I emptied 13 shelves of books, CDs and stuffed animals on Sunday so I could rearrange my office furniture. I had to drag my heavy Steelcase desks across the room and walk two 8-foot tall bookcases into the spot they vacated, but I did it all on my own in under 5 hours. I nearly ran out of space to temporarily relocate everything during the process. I was a little worried my tall stack of library books would fall off the kitchen counter into the sink, but thankfully I did not incur any fees for damaged books. I decided the process counted as my weight-lifting for the day and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon. I wasn't even exhausted. I took a couple breaks, watched some Face the Nation (politicians suck), and I was surprised by how fast the whole process went. That's one of the things...continue

It's Girl Scout cookie time and I have yet to eat a Thin Mint or a Samoa or a Tagalong. (Mmmm, Tagalongs.) I wish I could only buy a couple cookies at a time because I don't trust myself with an entire box. I'm trying to visualize a world in which I only eat 2 or 3 crunchy cookies of mint chocolate goodness a day even though there's a whole box sitting in my cupboard. Honestly, it's easier to imagine a world where Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama bake Girl Scout cookies together while singing Eminem songs. As unlikely as the second scenario is, I can actually imagine it in my head. The first situation, not so much. Which brings me back to the idea of food addiction, something I've been pondering on and off the past couple months ever since I read that book, Hungry by Allen Zadoff. I'm...continue

A weather alert popped up in my computer's system tray this morning, and if it had still been April Fool's Day I would have thought it was a joke. It wasn't warning me of floods or tornadoes or hail storms, it was warning me of this: Freezing fog?! That sounds like something I'd have to face in a video game after crossing the river of lava and fighting off flying monkeys. If I went for my scheduled run, would I be flash frozen in a cube of ice, becoming a PastaQueen popsicle? I imagined myself only being discovered centuries later by archeologists who would say, "This early 21st century humanoid was part of a bizarre cult known as 'runners.' You can tell by her overpriced shoes and the abundance of cheesy techno music on her MP3 player." I looked up "freezing fog" on Wikipedia only to learn that there are...continue

I like to spend my Saturday nights doing wild and crazy things, like installing blog plug-ins. Yesterday night I installed the Simply Threaded plug-in, which I hope you all will take full advantage of. It allows you to respond directly to any comment on a post, displaying your comment directly underneath and indented, instead of displaying your comment at the bottom of all the comments (though you can still do that too). This is handy because it will allow me to directly respond to people's questions instead of editing comments and inserting my answers in bold text as I have been doing. Here's an example of how it looked when I responded to Jeni's question about Cliff Blox: All you have to do is click the "Reply" link on any person's comment. Your browser will then jump to the bottom of the page where a checkbox will have appeared with...continue

I've been Licking the Produce for over a year now, and damn is my tongue sore. I've tried countless new fruits and vegetables. Well, you actually could count them, but I'm too lazy to go back through the archives and do that. Let's just say there have been a lot. Here are some more. Yellow Plum The yellow plum really did start out yellow, but turned a nice shade of red by the time I took a picture. It tasted like a plum. What I enjoyed most about the plum was that it came from Chile, which made me think of Kyle, (Hey, Kyle!) and how cool it is that blogging has allowed me to meet people in countries that export tropical fruits to the US. Assorted Squash Last fall I tried all of the squash pictured above - an acorn squash, a gold acorn squash, a white acorn squash...continue

Last week I was too tired to slice a zucchini, so I just dipped the whole thing in hummus and chowed down. This is when I realized I've gotten really lazy about food preparation. When I get busy, cooking is one of the first things that gets thrown aside. Sadly, flossing is usually next, which is why I'm crossing my fingers before my next dentist's appointment. Recently I've been depending more on pre-packaged meals and the sushi at my Wild Oats Market. That's why I freaked out last weekend when I pulled into the Wild Oats parking lot and the sign over their building was missing. Dear God, I just lost The Sunflower Market. I'd barely started sowing my Wild Oats. Was I going to have to start my own garden to get some whole foods? Thankfully, they were just changing their signage because they were bought by Whole Foods....continue

After over a year anticipation, my book, Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir, is finally coming out next month. All this foreplay and we're finally near the climax! For anyone who is interested, I've been posting book news, reviews, and media mentions on the official book site. I don't want pastaqueen.com to suddenly become all about book promotion, but I wanted a place to track everything for those of you who are curious. It's like Las Vegas, book whoring is legal over there. I'm going to cross-post some of the big book stuff here too, like all the rest of the information in this post. I've finally set a date and location for my official book release party. Meet me in the garden room at The Milano Inn in Indianapolis at 3pm on Saturday, May 3rd. There will be a party, pasta, and prizes - assuming I survive the Mini-Marathon that morning....continue

