Banishing the baby belly

When I signed up to review Cynthia Sass’ new diet book, Cinch!, it was with a fair amount of skepticism. A diet veteran, I know the pounds never come off without a lot of hard work and determination.

But you know what? I found this book to be a pleasant surprise.

Every part of her plan seems to be grounded in sound science. And while she’s promising big results – up to fifteen pounds in a mere 30 days, she isn’t promising a miracle cure. If you choose to try her plan, you’re going to have to seriously rethink the way you eat. There’s no red meat. No meal bars or reduced-calorie cookies. No processed food at all, as a matter of fact.

Instead, you’ll be eating lots and lots of fruits and veggies, whole grains, lean proteins and plant-based fats. You know, real food. Foods that even those of us in pretty serious denial about the relative unhealthiness of our diet know are good for us.

And the recipes? Sound pretty damn delicious. Black bean tacos with cilantro jalapeno guacamole. Zesty cranberry walnut parfait. California chicken burrito bowl. Even – get this – trufffles. As in, the chocolate kind. She insists you eat a serving of dark chocolate every day.

Plus, she gives you a lot of good hints on seasoning with “SASS” (her name is Cynthia Sass, get it?). But her recommendations are right on the money. Lots of herbs and citrus fruits, garlic – even tea. I’m enough of a foodie to know that cooking with ingredients like that is almost guaranteed to make your meal taste better.

More important, her meals don’t sound all that difficult to make. I think I could throw the majority of them together after a busy day at work (with a little advance planning). And while I’m not sure that I could get my toddler to eat this way, I’m pretty my husband would be on board.

Long story short, I’m going to try it. She recommends beginning with a five day Fast Forward plan, which demands you eat five prescribed meals each day with a fairly limited ingredient list – spinach, eggs, almonds, raspberries and yogurt. Tough? Yes, I’m guessing it is. But at the moment, I feel like my brain needs some re-programming, so I’m going to give it a shot.

I’m going to start on Monday. I’ll check in with you next Saturday to let you know how it goes. And if you feel like jump starting your healthy eating efforts by reading a diet book? I’d honestly recommend Cinch!. I actually learned a few things.

Do I think losing the weight using this plan will actually be a “cinch?” No. But I do think I’ll be a healthier person for trying it. And that? Makes it worth doing in my book.

I received a review copy of Cinch! from the One2One network. All opinions stated here are my own.

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