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My Monumental Makeover

For my monumental makeover, I decided that it was time for me to practice what I preach and start walking the walk...

In a nutshell, I spent 3 months watching the "Regis and Kelly" staff get in shape and while they were losing weight, I was gaining. UGH. I even convinced my "R&K" producer, Mariann Sabol, that I was on the same journey, but behind closed doors, I was constantly shoveling fries, sodas and muffins in my face. Needless to say, I was going through a little funk and needed my food to fill the funky void. (Who doesn't LOVE their french fries and sweets while in a funk? I do!!)

Well, the staff had lost their weight (Mariann looked great) and I had gained mine. YIKES. The breaking / turning point for me was when my doctor weighed me for my yearly checkup. My ego was telling me that I had gained a few pounds, but my ego was obviously on hiatus...HELLO!

Drum roll please! I got on the scale, took a deep breath, closed my eyes and waited for the dreadful news. After what seemed like an eternity, my doctor finally revealed the devastating news: I had reached my all time fashion high of 225 lbs. of fashionable fat. Huh. Now, the reality is that 225 lbs. at 6'2" isn't that bad, but the problem was that my body had no definition and I was very, very soft. A stylish SQUISH if you will. So, I decided to have one last meal (fries included) and the next morning, embark on MY "monumental makeover" journey.

My producer, Mariann, had given me the dates for our makeovers, which in turn gave me exactly 2 months to turn my life / body around and get healthy. So, my game was on.

In regards to food, I'm so busy, "making over America" cooking seemed impossible! What to do, what to do? So, I did a little research and stumbled across a food delivery system called, "SUNFARE". What they do is deliver a daily container filled with my food for the day, custom made just for me and my dietary needs. The concept is genius. John Stewart from Sunfare came to my home and guided me through the food, the assortment of choices and broke down a week's worth of meals. Due to the fact that I wanted to lose weight, he told me to eat 3 meals a day PLUS 3 small snacks, to keep my metabolism moving. I also wanted to add some size to my muscles so he added more protein, too. Truth be told, I was a little apprehensive at first but after day 2, I was completely sold. Not only was the food absolutely delicious, but I was also learning about food portions / combinations and exactly what to eat. YUM.

So my GAME WAS ON. I hit the gym 5 - 6 days a week, followed my trainer religiously and incorporated major cardio with my workouts and ate healthy. Exactly 2 months later, I've lost over 25 lbs., 3 inches off of my waist, 7% of my body fat and feel better than I have in a very long time. I can now show my face at "R&K" with my head held up high and proud.

If I can do it, anyone can. If anything, it's all about feeling "better" and most of all, being healthy. Working out makes me feel better about myself and when I feel better about myself, the world is a better place, too.

Meals by Mail

When celebs order in, it’s not for pizza – they dig in to gourmet light dishes from elite delivery services. And we have their best tips!

Sunfare Celeb clients Marcia Cross, Kate Beckinsale

What you get Meals that fit the Zone diet (30 percent protein, 40 percent carbs, 30 percent healthy fat). Clients pick their favorite ingredients so food is tailored to their taste buds.

Take home tip Eat what you love. Chuck "good for you" foods that you hate and stock up on healthy eats you actually enjoy.

Service specifics L.A. and Phoenix; $25 to $65 per day

Slimmer Gallagher set for series finale

Sean Gallagher is hoping he has a reason to treat himself to an ice cream bar on Wednesday.

Gallagher has lost more than 30 pounds since last season by changing his eating habits and subscribing to Sunfare, a company which provides personalized, healthy, fresh meals. The company, which delivers meals in Los Angeles and Phoenix, also lists Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood and catcher Geovany Soto as happy clients.

Now that Gallagher has lost the weight, what's the difference?

"My energy level is through the roof," Gallagher said Tuesday. "I wake up in the morning, and feel better."

That should help as the young right-hander tries to keep a spot in the Cubs' rotation. He'll make his third big league start in the series finale against the Astros.

