Our Rookie Diaries Blogger's Next Assignment? You Decide!

Tula Karras, our Rookie Diaries blogger, has taken on a number of fun, challenging and interesting assignments over the last nine months—all with the goal of sharing insights and giving you advice to help you live your best life. She has counted her steps, tallied her intake of fiber, sodium and protein and tracked her daily water consumption. She has tested several fitness fads (including the Shake Weight and FitFlops) and tried a number of different classes from belly dancing to pole dancing. She's even given up a few beloved habits, including eating at night and watching the tube.

Now, she wants your feedback. What healthy experiment do you want Tula to tackle next? Choose one of the six options below, and check back here in a few weeks to see which assignment gets the most votes. And if you have any other ideas for Tula, please feel free to post them below in the comments!

Tula's next healthy experiment should be:

A. Jump Start - Tula will take a class offered at Crunch gym centered around hard core jump rope drills

B. Cooking club - Tula will join a healthy cooking club or start her own.

C. Boxing - Tula will hop in the ring and do her best Rocky impression at a boxing class.

D. Booty Kickin' Step - Tula will take a class (also offered at Crunch) that offers participants the latest in step choreography, including Mambos, pivots, hop-turns and double dutch repeaters.

E. A week of Best Life breakfasts - Tula will make and eat a week's worth of healthy, balanced Best Life breakfasts.

The Rookie Diaries: Getting a Healthy Dose of Fiber—and Liking it!

If there is one word that elicits more of a groan from healthy eaters than "fiber," I'd like to hear it (seriously, feel free to come up with equally frightening alternatives—honorable mention goes to "flax"). What comes to mind when you hear these five letters strung together? Shredded wood chips passing as cereal. Whole-grain bread so heavy and dense you could use it as a dumbbell. Sinewy vegetables that won't dissolve, no matter how long you chew them. Most of us think of fiber as the polar opposite of cake and candy and creamy goodness.

And yet…there's no denying its power as a dietary wonder. The science is solid: Fiber can lower your risk for cancer (it's found mostly plants, so you get cancer-fighting phytochemicals along with it); it's linked to a reduction in total cholesterol and, hence, heart disease; and fiber can help with weight-loss because it adds bulk to food without adding calories (we don't digest it), so it helps fill you up for less. (And yes, it's often referred to as "nature's broom" because it, ahem, "sweeps" things through our digestive tract, but you already knew that.) People are always looking for a magic bullet for weight loss, and fiber is as close as any nutrient to fitting the bill. Women need 25 grams of it daily; men 38. In fact, if you only made food choices based on fiber content as you tried to meet your daily requirement, you'd be eating an incredibly healthy diet, and one that would likely shed pounds as well, as you'd be eating mostly whole grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables.

I eat fairly healthfully, though I don't go overboard. I certainly don't choose foods just for their fiber content, though it's in the back of my mind—like the soundtrack of a movie, I know it's contributing to the experience, but it's not the main attraction. Still, I assumed I was getting close to the 25 g requirement, I just wasn't quite sure how close. So I tracked my fiber intake for a day to see if I met the mark. Here's how I did:

Breakfast
½ cup whole-grain flakes cereal (3 g fiber) topped with ¼ cup blueberries (.9 g), ½ cup fat-free milk (0 g), 1 cup coffee (0 g), ¼ cup fat-free milk (0 g)
Total: 3.9 g

Lunch
1 cup gazpacho made with 2 tomatoes (3 g fiber), ½ cucumber (.5 g), ¼ red onion (.5 g), 1/3 green pepper (.5 g); 1 medium whole-grain roll (4.5 g); tuna sandwich with 3 ounces tuna (0 g) on whole-grain bread (2.8 g) with 1 lettuce leaf (.1 g); Diet Snapple.
Total: 11.9

Snack
2 sugar cookies (.2 g fiber), 1 chocolate chip cookie (.3 g)—a coworker was having a bake sale for a charity. I HAD to buy them, it was the right thing to do!
Total: .5 g

