I never thought tripping over my own feet could be so much fun! I recently started using Zumba, a fitness DVD guaranteed to get you up and moving, and loving every step you take. If you’ve never heard of Zumba, imagine Latin style dance aerobics. Now imagine the fast, pumping music, the handsome men, the hips of Shakira - it’s all there! You’ll burn calories while sculpting your body. It’s fun and addictive!

The Zumba set includes 4 DVDs and an audio CD. The first DVD teaches you the steps to a variety of dances used throughout the Zumba series. You’ll learn to do the mambo, rumba, salsa, flamenco, and more! You don’t have to be a good dancer to get a workout from Zumba, but you’ll probably be a better dancer before you know it. It’s so much fun! The other DVDs include Power, Advanced, and one designed for Abs, Buns, and Thighs. The Power DVD includes a bonus section for kids. They do move pretty quickly, so novices may not be able to keep up at first. If I can get the hang of it then anyone can, so don’t give up!

This fitness DVD set is for everyone that hates traditional aerobic DVDs. It’s for everyone that loves to dance, or thinks they can’t dance. It’s for adults and kids. Zumba is fairly easy on the joints, unlike some other types of aerobics. Did I mention that it’s also fun?

You can also visit Zumba studios all over the country and take classes. We’ve heard that some classes stay so busy that people are routinely turned away. If you don’t have a class in your area, try the DVD set. You can purchase directly from Zumba for $49.95, or check eBay for good deals on new sets. When you visit the Zumba website, click to view the Zumba DVD preview and you can get a hint of what’s in store for you.

Have fun!

Fat makes everything taste better. It makes our salad dressings creamier, our baked goods moister, and makes everything taste better because it’s a flavor carrier. It also does a fantastic job at increasing our spare tires and thunder thighs. So, you’ve decided you can live without the thunder thighs, but do you really need to sacrifice the good qualities that fat brings to our foods? Z-Trim can help you reduce calories by replacing up to half of the fat in your favorite recipes without adding any calories or affecting the flavor or texture.

Have you heard of Z-Trim? You probably haven’t heard of this new product because it’s not in stores yet. In You on a Diet, authors Drs. Oz and Roizen mentioned Z-Trim as a substance that could eventually change the way we eat by reducing fat and calories in our favorite foods. Z-Trim is a fat free, calorie free, and taste-free natural product that is made from the bran of corn, oats, and other grains. It is used to replace some of the fat in our recipes and can make a substantial difference in how many calories we consume. We were curious, so we decided to try it out.

Z-Trim isn’t available in stores, but it can be purchased online at www.ztrim.com. It is available as a gel or powder. The gel is ready to use and can be squirted from the bottle directly into your recipes. The powder should be blended with water to create a gel before using. The powder can also be added dry to increase fiber content of your recipes. Weight Watchers members should love it because it can help reduce points per serving in some recipes by reducing fat and calories.

You can’t use Z-Trim to replace ALL of the fat in your recipes, just part of it. The texture or consistency of your foods would suffer. Plus, we need some fat in our diets for good health. We just don’t need as much as most people get. Z-Trim recommends replacing between 25% and 50% of the fat with their product. Different recipes will react differently, so you may need to experiment and start with 25% replacement and gradually move up.

We tried Z-Trim in several recipes with great success. First, we baked two batches of oatmeal cookies from a mix. The package said to add 1 stick of butter, and we decided to try a 50/50 split of butter and Z-Trim. We then passed the cookies around a family gathering and asked for opinions without telling them what we had done. There were subtle differences between the two cookies. The Z-Trim cookies raised a tiny bit more than the regular cookies, so they were slightly cake-like, but still very moist. Most people preferred this texture. Everyone also said the Z-Trim cookies were not as sweet as the regular cookies, which was not expected. However, they also said the preferred them over the regular cookies.

We have a fat-free coffee cake recipe that we love, but can be a little dry, especially the next day. We added a small amount of Z-Trim to the recipe to see if it made it moister, and it worked! They were still good a few days later. We haven’t tried it, but we’ve heard that Z-Trim can also be added to lean ground beef recipes to replace the moistness lost when you choose a very lean mixture.

To be honest, replacing the fat in your cookies or cakes will only make a small dent in your daily calories. Our cookies were only reduced by 11 calories per cookie. Unless you have blue fur and live on Sesame Street, then you probably won’t benefit as much from this change. We’d suggest just eating fewer cookies.