"It might not seem like anything, but my confidence level is up, too," Gallagher said. "I feel like I look so much better. When I left Chicago for the last time last year, and I stepped on the scale, I was embarrassed. Mentally, I said, 'I'm fine, it's not that bad.' But when I saw that, I said, 'It isn't me. This isn't what I want to be.'

"That's when I talked to Woody, and everybody else. I said, 'I have to make a drastic change.' I set my goal, and did it."

What's tough now is keeping the weight off. Gallagher is exploring other food services in the Chicago area. The last time he stepped on the scale, he weighed 208. His goal is to stay around 210-215, quite a drop from 250.

"I talked to Soto about eating right up here, and sometimes you want to go for the sweet stuff, but you have to have the willpower to just say no," Gallagher said.

Anyone who has tried to keep weight off can relate to that. They probably don't have as much free food available as Gallagher does. The dining room in clubhouses is overloaded with temptations.

"You walk in here and they all have the little snacks, the candy, the Yoo-hoo, the Twinkies, and it's like, 'I wish,'" Gallagher said. "Every now and then, I'm sure you could spoil yourself and do some extra cardio the next day. That's the hardest part -- keeping it off. But if I start eating bad again, and start picking up bad habits, I know I'll gain it back real quick."

He did skip the grilled chicken breast, and ate an ice cream bar to celebrate his first win in his second career start against Pittsburgh.

"If I do that every once in a while, I'll be fine," he said. "If I start picking it up, I'll be back to bad habits."

THIN AFTER TWINS

Seven months after giving birth, the actress reveals how she got back into bathing-suit shape.

It was, Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon says, the “scariest part” of her pregnancy: when she stood on the scale and realized that, at 172 lbs., she weighed more than her husband, Michael, 40, a talent agent. “He’s a man!” she says. “So that wasn’t sexy – at all.” Still, after giving birth to twins Jax and Jaid last October, the 5’8” actress, 41, “really wanted my body to heal.” So instead of returning to the gym, she signed up for the low-carb diet delivery service Sunfare, which had her on 1,200 calories a day. (Typical meals include yogurt with almonds and fruit for breakfast and kung pao beef for dinner.) Five months after delivery, she had shed 30 lbs. to hit 142, and has now reached her goal of 135 lbs. with pilates and running on a treadmill for 40 minutes, three days a week. “I don’t have a six-pack,” she admits, “but if I did, it’d mean I wasn’t spending enough time with my kids. So I’m fine with it.”

Simple Success with Sunfare

With New Year’s resolutions nipping at our heels and Valentine’s Day on the horizon, February is a time when we are especially aware of striving to be the best people – individuals, spouses, business people and parents – we can be. So put overwhelming resolutions and wayward promises aside and welcome Sunfare into your home this year.

Sunfare is a unique service that prepares, packages and delivers healthy and savory meals to families throughout Phoenix and Los Angeles. Sunfare provides an answer for Valley families looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle, save on grocery expenses and spend less time laboring in the kitchen and more time enjoying each other’s company.

Sunfare’s program, the Sunfare Signature Diet, provides clients with five or six small meals per day to keep their metabolism burning and keeps the menu interesting by catering to the clients’ unique palate and nutritional needs. The groundbreaking element Sunfare utilizes for dieting success is customization. Meals can be custom tailored to reflect only the ingredients that a client likes to eat while using fresh and healthy recipes. Also, while meals start as “30/40/30” (meaning that 30% of a meal is protein, 40% carbs, and 30% fat) nutrient quantities can be adjusted to reflect a client’s preferences; if a client wants more protein and fewer carbs, for example, it can be easily accommodated. This approach ensures success, because it starts with satisfying the client by making the diet right for them.

