Carole Carson

Biography: Carole Carson, author of From Fat to Fit: Turn Yourself into a Weapon of Mass Reduction, serves as the coach for the AARP Fat to Fit online community. On the brink of 60 and just 5-foot-1, Carole Carson weighed 182 pounds. Then, unbelievably, she shed 62 pounds. Next, she turned around and inspired people in her community of Grass Valley, Calif., to lose 4 tons of weight together. Now she's doing the same for AARP members with the Fat to Fit Weight-Loss Challenge.

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Carole Carson 'sPosts

Eating Done Right: Eggplant—Food of the Week

Posted on 12/13/2012 by Carole Carson | Fat to Fit | Comments

FoodIsn’t eggplant an odd moniker for a purple vegetable? Just for the record, the eggplant is not really a vegetable. Technically, eggplants are considered fruit, and the first eggplants were small, round and white; hence the name. Whatever its history, once you’ve discovered eggplant, you are likely to make it a staple in your kitchen. Because of its bland taste, eggplant absorbs surrounding flavors, thus making it a versatile ingredient in many dishes, and the texture of cooked eggplant makes …

How Much Fat Should You Eat?

Posted on 12/6/2012 by Carole Carson | Fat to Fit | Comments

Personal HealthThe amount of information and advice swirling around us on how much and what kind of fat to eat is enough to make a person dizzy. We’re told some fats are bad for us (saturated fats and trans-fats) and others are good for us (monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats and omega-3 fats). Some diet experts, such as Dr. Dean Ornish, suggest a low-fat diet. Others, such as the Atkins diet, promote a high-fat diet. According to the following studies, however, even …

The Best-Kept Secret to Weight Loss

Posted on 11/8/2012 by Carole Carson | Fat to Fit | Comments

Personal HealthAre you ready to learn the best-kept secret to weight loss? It doesn’t involve purchasing a miracle product or submitting to a killer exercise routine. Nor does it involve weighing yourself three times a day or obsessing over every bite you put in your mouth. The best-kept secret is to develop and maintain a happy relationship with yourself. Many of us go to great lengths to please others and develop happy relationships with our spouses, parents, children and co-workers——even strangers. …

Try Steaming Pumpkin-Carrot Soup on a Frosty Fall Night

Posted on 11/1/2012 by Carole Carson | Fat to Fit | Comments

Personal HealthWhen it comes to calories, soup is such a bargain that even during the summer months, I hate to give it up. But now that cold weather is returning, I can easily delve into my repertoire of filling soups for delicious and satisfying meals. My current favorite is Pumpkin-Carrot Soup, a recipe I created after experimenting with different ingredients. This recipe makes 8 to 10 generous servings, so I can easily keep a container or two in the freezer to …

Reduce Depression and Enhance Happiness with the Seven-a-Day Diet

Posted on 10/24/2012 by Carole Carson | Fat to Fit | Comments

Personal HealthCan peas replace Prozac pills and apples replace Abilify tablets? Hippocrates, who believed in the healing power of nature, may have been on to something when he advised us nearly 25 centuries ago to make food our medicine and medicine our food. In the intervening centuries, though, we seem to have ignored the first half of Hippocrates’s counsel—to make food our medicine—and misinterpreted his advice to make medicine our food. How else can we explain the record number of Americans …

Beans Replace Shortening in Yellow Cake? Really?

Posted on 10/18/2012 by Carole Carson | Fat to Fit | Comments

Personal Health | Your LifeI’ve been experimenting with a recipe that replaces shortening in brownies with an equivalent amount of black beans. I first noticed the recipe on Heidi Swanson’s wonderful Web site 101 Cookbooks. Heidi wished she had created the recipe but instead credited Ania Catalano’s new cookbook, Baking with Agave Nectar, as the source. Applesauce or vanilla yogurt had been my go-to replacements in the past. But the idea of using black beans in place of shortening intrigued me, and I couldn’t …