For the Love of Food

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

This week how your brain processes food experiences, the real paleo story, and how food impacts depression.

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 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.

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 learn how to avoid a cold, motivate yourself for exercise, and stop procrastinating.

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 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.

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.

If you’ve been hanging around the blog lately you may have noticed something a little different. You might not have been aware of it at first, but after awhile you found yourself smiling a little at what a pleasant experience you’re having.

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve removed all banner ads from Summer Tomato. Woo hoo!

I’ve never been a fan of display ads (I’m sure you don’t love them either), but I thought they were a necessary evil to pay for the cost of running a popular website (if I told you how much I spent last year you’d choke on your organic green juice). But now that Foodist Kitchen is so popular I had the luxury of removing all 3rd party advertising––and it feels so good.

I do everything I can to make Summer Tomato your most trusted source for health advice andgive you the best experience possible. Removing banner ads was the final barrier to making sure that 100% of the things you see on Summer Tomato is foodist approved. As you can tell, I’m super happy about it 🙂

This week soybean oil is worse than saturated fat, the FDA takes on sugar, and a new taste sensation is identified.

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 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.

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.

Before we move on to this week’s wisdom I want to share a few live events I’ll be speaking at over the next few weeks:

PREVENTION R3 SUMMIT, Oct 17-18

I’m thrilled to be coming to Austin, TX to speak at the Prevention R3 Summit on Oct 17-18. It will be a star-studded affair including an exclusive screening of the documentary, Resistance. If you’d like to attend, please use the code R3SPKR for $10 off your ticket.

BRAND CAMP SUMMIT, Oct 21

On Oct 21 I’ll be in Detroit for Brand Camp Summit, where brands, entrepreneurship and tech intersect. Brand Camp is a really special event, and this year’s theme is “Making Tech for All People.” This will be a rare opportunity to hear me talk about how I built Summer Tomato into one of the most respected food and health brands online. I’ll be dishing all my secrets about how to make things like vegetables, walking and self-control seem uncharacteristically sexy. I hope to meet you there.

HACKING HAPPINESS, Nov 14

In November I’ll be heading to London to speak about how to make life awesome through food at Hacking Happiness, a summit on human potential, performance and well-being. This is pretty much as foodist as you can get. I’d love to meet all you foodists across the pond, so please come and say hello.

And now on to the link love….

This week your house has pheromones, scientists defend saturated fat, and how to troubleshoot digestive issues.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading tool 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.)

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.

Before we get started I want to let you know about an exciting new project I’ve been working on.

To help you jumpstart your fall cooking habit I’ve partnered with PlateJoy to deliver the ingredients for some of my favorite Summer Tomato recipes right to your door. PlateJoy will deliver a week’s worth of ingredients for the recipes of your choice (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks) so you can easily create healthy and delicious meals at home.

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s (err…. Saturday’s) For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

Sorry for the delay, I’m still traveling and had to read through two weeks of articles. On the plus side there’s GREAT stuff in here and it’s the weekend.

This week new low-carb BS, a life-changing essay about mammoths (really), and how to change your food preferences.

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.)
Read the rest of this story »

Photo by Humphrey King

Weight loss is tricky business. Obviously what you eat has a huge impact on your health and body weight. But anyone who has ever tried to modify their diet for the sake of losing weight knows it isn’t so simple.

Most of us understand intuitively that broccoli is healthier than cookies. We can talk about sugar, fat, gluten and antioxidants all day, but that doesn’t change the fact that cookies taste good and you still want to eat them. Any weight loss plan that simply tells you what to eat and neglects why you make the choices you make is unlikely to help you in the long run.

Nutrition knowledge is important, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. The real secret is understanding your behaviors and motivations at their roots, and using this information to have a meaningful impact on your health. In this sense, good health starts in your brain, not on your plate.

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.

In case you missed it, here’s the archive of my appearance on Dead to the World with David Gans (KPFA radio) from Wednesday night. One of my longest discussions of Foodist to date. It will only be available until May 29:

http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/91603

UPDATE: Here’s a more permanent version if you want to listen after the KPFA archive expires.

This week around the interwebz the salt police take a blow, chili peppers reduce Parkinson’s risk, and why sunshine is important for more than just vitamin D.

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).

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.

Most of the food news this week focused on the controversy over organic versus conventional agriculture, and I’m already tired of it. I normally post 10 links on Friday, but today I could only find seven additional good stories, so I didn’t waste your time by posting three more lame ones. It was a short week anyway, so consider this a holiday.

That said, all these are definitely worth reading. Learn why you should be scared of chicken breasts, romantic dinner settings can help you eat less, healthy eating helps your brain and more.

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

• Farm Use of Antibiotics Defies Scrutiny <<Are you worried about antibiotic resistance caused by the production of industrial meat? Because you certainly should be. Share this far and wide. (New York Times)
• Setting the Mood for Smaller Meals <<It seems that even at a fast food joint my tricks to eat slower and more mindfully can also help you eat less without noticing. And guess what, you can do all these things at home. (New York Times)
• Even in Normal Range, High Blood Sugar Linked to Brain Shrinkage <<Worried about dementia? Better watch your blood sugar. (ScienceDaily)
• Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome Associated With Impaired Brain Function in Adolescents <<Oh and btw, even teenagers have impaired cognition as a result of poor blood sugar control. (ScienceDaily)
• Keeping Up a Healthy Lifestyle Pays Off in Added Years: Study <<This study claims healthy living adds another 5.5 years to your life on average. I’ve seen other studies report as many as 14 years. All you’ve got to do is eat delicious food, avoid cigarettes and move your body a bit. Any takers? (Medline)
• The Benefits of Middle-Age Fitness <<Fitness doesn’t just extend the length of your life, it also improves the quality (by more than a decade). (New York Times)
• Stir Fried Japanese Eggplant with Ginger and Miso <<Eggplant is in season, and Asian preparations are my favorite. Yum yum. (Simply Recipes)

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.

This week, the final coffin nail for low-fat diets, how to get kids to eat healthier and the truth about food expiration dates.

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

• Which Diet Works?  <<I’m not sure why it still shocks people that the quality of your food impacts how its calories impact you, but here we are again. Guess who eats the healthiest… ? (New York Times)
• Kids Who Cook Are Hungrier for Healthy Food Choices <<People often ask me how to get their kids to eat healthier. The answer: cook with them. (ScienceDaily)
• What Do These Expiration Dates on my Food Really Mean? <<The answer may surprise you. (Lifehacker)
• Remember This Every Time the Food Industry Claims They’re Trying to Help <<They’re really just trying to get you to like them so you’ll buy more of their poison. Don’t take candy from strangers. (Weighty Matters)
• District’s needy get fruit and vegetable Rx <<Definitely one of the coolest food and health success stories I’ve ever read. We need more of this. (Washington Post)
• How Junk Food and Sodas Ruin Kids’ Teeth in Developing Countries <<Need another incentive to kick the soda habit? This should do it. (The Atlantic)
• Use This Chart to Determine When Your Favorite Fruits Are In Season <<Very cool, and useful. (Lifehacker)
• What Puts Fat Into Fat Cells, and What Takes it Out? <<This post is really about how weight regulation is inseparable from neuroscience. As you might imagine, I completely agree. (Whole Health Source)
• Moderate Coffee Consumption Offers Protection Against Heart Failure, Study Suggests <<Good news everyone! P.S. It’s not new. (ScienceDaily)
• Cilantro Lime Shrimp <<Simple, healthy and delicious. Triple win!!! (Simply Recipes)

What inspired you this week?