My son is with my wife at a swordsmanship demonstration, over which his 4-yr-old imagination has been going bonkers since yesterday.

Last summer I wrote about Ma Petite Maison in Port Orford, Oregon (A Taste of France on the Oregon Coast), and the sense of transcendence that I felt during those warm days. We’ve returned for a brief holiday along with our friends J and G, who are the owners of the duplex, and the place is true to memory. Port Orford is notoriously windy; but it also has much more sun than towns only an hour north. We’ve been enjoying the sun, relaxing in the small town atmosphere, and generally taking a break from the rigors of work and school.

Returning to this place always reminds me of Joie de Vivre, which in turn leads to thoughts of, what else, food. Actually, come to think of it, I can relate just about anything to food, but this place in particular is so reminiscent of France that I can’t help but think about what we’re going to eat next. Yesterday we ate a heavier breakfast – I actually had fresh eggs Benedict, which is not a staple for me by any stretch but was a great vacation treat. With such a bold breakfast under our belts, we more or less skipped lunch in favor of snacking a bit throughout the day on fruit and nuts.

After a walk through Prehistoric Gardens, we finished the day with a great dinner of fresh halibut, a reasonable, shared portion of quality steak, grilled vegetables, and a little fresh bread. We also complimented the meal with a great Tempranillo made by a winery a few hours from here. For dessert, a small touch of vanilla ice cream along with sliced grilled peaches.

There may also have been a craft beer or two consumed as part of the grilling duties carried on by the fathers of the house. But we’re on vacation, so what else can you do?

For tonight’s dinner, slow roasted rosemary chicken and vegetables, a scent that is filling the house as I write.

Over the last few months it’s become clear that one component of healthful living that I’ve been neglecting is deliberate relaxation. I seem to have  a hard time setting projects down, whether it’s my work, music, art, or writing. Although I imagine this isn’t universally true, for me I have great moments of clarity at the beach, whether it’s walking along the shore, sitting quietly, or building something out of found objects. Currently, my health is heavily on my mind – everything from needing life insurance coverage to finding the mental tools I need to really stay on track with a diet and exercise plan. The beach is a great place to contemplate both the important and the trivial.

Today, resting both with my family and alone in my own thoughts for a while on the beach, I realized that exactly what I was doing in that moment – taking time out of the day for solitude – is a key component that I let slip all too often.

Over the coming days I’ll be writing a bit about where I’m at diet and exercise-wise this week, and some interesting developments that have occurred over the last few days. But in the meantime, I have some relaxing and playing with the kids to do.

More to come.

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Ed. note: This entry is about working toward lifelong dietary goals by eating real food in moderation. The list of techniques will change over time, but this is where I’m starting from. This is actually an update from an article I wrote a little over a year ago, including my observations, corrections, and a handful of new ideas. Your constructive feedback is always appreciated. If this is your first time here and you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing via RSS. Thanks.

“Action Feeds Motivation.”

This thought occurred to me as I finished my first run of the year today, in the rain and wind. Yes, you read correctly: my FIRST, as best I can recall. As many readers have noticed, I’ve been a little scarce lately. I’ll write another post soon with my theories (and a few personal facts) on why that has been so, but for now I thought it was more important to simply do something about it. And as it turns out, that phrase, “Action Feeds Motivation” is going to be one of my recurrent themes for Almost Fit in 2009.

A year ago I was fully motivated to pursue these techniques. I didn’t need a whole lot of inspiration; I was ready to go. Over the last few months however, I haven’t been “feeling it” like I was. That tide however, is changing. So in an effort to really rekindle that fire I decided to review some of what I wrote a year ago to try to learn from my successes and mistakes, which is one of the great side-effects of writing your thoughts down in a public format like this one. For this analysis, I came back to one of my all-time favorite posts: 33 tips on how to lose weight without dieting, and one that I now think, after a year of trying out this approach to eating, needs a little revision.

As regular readers know, my focus here on Almost Fit is to do one simple thing: Eat Real Food in Moderation. No low fat this or low carb that; just real, whole foods in moderate amounts. As simple as the statement is, the principle is much harder to apply, particularly if you live in what I think of as a culture of excess. Most of us have come to accept as normal the gigantic, oversized meals that are available at every restaurant you go to, and on every food commercial or ad you encounter. We’ve confused quantity with value, and we’ve also convinced ourselves that the cost of food should be minimal – meaning it’s common to think that we simply can’t afford to eat better. I disagree; however, applying it on a daily basis is a lot like trying to light a candle in a hurricane.

