The Diva Does Diet by Krista Davis

LUCY BURDETTE: Since we tortured you with cake talk yesterday, it may be a relief for you to read this next post from Krista Davis. I had to giggle when I scanned it, as I'm just now finishing up Krista's brand new release THE DIVA DIGS UP THE DIRT. Her main character, Sophie, never meets a meal or a snack she doesn't like and she's a wonderful cook--which is part of the great fun in this series. And she's a regular person too--sometimes she has to resort to pants with an elastic waistline. Welcome Krista--and congrats on your New York Times bestselling author status!

KRISTA DAVIS: Warning: this post contains a four letter word that may be upsetting to some readers: diet.

I have been eating and overeating for years. So many that you’d think I would have it all figured out by now. As the author of the Domestic Diva Mysteries, I write about food, and I try out a lot of recipes. Well, I have to. It’s part of my job! But there came a time, not so coincidentally after Christmas, when my last guests left, and I had to face the truth. It was time.

Surprisingly, I discovered a few interesting things about food. I have to admit that I subscribe to the theory that you are what you eat. It’s pretty amazing how our bodies react to the fuel we put in them.

For instance, I found that when I ate a protein lunch with no breads or pasta, I didn’t get the three o’clock snooze crisis. Complex carbs were okay, like lentils or quinoa, but those pesky and wonderful breads and pastas put me right to sleep.

And speaking of sleeping, I scoffed at recommendations that sleep is important in losing weight. Whoops, so wrong. Days when I hadn’t slept enough were the worst. I compensate for lack of sleep by eating. When I’m tired, I try to perk up and find energy through food so I wind up consuming more. Who knew?

I was skeptical about the British study that recommended eating two eggs every day for breakfast. Seems women who did that lost more weight than those who ate something else. Those who ate eggs claimed they weren’t hungry mid-morning. They were right!

Thanks to research by the folks at Reader’s Digest, I learned that there are also fat-releasing foods. How cool is that? About an hour after exercising, we’re supposed to drink nonfat milk. It builds up our bones and sheds fat! Even better, small amounts of chocolate (yes, chocolate!) and walnuts also help us lose fat. Nonfat dairy, lean meats, and complex carbs help in that regard, too.

Remember, the no-fat-not-even-a-gram will pass my lips craze? How many bags of those fat-free cookies did we snarf? Hah! Turns out it’s still about calories and exercise.

But wait! There’s even news about exercise. The cool people (you know them, the ones who say things like awesome sauce when something good happens) call it cross-training. Turns out that if you exercise the same way every day your body gets used to it and figures out how to use fewer calories to accomplish it. So we don’t have to knock ourselves out on a treadmill every day (okay, I’m not fooling anyone, that’s something I never did, but I walk twice a day, uphill all the way both times). It’s better to lift weights one day and walk or run the next day. And that weight-lifting? Even the little bitty ones help. If you work out with them, they charge your metabolism and (I love this so much!) you burn calories while you sleep that night!

Now if I could only figure out a way for a computer mouse to charge up my metabolism. Thanks for inviting me to be here today. Now where did I leave that cupcake?

Krista Davis writes the Domestic Diva Mysteries. Her latest release, The Diva Digs up the Dirt, hit #31 on the extended New York Times Bestseller list. Visit Krista at www.divamysteries.com and http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com

LUCY: And now we'd love to hear from you--tips about eating what you love but staying healthy too?