Poll: Do you read the whole magazine?

[KimKelly]

I just received my new Cooking Light Issue and immediately flipped to the back section of the magazine to read the recipe and cooking parts. I only occasionally read the beauty/health/fittness/other stuff parts. I was just wondering if anyone else does this too? I devour the cooking/recipe sections, but do not get as much from the others. Just curious!

Kim

[RunnerKim]

I do read the whole magazine and try to save the recipe section, particularly the Best of Best, till last. My husband often peaks at the Best of the Best recipe and "spoils" it. I generally skip the beauty section and don't dwell on the fitness article as I'm into a good routine that works for me (I do read Runner's World cover to cover). But I've found the health articles and ones on volunteering and social activities to be very interesting/applicable.

Kim

[Wendy w]

I usually head for the food and recipe sections first and then start browsing from the front. I will read other articles, if they are interesting-like personal growth articles. Some of the beauty articles are similar to the ones in other women's magazines and are a bit redundant. If you just received your new issue, KimKelly, I should be getting mine very soon!

Wendy

[ML]

I am loyal to the entire magazine!! I read it from cover to cover. I like to flip through the recipes first(not taking time to read them) and then I start on page one and read straight through!

[AndreaU]

I'm a cover-to-cover reader myself, though not in one sitting. I flip through the first time just to see what looks interesting. Then I'll focus on the health/beauty/fitness section (however many sittings it takes to read 'em all) and again skim the recipes. It usually takes me several passes before I've gotten through the whole magazine. Then, of course, I go back to actually mark which recipes I'd like to try.

[emilycat]

I do read the whole magazine cover to cover too, except sometimes the beauty part--I find makeup advice to be annoying; I'd buy Cosmo if I wanted to read that stuff. RunnerKim -- I LOVE Runner's World! It's always the first of my (many) magazines I read -- and no word goes unseen by my eyes!

[Vanessa]

I read it all! After with a highlight magic marker I will underline in the index the recipes that sound the best...

[helene]

Hi,

I read cover to cover, also. I even read the articles 2-3 times. I only skip the makeup part.

I wished they get rid of the makeup section and have more recipes. That's what make me buy Cooking Light.

Have a great day,

Hélène

[BeckyM]

I read the entire magazine, starting at the front. I try to discipline myself not to start looking at the recipes ahead of time, because then it feels like I spoiled it when I reach that page in my reading. I guess I'm sorta like RunnerKim in that regard. But sometimes I will glance through the recipe index before starting to read it, just to give me an idea what I have to look forward to.

Unlike most of the others who have commented, I like the makeup portion of the magazine. I haven't gotten any women's magazines since the beginning of college (about 10 years ago), so I appreciate just getting a little bit of an update on make-up. And of course CL does it from an active person's standpoint, giving pointers for healthy skin and ease rather than some of the other magazines that seem to emphasize bizzare make-up rituals that take forever.

The one portion I don't get as much out of (but I read anyway) is the work-out section. Like others, I have my own routine I follow, so I haven't been doing the "Healthy Moves 2000" (or whatever it's called). But I did like the November version, because it had a 30-minute workout to do at home during the hectic holiday season. I'm thinking that's one I'll refer back to on days when I can't make it to the gym. I just have to get some hand-weights first.

[Ohioan]

I read only the food sections -- including any nutrition or new-foods news that might show up in the noncooking part. Food, after all, is the reason I get a cooking magazine in the first place.

