http://www.mommyq.com MommyQ

On the heels of the cabbage soup diet and the cookie diet, another ridiculous weight loss plan had been born. The OCD Diet. And by OCD I do mean Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. The diet does not restrict calories, carbs, sugars, salts or fat. It simply requires you to eat foods in rhyming combinations. Like crepes and grapes. And it encourages recurrent restrictive rituals. Yeah, this sounds healthy. Tell me more!

MommyQ desperately wants to believe this is just another amusing urban legend. However, the Hollywood grapevine (and NBC) thinks it’s real. So we make history electing Obama (big steps forward) and then promote the OCD Diet (big steps backwards). Come on, people! Can’t we keep the intelligent momentum going for a while? A few days. An hour. Ten minutes, perhaps?

To me, it’s obvious that poets should avoid the OCD Diet at all costs unless they’re wanting to bulk up. However; most ordinary folks will absolutely starve to death. No wonder celebrities love it!

In the spirit of this extraordinarily ridiculous fad diet, here’s your menu. Bon Apetit!

-An apple with Snapple

-Poached pears with Gummy Bears

-Shepherd’s Pie with a slice of Marble Rye

-Funyons with pickled onions

-Beef kabob with strong eggnog

-A Slim Jim with Pumpkin Pots de Creme

-Butternut squash with chocolate ganache

-Apple stew with fennel ragout

-Fresh tomato and a HoHo

-Golden vermicelli with grape jelly

Sounds yummy! I’m losing weight already. How about you? What’s your best OCD dish?

Every mom dreads the first sign of a cold. The telltale sniffle. The dry cough. The tugging on one ear. Oh, no! Your baby is sick! She can’t blow her stuffy nose and using an aspirator just seems evil. She can’t tell you whether her throat hurts or her ears ache and a seemingly harmless cough can keep the whole family up for many nights in a row. As you know, trying to get some foul-tasting medicine down that sore little throat is not an easy feat.

This is why MommyQ loves the Wheel of Yuck. If you haven’t seen it, you need to check it out. I discovered it at Walgreen’s, but I’m sure other pharmacies have it as well. It’s a nifty little color-coded chart that tells you which medicines taste bad and recommends the best flavor options to remove the “yuck” factor almost entirely. Walgreen’s has a ton of flavors to choose from, although we usually just pick grape or cherry. You can see a virtual Wheel of Yuck here and explore 21 drugs that should be flavored.

A few other nifty items MommyQ likes for beating colds is the Munchkin Medicator, the Crane Adorable Humidifier (love the cow) and the Pacifier Thermometer. And lots of cartoons.

In search of a unique party favor for your child’s birthday party? Give the Boon Snack Ball a spin! This weekend MommyQ had a big birthday bash for her two boys and gave out Snack Balls as the party favor. It was a cars & trucks themed party, so I found a huge dump truck at CVS (for about $10 bucks), decorated it with ribbon and loaded all of the Snack Balls. My son pushed it around at the end of the party to distribute the favors to everyone. Pink for the girls and orange for the boys.

What makes this sphere-shaped snack container so much fun?

- BPA-free
- Phthalate-free
- PVC-free
- rigid form so snacks are crush-proof
- great for travel
- two halves unscrew for easy cleaning
- perfect size for little hands
- dishwasher safe (top rack only)