How to Save on Groceries, Fight Hidden Food Inflation

How much attention do you pay to the cans, boxes and bottles you buy at the supermarket? If you pay close attention, you might have noticed your favorite products--even healthier ones--shrinking. If, like most consumers, you just grab an item and toss it in your cart, you might not have observed the change--and that's what food manufacturers and marketers hope.

From a NYT story:

“Whole wheat pasta had gone from 16 ounces to 13.25 ounces,” she said. “I bought three boxes and it wasn’t enough — that was a little embarrassing. I bought the same amount I always buy, I just didn’t realize it, because who reads the sizes all the time?”

Ms. Stauber, 33, said she began inspecting her other purchases, aisle by aisle. Many canned vegetables dropped to 13 or 14 ounces from 16; boxes of baby wipes went to 72 from 80; and sugar was stacked in 4-pound, not 5-pound, bags, she said.

Five or so years ago, Ms. Stauber bought 16-ounce cans of corn. Then they were 15.5 ounces, then 14.5 ounces, and the size is still dropping. “The first time I’ve ever seen an 11-ounce can of corn at the store was about three weeks ago, and I was just floored,” she said. “It’s sneaky, because they figure people won’t know.”

Commodity prices are rising; there's no arguing that. What guests on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show debated this week was whether it's deceptive to charge the same amount for products when consumers are getting less--without knowledge. They used examples such as tuna fish that's now sold in 5-ounce cans instead of 6-ounce cans, 64-ounce bottles of OJ that now have just 59 ounces, and potato chips with 20% fewer chips.

That's the bad news. But there's good news: You can still save on groceries, despite shrinking products. Here's how.

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Win 'Yoga for Small Spaces' Cards

Today's giveaway is great for anyone who travels often, has limited mobility or spends a good deal of time sitting. (That's pretty much everyone, right?) We're giving away two sets of Yoga for Small Spaces cards (a $19.99 value)!

We say: Yoga is great for loosening up the body after a hours spent sitting at a desk, in a car, or on a plane. I have been known to stretch in cars, on trains, at my desk, and even in line at the supermarket. These poses are great for beginners, and the illustrations are fun and helpful for newbies. (You can find more seated yoga poses here.)

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Are YOU the Face of Fitness?

Have you reached your goals using SparkPeople? Want to share your story and inspire others?

Our friends at Fitness have a super cool contest right now that is the perfect outlet for all those SparkPeople Success Stories out there.

"The Face of Fitness Photo Contest" runs through April 16 and requires just a few photos and a short essay. If selected as a finalist, you could win a photo shoot with the magazine in NYC, and the grand prize winner gets a trip to Hawaii!

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You Asked: How Do I Breathe in Yoga?

For my students, breathing is the topic in yoga that prompts the most questions: How do you breathe in yoga? Should it be loud? How do I make that "noise" when I breathe? When the poses get too hard, I become out of breath. How can I keep breathing?

Breathing is one of the most important elements--some would argue that it's the most important element--of a yoga practice, but for many of us, it is among the hardest to master. We focus on the stretch, the strength or the balance that is required to get into a pose, and we neglect the breath. I was guilty of that same attitude when I started practicing yoga.

What did it matter if my breath was short or long, shallow or deep, through the nose or the mouth?

As it turns out, it mattered greatly. If your breathing isn't relaxed, your body can't relax into the poses. If your body isn't relaxed, your mind can't relax. And if your mind isn't relaxed, you can't draw the full benefits from your yoga practice. Proper breathing and control, known as pranayama, is one of the eight "limbs" of the philosophy of yoga; asana, which is the physical practice most of us know as "yoga," is another of the limbs.

Practically speaking, breathing slowly can lower your heart rate. It also brings fresh oxygen to the lungs, and in turn, the rest of the body.

In yoga, we use a type of breath called ujjayi (ooh-JAH-ee), which means "victorious" in Sanskrit. To summarize, I tell my classes their breath should be slow, deep, and even. The breath is meant to simultaneously relax and energize the body. In flowing yoga classes, the breath sets the rhythm for the practice. Each movement is linked to a breath. Inhale, you move into pose, exhale you move out of it. The breath, I tell my students, is your metronome. In, out, in, out. The body matches the breath.

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Win 1 of 5 Copies of 'Ravenous'

The winners are: CMB113, TBRETT73, LUNDY01, VICKIWEIGHTLOSS, and ARROW831. I'm thrilled to announce this week's giveaway: FIVE copies of the book Ravenous: A Food Lover’s Journey from Obsession to Freedom by Dayna Macy. When we shared an excerpt from the book earlier this month, the response was tremendous. Dayna herself was thrilled as well, and she'll be returning to the dailySpark with a new guest post very soon!

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Fun Fitness Fashions for Spring!

The first signs are spring are, well, springing here in Cincinnati, and I'm thrilled! This time of year I love to start searching for new and fun workout clothes. Here are a few of the new items that caught my eye while searching online.

