www.bethenny.com

If you’re a fan of “The Real Housewives of New York City,” then you know Bethenny Frankel. She’s not only a reality TV girl, though — she’s also a celebrity natural food chef, columnist for Health magazine and best-selling author.

First came Bethenny’s book “Naturally Thin,” detailing 10 real-life rules for escaping a lifetime of dieting, and now she’s written “The Skinnygirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life.” This is where she shares fast, practical and economical healthy recipes, then teaches us how to live without them. How perfect for those of us — like moms of busy little boys — trying to live cleaner lives in less time!

Bethenny also dishes on how we can minimize the “cooking noise” in our lives. Keep reading for some inspirational nuggets — and for the scoop on how to win one of her books.

• Do you hear yourself saying any of these things: I have no food in this house. I don’t have the slightest idea what to make for dinner. There is nothing to eat! I don’t know how to cook. That’s “cooking noise,” and you can stop it, and you can learn to feed yourself without stressing about it.
• Food is one of the most powerful tools you have for building a healthy body and a calm mind. Food can make you strong or weak, energized or depleted, skinny or fat. You are what you eat — it’s true.
• Being naturally thin is a practice — you will never be perfect (no one is), but you can choose a healthy path and keep plugging along on it.
• Recipes are a bit like kindergarten. You learn some basics (how do Whole Grain Blueberry Pancakes, a Healthier Cobb Salad and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies sound?), then you gain the confidence to branch out on your own. When you know how to cook, you won’t need recipes anymore.

OK, I could go on, but then you wouldn’t need the book, and I really think you should get it. Or you could enter this giveaway for a chance to win a free copy. Details follow:

• Leave a comment and share why you need this book!
• Leave your comment no later than 5PM ET on Tuesday, January 12, 2010.
  
• You may enter only once.
• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, and the District of Columbia, who are 18 and older.
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
• One winner will receive one copy of “The Skinnygirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life,” valued at $16.00.
• Winners will be notified by email, so make sure to check next week to find out if you’ve won!

Want another chance to win? Same giveaway going on at my Breast Cancer blog. Click here and enter again!

Danny

Danny is obsessed with numbers lately. Ages are big — “Mom, how old were you when I was 2?” he might ask. Or “Dad, how old will you be when I’m 19?” We’re trying to teach him that I’m 33 years older than him and that John is 35 years older. That way, he can answer his own questions. It’ll take some time, though — he’s only 6, after all.

The numbers on nutritional labels are another story — he’s way more interested in them, and he can pretty much compare, contrast and make important decisions all by himself. Case in point: Yesterday.

Danny came out of school yesterday afternoon and announced that he chose white milk instead of chocolate milk at lunch. “That’s great,” I told him. “White milk is healthier.” He agreed, schooling me on the fact that chocolate milk has 25 grams of sugar and 8 grams of protein, while white milk has 10 grams of sugar and 8 grams of protein. And that’s why he chose white over chocolate — it’s healthier.

I did a little fact checking just now, and sure enough, Danny was pretty right on. Check out chocolate milk here at The Daily Plate. And white milk here. The guy knows his stuff. And if he keeps making solid choices like the one he made today, I’m thinking he’ll live a long and healthy life.

And if he makes it to, say, 85, how old will I be?

Uugh.

Joey, 2002

My fabulous Facebook friends answered my plea for healthy lunch and snack ideas for picky kids. Well, kid, in my case — Danny is an adventurous eater. Joey is not. And the boy reports he’s “starving” every day after school, which tells me his growing body needs more.

Armed with a new list of yummy eats (see below), I’ve been to the grocery store, shelled out $110 on nutritious grub, stocked my fridge and shelves,  and now I eagerly await a thumbs-up or down when I pick up my choosey child today after class lets out. Fingers crossed he’s happy. Fully expecting he’s not.

• Hummus/cream cheese tortilla roll-up with thinly-sliced cucumber, apple or deli meat.
• Hummus with pita bread triangles.
• Tuna or chicken salad in a pita pocket.
• Hard-boiled eggs, either peeled or chopped into a lettuce salad.
• Frozen yogurt tubes.
• Grapes and cubes of cheese threaded on a small juice-box straw, like a skewer.
• Mashed/seasoned cooked beans with spread on tortilla with cheese.
• Black bean brownies.
• Trail mix with nuts, sunflower seeds and some peanut M&Ms for a little sweetness.
• Laptop Lunches has lots of great ideas, too.

Some of the other stuff I picked up:

• Light, low-sugar yogurt.
• Low-fat cottage cheese.
• Sargento light string cheese.
• 100-percent whole wheat wraps.
• Shaved, smoked turkey breast.
• Smart Taste pasta.
• Black beans.
• Carrots, celery, cucumber.
• And we always have loads of fresh fruit.

Umm, Umm.

Give John something sweet, and he’ll probably demolish it. Give me something that resembles a cracker and comes in a box, and I’ll eat every last crumb.

Sitting before me at the kitchen counter is Danny, begging for his third bowl of Ritz crackers filled with fake cheese, and Joey, polishing off a big bowl of fudge swirl ice cream.

There’s a reason we don’t regularly keep snacks like these in our house — they’re just not nutritious, and we’d rather stock our kitchen with healthy grub. But when it comes down to it, it’s more likely that we shun the junk because we adults have no self-control. Will the crackers and ice cream sit untouched while little boys sleep tonight? I sure hope so.