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

This week nutrition research is often wrong, stop commenting on people’s weight loss, and this much exercise slows aging.

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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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 dinner is your enemy, vegetarians suffer from depression, and vitamin B supplements cause cancer.

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. 

Great news! The Mindful Meal Challenge was such a success we’re going to run it again every week. Sign up now to start on Monday!

This week how to trust your future self, a simple way to better choices, and how parents impact your adult relationships.

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 »

For the Love of Food

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

This week the critical role of hunger, Western diets devastate your gut, and why kale isn’t healthy.

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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black rice breakfast bowl

Porridge made from black rice, also called “forbidden rice,” is a creative and delicious alternative to oatmeal.

This recipe was inspired by a memorable brunch I had a couple months ago at a tiny neighborhood restaurant, The Sudra, in SE Portland. The Sudra is beloved for its vegan, deeply spiced Indian cuisine.

Black rice has a rich, nutty flavor, chewy texture, and powerful color, while sautéed apples spiked with cinnamon and cardamom take on a beautiful crimson hue, making this bowl impressive enough to serve for weekend brunch.

You can use any type of milk, but for a creamy treat I recommend making it with rich coconut milk. Unsweetened canned coconut milk is available at most grocery stores.

To be able to prepare this breakfast in less than 15 minutes, cook the rice the night before while you’re cleaning up from dinner.

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Grilled eggplant with chickpeas and tomatoes

Vegans, vegetarians, and vegetable aficionados rejoice—you need not be a meat-lover to have fun grilling this summer. Vibrant vegetables (and fruit!) can benefit from the sear of a hot grill as much as a juicy burger or steak.

Thick slabs of eggplant brushed with olive oil and spices, transform into melt-in-your-mouth goodness when charred to perfection.

Grilling is faster than cooking on the stovetop and it requires less cleanup. Ready to get your grill on?! Here are a few tips to get you started:

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maple pecan nut butter

I have an affinity for nut butters. My freshman year of college, when I was running an insane amount of miles and living in the dismal dorms, I used to keep a jar of peanut butter by my bed. My roommate, to this day, still teases me about my by-the-spoonful, middle-of-the-night peanut butter snacking habit.

Years later when I worked in Geneva, Switzerland I kept a jar of almond butter in my desk drawer at work. Once again my nut butter snacking habit provided much entertainment. My co-workers thought it was hilariously odd that I ate almond butter imported from the US slathered on apples. Lucky for me, I never had to share, and they had no idea what they were missing out on.

Despite the ridicule over the years, nut butter spread on fruit or swirled into yogurt remains my beloved afternoon snack. After discovering that I could make a better butter at home, I’ve been experimenting with endless flavor combinations.

Compared to store-bought ones homemade nut butters have a richer nuttiness and deeper flavor, all of which adds up to some serious snacking satisfaction.

This Maple Pecan Nut Butter of mine is my new love. It only takes a small amount of maple syrup to bring to life the innate sweetness of the pecans. Adding almonds to the mix saves on cost without taking away from the butter’s better-than-pie goodness.

Serve it anyway you like: mash into a baked yam (trust me on this one!), swirl into whole milk yogurt, serve on top of baked apples or poached pears or simply slather on bananas, apple slices or thick slices of toast.

Homemade is more perishable than store-bought, so it’s best to make in small batches. Or better yet, make a large batch and freeze any amount that you can salvage from immediate consumption.

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grain-free tabouleh

This grainless variation of a Lebanese classic was specially requested by Darya’s husband, Kevin. Kevin came across a tabouleh salad made with cauliflower instead of bulgur while on a work trip and has been craving it ever since.

Because just about everyone can benefit from more veggies and many of us are sensitive to grains, it seemed like a genius substitution.

I love how much the roasted cauliflower resembles couscous once pulsed a couple times in the food processor, only sweeter and fluffier. A definite keeper!

Tomatoes in the wintertime remind me of soggy cardboard—flavorless and mealy—so I used reconstituted sun-dried tomatoes. Of course come summertime, feel free to swap back in fresh cherry tomatoes.

Thanks for the inspiration, Kevin!

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