“We understand that everyone is different. Aside from frequency of eating, one ‘way’ of dieting doesn’t work across the board; people have different tastes and different interests. We created the Sunfare Signature Diet to satisfy people’s unique dietary needs. By making it about the client, we’re bringing success back to dieting,” says Carl Ferro, Sunfare’s President.

Sunfare serves more than 1,000 people daily. Their meals are made fresh every day, tailored to each client’s tastes, and home-delivered by 7:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday. Four meal programs are offered: Sunfare Signature Diet, Sunfare Standard, Sunfare Vegetarian, and Sunfare Family Dinners.

Special Delivery

Personalized and Healthy Meals Delivered Every Day

The hottest new health food phenomenon is pre-packaged meals that are delivered directly to clients’ doorsteps. While some may argue this is lazy, John Stewart and Carl Ferro, the founders of Sunfare, say that home delivery is convenient.

People are busy, rushing from work to the gym to happy hour and everywhere else in between. Americans have come to love the stop-and-go of drive-thru dining, but because of the high fat content, Americans have also become obese. With the help of Sunfare, a service that makes and delivers all healthy meals, people can enjoy the convenience without packing on the pounds.

Using fresh ingredients, the workday at Sunfare never ends. The produce arrives to their large kitchen and office space on Seventh Avenue and Deer Valley road early in the morning, and a staff of more than 150 chefs and cooks work around the clock preparing meals for customers. The menus are tailored to each individual, despite the fact that Sunfare has more than 250 clients who they make meals for. When they first sign up, customers are given an extensive list of ingredients so they can pick the ones they like and leave out the ones they don’t [onions, ick]. “We wanted to make good food so people would want to eat it,” says Stewart.

Starting his professional career in nutrition and physical training consultation, Stewart partnered up with his college friend, Ferro, who was working in personal training, when both their jobs went sour. Stewart and Ferro created Sunfare 10 years ago in LA and have gained an A-list following that includes Mel B. of the Spice Girls and Charlie Sheen. Three years ago the friends opened their second location in Phoenix and business in the Valley is booming.

People all around Phoenix have been seeing immediate results from eating Sunfare meals, and Stewart and Ferro are constantly getting positive feedback from clients. Stewart tells of a woman who lost 50 pounds, got a boyfriend and is now engaged. “It’s about self-confidence, that glow in your fact just from being healthier,” Stewart says. “A guy just texted me to say he’s down seven pounds in seven days.”

Sunfare isn’t just about healthy foods, though, it also makes customer service a priority. “A lot of people come [to us] because of health and weight issues,” says Stewart. “[Sunfare is] very intimate and we want to help. We can come to your home and sit down and talk with you or do it over the phone. We want to get to know you.”

A client counselor is available to those seeking advice and is just a phone call away. Customers also have the flexibility to put delivery on hold while traveling.

Along with convenience, there’s the important factor of taste. Stewart’s personal favorite meal is the beef tacos while Ferro enjoys the au gratin pork chops and pesto tilapia, and 944 recommends the blueberry pancakes. New for Sunfare in 2008: the more affordable Sunfare Standard Diet, which offers the same great food and benefits, but at a lower cost; a catering service for small cocktail or home parties; and a recipe book which will feature delicious items along with celebrity testimonials.

A fare and balanced diet starts at www.sunfare.com.

Paula's Secret Diet

Paula Abdul is secretly dieting to get ready for next season’s American Idol, a source tells Star. Paula has the Sunfare Diet system delivered to her door three times a day. “Paula has lost six pounds,” says the source, “and she’s looking to lose twice that much. She says she feels better, and her boyfriend, J.T. Torregiani, thinks she looks fabulous.”

The Sunfare Way

John Stewart and Carl Ferro rebooted their business by maxing out a credit card. Now that’s priceless.

JOHN STEWART AND CARL FERRO never set out to become the kings of custom-meal delivery. The buddies moved to LA from Lawrence, Kansas, to surf and live the Southern California lifestyle. Work, of course, eventually became a necessity, so Carl, a certified trainer, set up a “sweat shop” while Stewart logged time at a Zone diet center.

