A couple months ago I was driving to work listening to the local classic rock radio station (KFOG) and “The Fog Files” was playing. The Fog Files is the news guy’s (Peter Finch) feature show. This one was about a Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist who also happens to be a middle aged woman who struggles with weight – just like me! She was driving to work one day, listening to the radio (harmonic convergence!) and thinking about a meeting she would soon be attending. She knew that at this meeting there would be plate of cookies and she would eat them and then hate herself (more harmonic convergence!) and she wondered why it is that there are songs about loving and losing and getting the guy and getting dumped but not a single song about resisting cookies.

In that AHA moment she returned to that comfortable old aphorism – if you need something done right you have to do it yourself and so she did. First she wrote some song lyrics to express her feelings about weight and food. Then she spoke with some industry people about how to go about getting these songs produced and they told her to hire top talent in the music writing and vocals arena. Being that she’s a Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist she has more money than fat so that’s what she did.

Harmonic convergence entered my life yet again when I got an email a couple weeks later asking me if I’d like to review the CD. “Bring it on!” I said, I already heard about this on the radio.

So that’s the story behind the review of Skinny Songs by Heidi Roizan. And what about that review?

I admire Ms. Roizen for doing something positive about this cookie problem. Way to go! Clearly this has worked for you You look great, not to mention the fact that this has brought you face to face with Martha! I’m impressed! (see pic below)

As for the music – she did a smart thing by making some of them very country, a couple of them sort of hip-hopish and some more mainstream rock. The rhythm is set to workout speed so you can hear words of affirmation about what you are doing while you do it and that’s always a good thing. There are lyrics to remind you of why you really want to lose weight:
From “Who the Hell is That”
who the hell is that? ‘Cause it sure ain’t me!
how’d I get so fat? It’s a shame to see
something’s gone wrong with the photo quality
who the hell is that, cause it sure ain’t me

And lyrics to remind you that it’s all up to you and that you really want it and YOU CAN DO IT!
From “You Da Boss”
But you don’t need that piece of pie
Gotta let it go and pass you by
and I’m here to remind you why
’cause you want to be lookin’ and feelin’ fly

“You Got to Use it to Lose” is my particular fave but truth be told it’s the kind of exercise music that gets stuck in your head and just hangs around like post workout sock stink.

I’m not nuts about most of the music (I’m not a fan of country or hip hop) but I think the CD is a great idea and expect there are people out there for whom this collection would represent a huge source of motivation and assistance in the battle of the bulge. Although the marketing is clearly targeting women, many of the songs are sung by men so I think they could relate.

They have a line of shirts, too (look – it’s Martha!!) I find some of them offensive but when it comes to my body I’ve never had a very good sense of humor.

Bottom line – this CD isn’t really to my taste but I applaud her effort and I encourage anyone who does daily hand to mind combat with fattening food to check it out – it could be just what you have been looking for.