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My name is Darya Rose and I’m the creator of Summer Tomato.
I’m also a neuroscience Ph.D, author, former dieter and proud foodist. Summer Tomato teaches you how to get healthy and lose weight without dieting. Because life should be awesome.
Want to see all my favorite links? (There’s lots more). Be sure to follow me on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.
Why eating organic food doesn’t make you a jerk, how a pastry chef in Paris keeps his man-ish figure, and how NOT to get your husband to eat better.
Want to see all my favorite links? 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. (And yes, I took that pepper heart pic myself).
Links of the week
The FTC vs. POM Wonderful: the latest round <<Remember when POM Wonderful claimed their mass-marketed juice could cure cancer? Turns out that wasn’t exactly accurate. (Food Politics)
When you eat may be as important as what you eat <<Timing is important, and so is rest. There is some really interesting new rodent data that overnight fasts help control weight even when the exact same number of calories are eaten. Will be interesting to see how this works in humans. (Obesity Panacea)
Does organic food make you a jerk? <<Excellent debunking of some pseudo science that was making headlines this week. Thanks Grist for calling BS of the week.
How I Eat <<Interesting discussion by pastry chef and awesome food blogger David Lebovitz on how he manages to stay thin while eating what he loves. I appreciate his emphases on everyone needing to find their own healthstyle.
Food Fight or Romantic Dinner? Communication Between Couples Is Key to Improving Men’s Diets <<While I agree that communication in relationships is important, I think this study also brings to light how important it is for us to learn how to make healthy food taste good (or more accurately, what healthy food actually is–––I know plain ground turkey is never on my menu). (ScienceDaily)
Lower Blood Pressure Naturally <<Hey guess what, it’s not that hard. And you have lots of options. (Whole Health Source)
4 Health Benefits of Turmeric <<Turmeric spice lowers the carcinogenicity of grilled meat, and other fun facts. (Dr. Weil)
Calcium Supplements May Be Bad for Your Heart: Study <<I wasn’t sure if I should post this, but if you don’t know that calcium supplements increase heart risk (and prostate cancer risk) you definitely should. This is not a new finding. But I was annoyed by the commentary they used from an osteoporosis physician that he disagrees with the data for no apparent reason. Did no one tell him that calcium doesn’t protect against osteoporosis either? Don’t you wish doctors bothered to look at the data before giving their opinions? (Medline)
This week I found a surprisingly in depth and thoughtful piece on genetically modified foods, an even more impressive food commitment by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and a few good signs that the politics of food labels are headed in the right direction—truth.
Also, for you geeks my thesis work is finally published. Here’s the deets.
Want to see all my favorite links? Be sure to follow me on on Digg. I also share links at Twitter (@summertomato) and the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.
Study Questions Treatment Used in Heart Disease <<Turns out drugs that raise HDL cholesterol aren’t as valuable as everyone hoped. But HDL is still an excellent predictor of heart disease. Seems like you’ll have to raise it the old fashioned way, with diet and exercise. (New York Times)
Groups Sue FDA Over Use of Certain Antibiotics in Animal Feed <<This is awesome, and I hope it forces some action from our government to fight the dangerous antibiotic resistant bacteria that are being bred in industrial farms. (Wall Street Journal)
Is That “Organic” Egg A Good Egg? <<I always struggle to convey the degrees of “healthy” in different eggs. Now there’s a handy scorecard to help out. (Consumerist)
Thanks to those of you who participated in this episode on the role of dairy in health and weight loss. Show notes are below.
Please note that the date for the probiotics episode (#6) has changed to Monday, April 25 @ 6:30p PST (previously Tuesday, April 26).
April 11, 2011 | Does milk really protect against osteoporosis? Will too much calcium give you prostate cancer? Can you reduce acne if you stop eating dairy? What’s the deal with raw milk?
The answers may surprise you.
Tune in tonight at 6:30pm PST to join our live discussion about the pros and cons of dairy.
Live participation is only available to subscribers of the newsletter Tomato Slice. You can sign up at any time, even during the show, and the password for participation will be emailed to you immediately.
To watch live and join the discussion click the red “Join event” button, login with Twitter or your Vokle account, and enter the password when prompted.
I encourage you to call in with video questions, particularly if your question is nuanced and may involve a back and forth discussion. Please use headphones to call in however, or the feedback from the show is unbearable.
Show notes:
There is a huge amount of politics surrounding this science, because of the powerful influence of dairy industries around the world. This makes data difficult to interpret. The following review and its rebuttal regarding the role of milk in type 1 diabetes is a perfect example of what I mean:
Thanks to those of you who participated in episode #4 about healthy vegetarian & vegan diets. I learned a lot while researching this post, and there’s valuable info on omega-3 fatty acids, essential minerals and other nutrition information that’s important for omnivores as well.
All show notes, including my annotated Kindle notes of Amazon’s most popular vegetarian nutrition book (I’m not a fan) are below. Everyone should at least skim through them, there’s a lot of great information/clarification in there.
Episode #5, Dairy: Friend or Foe? is airing on Monday, April 11 at 6:30pm PST. Does milk help or hurt your chances or getting osteoporosis? Does calcium cause prostate cancer? What’s the role of milk in acne? What about raw milk, is it really the holy grail? Join us on Monday to learn the answers.
March 29, 2011 | Episode #4 of Summer Tomato Live. The topic is healthy vegetarian and vegan diets (with lots of interesting nutrition information for omnivores too).
Live participation is only available to subscribers of the newsletter Tomato Slice. You can sign up at any time, even during the show, and the password for participation will be emailed to you immediately.
