I was so excited when I was selected by Mommy Parties to host a product review for Random House of Haylie Pomroy’s newest book The Fast Metabolism Diet. Haylie Pomroy is a respected expert on metabolism, wholistic nutrition, and natural food science. She has helped thousands of people heal their bodies with healthy foods. She has four clinics across the country and is well known and respected in her field.

I was sent several copies of the book, coupons (Applegate Farms, Celestial Seasonings Teas, Artisana), a $20 Target gift card, and a MyTime Digital Crockpot to assist with The Fast Metabolism Diet “Make and Take” Mommy Party.

Iwas definitely interested to host this review party and learn what Haylie Pomroy had to say in her book about healing my body. I put my thinking cap on . . . and my kids and I talked about how we could bless our local community with all this great stuff that came for this review. . . and from there we set up a Mommy Metabolism Workshop with local moms to talk about our metabolism, learn about foods that help rev up a slow metabolism, and heal the body’s glands and organs.

The Set Up:

I received a copy of the book to review, and 10 copies to give away to local moms and spread the word about this wonderful book. If you know me, you know I take every opportunity to love on families and build them up every chance I get. Mom’s are always the last to have their own needs met. This book review was the perfect opportunity to pamper local moms, and build them up in their quest to be healthy while providing for the needs of their families.

I sent out an invitation on the local mommy loops I am apart of for moms to join me. About 500 moms/families in our local area (Hendersonville, NC / Asheville, NC / and Greenville, SC) received the email detailing the book and diet highlights, and details about the workshop. I was able to accept 10 mom’s for the workshop and asked them to RSVP. I wish I had 100 books to give away for the workshop and could have invited 100 moms to come, but I only had 10 of these wonderful books.

The only expense the moms had in attending the workshop was to bring a recipe from the book. After they secured their seat, I sent them the recipe from the book. We doubled the recipes so there was enough to eat at the workshop, and extra for moms to take servings of each dish home with them to freeze and use to kick off the first week of their new diet from the book. Each mom brought containers, and I provided extra zip lock bags so moms could take home some of everything. The workshop was kind of like a cookie swap, but it was a “metabolism diet” swap! HOORAY!!!

My kids and I went shopping for decorations, tableware and supplies, and ingredients for three of the recipes (pepperocini pork roast, watermelon smoothie, and stevia sweetened lemonade), several bags of ice, and two cases of bottled waters. I also bought several fresh fruits and vegetables, nut butters, coconut water, and coconut milk to use in my table display and talk on nutrition. My daughter had a great idea to go with a Pink Flamingo theme. She loves Pink Flamingos! We found pink flamingo cups, plates, napkins, pink silverware, yellow table cloths, and fun decorations that all coordinated beautifully and it was a hit! We set out fresh flowers too. Our color scheme was pink, yellow, blue, and silver.

I also found cute bags to hold each mom’s The Fast Metabolism Diet book, 4 tea bag samples of Celestial Seasonings Peppermint Tea, coupons for $$ off Applegate Farms organic meats, a button pin from Applegate Farms, several recipe cards, a “Pink Flamingo” silly ball (good for squeezing out “mommy stress”!), and a feathery “Pink Flamingo” ink pen for keeping a food journal or taking notes in their books.

We had lots of interests to fill our spots for the workshop, and then a few last minute cancelations, and ended up with 6 moms and 20 kids at the workshop. Even though we did not fill all ten spots, I still thought this was a great turnout. I have also had several emails from moms wanting to know more. Plus during the workshop, two more moms who were not “officially” at the workshop, sat at nearby tables and listened in. Then after the workshop they came forward to talk with me one on one about all they had seen and heard us talk about. They were very excited to learn more. So the exposure of information for moms on this just seemed to keep expanding and growing.
We set up the workshop at the local park picnic shelter. Mom’s could bring all their kids and let them play on the playground while we had our meeting, so it was a win win for mom’s and they did not have to find child care. Some of the teens sat in and listened to the workshop too. We could easily monitor the children on the playground from our vantage point, yet they could play and we could talk. Oh, thank God for parks and playgrounds!

The Workshop:

Our discussion centered around nutrition, the three phases of The Fast Metabolism Diet, physical activities in our weekly routine, and we had a personal sharing time. Each mom shared her personal testimony about why she was struggling with her health, her metabolism, or weight issues. Each mom was welcome to take a walk around the paved path at the park, hulla hoop, or join the kids for a game of kickball after the workshop too. Every mom had a precious story to tell during our sharing time and I was truly blessed by their experiences.

