www.canoe.ca

-By Ivana Tavernese

Let's face it, while eating well and excerise is an important routine to feeling healthy, most of us do it to lose weight. For example, I've promised myself that I would lose those extra 12 pounds I've gained since I've met my fiance for our wedding day. While I do want to eat better for my health, my short term goal right now is to look awesome in a bikini. At first I couldn't understand how spending one hour at the gym three times a week did not make me lose weight. I did the cardio, I lifted the heavy weights, I did what I thought I was supposed to do.

Well, almost. I also kept eating my favourites like chocolate, big bowls of pasta, french fries and of course, potato chips.

It wasn't until I was forced to eat the right foods, that I realize how much of a difference eating healthy could mean to my waist line. I was offered to try out The Specialty Gourmet's home delivery service for one week and it has changed my life--ok, I can't say that yet for sure, but it has definitely changed my month and my weight.

The Specialty Gourmet, a Vancouver-based diet delivery service, launched in Toronto last month to a waiting list of locals anxious to try out the cuisine. Depending on the package you choose, your breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack will be delivered to your doorstep each morning without you having to worry about grocery shopping for the right foods, cooking the right way or counting your calories--it's all done for you.

"Our clients see fast, dramatic weight loss on this program," says Deanna Embury, President of The Specialty Gourmet. "They also love that shopping and cooking are no longer part of their hectic lifestyles."

Nigel Malkin, Co-owner and also President of The Specialty Gourmet, says the idea for the company grew from watching an episode of Entertainment Tonight. "I saw a story on how Charlie Sheen lost thirty pounds on The Zone Diet [through a special delivery service] and I wanted to sign up for myself." But as the story goes, Malkin could not find such a service in Vancouver and decided to start one himself.

HOME DELIVERY

The service began in June 2002 by offering only The Zone Diet and the Healthy Living Menu. A year later, The Specialty Gourmet added The Atkins Diet? to its roster and sales volume doubled within two months. "The success in Vancouver has just been through the roof," says Malkin. And if preliminary interest is any indication, the same can be predicted for Toronto.

Malkin says the majority of clients are busy professionals who want to eat healthier. "A lot of single people don't like to cook for just one person," he says. There tends to be two types of clients using this service. There are those who have stuck with the service for more than a year and a half and others who only use it for a couple of months. Malkin completely understands the turn over clients and in fact welcomes customers to use the service as a learning tool. "It's certainly a premium service and many don't want to spend money all the time. [But trying this for a couple of months or so] you can learn how to portion your meals and learn what to eat or skip."

That's exactly what happened to me. I have to admit the cost is pretty steep. On The Zone Diet, breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks will cost you $37.99 per day. Breakfast, Lunch and a snack is $28.99 per day. Lunch, dinner and a snack is $29.99 per day and Breakfast dinner and a snack is $29.99 per day. In my case, the food was very good 75 per cent of the time, the other 25 per cent I could have done without. But that's OK because with The Zone Diet, there is a great variety of foods to choose from the menu. So, if I were to continue the service, I would just find a few more dishes to substitute the 25 per cent of the food I wasn't too crazy about.

Here's what my week looked like:

Monday:

I opened my door to find a red cooler. I was so excited. I did not have to make my lunch that day and did not have to worry about what to cook for dinner. Plus, I love surprises and in each little container there was a tasty surprise.

Breakfast: West Coast Breakfast Parfait--This was delicious. It was fresh yogurt topped with oats, dried fruit and fresh fruit on top.

Lunch: Grilled Scallop Salad. I was disappointed by the scallops, they looked and tasted more like tofu to me. But the rest of the salad was OK.

Dinner: BBQ Chicken Dinner. I liked this. In fact, I still don't know the secret to how tender they get their chicken. It was very delicious.

Snack: Oatmeal Coconut Ball. These were awful. They were pasty in texture and the taste was awful. I let friends try them and they agreed with me. So I would probably avoid this menu option.

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Monterey Jack Cheese Quiche. I wasn't too impressed with this. It was too salty for my liking. I had to throw it out and make myself some scrambled eggs.

Lunch: Veggie Pad Thai: Very good. But there weren't any noodles, I think. If there were, they were so thin that I hardly noticed they were there. Dinner: Lemongrass Chicken with Steamed Vegetables. Awesome. How do they get the chicken so tender?

Snack: Zone bar and Peaches with Blackberry Sauce. Tasty and very fresh. I was impressed.

Thursday:

Breakfast: Zucchini and Red Pepper Frittata. Better than the Quiche.

Lunch: Italian Antipasto Salad. Well, coming from an Italian family, it wasn't exactly what I expected. I was expecting calamari with a slice of melon and a variety of cold cuts. I received one type of cold cut and a regular salad. Tasty and fresh nonetheless, though.

Dinner: Swordfish Stir-fry. This was aweful. I couldn't eat it. I had to make myself some pasta. I know, I know, I caved.

Snack: Zone bar and Fresh Figs with Mascarpone. When I think of fresh figs, I think of the green or reddish figs, but these seemed a bit more on the dried side. However, I would recommend them because they are very tasty.

Friday:

Breakfast: West Coast Parfait. Perfect.

Lunch: Beef Kabobs with Fried Rice. This was my favourite lunch. The beef kabobs were absolutely delicious. My top lunch choice.

Dinner: Grilled Turkey with Asian Coleslaw. The turkey was not as tender as the chicken, but tasted good. The Asian Coleslaw was too creamy for my liking. If I were to order this again, I would definitely make it less creamy.

Snack: Zone bar and Peanut Butter Cheesecake. These were awful. Dare to say, worse than the Oatmeal Coconut Balls. Too bad, I was so looking forward to cheesecake. Should of ordered the figs or peaches again.

Saturday:

Breakfast: Maple Cinnamon Pancakes. The morning did not start off well. These were really hard and had no taste to them. I felt like was was biting into a stack of paper.

Lunch: Mexican Chicken Salad. Spicy but very good. I really liked the taste to this.

Dinner: Broiled Lamb Chops with Mixed Greens. These were too raw for my taste. They were completely red inside. So I really can't discuss the taste because I hardly ate it. Thankfully, my fiance and his family were cooking barbeque so they added a steak on for me.

Snack: Zone bar and Oatmeal Coconut Balls. I don't know maybe these are worse than the cheesecake. I can't decide.

Sunday:

Breakfast: Creole Omelette Souffle. Not crazy about this. I think I'm just a scrampled eggs and bacon kinda girl. But not bad.

Lunch: Tangy Chicken and Bean Salad. Good. But, I've realized tangy means really spicy.

Dinner: Vegetable Quiche. I liked this one.

Snack: Zone bar and Blueberry Yogurt. I was delightfully surprised about how fresh and tasty this snack was. It was freshly whipped yogurt with fresh blueberries and sliced almonds. MMmmmmm.....

All in all, I really enjoyed my week. I enjoyed the convenience of the delivery. The excitement of finding food at my doorstep, not having to cook, grocery shop or worry about counting calories. Actually, I think I would have lost a lot more weight had I stuck to only the food delivered to me. I will admit to cheating. Which I now regret, because maybe I would have lost more than the two pounds I did in this one week of eating right.

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