In the 2008 article, I stated:

“I don’t believe that moderation in itself is the answer; eating moderate amounts of garbage still means you’re eating garbage. If I eat real food, in moderation, I am convinced that the weight will come off naturally. Changing my diet to focus on vegetables first, and then moderate amounts of high quality meat, grains, and dairy, makes sense to me. And so far, its working with little or no negative side effects including the emotional struggle that I associate with every diet I’ve ever tried, and I haven’t had to buy a single pre-packaged plan or frozen low fat dinner to do it.”

I still very much stand by these statements, and my diet and current condition is living proof. And that’s because I’m now thin, right?

Not quite yet.

In the last year I’ve managed to prove these principles from both angles – “success” in a sense, and “less than stellar” as well; I still contend that it’s not smart to view diet habits in a pass/fail context. No, I definitely proved that it does work; but lately I’ve also proven that if you take your eye off the ball for a while, the reverse is also true. We still eat well; the problem is the idea of eating vegetables first has succumbed to carb-heavy eating habits, particularly in the Winter months when our garden isn’t producing anything other than Leeks. There is plenty of room in my diet for carbs, proteins, sugars, and fats, but they need to be very secondary to vegetables as the bulk of what I eat. When I achieve that balance and combine it with reasonable exercise, Real Food in Moderation simply works.

However, when carbs, fats, and sugars begin to dominate my diet, all hell breaks loose when I step on the scale.

With that in mind, this article is intended to revisit my thoughts from a year ago, and provide new insight where it applies. And to be frank, this is somewhat self-serving; I’m putting my axiom to the test, and taking action to generate motivation.

Let the games begin.

33 Scratch that – 44 Weight Loss Tips for 2009

1. “Eat real food.” This principle is at its core, simply true – my opinion has not changed after a year of testing this out. Every day I am increasingly convinced that our poor, industrially-driven dietary habits particularly in the West are largely responsible for most of the bigger health maladies we suffer today. Real food means to me minimally processed, preferably non-packaged foods. “Good” is organic at the grocery store; “Better” is organically grown (even if not certified) from a local farmer who you can look in the eye and ask intelligent questions; and “Best” is growing your own, right in that patch of ground that used to be your front yard.

2. “Eat smaller portions of real food.” As I’ve pointed out many times before, portion size in the West is out of control. And contrary to what we are told all the time, eating more of someone’s industrial product is NOT what’s best for us – It benefits the seller, but that’s about it.

3. “Eat slower. Take at least 20 minutes for every meal. One of the best tips I’ve read on this is to divide the amount of food on your plate into fourths, and then eat only 1/4 of it each 5 minutes that passes. After a while I’ve found that you do this by nature once you get used to it.” 2009 observation: I am going to do this tonight in fact. This is one area that has really eluded me in the last few months, but I know that it works.

4. Technique: put your fork down between bites. This is another habit that is easy to let go, as I have proved over the last 6 months. Time for an adjustment.

5. Use smaller plates, cups, and utensils. No change here; still applies in 2009.

6. Cut between meal snacking – using some smart techniques. This is one of those areas that still holds true, and if you play it right can actually be a benefit of a sagging economy. Rather than throwing in that $5 dollar iced coffee drink during the morning and afternoon lull, save the money and go with the following: First, try a glass of water. Second, if that doesn’t stop the craving, a small piece of the best dark chocolate you can afford. Third, if that doesn’t work, try a small, pre-rationed handful of almonds. If I follow these steps in order, I’m generally fine for another couple of hours.

7. When you’re eating out, skip the appetizer. This rule still holds true. With the portion size of a typical entree, there is simply no need for “frontloading” your meal with unneccesary calories. On the other hand, if you want the appetizer, order it – as your meal. But if I do, I sometimes tip a little better if possible, only because my bill will be less as a result of my food choice and the server will appreciate the good will. It’s not a rule really, but it feels right for me.

8. Limit certain types of foods to a few times a month. This is one aspect that is more true now than ever, particularly with our current economic state. While I don’t apply this to fruits and vegetables, I certainly do for meat consumption. In addition to the health benefits of a diet rich in vegetables, eating better cuts of non-industrial meat is not only healthier, but more feasible financially when you eat it less frequently. And despite what those beef industry commercials suggest, not everyone has steak 3 meals a day.

9. Be aware of how much you are putting in your mouth, and keep it small. Smaller bites, savoring each one. Sounds simple enough. And, still true.

10. Understand what it means to be not quite full, and be OK with that. I don’t believe that I’ve done an article yet on Hari Hachi Bu (the art of eating until you’re 80% full), but that is soon to come I hope. What are my observations on this now? It is undoubtedly difficult. And it becomes a true mental game, where we often hear that little voice in our head that says, “But I LIKE to eat a lot”. It’s difficult to overcome that voice, but it’s possible. On this, more to come.