I woke up at 6:15am this morning to run a 15K, which was about 1 minute too late to get into the full parking garage. Thankfully my mother drove me down to the race, otherwise I might have used that as an excuse to turn around and forget the whole thing. Instead, I tumbled out of the car half asleep and wandered to the check-in area as she went to park in a surface lot. The 15K scared me. I'd never run that far or that long before. My training schedule had called for a 1 hour and 45 minute run a couple weeks earlier, but I'd had to bail on it because of a foot injury. I didn't know what to expect, but in my best case scenario I envisioned long bouts of walking near the end. Worst case? I hoped I wouldn't start crying like a little girl...continue

One way to make yourself feel bad for ever being obese is to watch a Bill Moyers TV report about hunger in America. I was on the couch last night debating whether to have another sugar-free pudding cup when a story came on about people who live on food stamps and are still going hungry. The cost of food is rising across the world, food pantries are getting less donations, and the money doesn't stretch as far, so there are people on disability, social security, or who are out of work who have to skip meals. It made me lose my appetite. I used to eat entire boxes of cookies, and one of these poor people on the TV only had half a green pepper in her fridge. The story said that over the past year the price of milk has increased by 26%, eggs by 24%, and bread by...continue

My book, Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir, is now shipping from Amazon! Several people have e-mailed me to say they've received the following e-mail: The item(s) listed below will actually ship sooner than we originally expected: Jennette Fulda (Author) "Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir" [Paperback] Estimated arrival date: 04/21/2008 The Amazon book page lists the book as "In stock." They're still offering it at the $10.85 pre-order price too. A couple people have asked me where is the best place to buy the book so I make the most money. First off, thanks for thinking of my financial well-being! We all know food ain't cheap and those weird fruits and vegetables can be expensive. I make the most money if you buy the book directly from me because that cuts out the middle man. However, I'm not selling copies until I actually have them in hand, which will hopefully be soon. If...continue

There have been a couple times in the past year when I have snatched too many bagels from the break room or eaten far too many slices of cake and pie at family gatherings or I've eaten a lot on the weekends for no reason at all. Whenever these things have happened, I've thought to myself, "Why am I like this now? What happened to the old me who was so good at dieting?" Then I went back and read some of my blog entries and realized that's a load of crap. I've always had issues with eating on the weekends. I've always eaten too many M&M's at baby showers. Food has always been an issue for me - when I was fat, when I was losing weight, and now as I am maintaining my loss. Yet, for some reason, I make myself believe that I was more perfect in...continue

As I left the apartment this morning to meet with my running group, I felt like I'd forgotten something. I used to get this feeling in elementary school if I'd left my Care Bears lunchbox in the kitchen. Then I figured it out. I wasn't wearing my hat. Or mittens. Or three-layers of sweat-wicking activewear. It was actually...pleasant out. Not quite warm enough to qualify as "nice" or "lovely," but not a reenactment of the last ice age either. Once I got to the running store, we took off down the canal towpath for 60 minutes, our longest run before the half-marathon in two weeks. (Two weeks!) The first 5-10 minutes of running are always the hardest for me. As soon as I start jogging, my body is like, "Hey now, why are you running? We were just sitting down or lying bed. Let's get back to that, shall we?"...continue

Now that I have a functioning MP3 player, I've started listening to podcasts in my car on the way to work. I usually go to the iTunes podcast directory and look at what's popular or download some NPR (National Public Radio) since they evidently have 621 podcasts available. I was listening to an episode of This American Life recently called Nobody's Family is Going to Change. This American Life is an hour long show that presents a variety of stories on a common theme, usually true-life stories of ordinary people. This episode's theme was about whether people can change. After listening to the show, I would say yes and no. People certainly have the ability to change, but more frequently people just stay the same. As my MP3 player skipped to the next track, I realized that one of the appeals of weight-loss blogs like this one is the idea...continue