Dinner
5 ounces trout (0 g) covered in 2 tablespoons corn meal (.8 g), 2 tablespoons almond slices (1.4 g), topped with grape-mint relish: 2 tablespoons chopped red onion (.5 g), ¼ cup red grapes (.4 g), 6 mint leaves (0 g), 1½ cups lettuce (1.5 g), ½ cucumber (.5 g), 5 black olives (.5 g).
Total: 5.6 g

Dessert
½ cup cinnamon apple sauce (1.35), 1 mini bag 100-calorie popcorn (4 g)
Total: 5.35 g

Day's Total: 27.25 g fiber

Hoorah! I did it. And you know what tipped me over the edge? My end-of-day snack of popcorn with a whopping 4 grams for just 100 calories! And when I look back over my diet, there's not a single meal that says "cardboard" or "mealy mush" or "laxative." Even my whole-grain breakfast flakes were sweet with the addition of fresh blueberries. And all of the yummy Best Life Meals and Snacks will add up to at least 25 grams of fiber/day, so you don't have to worry about adding up your grams if you're following Bob's meal plans. So let's recap, what did we learn?

• You can get enough fiber and eat tasty food—the two are not mutually exclusive.

• Popcorn is an amazing source of fiber (just make sure it's air-popped and not dripping in butter; try Smart Balance's Smart 'n Healthy popcorn, which is Best Life approved).

• Cookies are not a good source of fiber (sob).

• Foods that are round (olives, grapes, blueberries, tomatoes) have decent amounts of fiber

• Fish has no fiber (but it's still a lean source of protein, so who cares?).

• Corn meal has fiber—cover everything you can in corn meal!

• It's summertime, so chilled gazpacho is a no-brainer. With nearly 5 g of fiber, it's almost 20 percent of your requirement.

Play the Name Game and Win Big!!!

Calling the Best Life's blog "The Best Life Blog" is a little like having a dog named 'Dog' or an imaginary friend named 'Boy.' Sure it's clear and to the point, but it's not very creative or inspiring. Nor does it do a good job of showing just how much personality our blog has.

If you're a regular reader, then you know how informative, fun, quirky and motivational our daily posts are. (And if you're not checking our blog often, why not? You're totally missing out!) Think about it: On what other blog can you find posts authored by foods (who knew almonds were so funny?), quotes from Homer Simpson (nutrition expert that he is) and information-packed entries on pole dancing and the Shake Weight. That's right, we're your one-stop shop for knowledge, motivation and fun—whether you're looking for advice on eating healthfully, starting or sticking to a regular workout routine, or shedding pounds.

That got us thinking: Maybe it's time to change things up here at the correctly named—but rather boringly so—Best Life Blog. And we'd like your help. Have any ideas for a cool, fun and fitting name that suits us better? Send them our way. We'll choose the best entry from the bunch! To give you a little incentive to get creative, we're offering up an autographed copy of Bob Greene's The Best Life Diet Cookbook and a year's supply of Bob's new Bestlife Buttery Spread to the winner.

So put your thinking caps on and start brainstorming. This is as important as naming your first child or your beloved pet (or, if you still have one, your imaginary pal), so make sure it gives a good first impression and is unique and fun (just like our blog). We can't wait to read your suggestions—keep 'em coming!

