Skipping the Dressing Makes Your Salad Less Healthy (and Less Tasty)

by Darya Rose | Apr 26, 2016

Photo by juanpablo.santosrodriguez

When I was a teenager salad dressing was the enemy.

Sure I knew salads were the best choice for losing weight. But dressing, that evil temptress, tried her best to undo all the pain and suffering I just knew was necessary to get the body I wanted.

I remember once getting into an argument with my dad (the poor man had endured years of my refusing even a drop of fat on anything I ate).

He had made a substantial (and delicious) Cobb salad for dinner, and was offering me a bottle of low-fat ranch dressing to top it off.

I self-righteously retorted, “Salad dressing defeats the purpose of eating a salad.”

“No it doesn’t,” he explained with exasperation. “The purpose of eating a salad is to get your vegetables and leafy greens in for the day.”

Clearly we were speaking different languages.

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Tags: nutrition, salad dressing, Wisdom Wednesday

FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD: The pros and cons of fasting, body fat trumps BMI, and water cuts calories

by Darya Rose | Mar 11, 2016

For the Love of Food

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

This week the pros and cons of fasting, body fat trumps BMI, and how water cuts calories.

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.

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Tags: allergies, B vitamins, broccoli, brown rice, fasting, grains, Health, intact grains, intermittent fasting, nutrition, peanuts, pregnancy, processed foods, rice, ultraprocessed foods, water, Weight Loss

FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD: Nutrition science is corrupted, a huge mistake in habit hacking, and lack of sleep makes you eat like a stoner

by Darya Rose | Mar 4, 2016

For the Love of Food

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

This week nutrition science is corrupted, a huge mistake in habit hacking, and lack of sleep makes you eat like a stoner.

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

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Tags: conflict of interest, food politics, food waste, habits, Health, millennials, nutrition, personality, Psychology, quantified self, salt, Science, sleep, ultraprocessed foods

FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD: The truth about MSG, hacking your memories for weight loss, and the double standard in the 2015 Dietary Guidelines

by Darya Rose | Jan 15, 2016

For the Love of Food

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

This week the truth about MSG, hacking your memories for weight loss, and the double standard in the 2015 Dietary Guidelines.

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

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Tags: Brazil, dietary guidelines, Exercise, Health, insulin, memory, MSG, nutrigenomics, nutrition, personalized nutrition, picky eating, Psychology, Science

FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD: This week the value of taking the elevator, why (you think) healthy food is less satisfying, and the best oils for cooking

by Darya Rose | Jan 8, 2016

For the Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup. It’s good to be back!

I included a few more than 10 links this week because they were good and, well, it’s been forever. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

This week the value of taking the elevator, why (you think) healthy food is less satisfying, and the best oils for cooking.

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

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Tags: children, Cooking, cooking oils, design thinking, Exercise, films, food industry, habits, Health, hummus, In Defense of Food, individuality, Michael Pollan, nutrition, Psychology

For the Love of Food

by Darya Rose | Oct 2, 2015

For the Love of Food

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

This week trans fats might be healthy, a simple way to lose 7 lbs, and why we were thinner in the 80s.

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

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Tags: capsaicin, chilies, food waste, gut, Health, intermittent fasting, kids, meal timing, mindfulness, nutrition, picky eating, trans fat, Weight Control

18 Nutrition Habits You Are Probably Neglecting

by Darya Rose | Sep 29, 2015

Purple Artichokes

Going to a restaurant with me is not a normal phenomenon. I’m not impressed by comfort foods that most people love like mashed potatoes and mac’n cheese, and I almost always order the “weirdest” thing on the menu––think crudo (aka raw) platters, seaweed tastings and organ meats.

Just last week, for instance, I took my brother Shay to lunch at Mozza in Southern California, and without even asking him ordered the bone marrow appetizer. He looked at me incredulously. “Bone marrow?”

Me: “Yep, don’t worry about it. I always get it. You don’t have to have any if you don’t want.”

To Shay’s credit he tried it and––like 75% of the “weird” stuff I’ve encouraged him to try––he loved it.

So why am I such a freakshow?

Beyond my general disdain for social norms and conformity, my desire to eat at the fringes of the menu and grocery store stems from my desire to get as broad a spectrum of nutrients from my food as possible.

Healthy eating is about more than avoiding flour, sugar and trans fats. It also requires optimizing your nutrient intake of basic vitamins and minerals, as well as essential fats, amino acids, and trace micronutrients science may still be unaware of.

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