Meg Galvin - The Sparkpeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight

Praise for
The SparkPeople Cookbook

Everything you need to know for cooking and eating healthyand losing weight in the process. Packed with easy recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; techniques for maximizing flavor and cutting fat; and tips for stocking a healthy kitchen, this is an indispensible guide to getting good-for-you meals on the table fast.

Betty S. Wong, editor in chief, Fitness magazine

As our country faces both an obesity epidemic, as well as a hunger and nutrition crisis in many communities, it is more important than ever that we all learn how to eat less expensive but more nutritious alternatives to fast food and junk food. This book offers great tips, tools, and recipes; and proves that we can all enjoy eating good food, while getting healthier.

Dan Glickman, former Secretary of Agriculture

Meg is one of the leading voices for putting sound nutrition into practice. Her commonsense approach to cooking, eating, and activity is one every physician and parent can easily embrace.

Christopher F. Bolling, M.D., pediatrician, Pediatric Associates;
program chairman, American Academy of Pediatrics, Provisional Section on Obesity

When Meg cooks for her family, she serves a large helping of sensibility. She believes in cooking and eating good food, and eating it together. This book will appeal to anyone who wants to embark on a journey of better health through the door of the kitchen.

Maggie Green, LD, RD; author of The Kentucky Fresh Cookbook

The SparkPeople Cookbook is inspirational, motivational, and informational. And best of all, it features real feedback about healthy living from real peoplepeople I can trust because theyve been there and done that. I particularly love how each recipe comes with a handy chart so you can tell, at a glance, how many servings of veggies or fruit are in the dish or whether the recipe would be great for a dinner party. No gimmicks, no tricksjust healthy, fresh food and concrete advice from the wonderful members of SparkPeople.

Caitlin Boyle, blogger of HealthyTippingPoint.com,
editor of OperationBeautiful.com, and author of Operation Beautiful

The SparkPeople Cookbook is unlike any other cookbook Ive read.
It gives you the knowledge and know-how to make permanent lifestyle changes
to your eating habits. Healthy eating should be simpleand even funand
The SparkPeople Cookbook provides straightforward, interesting, and satisfying
recipes that will help you lose weight without leaving you feeling deprived.

Tina Haupert, author and blogger, Carrots N Cake

ALSO FROM SPARKPEOPLE.COM

Books

The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight,
Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life

CD

The Spark: The Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight,
Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life

DVDs

The Spark: Fit, Firm, & Fired Up, with Coach Nicole

SparkPeople Cardio Blast, with Coach Nicole

Copyright 2011 by SparkPeople, Inc.

Photo copyright:

Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Project Editor: Marisa Bulzone
Indexer: Jay Kreider
Interior design: Tricia Breidenthal

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher.

The authors of this book do not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the authors is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the authors and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Galvin, Meg.
The SparkPeople cookbook : love your food, lose the weight / Meg Galvin and Stepfanie Romine ; food photographs by Randall Hoover Photography. 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4019-3132-2 (hardback)
1. Low calorie dietRecipes. 2. Low fat dietRecipes. 3. Cooking, American. 4. Cookbooks. I. Romine, Stepfanie.
II. Title.
RM222.2.G345 2011
641.56384dc22

2011015662

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4019-3132-2
Digital ISBN: 978-1-4019-3134-6

14 13 12 11 4 3 2 1
1st edition, October 2011

Printed in China

To SparkPeople members everywhere, and

to anyone who thought they had to give up

the foods they love in order to be healthy.

The Downies

by Chris Downie, Founder, CEO, and Motivation Expert of SparkPeople.com, and best-selling author of The Spark

Back in 2007, the scale was inching closer to 300 pounds for Birdie Varnedore. Her closet was filled with sizes 26, 28, and 30, with some 24s for her skinny days. (Though she admits: The 26s only fit on a good day!) Despite living in Orlando, Florida, where temperatures in winter can top 80 degrees, she owned no clothing that came above the knee or elbow.

She was tired. She was obese. She was tired of being obese.

Birdie ate up to 6,000 calories a day, mostly in the form of simple carbs and junk food: cookies, cakes, ice cream, chocolate. My meals were giant heaps of spaghetti, multiple dinner rolls with butter, large servings of rice and beans, she says.

As if medical school and then her fledgling career as a physician werent hard enough, Birdie and her husband, Nick, were also building their family and today have five children. At night, when she studied, her appetite raged. To deal with the stress, she ate. Cartons of Chinese takeout, bags of Snickers candy bars, entire pizzas.

Im a smart woman, a doctor, a neurologist! So why am I abusing my body? she thought. As a physician, science and math are supposed to be my strengths! Its just calories in versus calories out. Whats my problem?

She was unhappy with her body and knew she was abusing herself, but she reasoned, How else was I going to cope with the pressures of medical school, being broke, and raising a family? I kept piling on stress when I knew I couldnt handle it, but I didnt want to change, didnt want to give up my drug. Birdies drug? Food.

Then, on July 23, 2007, she took the first stepafter downing half a sheet cake at her youngest childs first birthday party. For a few weeks, she struggled on her own. Then she found SparkPeople, shed 140 pounds, and became the wife, mother, and physician she always knew she could be. It wasnt easy, but through exercise, calorie counting, hard workand sheer determinationshe reached her goal, even posing in a size 8-bikini in