Actually, the main reason I get CL is that I dislike fatty foods and I want a cooking magazine where things aren't slathered in butter, cream, mayo, etc., but are full of the things I love: vegetables, fruits, grains, and beans. As for health, fitness, and beauty, I figure that good nourishing food will keep me healthy enough, my work keeps me on the run so much that a gym workout seems like a rest cure by comparison, and I'm too old to care whether a dashing young man will want to sweep me off my feet. In fact, if he did, he'd probably turn out to be the janitor. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/tongue.gif

Hee hee,
Phoebe

[Mamasue]

I flip through the magazine first checking out the recipes and then will go back and read them more closely. I always go back to the back issues and scan them over and over. Okay, I may get some negative reaction to the following...but here goes...I mainly read just the cooking areas and feel that the first 80ish pages are a waste of good space that could be devoted to more cooking. If I want to read about exersize, makeup, etc. I would purchase a magazine devoted to just that. I realize that those things fall in the line of good nutrition and changing lifestyle, but I would love to see more in a cooking magazine that is titled "Cooking Light". If you really look through each magazine you will find that the first half of it is not food related. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif Sorry....just my 2 cents.

[Shirley Panek]

I'm like BeckyM. I read the first part of the magazine and feel "guilty" if I skip ahead. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif I figure the recipes and food articles are my "reward" for reading everything! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

I don't often go back to read the first part, but sometimes I learn something new, so I guess it's worthwhile.

http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif
Shirley

[Natasha]

Great question, Kim!

First off, let me add myself to the list of Runners World addicts http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif That mag rocks!

As for CL - Mamasue, I totally agree with your comments. I skim through the first part, read through it if I m somewhere boring (bus, cross-training at the gym on a boring day http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/tongue.gif) and then toss it. Sometimes I find all the stuff in the front kind of annoying, to be honest. In fact, just today I got the new issue and tried to flip through the first part while on the elliptical trainer, but then I thought, forget this, and went to the good stuff (the recipes, which incidentally look pretty good this month). http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif I would like to be able to buy an issue without the first half of the mag, and save those trees!!

BeckyM - I thought it was funny that you mentioned sometimes peeking at the recipe index so that you know what to look forward to, because that is the page (that and the table of contents) I most try to avoid when I go through a CL issue for the first time! I like not knowing what I m going to find. For the same reason, I also stay away from threads discussing a current issue until I have had a chance to get it and read it! Funny how we all have these different rituals, isn t it?

Phoebe - you re a comedian! LOL and keep it coming.

[This message has been edited by Natasha (edited 10-26-2000).]

[KimKelly]

Well at least I am not the only one who doesn't find much useful in the first half of the magazine. I was feeling kind of guilty not reading the whole thing, but as I flip thru I may only find a few nutrition tidbits or something. That is what I subscribe to Health for!

Now if I could only get in shape as the rest of you.... goodness... I think my running regimin (spelling on that???) is not what it used to be as my husband now tells me that occasionally running up the stairs does not count!

Thanks you guys!
K

[lindrusso]

I also skip to the recipes. I must have gotten this magazine for a couple of years and hardly even GLANCED at the front section. HOWEVER, I do get the magazine to eat less fat and watch/lose weight (but I wouldn't get it if the food weren't also great!!!!!), so I'm trying to expand myself to the rest of the magazine.

I just makes me laugh - in a completely non-judgemental way - when I see this board and 42 pages are listed under food and only 3 under Healthy Living! Maybe that's my problem - spending too much time on the wrong board!! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[BernK]

I go straight to the receipes. Later in the month I will go back and read the front articles. I'm not very interested in them, I would prefer more receipes.

[iqueen]

I like saving the best for last. I read the entire magazine and then get "to work" on the recipes. You see, I spend a lot of time on each recipe... studying the ingredients, calculating the WW points value per serving, calculating the time I think it is going to take to make them, and finally writing down the keepers along with the page number and point value. I then post the keepers on a spreadsheet that I keep in Excel for easy access and reference. Am I anal or what?