Enter one well-connected client by the name of Lorenzo di Bonaventura, and Sunfare brown-bag-delivery service was born.

“There was a time when I could refer everybody back to Lorenzo,” reminisces Stewart of the business’ early days. Di Bonaventura shed 50 pounds, and everyone from Joel Silver to the cast of Friends signed up for Sunfare’s delivery service. But it wasn’t that easy. When Stewart and Ferro first agreed to provide Zone-sanctioned meals for di Bonaventura, their attempt flopped. “We had a choice between two caterers: a guy and a cute girl.” They went with the latter and it turned out her looks were hotter than her cooking. Di Bonaventura was ready to pull the plug, but Stewart refused to throw in the towel. He called the other caterer, went to the supermarket, maxed out this credit card, and delivered a new batch of meals 24 hours later. Next thing they knew, Stewart and Ferro were getting calls from movie stars. “I had a whole conversation with Sandy Bullock and didn’t know it was Sandra Bullock,” laughs Stewart.

In the early days, Sunfare food was cooked in the six-by-eight-foot kitchen at Max’s (now The Dime) on Farifax – a sharp contrast to their current digs, an 11,000-square-foot kitchen in Downtown LA. A custom technology system keeps track of more than 900 clients’ calorie counts, portions, dislikes, allergies, and special requests. But it’s the tasty recipes created by Ferro (think orange-ricotta crepes, almond-crusted lamb chops, pesto tilapia, and shrimp Caesar salad) that keep people devoted to Sunfare. One contented client even likens waking up to his cooler of food to Christmas morning. “Our mentality is ‘let’s give people food they like that speeds up their metabolism’,” says Stewart. “And we’ve had great results because people are satisfied – and they feel good.”

L.A. Diets

Sunfare Diets founders John Stewart and Carl Ferro both come from backgrounds in private training and nutrition. Many of Sunfare’s most popular meals are culled from Carl’s secret family recipes. They offer three meal programs: the Sunfare Signature Diet, Sunfare Vegetarian, and Sunfare Family Dinners. The Sunfare Signature Diet is a low-carb, well-balanced program great for weight loss, and Sunfare Vegetarian is its vegetarian counterpart. When it comes to dieting, their philosophy is simple: it’s easy to stick to it if you love the food you’re eating!

Marcia looks sexier than ever!

The secret of her success …Maintaining a healthy diet before and during her pregnancy also made a big impact. Marcia was on the Sunfare program for many years (until January), which delivered five small meals per day, such as salad, steak, chicken with nuts and fruit for snacks.

...Today, I want to tell you about the less exhausting part of my weight loss journey: my diet. Let's get one thing straight right off the bat: I LOVE FOOD!! Starting eating: no problem. Stopping eating: big problem.

Enter Sunfare.com to solve all of my eating problems. Sunfare has been feeding me breakfast, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner and a late night snack for the last three weeks. I haven't felt hungry at any time, and (here's the best part) I've already dropped more than 10 pounds!

Every morning I wake up to find a cooler of fresh food at my doorstep. (If you love food as much as I do, it’s like having Christmas morning every morning.) And this is real food! No processed-frozen- chemicalized-TV-dinner-type meals here. We’re talking filet mignon, fresh fruits, the best cheeses and salads that are meals unto themselves. In other words, this is better food than I could ever pick out or cook for myself.

Did you know Albert Einstein had seven versions of the same suit and tie in his closet so he wouldn’t have to put any extra thought into what he was going to wear that day? (At least that’s what Jeff Goldblum said in the 1986 version of “The Fly”.) Well that’s the same principal with Sunfare. It’s one less thing that I have to think about everyday. When I come home at night, there’s no, “Ugghhh, what am I going to do for dinner?” A delicious, healthy dinner is waiting for me every evening in the fridge.