Contest Rules and Restrictions: You must be 18 years of age or older and currently reside in one of the 50 U.S. States or Canada. By submitting, you are agreeing to the full Best Life terms and conditions posted on TheBestLife.com. The winning blog name will be used by Best Life Corporation to promote its blog content at blog.thebestlife.com, thebestlife.com and in other areas. The judging and winner selection will be handled by the Best Life editorial staff, whose decision is final. A year's supply of Bestlife Buttery Spread will be awarded in the form of twelve (12) free coupons. Final entries are due by Friday, July 9th, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

The Rookie Diaries: The Top 8 Reasons to Use a Weight-Loss Meal Plan

As I type this, I am snacking on cheese. You know why? Because I'm not following a meal-plan. If I were following a meal-plan, I would have eaten my carefully calibrated 100-calorie treat for Sunday night and would be finished munching for the night, because the plan says so, and because I would know that I'd taken in enough calories for the day and that my body truly doesn't need more. I'm hyper-aware of this fact because I've just finished—for the first time in my life—a week-long, super healthy, slimming meal-plan. (I'm temporarily day-lighting as a magazine editor and tested out a meal plan for one of their upcoming articles.) I lost five pounds, painlessly.

What took me so long to see the light? It wasn't for lack of knowledge or effort. As a journalist who writes about nutrition, I'm familiar with what works. I've pieced together what I believed was a top-shelf concoction of strategies: cutting back on portions, eating more veggies, stepping up my exercise, saying "no" to dessert, not arriving hungry at the grocery store or happy hour. Despite the fact that my self-styled dieting behavior hasn't always yielded tangible results, I've enjoyed the freedom of going it on my own. I have always resisted the iron-clad restrictions of following a specific weight-loss meal plan, afraid it would turn me into a calorie-obsessed, uncreative eater, or that I'd be forced to endure tasteless, tiny morsels that comprise a joyless plan designed by a stern dietitian in a white lab coat whose greatest thrill in life is to ban cheese from my life.

Well, I stand corrected. I shudder to think of the pounds I could have left behind decades ago by just following instructions! Of course, it has to be the right meal-plan: It should be delicious, nutritious and provide enough calories to keep you full while reigning it in enough to create a calorie deficit. It should be designed by an R.D. or M.D.—or at least vetted by one—and fit your lifestyle. (The Best Life meal plans meet all these criteria, by the way.) Once you find that perfect-for-you plan, here's what you can expect to gain…and lose.

1. You will lose weight. Seriously, if you follow the plan—no cheating, no adapting it to include your beloved three-cheese lasagna, no over-measuring or under-achieving—you will eat less and drop pounds. It's a scientific fact, and it's a beautiful thing to behold when you test the theory. The Best Life meal plans offer six different calorie levels, so matter what your gender, activity level or current weight is, you're sure to find a calorie level that will keep you satisfied but still help you peel off pounds.

2. You will learn that 1 teaspoon of olive oil is about 1/16 of the amount you normally use. This was an epiphany to me. I'm half-Greek, so I think it's my cultural right to use olive oil generously, and magically not get fat. Yes, it's a great source of good fats—but I've been ignoring one of the two words in italics.  One teaspoon of olive oil has 40 calories, and 1 tablespoon has 120 calories. A good-quality olive oil will go a long ways, and 1 or 2 teaspoons is all you need to dress a salad (along with some vinegar or lemon) or sauté chicken or veggies.

3. You won't stress out about what you're going to eat for your next meal. You know that feeling when you come home from work, you're tired, you're stressed, so you call in take-out or snack for two hours straight on whatever is in your cupboards? Won't happen on a meal-plan. You will have planned to have the ingredients on-hand for your prescribed dinner (you will have taken the chicken out of the freezer to thaw or skipped the extra drink at happy hour so you can get home in time to cook). I won't lie—the planning is work and takes time. But with the plan's ingredients in your fridge and cupboards, you've already won half the battle.

4. You will learn new recipes. Some of these recipes you'll love, others not so much. But by the end of the week, you will have at minimum a handful of new, yummy, slimming favorites for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Admit it: Your current repertoire is getting old and could stand some new additions. Why not learn how to cook meals within a meal plan that's designed for weight loss?