LIVESTRONG Essential Women's Sports Top ($23.97) from Nike (above)

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Leaning In to the Sharp Points of Life

"Lean into the sharp points and fully experience them. The essence of bravery is being without self-deception. Wisdom is inherent in (understanding) emotions." ~Pema Chodron

As you might already know, in December I sliced off the tip of my finger while chopping green onions for dinner. My new chef's knife was sharper than I realized. Though my fingers were curled under (as Chef Meg instructs), I let the knife wander between my third and fourth finger. My poor ring finger was decapitated.

I immediately dropped the knife, squeezed my wounded finger and burst into tears. Words that a lady shouldn't say escaped my mouth.

"… cut off my finger…"

"…finger is gone…"

After a few seconds of shock and confusion--the profanity-laced sentences were hard to translate, and not to delve into semantics, but it was quite evident I didn't actually "cut off my finger" but just the tip--my beau sprang into action. I sank to the ground, leaned against the wall, and held my finger above my heart as he called our doctor friend and my mother.

For the next two hours, I endured some of the worst pain I'd ever experienced. I cried, I screamed a few times, and I uttered a few more words I usually don't say.

At the hospital, they deemed it an avulsion.

"Totally gone," said the doctor.

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Win 1 of 3 Pirate's Booty Chests

The winners are RKVIST, MGORHON, and JAYLYNZ.

Ahoy, mateys! It's not Talk Like a Pirate Day, but you might be inspired to do so after you read about today's Welcome to the Weekend Giveaway! (Last week's winners of the Yoga Download giveaway can be found here.)

We're giving away 3 chests full of Pirate's Booty! With 130 calories per generous serving and half the fat of potato chips, this is a tasty crunchy snack. The puffed rice and corn snacks now come in several flavors, from aged Cheddar to chocolate. (We tried it! Think of a subtler, puffier Cocoa Puff.) They also have a line of baked potato chips. Regardless of which one you choose, you can be assured that that these lower-cal snacks won't make your booty bigger. (**She snickers!**)

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SparkPeople Site Announcements and News

Looking for past SparkPeople announcements?
Find all of them here, on the SP_STAFF SparkPage blog.

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What We're Reading: The Latest in Healthy Living

Ravenous: A Food Lover's Journey from Obsession to Freedom by Dayna Macy. How can a food lover and lifelong overeater learn to be satisfied? A beautifully written memoir that will appeal to anyone who has an emotional attachment to food. (Look for an excerpt on the dailySpark on March 1!)

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The Caregivers Survival Guide

With 65 million Americans currently fulfilling the "caregiver" role in some capacity, Woman's Day releases their CAREGIVING ISSUE (on newsstands now!) candidly discussing the responsibility of taking on loved ones' health issues and the personal toll that it takes on individuals and their families.

Almost one-third of American households have someone serving as an unpaid family caregiver. Typically, it's a 50-year-old woman who spends a minimum of 20 hours a week as caregiver on top of her paid job. The March issue details everything one needs to know from how to prepare financially and the choices between insurance carriers, doctors, and hospitals to what food to bring to people when they are in need.

Today our friends at Woman's Day share the Caregivers Survival Guide:

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What's Your 6-Word Success Story?

Have you seen the six-word love stories that are circulating the Internet? NYT's Tara Parker-Pope is asking for submissions, as part of the website Smith Magazine's 6-Word Memoir project.

As much fun as it is to write those, the "love stories" I wrote seemed a bit esoteric and personal to share here, so I wrote another kind of 6-Word Memoir: the Success Story. After all, that's more appropriate for a blog like ours.

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Win Chocolate from Equal Exchange

The winner is... TERRY155!!! Editor's Note: The dailySpark hosts weekly "Welcome to the Weekend" giveaways! Each Friday night visit dailySpark.com to enter to win great prizes that make healthy living a little easier--and a lot more fun. Every contest will be open for one week, so return every Friday night to enter a new one and see who won (I choose the winners earlier in the day on Friday)! We hope these contests (and the time you spend on the dailySpark and SparkPeople) get your weekends off to a healthy start!

This week we're giving away a gift box of chocolate from Equal Exchange. (I promise that this is the last "treat" giveaway for awhile. Next week's giveaway is fitness-themed!)

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Motivation Tips from an Olympic Snowboarder

We recently had the chance to interview Olympic silver medalist Gretchen Bleiler. The 29-year-old Ohio native is an active environmentalist in addition to her accomplishments as a snowboarder. She has paired up with the Playtex Sport “Be Unstoppable Movement." Read how Gretchen stays motivated (yes, even professional athletes have "off" days) and how she stays in shape when she's not snowboarding.

dailySpark: How do you motivate yourself on those days when you just don't want to work out?

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Meet Tiffany, a SparkPeople Success Story and the Next Big Star!*

When you work at SparkPeople, Success Stories are a big part of the water cooler chatter. We know all of our Success Stories by name, and we love to spread the word when a member of the SparkPeople "family" has a WooHoo moment!

"Did you hear about that member who lost 80 pounds and is a back-up singer for Beyoncé?"
"What? No way!"
"Yes. She has an amazing voice and has an album of her own. CBS News just did a story on her."
"Whoa. Such a great story!"

True story--and one that we're psyched to share with all of you.

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