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

This week how genetic tests impact your motivation, moralizing food linked to weight regain, and Whole Foods packaging linked to cancer.

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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“You have to rig the game so you can win, set yourself the lowest minimal bar to do something. That was really the key to my success.” – Sarah

It happens to the best of us. You get a little older, your life changes, you start moving less, maybe have a kid or two, and before you know it the extra pounds have slowly crept on. And when you finally realize something needs to be done about it you find you can’t lose it as easily as you used to.

This can be a crucial moment in a person’s life. Do I hop on a diet and get back to my target weight right away or do I look at my lifestyle and start thinking long-term? The latter can seem like a daunting task and you may lack confidence in your ability to do it. But it is the only way to achieve lasting success.

This insight was the key to Sarah’s success. Having been raised on whole foods she found Summer Tomato and immediately identified with the philosophy of using Real Food to lose weight. She knew dieting was not the answer.

Exercise was a different story. Sarah knew that developing a consistent workout routine would be crucial for her success, but that it would also be her most challenging obstacle to overcome.

In this episode Sarah explains the very small yet critical mindset shift she made that enabled her to not only build an exercise routine, but to look forward to it every day.

If you hate exercise and have been trying to develop a routine for years without success I invite you to try Sarah’s approach. It’s a game changer.

Wish you had more time to listen to the podcast? I use an app called Overcast (no affiliation) to play back my favorite podcasts at faster speeds, dynamically shortening silences in talk shows so it doesn’t sound weird. It’s pretty rad.

Related links:

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan

Foodist: Using Real Food and Real Science to Lose Weight Without Dieting by Darya Rose, Ph.D

You Never Regret A Workout

Home Court Habits: The Secret to Effortless Weight Control

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

MyFitnessPal

Mindful Meal Challenge

Zero – fasting tracker app from Kevin Rose

No, You Don’t Deserve That Indulgence Today

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If you’d like to be a guest on the show, please fill out the form here and tell us your story.

Getting inspired is easy. A great article, book, or documentary can be incredibly powerful in sparking a desire for a new direction in your life. But no matter how desperately you want to change, internalizing a new philosophy enough to permanently modify your behavior can feel impossible.

This is how Anne used to feel when she would read Summer Tomato. After several years of striving to have the “perfect” diet that eventually destroyed her relationship with food, she was ready to embrace joy in eating and prioritize her own happiness (in addition to health).

But she would read articles like How to Eat Half a Donut and think that while it sounded amazing, there was no way she could ever do something like that. Clearly I (Darya) was fooling myself into using willpower and not thinking it’s really willpower, or was a different breed of human altogether. Normal people don’t eat half a donut.

Anne had her doubts she was capable of truly leaving her old habits behind, but she kept trying because she knew she couldn’t go back to her former restrictive mindset.

Today she’s called in to proudly share her success story of how she was finally able to build up a set of positive experiences that gave her the confidence and ability to choose foods based on her needs and values, rather than her fears and impulses. She no longer believes that willpower and restriction are necessary for her to control her own behavior, and can easily walk away from an unfinished donut or cupcake if it isn’t bringing her the joy she expected.

She explains the exact steps she took that led to her transformation and enabled her to finally internalize the foodist mindset she only understood intellectually, but not emotionally, until this year.

If you’ve been struggling to believe you’re capable of leaving your restrictive dieting mindset behind for good, Anne’s story will give you both the hope and practical advice you need to get there.

Wish you had more time to listen to the podcast? I use an app called Overcast (no affiliation) to play back my favorite podcasts at faster speeds, dynamically shortening silences in talk shows so it doesn’t sound weird. It’s pretty rad.

Related links:

The Worst Thing You Can Do if You’re Trying to Lose Weight – Self-worth and the bathroom scale

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Food Inc. documentary

Confirmation bias

Summer Tomato Book Review: The China Study

The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss

Goals are for Losers: The Life-Changing Advice No One Tells You

How To Eat A Half A Donut

Use This Mindful Eating Placemat to Remember to Slow Down and Enjoy Your Food

9 Simple Tricks To Eat More Mindfully

Headspace

Mindful Meal Challenge

How To Avoid Drinking Too Much In Social Situations Foodist podcast

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If you’d like to be a guest on the show, please fill out the form here and tell us your story.

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

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

This week real talk about weight loss resistance, how to fix your post-baby belly, and how different exercises impact hunger.

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.

Read the rest of this story »

With her first pregnancy, Sarah felt a lot of pressure from her doctor to restrict her eating to avoid weight gain and other adverse consequences to her baby. However, she found that abiding by these rules was virtually impossible for her, given how her body responded to hunger and fatigue while she was pregnant. This led to both extra stress and shame.

Even though she was warned she might have gained too much weight, Sarah found that losing weight and making better food choices was much easier after the baby was born. So when her second pregnancy came around, she decided to take a less strict approach.

This mindset shift enable Sarah to reclaim her ability to manage her own health (and sanity) on her own terms and at her own pace. While this may sound small, it is an incredibly empowering act that snowballs into a successful healthstyle.

