Kami Gray--

It’s not exactly news that many American food manufacturers put cheap, fat-making, toxic, fake fillers in our food, but did you know that the ratio of fat-to-salt-to-sugar can also be cleverly combined to reach an ideal BLISSPOINT that makes food addictive and nearly impossible to resist? I didn’t! It doesn’t make a lick of a difference to me in terms of my own diet because those foods never reach my lips, but how are YOU doing in your attempt to avoid what author Dr. David Kessler of The End of Overeating calls HYPERPALATABLE FOODS?

In a recent article in the Washington Times, Dr. Kessler explains that, “Our brains start encoding everything about the hyperpalatable food - say a chocolate-chip cookie - so that the next time we see or think about a chocolate-chip cookie, we almost can hear the crinkle of the cellophane wrap, feel the crunch of the first bite between our teeth and taste the intense explosion of chocolate, fat and sugar.The experience of the chocolate-chip cookie becomes multisensory.  Multisensory and almost impossible to resist, the thought of the cookie raises dopamine levels in the brain, which sends waves of anticipation through the body.”

So how do we avoid something like an overly-processed, packaged, strategically-engineered chocolate chip cookie in the first place? You can start by changing the way you think about a chocolate chip cookie. Visualize what it should look like, taste like, and feel like to eat it? I’m serious. Redefine what food bliss means to you. I didn’t know about all this blisspoint stuff when I wrote my book, but coincidentally, I discuss food bliss in my book — in a chapter appropriately titled, Food Bliss! To me, food bliss occurs every single time I take a bite of something, without exception, because I only eat foods that meet my criteria for healthy eating.

My chocolate chip cookie isn’t quite as sweet, gooey, or smooth in texture as your average store-bought cookie, but mine doesn’t make me fat because I can stop at just one as it’s not perfectly-engineered to prompt addictive behavior while I’m eating it. Because of my cookie’s wholesome ingredients, it also doesn’t drain my energy or contribute negatively to my health. I can trust my cookie because I made it - or someone I know and trust did. Wanna find out for yourself?

Here’s my chocolate chip cookie recipe (adapted from my sister Kelly’s energy bars, which are in the recipe section of my book):

NOTE: you can make these into cookies or bars…I’m lazy and bars are quicker and easier to prepare. Use local, certified organic ingredients if possible.

• 1 one-fourth cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon expeller-pressed organic canola oil
• one-fourth cup toasted wheat germ
• one-fourth cup whole wheat flour
• one-fourth cup flaxseed meal
• one-fourth cup amber agave nectar or raw honey
• 1 large egg white
• 2 tablespoons plain nonfat yogurt
• 2 teaspoons unsulphured dark molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• one-half teaspoon sea salt
• one-third cup dark chocolate chips
• one-fourth cup raisins and/or chopped dried apples or apricots (optional)
• one-fourth cup sunflower seeds (optional)

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Brush an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan with canola oil. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine wet ingredients in a separate, smaller bowl. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture until thoroughly combined. Spread the mixture in the prepared pan and press down firmly and evenly using an oiled rubber spatula. Bake in the center of the oven for 18 to 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven, let cool completely, and cut into bars to serve.

Make these sometime and let me know if these tasty treats hit your blisspoint.

Kami Gray is a Portland based TV and Film Wardrobe Stylist with a Ph. D. (Pretty Hot in Denim). She has worked with Hollywood stars like Patty Duke, Shannen Doherty, Amy Smart, John Corbett, and Jenny McCarthy. Her creations have appeared in commercials for Toyota, Nike, Discover Card, and other major companies and in television shows such as House, Veronica Mars, and Hell’s Kitchen. Kami is also the author of The Denim Diet: 16 Simple Habits to Get You Into Your Dream Pair of Jeans (New World Library/ Mar 2009). (Visit her online at thedenimdiet.com, kamigray.com and blog.kamigray.com/

Book Review: The Denim Diet by Kami Gray

Dieting For Dumb Dumbs

Book Review: The End of Overeating by David Kessler

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