toy I've gotten in a long time. (Ok, it's not really MY toy, since I actually gave it to the hubs for Christmas, but whatever..... :) ) Anyway, it is actually magic. It makes all of the above-mentioned drinks, all with the touch of one button. You just put the appropriate disc into the machine, it scans a bar code on the lid, and then knows exactly how much water and what temperature to use. It makes coffee so easy and hassle-free. And the lattes it makes are tastier (and cheaper!) than those I get at Starbucks. mmmmm.

And the icing on the cake? I finally worked up the courage to look at the nutrition info on the latte package, my favorite drink, and it's actually NOT bad: about 70cal per drink, and only 3.5g of fat. Woo-hoo!

Macros 1/16/09

Review: Precision Nutrition versus Metabolism Advantage

Metabolism Advantage (MA) is a book by John Berardi, available in bookstores and libraries. Precision Nutrition (PN) is a more detailed, customizable package of a binder and a cookboook, as well as access to online forums and some mp3 files to support it, also put together by John Berardi. PN is very widely respected among the online fitness forums I visit, and lots of people get great results with it, so I of course had to find out the real deal. Here's what I found out.

Both programs are essentially the same, but MA is specifically targeted to fat loss, while PN talks about fat loss, lean mass building, cutting, etc, through the "individualization guide." I checked MA out of my local library, devoured it, and then decided I needed to have PN as well. I think that your money is better spent just buying the PN cookbooks (both 1.0 and 2.0) and not the whole package. The principles are the same in MA and in PN, and the "personalization" stuff that PN comes with is very brief. Basically, if you don't like the results you're getting, make a small tweak for two weeks and re-assess. I don't think that's worth the money for the whole PN binder, and the extras you get in the binder are really only a few pages of further elaboration and explanation of what you've already learned in MA. You can definitely do this without the extra printed material from PN.

Now, to be fair, I bought my PN used, so I didn't get access to the forums and the downloadable mp3 files, but I can't imagine that they would make the $83 price difference worth it. Maybe $20 more, but not $83...

I really like the cookbooks, though. That was definitely worth it for me. The binder, not so much. I read through it once, and I'll probably never crack it open again.

So my recommendation, if you're interested in PN, is to buy MA for $17 and try it out. If you like the recipies and need more, I recommend the hardcopy of the Gourmet Nutrition 2.0 for $50 (which not included in PN's price of $100) anyway), and then, if you like the recipes and need more, then buy the ebook version of Gourmet Nutrition 1.0.