Overeating is my biggest problem. I eat and eat until I start to feel full, and then 10 minutes after that, I feel REALLY full. And then 10 minutes after that, I’m on my couch, holding my now-expanding gut wondering how and why I ate that much food! Not the case with Sunfare. I gotta admit, the first few days, I had to train myself to not crave any more food when my meal was done. But now, it’s awesome. I haven’t experienced that gross bloated feeling in the last three weeks, and I don’t miss it one bit! And my stomach hasn’t growled once! I don’t know how they do it, but Sunfare gives me the perfect amount of food every time!

Actually, I do know how they do it. When you sign up with Sunfare, you give them your height, weight and age, and they figure out how many calories you need everyday to lose weight in a healthy fashion.) Sunfare lets you personalize your menu, too. They call you when you initially sign up and ask for your like and dislikes, and then they e-mail you your menu in advance, allowing you to make any changes you want to any meal. But I never change a thing. Why? Because, for example, even though I’m not a huge fan of green beans, I know I should be eating them. So when Sunfare sends me a dinner with green beans on the side, I eat them because I know the entire dinner will fill me. In other words, I use Sunfare to expand my palate.

So how does the Sunfare Signature Diet work? First the scientific explanation: it follows a balanced, low-carb dietary approach based on a "30/40/30" formula. This means that for every meal and snack served, 30% of it will be comprised of lean protein, 40% of whole wheat, low-carb or fresh, low-glycemic carbohydrates and 30% of heart healthy, monounsaturated fat. This keeps blood sugar stable and promotes a wide range of health benefits, but is best known for weight loss.

And now my explanation: I CAN EAT CARBS!! More specifically, my body doesn’t crave certain types of food because Sunfare gives me a wide variety (even breads). Trust me, I’ve tried every different diet on Earth in order to lose weight. Some work for a short time. But when you’re done with the diet, you go right back to the negative eating habits that got you to that overweight state in the first place. With Sunfare, you don’t feel like you’re on a diet, so there’s never a need to go back to your old ways. How many times have you heard, “Don’t diet, change your lifestyle.” Well, Sunfare is the best way to do just that.

Let’s get back to my previously mentioned, tiny butt. Honestly, most men don’t like to talk about their butts. They’re more focused on their bi’s, tri’s and pec’s. Think about it: how many guys have you ever seen at the gym looking over their shoulder into that huge mirror while squeezing they’re glutes together? None. Well, I’m hear to tell ya, my Cuban caboose has never been smaller, it’s tight like a Tiger, and it’s gone for good. If you want to know more about Sunfare, just click here. You’ll be happy that you did. I know I am. I’m a Sunfare guy for life!

Delicious Diets Delivered

Sunfare Makes Healthy Eating Easy

Buddies since their days at the University of Kansas, John Stewart and Carl Ferro merged their talents in the nutrition and training businesses in 1997 by founding Sunfare, an ingenious company that prepares and delivers delicious, healthy meals right to the doorsteps of their clientele in the Los Angeles and Phoenix areas. A growing list of celebrities, professional athletes and just your average busy business people are discovering the benefits of having up to six meals a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner and up to three snacks) prepared according to their personal desires and delivered to their door by 7 a.m. each morning in an insulated, super-cooled bag, complete with instructions on how to heat the dishes, if necessary. Clients can choose from one of three meal programs: Signature Diet, Vegetarian or Family Dinners. The first two are considered “diet” programs in that they are generally ordered to promote weight loss or provide a healthy eating outlet. Stewart and Sunfare chef Craig Emmons (pictured above) say these programs can reliably help a client lose from eight to 10 pounds a month. Family Dinners is a dinners-only program; tell Sunfare how many you want to serve and they’ll provide you with an entrée and four side dishes of your choice – as healthy or as indulgent as you desire. And trust us, these meals are delicious! Just try Chef Emmons’ recipe for Steak a la Plancha and you’ll see what we mean.