Photo by Bunches and Bits {Karina}

It’s official. Holiday season is here.

Starting this week health conscious people everywhere are bracing themselves for two solid months of parties, feasts and festivities.

To even the most dedicated foodists, it can be overwhelming.

Even though my #1 philosophy is that life should be awesome and you shouldn’t restrict yourself from things you enjoy, it can be helpful to enter the holidays with a plan to keep your healthstyle more or less on track.

These are the steps I personally take to make sure I don’t begin the New Year trying to make amends for the holidays.

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For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

This week diet-pill ads make you fat, the case against positive thinking, and a scary discovery about antimicrobial soap.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app I just discovered to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

Want to see all my favorite links? (There’s lots more). Be sure to follow me on on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato,  Google+ and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you. (Yes, I took that picture of the pepper heart myself.)

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Photo by JD Hancock

If you ask someone point blank if diets work in just a split second they’ll remember the obesity epidemic and the number of celebrity diets they heard about last week, look you in the eye, and confidently reply, “No, they don’t work.”

But if you tell that same person about a new weight loss plan where you can only eat egg whites, chicken thighs and broccoli four times a day, and enthusiastically inform her that Jenna has been doing it for 3 weeks, has lost 15 lbs and feels amazing, that same person will head to her computer at the next convenient opportunity, read a few testimonials and start first thing in the morning.

Why do we do this? Is there something about weight loss that short circuits our logic?

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35 beats 17

I turn 35 tomorrow, or as I like to call it: halfway to 70.

Haha.

Seriously though, 35 feels significant. For one thing, people ask me when I’m having kids on a near daily basis. (Please stop). I’ve also been living on my own longer than I’d lived with my parents.

I was 17 when I left home to go to Berkeley, and it’s weird to reflect on what I was like back then. On one hand, I was the same cerebral introvert who cared deeply about food and my body. On the other hand, those qualities manifested in all the worst possible ways.

On one of the first days of school we did an ice breaking exercise in one of the classes I was taking (Music 27). The Grad Student Instructor running the section asked us to go around the room and introduce ourselves by saying our name, where we were from, and our favorite cuisine.

This was clearly no big deal for most people, but it put me into a heated panic. What was I going to say? I had never thought about my favorite cuisine before.

As my turn approached I heard people saying they loved Italian food, Chinese food and Indian food. I couldn’t even imagine eating those things, since I basically lived on Diet Coke and non-fat yogurt.

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For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

This week the case for a national food policy, a simple way to increase your commitment to exercise, and making veggies as good as chips.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app I just discovered to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

Want to see all my favorite links? (There’s lots more). Be sure to follow me on on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato,  Google+ and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you. (Yes, I took that picture of the pepper heart myself.)

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sweet potatoes with butter and sage

This year, for the first time, my husband and I are hosting his fam for Thanksgiving dinner. To me the side dishes are more important than the turkey. The turkey is just a vehicle for scooping up all those luscious accompaniments.

Of course, the marshmallow-covered sweet potatoes from my childhood will not be making it onto our menu (sorry, Mom!). I’ve been busy experimenting in the kitchen to create my own take on the traditional sides.

I’ve crafted a healthier (and more satisfying) version of sweet potatoes that brings out the natural sweetness by highlighting it with the heart-warming flavor of butter and sage. No added sweetener needed.

Since I’m a nursing, working momma, the side dishes can’t take a ton of time. If you cook the sweet potatoes in advance, this dish can be assembled in 15 minutes.

This is a foolproof side dish that everyone will love.

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Dinner with friends

For years here at Summer Tomato I’ve been telling you that Real Food is the key to better health and weight control.

Week after week I’ve encouraged you to eat a diverse range of vegetables, legumes, fish, and minimally processed meats, oils and grains.

Mountains of evidence tell us that eating these foods, while avoiding processed industrial foods, can dramatically cut your risk of heart disease, cancer, hypertension, diabetes, dementia, depression, arthritis, and obesity.

Without a doubt, the nutritional advantage of Real Food is powerful enough to add decades to your life.

Still there is a health benefit of food that trumps all the polyphenols and omega-3s you can sink your teeth into.

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For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

This week high-fat diet protects the brain, age is a mindset, and how to control cravings like a Jedi.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app I just discovered to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

Want to see all my favorite links? (There’s lots more). Be sure to follow me on on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato,  Google+ and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you. (Yes, I took that picture of the pepper heart myself.)

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Photo by Scott Ableman

I’ll admit it, I have a soft spot in my heart for Justin Timberlake (even if it isn’t the genre of music I typically identify with). Maybe it’s because he’s one of the few child celebrities who grew up without becoming a complete headcase. Or maybe it’s his sweet dance moves. Who knows?

In any case, I have massive respect for someone bold enough to claim to bring sexy back, since I can’t recall a time when sexy ever went out of style (except maybe a brief period from 1993-95). JT must have incredibly high standards. And I respect that.

At the end of the day though, getting people excited about what’s sexy is pretty damn easy. Tesla cars and gold iPhones can’t be made fast enough to meet demand. Even at insanely high price points in a struggling economy, sexy still sells.

Not that this is a bad thing. Sexy plays a fun and important role in our lives and I’m the last one who’d wish it to go away.

The hard part is remembering that in certain situations (specifically, long-term goals) sexy isn’t usually the best option. But BOY is it tempting.

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Fruteria mercado vegueta

Sven von Scheidemann is a writer, living in the Canary Islands since 2004. He fell deeply in love with Gran Canaria and wants to share his passion for this paradise with travelers on his blog adventuregrancanaria.com. Download his latest Free Travel Guide “Triana y Vegueta in one day.”

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