I need this information as much as anyone. My own metabolism has slowed to a snail’s pace and I have gained a lot of weight over the past few years. It seems that no matter how hard I try, or how active I am, nothing changes. I seldom share pictures of myself because I am so discouraged about my weight. I have been looking for answers, keeping a food and activity journal, posting progress stories in Walk and Talk Wednesday posts, and more. But I actually have seen very little progress in in changing my metabolism and very little weight loss. I am going to implement the strategy in this book and do this diet for 28 days. The science makes sense to me and I believe this will jump start my metabolism. This workshop was such a refreshing time of learning and sharing. I truly enjoyed researching this book and hosting this workshop. Be sure to read my review of the book and my 28 day experience when I get it posted.

A few highlights from our discussion about the book:
D. I. E. T. stands for Did I Eat Today? This is a big deal. How many times does mom skip eating during the week? Though I am over weight, I miss a lot of meals. I am so busy with my kids, that I often neglect myself. When we don’t eat, our body slows down the metabolism and stores more food as future fuel in the form of fat. Not eating doesn’t help us loose weight, it sets us up for becoming over weight.

Keys:
Eat within 30 minutes of waking up in the morning.
Eat every 3 to 4 hours (Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Snack, Supper, then rest).

Science principles behind the diet:
http://www.fastmetabolismdiet.com/diet/science-behind-the-diet/

3 Phases of the diet involve both eating and exercise and are divided up during the 7 days of the week and repeated for four weeks for a total of 28 days. Why 28 days? Because the natural rhythm of the body is on a 28 day cycle. You can adjust the days so that your “day 1 of phase 1” begins on a different day of the week if desired. Well rounded food choices (diet) come from approved foods for each phase listed in the Master Food Guide in the book.

Phase 1 UNWIND is on Monday and Tuesday
Well rounded diet with focus on carbs.
Cardio activity for 30 minutes on day 1, then rest on day 2.
Goal is to unwind from stress and calm the adrenal glands.

Phase 2 UNLOCK is on Wednesday and Thursday
Well rounded diet with focus on lean protein.
Strength activity on day 3, then rest on day 4.
Goal is to unlock stored fats and build muscle.

Phase 3 UNLEASH is on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Well rounded diet with focus on healthy fats.
Stretching activity on day 5. Rest on days 6 and 7.
Goal is to unleash the burning of stored fats for fuel, balancing
hormones, and strengthening the heart.

Haylie’s Rules:
These are recommendations (10 do’s and 10 don’ts) for success that the author suggests to make the diet successful for each person.
All of the mom’s were eager to learn, and had lots of questions. They brought the foods they had prepared and set them up on the tables and plugged in their crockpots to keep the hot foods hot while we had our discussion about the book. They sat at picnic tables and relaxed and took it all in. They were so much fun to talk to. The workshop was very interactive with these lively moms. It was fun to do this workshop with them.

Each mom took home a a book and goodie bag. The book is a hands on resource to help them be successful in reaching their personal goals.

Menu:
To help mom’s see how easy and delicious the diet from the book is, we made four recipes for lunch / supper, three recipes for snacks, and two beverage recipes for our workshop, plus we had all the ice cold water we could drink. I did not include any breakfast recipes, but I would have enjoyed doing these too.

All of the recipes in the book are delicious. The book contains 50 recipes, and a huge Master Food Guide to use to create your own recipes from. The book also has a sample eating schedules to show you a great way to plan your eating times through out the day for several body types. There is also several sample menu plans for each phase. Each of the 50 recipes in the book can be divided into 4, and some into 6, portions or servings. So you can make them one week, eat a serving and freeze the additional portions. Now you have ready made meals in the freezer (and snacks in the fridge) to use through out the 28 days of the program.

Phase 1

Turkey Chili, page 187

Fruit Snacks Tray from Phase 1
Blueberries, Cantaloupe, Oranges, Mangos, Strawberries, Cherries (or watermelon), Blackberries (planned, but due to a cancelation this tray was absent. I didn’t have time to prepare another one but I wish I had so moms could see and taste delicious fruits used in the diet). There are many more options and we just chose a few to show the variety.

Vegetable Snacks Tray from Phase 1
Bell Peppers, Broccoli, Carrots, Celery, Tomatoes, Jicama. There are many more options we just chose a few to show some of the variety. We served samples of cashew butter with celery and jicama as a snack option too.

Watermelon Smoothie, page 194
We made this drink during the workshop. I brought a blender, frozen watermelon chunks, stevia, ice, and peppermint tea (the recipe recommended mint extract, but I did not have this). It was a cool minty icy sweet PINK sensation in the mouth! Many moms said they really enjoyed this smoothie. If left to sit a bit, and the frothy pink ice melts, this turns this drink into a beautiful purple color.