I was watching The Today Show this weekend and was happy to learn that New York is upholding the regulation to require calories on menu boards of chain restaurants. Go, New York! Whenever I go out to eat I feel like I'm on the Price and Right trying to estimate the price of a new washer and dryer without overbidding. Which item has the lowest calories? Is it the chicken salad, or will that come buried in croutons and smothered in fatty dressing? Maybe it's the naked burrito, but exactly how much cheese and sour cream are they going to pile on top of that thing? There's really no way to know. I usually look up the nutritional information on the Internet afterwards and have rarely ever been happy with the results. Some restaurants don't even post that, which makes me wonder what they're hiding Other than that, the only...continue

Today I'm starting a new series called "Reading burns calories" in which I'll review health and fitness books. You need something to read on the treadmill, right? Actually, I've never mastered the art of reading on a treadmill. It's hard to read words as I bounce along my merry way and I'm usually going so hard that it's hard to ignore the suffering of my body and focus my brain on a magazine. I prefer to use running as my meditation time. However, if you do read on the treadmill, I'll be reviewing books that you might like. I probably won't be doing it too often though because I read even slower than I run. The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women: Get Off Your Butt and On with Your Training by Dawn Dais Full disclosure: My publisher, Seal Press, sent me this book for free a month or two ago...continue

Yesterday morning I ran on the trail for 45 minutes. Forty-four minutes of this time was spent thinking, "Yippee! After today and Saturday, I will never have to run 45 minutes again! Except for that half-marathon thingy, of course, which is two and a half hours long, not 45 minutes, so it doesn't technically count." The other minute of this time was spent thinking, "Holy crap, I just swallowed a bug." As I began singing that old kid's song about a lady who swallowed a fly, I wondered if this meant I would now have to eat a spider to catch the fly, and then a bird to catch the spider, and then a cat and a dog and a goat. I don't even know where to find a goat in Indiana. And dear Lord, how badly would all this eating wreck my diet? Luckily, I hadn't actually swallowed the...continue

There was no rain on my final group training run, but it was rather gloomy and chilly. So, I can officially say the weather for every Saturday morning long run of my half-marathon training sucked. Not a nice day in the dozen. Our final long run before the Mini-Marathon was uneventful. I came. I ran. I drank Gatorade. It was all so normal it was almost mundane, which is a good thing, because it means I'm prepared for the race. Our group leader said it was common for people to get jitters the week before the race, but I feel as cool as the Gatorade I was drinking. I've been doing the running and I know I'll be able to finish. I'll probably get anxious-excited the night before the race, but only out of anticipation, not worry. There was one weird thing about the final run. I was only a...continue

I'm having a book release party after I run the half-marathon. It's on Saturday, May 3rd at 3pm at The Milano Inn in Indianapolis. Everyone is invited! But if you are planning on coming, do please RSPV at halfofme@pastaqueen.com so I have an idea of how many people to expect and no one goes hungry. There will be food and games and books for sale. You may win the Fiber Gourmet gift basket! Several people have already told me they're coming, but I'd like to get as accurate of a count as possible by Tuesday so I can finalize the plans. Thanks! Hope to see you there. Also, if you live in the Indianapolis area, I'm scheduled to be on the Fox Morning News on Thursday, May 1st at about 8:30 am. Set your TiVos....continue

Hungry Girl: Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt-Free Eating in the Real World by Lisa Lillien I think I first became aware of the Hungry Girl web site and mailing list when someone linked to her Rome Apple + Diet Dr Pepper recipe. Cooking with soda seems so inherently wrong that I had to try it. The baked apple itself was rather underwhelming, but I liked the upbeat, fun attitude of the site and the cute illustrations. Plus, all the recipes are low-calorie and aimed at healthy eaters. Earlier in the month I was trolling around the Amazon best-selling books list, by no means doing anything as self-centered and vain as checking my own book's Amazon ranking every hour (it was more like every day), when I saw that Hungry Girl, aka Lisa Lillien, has a book out too. How cool! I love to see writers who started on the...continue

Yesterday's review of the Hungry Girl book sparked an interesting discussion question - does low-calorie food equal healthy food? The answer seems to be sometimes yes and sometimes no. It reminds me of the logic class I had to take in college where we'd have to decipher statements like: All sparrows are birds Not all birds are sparrows. Some sparrows are black. If Lulu is a black bird, is she a sparrow? Except this is a more complicated since not all low-calorie foods are healthy and not all healthy foods are low-calorie. How do I write an "if, then" statement for that? One of the reasons it took me so long to start eating healthy is because I couldn't figure out what "healthy" meant. What do you eat when you eat healthy? Rice cakes? Tofu? It's even more confusing because you have to look at a person's overall diet and...continue