[emilycat]

Wow, iqueen, I thought I took a lot of time on my CL issues! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif You're definitely not anal, though. I would guess that there are plenty of us out there that devote large proportion of our time to recipe planning. I, for one, spend a couple hours each month cutting out the recipes I want and slipping them in the "appropriate" plastic jacket in my CL binder, in addition to the couple of hours I spend each week planning my recipes for the next 5-7 days. And I think it's so much fun, too!. It's not an uncommon sight to see me sprawled out over the floor with tons of open cookbooks, my CL issues strewn about with magazine clippings helter skelter, and a pen and pad to jot down my ideas! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[SueK]

First thing I do is skip to the recipe index in the back. Then I pick out the ones that sound good, and review them. Once I've done that, I'll start from the beginning and work my way back, but the food articles are what I really love.

[Kerri]

I try to start reading the magazine at the beginning, but I find myself impatiently flipping through the pages until I get to the recipes. I do go back and read the rest of the articles, but not until I am done with the recipes!

[phantomcg]

First I skim through the entire magazine and then I go back and read in detail whatever caught my eye. I do have to admit that I would prefer to see more recipes and food related articles and less of the others.

Cheryl

[ElinorC]

I go for the goodies -- the recipes! I may glance at the rest at a later time but I buy the magazine for the low-fat recipes not the other stuff.

[CAROL ANN]

I read the whole magazine. I start at the beginning but sometimes I can't wait and go back to the recipes. Since I started reading the BB I have a harder time not going to the recipes first. I guess I should not read what everyone is saying about the new issue until I read mine.

[Angela]

I always page through the entire magazine first and then start at the beginning again and pretty much read every single page.

[Wendy w]

Lindrusso,

Just yesterday, I was having a laugh about how many posts are on the Good Food vs. the Healthy Living side of the bb! It made me feel a little bit guilty that I spend so much time here!

Wendy

[Ohioan]

Wendy, why feel guilty? Good food and good friends are a blessing! Don't be guilty about being here; be thankful! Hee hee. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

Cheers, Phoebe

[Pat]

I must agree with those who read the recipes first. Some months that is all that I read. I would like to see more good recipes each month and slim back the front part of the magazine. I buy "Cooking Light" for the light recipes.

[JJ40]

Let's face it, someone who doesn't cook would never pick up an issue of CL...I think we're all here primarily for the recipes. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

I read and enjoy most of the articles at the front, but would love it if it were slimmed down a little.

Julie

[carolyn.1]

First thing--I get so excited when I find the issue in the mailbox. Then I get in very fast motion to get all the things out of the way so I can sit down and enjoy the magazine. I actually treat it like a novel, I read every page and can't wait to get to the back---then when I see that first recipe its like yeah---I'm there!!!

[kitcat]

CL is read cover to cover. It is my only nondecorating magazine subscription so I enjoy the variety of articles. I wouldn't change anything. Since there are only two of us, we eat out frequently. CL recipes get used mainly for entertaining unless I am truly inspired to cook. Both of my daughters subscribe to CL so we give feedback to each other on recipes that we have tried.

[Connie]

I pretty much read it cover to cover. And the recipes are also my reward that I tell myself I have to wait for. I like the quantity of recipes in the issues; there are a lot of months I seem to not be able to make too many CL recipes, so any more would make it worse! Or is that better?!?

[jjf]

i read it cover to cover - it is the only magazine that i do that with. i love it and always find the articles interesting - some more than others, of course.

jen

[laden]

I also read the whole magazine through. I wouldn't change anything. Although my favorite part is the recipe section, I like the makeup tips, the stories and the tidbits too. (If it were only recipes it would be a cookbook--which I also read over and over)

My least favorite part is probably the exercise portion(it makes me feel guilty for what I should be doing)

[ginny177]

I, too, would like to see more recipes. I've subscribed since 1994 and it seems to me there used to be more space devoted to the food topics. I mostly skip the other articles. The magazine is probably slanted toward a younger group of readers(I was one once !). So not any real compaints.

[laughsandlaughs]

I'm a fanatical reader...I read everything...the back of the cereal box (every word on the cereal box, actually) and so it's not surprising that I read the magazine cover to cover, usually in one sitting.