To watch live and join the discussion click the red “Join event” button, login with Twitter or your Vokle account, and enter the password when prompted.
I encourage you to call in with video questions, particularly if your question is nuanced and may involve a back and forth discussion. Please use headphones to call in however, or the feedback from the show is unbearable.
The show will be recorded and released to the public next week. Show notes are below.
This week I learned some products contain “blueberries” that are really just sugar, goo and dye, Starbucks wants to kill you with coffee (while 7-eleven wants to kill you slightly less with soda) and ginger is good for sore muscles.
I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For a complete list of my favorite stories check out my links on Digg. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.
SAUTEED BELUGA LENTILS + BUTTERNUT SQUASH <<This recipe was published a couple months ago, but it looks amazing and I’ve been looking for a beluga lentils recipe. (Sprouted Kitchen)
This week, the science behind why different diets work for different people, how the nutritional value of our produce is declining and why Coca-Cola is being sued for breaking the Jelly Bean rule. Also, new research about the role of personal relationships in health and another benefit of drinking alcohol.
Oh, and the BS of the week was so bad I deleted it. Didn’t want to waste your time when there were so many good things to read.
I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For a complete reading list join me on the new Digg or StumbleUpon. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.
Links of the week
Why Fad Diets Work Well for Some, but Not Others <<I don’t think it is an accident that there are so many differing opinions on what is the best choice of diet. Data continues to accumulate that an interaction between our genetics and the food we eat explains why we must each find our own healthstyle. (ScienceDaily)
Lawsuit Over Deceptive Vitaminwater Claims to Proceed <<I’m happy as a clam over this one. There is a law (the “Jelly Bean” rule) that says you can’t put vitamins in candy and call it healthy. That means you, Coca-Cola. Haha! (CSPI)
A New Risk Factor: Your Social Life <<Investing in meaningful relationships with others has been shown to be as important as diet, exercise and not smoking for long term health in a recent review study. This is not the first time joy and happiness have been implicated as a critical components of good health. (New York Times)
For some reason the New York Times was brimming with great food and health articles this week. I particularly like the expose of meaningless food labels and the article on the wonders of the pressure cooker. And if you feel like giggling, find out why Stephen Colbert thinks being skinny is un-American.
I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For complete reading lists join me on the social bookmarking sites StumbleUpon and Delicious. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you there. (Note: If you want a follow back on Twitter introduce yourself with an @ message).
For The Love of Food
Buy a Virtual Slice of Dessert…and Help Haiti <<My friend Michelle Stern is running a fund raiser for Haiti with some help from some other food bloggers. Check out what they have going. (What’s Cooking)
Six Meaningless Claims on Food Labels <<You probably know by now that I don’t like foods with labels. Here’s a good review of why I feel that way. (New York Times)
Calcium – The Wonder Mineral <<BS of the week. Another dose of unimaginably irresponsible and unscientific journalism from DIR. Clinical trials have shown that calcium and dairy do not protect against fractures or osteoporosis. Calcium is also linked to prostate cancer. It is definitely an important nutrient and you should be sure to get enough of it, but “wonder mineral”? I don’t think so. (Diets In Review)
Low-carb diets may trump low-fat in lowering blood pressure <<We already know that low-fat diets are useless in weight loss and preventing heart disease. Looks like they lose the battle in lowering blood pressure too. (Los Angeles Times)
Vitamin D May Lower Colon Cancer Risk << The case for vitamin D just keeps growing. It is the only supplement I take besides a multivitamin. (HealthDay)
Welcome back to For The Love of Food. We’ve got some great stuff for you here this week, including my guest post at the renowned MizFitOnline and the first ever “B.S. of the week.”
If you would like to see more of my favorite articles each week or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page.
Submissions of your own best food and health articles are also welcome, just drop me an email using the contact form.
For The Love of Food
When Is A Calorie Not A Calorie <<MizFit wanted to know why some calories have smaller impact than others. I give all the gory science details in this post.
33 Healthiest Foods On Earth <<B.S. of the week. Healthy food advice coming from the food industry? I’m sure my health is their #1 concern. Very disappointing, Lifehacker.
Stormtrooper Breakfast Cereal <<You might as well come to accept the fact that I’m a huge Star Wars nerd (from Serious Eats).
Updated Recommendations for Calcium and vitamin D <<People are finally starting to acknowledge that calcium is virtually useless as a supplement and vitamin D is where it’s at for bone health. Thanks Nutrition Data!
Sweet pea gazpacho <<Springtime version of a summer classic, recipe from Joanne Weir.
Whole-grain cereal and other ‘healthy’ foods that fool <<So rarely does the main stream media (MSNBC) get it right, I thought I’d share. Just ignore what they say about calcium and osteoporosis–calcium intake is not related to this disease.
Watch out for web diet scams!! <<Great tips on how to avoid bogus diet scams online (from Eleanor @ Make Friends with Food)
Health
Habits
Food
Weight 
Better Than Butternut: Roasted Delicata Squash Recipe
10 Simple Ways To Eat Less Without Noticing
Juicing: Stupid and Pretentious or Nourishing and Enlightening?
10 Tasty Carbs That Won’t Make You Fat
How To Start Working Out When You Don’t Like To Exercise
Focus More on Your Brain and Less on Your Diet if You’re Serious About Losing Weight
Home Court Habits: The Secret to Effortless Weight Control
10 Reasons You Aren’t Losing Weight When You Think You’re Doing Everything Right
How To Burn More Calories Without Breaking A Sweat
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Foodists