When guilt and shame are motivators and you feel like you can never do enough, most people will respond by doing less for their own self-care, not more. Sarah’s approach bypasses this shame cycle and enabled her to lose her baby weight in a way she could manage.

Sarah also has some Jedi mindtricks for getting her kids to eat what she serves them, along with some great tips and tricks for keeping her own healthstyle on track.

Wish you had more time to listen to the podcast? I use an app called Overcast (no affiliation) to play back my favorite podcasts at faster speeds, dynamically shortening silences in talk shows so it doesn’t sound weird. It’s pretty rad.

Listen:

Listen on iTunes

Listen on Stitcher

Listen on Soundcloud

If you’d like to be a guest on the show, please fill out the form here and tell us your story.

Amy has been working on her healthstyle for over a year. Slowly she has changed her eating, exercise, sleep and mindfulness habits, and she finally feels like she’s in control of her health.

Now she’s waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Amy is a natural worrier, always ready for something to come along that negates all the hard work she’s done. She knows this is a tendency of hers, yet it’s hard not to feel like there’s some truth behind her fears since even successful diets have always left her in a worse place.

Her question for me today is what: does success look like from here now that everything is great?

This is an educational episode whether you’re a seasoned foodist or a newbie finding your path, since it will give you an idea of what the endgame looks like. Your brain judges success by what it expects it to look like. One great way to know this is by listening to someone who is already there.

Wish you had more time to listen to the podcast? I use an app called Overcast (no affiliation) to play back my favorite podcasts at faster speeds, dynamically shortening silences in talk shows so it doesn’t sound weird. It’s pretty rad.

Related links:

Mindful Meal Challenge

The Worst Thing You Can Do if You’re Trying to Lose Weight

Listen:

Listen on iTunes

Listen on Stitcher

Listen on Soundcloud

If you’d like to be a guest on the show, please fill out the form here and tell us your story.

Over the past nine months Agata has had some success in being healthier, but is disappointed that she hasn’t lost much weight. She started slowly by being more active and noticed she had more energy and looked more toned.

Despite the benefits she felt, her wedding was approaching and she still hoped to lose some more weight. Agata decided to focus more on her diet, although she didn’t want to be too strict, so she started eating more vegetables and cut down on processed foods. She enjoyed this and didn’t feel deprived, and proceeded to lose five more pounds.

Her wedding came and went, and she was happy, but she’s still wondering why she hasn’t had more success with weight loss.

She called to ask me, “Am I doing something wrong?”

Agata’s impatience with weight loss is something I hear often from new foodists, particularly those with a history of dieting who expect rapid weight loss.

In this episode I help Agata reframe her disappointment with her results as what it is––success with room to improve––and help her identify new target habits to build on the progress she’s made so far.

Wish you had more time to listen to the podcast? I use an app called Overcast (no affiliation) to play back my favorite podcasts at faster speeds, dynamically shortening silences in talk shows so it doesn’t sound weird. It’s pretty rad.

Related links:

Foodist book

Home Court Habits

How Being Too Productive Can Lead to Overeating (and How to Stop It)

How Yoga and Mindful Eating Helped Sherry Lose 16 lbs Without Effort

Foodist Kitchen

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Read:

Full transcript

If you’d like to be a guest on the show, please fill out the form here and tell us your story.

For the Love of Food

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

This week the secret to self-control, saturated fat is good for you, and why you aren’t a “picky eater.”

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.

Read the rest of this story »

For the Love of Food

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

This week Oreos really are like crack, how genetics impact being vegan, and how to get teens to quit junk food.

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.

Read the rest of this story »

“I call it adding life into living.”

When Mark realized his poor eating habits had been left unchecked for too long, he decided it was time to start taking his health seriously. Besides having gained a significant amount of weight, he was also suffering from digestive problems and low energy. To address these issues he decided to focus on Real Foods and cut most processed foods from his daily habits.

Mark’s process was pretty simple. He got rid of the processed foods from his house, started eating breakfast daily, cut out all alcohol except tequila (!), and started cooking most of his meals at home.

Over the course of one year Mark was able to restore his energy, fix his stomach problems and lose 70 lbs, all while launching a new company. He also saved money by buying less prepared food and developed a deep love of vegetables and cooking.

What is interesting about Mark’s story is not so much the specific changes he made as his approach to solving problems. For instance, instead of seeing cooking as a chore, he uses it as an opportunity to listen to podcasts and strengthen his business knowledge while taking care of his health at the same time. He approaches everything with curiosity and an opportunity to learn, so he’s never bored and actually enjoys the process.

This foodist mindset is a pattern for Mark, and his positive and flexible outlook is the main reason for his success.

Related links:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Foodists

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Mindset by Carol Dweck

Wish you had more time to listen to the podcast? I use an app called Overcast (no affiliation) to play back my favorite podcasts at faster speeds, dynamically shortening silences in talk shows so it doesn’t sound weird. It’s pretty rad.

Listen:

Listen on iTunes

Listen on Stitcher

Listen on Soundcloud

If you’d like to be a guest on the show, please fill out the form here and tell us your story.