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

This week low-carb is a bust, no edge to human longevity, and writing to improve body image.

Next week’s Mindful Meal Challenge will start again on Monday. Sign up now to join us!

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

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.

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Farmers market it Portland, OR

Money is a touchy subject. Even without bringing up finances directly, people like me who encourage others to eat Real Food often get branded as elitist out of hand.

I get it. Finding and affording fresh food can be difficult or impossible for some people, and that is heartbreaking. But I don’t think that should make the entire subject off limits.

Food is a complex topic that includes issues related to health, economics, culture, human rights, animal welfare and the environment/sustainability. We also need to make food decisions multiple times a day in order to survive.

I consider all these things when deciding what to purchase for myself and my family, and know first hand what kinds of tradeoffs come up when choosing what to eat. Over the years both my priorities and financial means have changed dramatically, and ultimately evolved into the system I use today.

Here I’ll take you through my thought process in making food decisions, including how I’ve adapted to lower and higher income levels.

Of course none of this is intended as a judgement or condemnation on anyone else’s decisions. Everyone’s values are personal and equally valid, and obviously you need to do what works for you and your family.

My goal here is to shed some light on a difficult subject and hope it provides some clarity for those who are trying to make heads or tails of these issues.

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For The Love of Food

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

Exciting announcement! Prevention Magazine has launched a new site dedicated to healthy living called EatClean, and I’m one of their featured writers. Check out my first article, This Is Why Your Attempts to Eat Healthy are Backfiring. If you like Summer Tomato it will be totally up your alley. (Don’t forget to subscribe).

This week why you’ll never eat Thai shrimp again, new rules on preventing peanut allergies, and how the food industry has gotten even shadier.

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 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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One of the most common criticisms of my work here at Summer Tomato is that the lifestyle I promote is not available to everybody. That fresh food is a luxury only available to those with the resources to procure it and the time to prepare it.

Sadly, this is true. But it is only part of the story.

These accusations of elitism are based on the assumption that since fresh food has a higher price tag than processed food, promoting it as the best means to better health discriminates against those who can’t afford it.

Blame the science, shoot the messenger.

To get to the real problem we need to ask what sets the price tag. Why is the food from smaller farms at my local farmers market more pricey than the mass produced industrial food most people eat?

Is it because small, family farmers are greedy? Are they preying off the ignorance of rich people seeking the latest kale and beet juice trend?

Or are the prices of industrial food––even produce––artificially cheap?

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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 foie gras is more ethical than chicken, paleo diets take some heat, and organic labels change how food tastes.

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. (And yes, I took that pepper heart pic myself).

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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 learn who really tells us how much soda we should drink, why there’s something besides fructose that makes it bad for you and the search for the ideal amount of exercise.

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

• Limit Soda for Kids’ Sake<<Mark Bittman makes an excellent case for why the government’s health suggestions aren’t as bad as the alternative: the suggestions of soda companies. (New York Times)
• Calories Still Matter <<Just a friendly reminder that there’s no reason to make nutrition any more complicated than it needs to be. No matter how you slice it, we eat too much. (Whole Health Source).
• Melon Pomegranate Almond Smoothie <<BS of the week. This recipe make me almost as angry as bad science journalism. Seriously, in what universe are pomegranates (December) in season at the same time as melons (August)? And this from a writer who claims to emphasize “seasonal” produce. (New York Times)
• Moderation as the Sweet Spot for Exercise <<Interesting look at the value of moderate exercise. Though I’m not entirely convinced by their semi-condemnation of rigorous exercise (see below). (New York Times)
• Serious Exercise May Benefit Middle-Aged Arteries <<Keep in mind that the jury is still out on this subject, and you shouldn’t swallow what the NYTimes says hook, line and sinker. (Medline)
• What’s at stake in the farm bill? <<I didn’t realize what a state of chaos the farm bill is in. Thanks Marion Nestle for the insights. (Food Politics)
• Study questions fructose role in hypertension <<This is about more than fructose. Apparently calorie-free sodas are about as dangerous as full sugar sodas. Interesting, huh? (Medline)
• How Can I Get More Into Cooking at Home? <<This post is chock full of useful tips to make life easier in the kitchen. A great resources. (Lifehacker)
• How Chickens Are Processed <<I know most folks don’t know enough about where food comes from. This is about as honest as you get (but not in the bad way). (Ruhlman)
• asparagus with almonds and yogurt dressing <<It’s awesome to find someone as excited about the farmers market as I am. (Smitten Kitchen)

What inspired you this week?

For The Love of Food

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

I haven’t published a link love round up since before the holidays (I’ve been traveling and then moving, and still don’t have internet at my new home), so I included some great ones here that you might have missed over the past couple weeks. Below I’ve included some wonderful pieces on weight loss and willpower in the Times, a lamesauce ruling by the FDA on antibiotics use in factory farms and a thoughtful editorial on the state of organic farming.

Want to see all my favorite links? Be sure to follow me on on Digg. 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.

Links of the week

• The Fat Trap <<I love this piece by NYTimes health writer Tara Parker-Pope about the difficulties of losing weight once you’ve gained it. Excellent food for thought.
• New Year’s Resolutions Stick When Willpower is Reinforced <<Another great one from the Times, this time summarizing one of my favorite books from last year Willpower.
• Antibiotics in farm animals: FDA issues weak rule. <<Thanks to Marion Nestle for calling BS of the week on the FDA for being influenced by the beef, pork and chicken industries, allowing liberal use of antibiotics for non-disease purposes and endangering humanity. (Food Politics)
• Eating Animals <<This is an incredibly thoughtful piece reminding why all animal food industries are not evil (and some are even necessary). (The Atlantic)
• Kids prefer variety of foods and colors on their plates <<Want your kids to eat more vegetables? Choose a lot of colorful ones and arrange them to look like hearts and happy faces. Note: this will not work on your parents or husband. (Los Angeles Times)
• What’s in that OJ? Tropicana is sued <<Remember when we found out recently that supermarket orange juice isn’t really naturally flavored? Well, some folks are demanding an explanation. (Yahoo! News)
• Organic Agriculture May Be Outgrowing Its Ideals <<One of the many reasons I shop at the farmers market but don’t preach organics. (New York Times)
• How Alcohol is Metabolized <<Come on, you know you’re curious. (Nutrition Diva)
• The Truth About Ansel Keys: We’ve Got It All Wrong <<This is a brilliant piece, but it’s super intellectual and science geeky. If you read Good Calories, Bad Calories and were intrigued though, you should definitely read this. (Raw Foods SOS)
• Butternut Squash Stew <<Doesn’t this look like a wonderful winter stew? I’m so there. (Chez Us)

What inspired you this week?