5. You will realize that losing weight and being hungry do not have to go hand-in-hand. The only time I was hungry was at night, right before bed, during the hour I plop myself down on the couch and normally snack my way into a coma while watching reality TV. This doesn't even qualify as hunger—it's a craving tied to an ingrained habit. If the diet you're following includes no more than 30 percent of calories from fat (about 53 grams on a 1,600-calorie plan), with no more than 10 percent from saturated fat (about 16 g); about 20 percent of calories from protein; and the rest healthy carbs, you'll discover that you won't need more calories to feel satiated.

6. You will realize you've been gulping down a meal's worth of calories in the form of beverages. The plan didn't build in a caloric allotment for drinks other than skim milk. So I cut out juice, alcohol (OK, one night I drank two white wine spritzers) and soda. This was hard, because I am a juice fiend! I normally mix all manner of berry- and citrus-blend beverages with seltzer throughout the day. But I didn't miss it much on the diet, partially because I was eating plenty of whole fruit and getting my fix that way. I probably shaved off 200 calories a day on drinks alone.

7. You'll finally, finally recognize the importance of a healthy breakfast. Yes, you've heard it a gazillion times: it's the most important meal of the day. Well, this plan forced me to eat 400-calorie breakfasts with plenty of protein. The first few days it was hard because I'm normally not hungry in the a.m. But because I wasn't night-snacking, I was waking up with a healthy hunger. At work, I wasn't truly hungry until lunch because I'd had a filling breakfast, and so on and so on. The domino effect of a hearty morning meal could not be denied and accounted for a large part of the diet's success, in my opinion.

8. You won't have to worry you're not getting all your nutrients. If your plan is designed or co-created by a dietitian (they should have the letters 'R.D.' after their name), you're golden. Dietitians are programmed to build nutritionally balanced meal plans. They live for that moment when milligrams of this nutrient and that nutrient add up to the RDA and they can declare a diet "nutritionally sound!" You really couldn't do better yourself, so why try? I never ended a single day of my diet with the concern that I'd skimped on calcium sources or missed my fiber target. I felt confident that I was a walking, breathing advertisement for the Food Pyramid. Lose weight and get all your nutrients? It's a win-win (or rather a lose-win). You could say that I'm a meal plan convert now. Next up, The Best Life meal plans!

A Best Life Get-Together

Hundreds of Best Life members have bonded and formed strong friendships on our thriving message boards. Many of them have even met in person, during group vacations and get-togethers. In fact, a bunch of members are planning to meet up in Chicago from May 13 to the 16. Check out the message below from Best Life member (and former success story) Cookie Shelley:

"Wouldn't you love to meet some of the Best Life members in person? We're planning to do just that this coming May in the beautiful city of Chicago. We're going to laugh, play, exercise, run/walk (yes, a 5K along beautiful Lake Michigan), have the opportunity to take in a Broadway play, learn all kinds of things from the Best Life experts and just plain have a wonderful, relaxing time together. Don't miss out on the time of your life.
 
We'll be staying at the Embassy Suites Chicago Downtown Lakefront located at 511 N. Columbus Drive. According to their website, 'The hotel is located just two blocks from Chicago's Navy Pier and the Magnificent Mile Michigan Ave Shopping. It's within walking distance to many Chicago attractions, such as Millennium Park, Water Tower Place, and the Hancock Observatory. The location and amenities make the Embassy Suites Chicago Downtown Lakefront an ideal choice for the business or leisure traveler.
 
The hotel offers upscale spacious two-room suites complete with a refrigerator, microwave oven, and flexible work and dining space. You'll enjoy a complimentary cooked-to-order breakfast each morning, and a complimentary manager's reception, which includes a refreshing beverage, every night. You can relax in a lush open air atrium and unwind at the indoor pool, fitness center, and whirlpool.'

Best Life members can book a room (King or Double suite) for just $175.00 per night plus local and state taxes. Stay tuned for more details, coming after the New Year. If you're interested in joining us, be sure to leave a message on the Community thread under "Other Support" at TheBestLife.com Hope to see you soon!" —Cookie Shelly