Rocco Dispirito's "Now Eat This" Diet Followers

Hey Vicky! Thanks for the reply! I picked up the book at Borders. It was $23. I know it is MUCH cheaper on their website and I saw another user snagged it at Wal-Mart for about $18.

I just went grocery shopping for week one. I'll tell you my experiences with the ingredients and where to get stuff. First of all, I made a HUGE mistake. Living alone, I forgot that these recipes yield about 4 servings per recipe. I used his pre-assembled grocery list for week one to follow his six meal sample daily meals for 14 days (the first part of the "diet"). I spent nearly $600. Before you slap me, I have to preface by saying I had NOTHING at home. Spices, nothing. I'm a year out of college and my kitchen had become a storage place for knick knacks. With a reasonably stocked kitchen, you should be fine. Also, I bought the amount of ingredients he said to, not realizing at the time it was enough for four people. A lot of it's going to go to waste, I'm afraid, but you live and learn. From here out, I'll probably plan my weekly meals, picking two sets of 6 meals and make them for a week. I won't make that mistake again.

As far as the ingredients, I did encounter a few things I couldn't find at my local Cub Foods. A lot of the meats (chorizo, sushi-grade tuna, beef tenderloin, etc.) I had to go to Lunds/Byerly's (a more "upscale" grocer). Likelwise, the Macha Green Tea Powder (expensive, too!) was hard to find. I managed to find it at Whole Foods, but it set me back about $26. If you can do online grocery shopping, I HIGHLY recommend doing it for this, as you'll spend a LONG time searching the racks for some of the more obscure items.

You should be able to find most everything at a Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Kowalski's, Lunds, or Byerly's, however. Highlight the items you know Wal-Mart would have to save a few cents from the mark up at those more luxe stores, and buy only what you need to at the specialty stores.

I have seen him with Dr. Oz, Oprah, and on my favorite XM Radio station. This cookbook has a LOT of positive reviews, and has delicious food options, including desserts! His secret is that he substitutes a lot of "bad" ingredients with healthier ones, which cut the calorie load by as much as 75%. It's not a secret what the diet is. As long as you're following the 1,200 - 1,400 calorie plan (everything is color coded so it's REALLY easy to build a calorie-restricted meal), and exercising mildly, you will lose weight. You'll also feel better, because he REALLY hates anything processed or unnatural.

One word of advice. I did have some difficulty with the breads. Marketing is misleading. Be very careful when buying the whole wheat stuff, making sure that it is, in fact, 100% whole wheat. Also, the Greek yogurt he calls for in his recipes vary. Some of it is completely fat free, some is 2% and other is "regular". I found this out after I bought a lot of the regular kind.

Sorry for the novel!!!

As someone who really hates grocery shopping (I'd rather go to the dentist), I struggled. I looked at Rocco's Week #1 recommended grocery list and realized I had none of those things. As I said before, being out of college recently, I have never REALLY stocked my kitchen with the essentials. Outside of overbuying without realizing the recipes called for ingredients to serve four people per meal, I spent about $600 on groceries and supplies. It makes me want to cry. But you learn and you move on.

I've noticed though, that in looking at the receipt, a lot of the stuff that cost a decent amount of money were the spices, extracts, mixer ingredients, and ESPECIALLY fruits. A lot of the stuff, though, are staples that will last me a long, long time. You have to invest to get a pay out at some point, so I guess that's how I'm rationalizing it.

Minneapolis is known for it's district co-ops, farmer's markets, and more. You made a great recommendation with the Hispanic and Indian markets for ingredients. I will definitely keep that in mind as I move forward.

On another note, have any of you prepared any of the recipes in this book or heard anything? He swears that anyone who can microwave can cook everything in this book. I look at some of them and get scared, not having ever REALLY cooked anything beyond basic items like Mac and Cheese, that I won't be able to do it or that I'll do it wrong.

I just saw an excerpt and a few recipes from this book in the Costco Connection and think I will check it out. The Vodka pasta sauce sounds really yummy and I am very curious to try Red Velvet squares made with beets and red beans!

Amy, I highly recommend stopping by a bookstore when you get a moment and flipping through the pages. If you're adept at cooking, you really don't need to read the first part about shopping lists or meal plans. There are SO many delectable looking recipes in here. My co-workers actually copied a few of them and have been raving about them nonstop.

An interesting thing about the Red Velvet Chocolate Squares is that he doesn't use ANY flour for them, which helps reduce the calories a lot. Down from 39 grams of fat and 636 calories to 1.5 grams of fat and 106 calories! He uses a batter composed of beets, red beans, cocoa powder, and red food coloring. He also says that the almond extract is what gives them the edge, and says that to fully enjoy, you should refrigerate them for at least to maximize the flavors.

Thanks for the info..I am going to get the book asap. Not a fan of seafood so i know that will take alot of recipes out of the equation but the rest of the fam is so thats good...i cant wait to try those brownies made with black beans I think it was. And no one mentioned the bonus of this book....the eye candy..WOOT!!!

Too funny. I actually am revolted by seafood. I have an almost panicky response to the scent, texture - everything. I know that some fish is very healthy for you, so I did buy a few for some of the recipes. I'll see if I can handle it. If not, I'll avoid buying the seafood in the future. I can't even do shrimp. Gives me the shivers thinking about it.

I know my finished product won't look nearly as nice as his press photos in the book, but I also know that it's not about how it looks - it's about how it tastes!