The best use for Z-Trim may be to extend and reduce fat in salad dressings, mayonnaise, and similar products. On to our next experiment!

We love spinach dip - who doesn’t! Recipes vary, but we followed one that used a cup of sour cream, a cup of mayonnaise, chopped spinach, water chestnuts, and Knorr soup mix. A two-tablespoon serving contains around 95 calories and 10 grams of fat. We left the sour cream alone, but we replaced half of the mayonnaise with Z-Trim. This dropped the calories down to 62, with just 6 grams of fat. The recipe was still perfect and no one could tell we’d changed anything. Since we must admit that we can’t stop at just two tablespoons of spinach dip, this small change reduced the calories by one third, and one third less guilt means a lot at the end of the day.

Fat-free salad dressings are easy to find, but not everyone likes them. Sometimes the flavor isn’t as good, or the ingredient lists are scary. We usually buy regular dressings and measure very carefully. We decided to combine Z-Trim with with some of our favorite dressings and every test was a success! Instead of replacing the fat in a recipe, adding Z-Trim actually extended purchased dressings so we used less, and it lasted longer. We had good luck with creamy dressings such as Ranch, as well as a good balsamic vinaigrette made with olive oil. We also combined a 3 to 1 mixture of mayonnaise and Z-Trim and couldn’t tell the difference.

The last time we heard a buzz about fat replacers, we were handed Olestra. You know the one - foods made with Olestra are found near the Depends adult diapers. Z-Trim doesn’t have any nasty side effects. The only down side is that you can’t fry with it. And it wouldn’t be much fun to spread it on your toast. Otherwise, it’s a great way to cut the fat and reduce calories in some of your favorite recipes!

To learn more about Z-Trim or to make a purchase visit www.ztrim.com

The supermarkets are filled with single serving packages of snacks and treats, most of which are high in calories and fats. Sure, we could buy the newer 100 Calorie snack packs, but they are usually devoid of nutrition and some aren’t much more than glorified junk food. Surely there’s a better choice out there! Well, we think we found it on the internet with Penny’s Low Fat Desserts. Penny makes big, fat cookies and full size muffins that offers a lot of bang for the buck. Most of her products contain between just 100 and 140 calories each, though you’d never know it by their size. They are all natural, and free of trans-fats and high fructose corn syrup. How many supermarket treats can make that claim? Plus they are super high in fiber, and Weight Watchers members will love them because they weigh in at just 1 or 2 points each!

We recently tried several varieties of Penny’s muffins and cookies. We were a little worried that they might taste like cardboard, considering they were so low in calories and high in fiber. In fact, all of the flavors we tried were very tasty! Penny doesn’t use any artificial sweeteners in her baked goods, so everything is sweetened naturally. However, they are just lightly sweetened so the flavors aren’t overpowered by sugar - and neither are our hips!

We tried six varieties of muffins including Black Forest, Blueberry, Apple Cinnamon, Orange Cranberry, Banana Oat, and Lemon Poppy. We were surprised by how satisfied we felt after eating just one muffin. We enjoyed them for breakfast and felt surprisingly full until lunch. We all agreed that our favorite flavor was the Blueberry, with Lemon Poppy coming in second. All of the flavors were delicious and just lightly sweetened so we knew we were eating muffins, not cakes. Each muffin contains between 110 and 140 calories, hardly any fat, and 5 grams of fiber.

We also tried Penny’s jumbo cookies, and tasted the Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter, Macaroon, Oatmeal Raisin, Lemon, and Mocha Chip varieties. The cookies are not your typical flat, hard cookies. They are very thick - about an inch thick - and are more like dense cakes. They are probably 3 or 4 inches in diameter, so they make a very substantial dessert or snack. Each cookie contains 140 calories, 4 grams fat, and a whopping 8 grams of fiber! Ok, they aren’t as sweet as Mrs. Fields, but who needs all that extra sugar?

Penny’s muffins and cookies are individually wrapped, so they are easy to grab and go. They store well in the freezer or refrigerator. We thought they tasted best when slightly warmed in the microwave and served with cold, skim milk. We should get at least 25 or 30 grams of fiber per day, and Penny’s products contain 5 to 8 grams per serving. Who knew it could be this easy? We were very happy with our order from Penny’s Low Fat Desserts, and think they are worth clucking about!

Ditch the supermarket baked goods, and visit Penny at www.pennyslowfatdesserts.com to learn more and place your orders!