Phase 2
Stuffed Mushrooms, page 213

Pepporocini Pork Roast, page 210
We used a boneless pork loin roast. There are herbs (dry mustard, oregano, rosemary), sea salt, and chopped pickled banana peppers (found in the pickle isle in the grocery store) in this dish, though you can’t see them in this photo because they have fallen into the broth. But once the roast is pulled from the crockpot, they are stuck to the other side. I just flipped the roast over on a plate and the chopped peppers looked very pretty on the meat and taste delicious in this recipe. My 10 year old son helped make this recipe and he did a great job. I will post another story about making this roast in the crockpot and show you step by step with lots of photos.

Phase 3
Coconut Curry Chicken, page 224
This delicious flavorful dish is served with quinoa, a delicious nutrient dense grain.

White Bean Hummus with Cucumbers, page 231

Sweet Potato Hummus with Cucumbers, page 232

Other:
Lemonade (made with stevia).
Recipe not in the book, but this beverage is suggested for occasional use during the diet. We made this on site during the workshop. This makes 1 gallon. Fruit Juices (when juice is separated from the fruit fiber) are not allowed on the diet because of the high rate of sugar delivery to the blood stream. However, an occasional glass of lemonade is allowed as long as you are drinking plenty of water through out the day. Several whole fruits are used in phases 1 and 3, but not in phase 2. However, lemons and limes are the only approved fruit (fruit juice) in all 3 phases so you could enjoy this beverage during the diet as long as no sugar (or sweeteners that be
come sugar in the body) is added.

For 1 gallon of Lemonade: use 12 lemons (or limes for limeade), cut three or four lemons in thin slices and place in the bottom of pitcher. Pound for a few minutes to release the juice and oils. Squeeze out the juice of the remaining lemons and ad to the pitcher. Stir in 4 teaspoons of liquid stevia (ad more stevia if you want it sweeter). Fill with filtered water and ice. If you only want to make a quart of lemonade, then reduce the size by using 3 lemons or limes, 1 tsp stevia, ice and filtered water to fill a quart jar). Enjoy delicious and naturally sugar free lemonade! Everyone said this was delicious and refreshing.

Feasting and Fellowship:
Here is a picture with a sampling of the food on one plate together. There are four entrees (chicken and quinoa, stuffed mushroom, chili, and roast), and snacks (raw vegetables, and two hummus dips), and the watermelon smoothie.


Mom’s enjoyed a meal of all the foods brought today. I think every mom was pleased with the food.

They also took home additional meals from each of the recipes to put in their fridge or freezer and have ready to begin their diet. All of the moms encouraged their children to try out the foods. This way of eating isn’t just for mom. You can feed the whole family with these delicious recipes. The kids loved the food! I heard so many kids say their favorite thing they ate was the Turkey Chili. The kids also helped make the lemonade, and it seemed to instantly disappear as they came back for more and more.

I have told all the moms who participated at the workshop that I would be glad to be a continuing support person and offered to host a “28 Days” support group to encourage each one on the journey. If they want to write about the experience, I told them I would be glad to publish their stories right here on Weiser Academy and share their journey with the world. This offer is extended to my readers too, if you use this book and would like to share your journey using the diet, I would be glad to post your journey here for others to read.

Many moms feel guilty spending money on themselves when they have families that need the grocery money. It is expensive taking care of a family, and there usually is no money left over each month for moms to take care of themselves. The recipes they know and have budgeted for are foods their kids will eat. It is expensive to add on additional meals, especially if the kids or dad might not like them. If we could put a budget together for these healthy meals, I think that would help moms be able to locate the resources in their monthly grocery budgets. They would know what it would cost to feed one person, two persons, four persons, eight persons etc. on this diet. Part of the reason mom’s metabolisms are slowing down is because of “cheap” food choices to feed their families. They are forced into a lifestyle of eating high carbs, high sugar, poor nutrient quality foods because their monthly food budget is limited, their knowledge of other options is limited, and they are already having a hard time making ends meet for their families. They don’t know, or think they can’t afford, a better way.

I would love to help moms get a whole months worth of delicious entrees in the freezer to help them rev up their metabolism using The Fast Metabolism Diet principals. If we had another workshop with 28 moms and each prepared a lunch entree and a supper entree, we could get 28 lunches, and 28 suppers in the freezer for each mom. Then all they would need then to add in is their fresh ingredients, snacks, and easy breakfast meals to complete their 28 days on the program. I would love to help moms figure out a budget to complete the 28 days on the program too and put their plan into action.

I would love to host this same workshop again, and again! What a great way to love on moms and help them be the best for their families and help them reach their personal health goals. It was absolutely fun! I absolutely believe providing this kind of workshop or “kick off” helps moms make this transition successful. These are nutrition skills and organization skills that can lead to a healthy life change. I know for a fact they have had and will continue to have a positive impact on me and my family.

After the workshop, many moms joined their kids for a rousing game of kickball on the playground. It was a great day!