11. Don’t eat in front of the television. This technique has really worked for me this year, and I stand by it. That said, I do watch Top Chef while enjoying a very small dish of the best quality ice cream I can afford. The biggest trick here is not eating it straight from the container – which is deadly to the waistline when you combine it with the distraction of television. If you’re going to watch while you eat, serve a small portion away from the television. Savor it; eat it slowly; and don’t go back for more.

12. Don’t eat in front of the computer. See the previous tip – the same applies. 2009 observation: As was the case in 2008, this is still my biggest weakness. In fact, I’ve let the “emergency nuts snack” get out of control on this one – I have a jar of nuts on my desk as we speak. I’ve got to change that.

There. Done.

13. Whenever possible, eat together as a family. This is still true in my mind, however there’s one big challenge for me. Having two small children, I spend more of my focus on what they’re eating and less than on what I’m eating. I’m looking for suggestions on this one, but I still maintain it’s a good principle not only for dietary health, but for familial emotional health as well.

14. Whenever possible, in addition to your family, take your meals with friends and coworkers. We have been moderately successful at this one, but I have found that it is easy to overeat in these situations as well. I think ultimately you can truly appreciate the food more in the company of others, but it requires diligence to not get carried away.

15. “Read the ingredients list of anything in a package, but pay less attention to the statistics. The general rule should be to strive to eat things that don’t require ingredients lists, like fruits and vegetables. But in real life, this is not always practical. That being said, the key is to focus on the contents, not the scientific descriptions. You should try to eat only things that are easily identifiable as real food, not chemically processed substitutes. If you focus on eating only real food, and in moderation, the other elements become less important (unless you suffer with food allergies of course). The emphasis should be on real food and less of it, not counting milligrams of any one element.” 2009: More true now than ever.

16. Use real sugar, preferably raw, even if only trace amounts of it. Don’t use chemical substitutes. Again, for 2009, this rule holds absolutely true. I just spent a year NOT consuming chemical sweeteners, and I didn’t suffer in the least. Actually, I do have one amendment to this: I now prefer Agave syrup for most sweetening. Agave is a great sweetener, and requires very little refining. It’s also a great substitute for simple syrup for the occasional mixed drink.

17. “Eat fat – but only eat real, high quality fats. [...] the key is moderation – if you eat a pound of Brie, you’ve gone to the dark side.” 2009 observations: I still strongly feel this is accurate. However, with one caveat: Fats, specifically great-tasting ones like real cheeses, are difficult to control on the moderation front. But my theory is the French succeed here because it’s awfully difficult to eat the stinkiest of cheeses. For practical purposes, take what you want from the block of cheese, and then put it away. This helps to prevent “nibbling” on the cheese left out on the counter.

18. Don’t rely on supplements – eat the real thing first, and supplement what you need. 2009? Still true, with one bit of advice: If you do take supplements, make sure they are not synthetic. For a great resource on the subject, see my fellow writer Robin’s blog, here: http://realnutritionsupplement.blogspot.com/.

19. Focus on the reasons you are overeating, and address those first. in 2009 I did a fair bit of work here, but even after a year of self-analysis, I still have yet to control my emotional eating patterns effectively. 2009 may be the year that I seek professional help with emotionally-driven overeating, which I believe is at the heart of most of my struggles with weight.

20. Don’t eat fast food if at all possible – its not real food. This has been a great success for me, with one small exception: In Oregon and parts of Washington, we have a restaurant chain called Burgerville, which uses organic, grass-fed, locally grown products whenever possible. The bigger problem of course is it tastes really, really good. So it’s a little too easy to justify a stop at Burgerville on somewhat shaky “ethical” grounds. Granted, it’s not very often that we go here, but to be honest it’s more than it should be. This needs to change.

21. Avoid vending machines. Still true in 2009. If you work in an office or a building near these machines, it requires a small amount of planning ahead, but this is entirely possible, and entirely the correct choice.

22. “Don’t believe the “no pain no gain” philosophy. Regardless of what your gym coach told you, or what that aggressive personal trainer says, unless your goal is to be a body builder or a professional athlete, if you are practicing moderation, this philosophy is simply not true. In order to maintain health, eating should not be difficult. Exercise should be a pleasure, not a struggle. For those of us who simply want good health, if its painful, you’re not doing it right.”

In 2009, my opinion? Despite some disagreement among readers, I still stand by this statement. While pain can be a useful tool, I don’t think it’s strictly necessary. That said, there ought to be some “burn” going on; it just doesn’t have to be as painful as most “gung ho” advocates indicate. Let the disagreement begin.

23. Don’t apply the “if its not hard its not worth doing” philosophy to eating. 2009: Still true. This statement stemmed from a “diet counselor” who was clearly bitter in her feelings about diet. “Do you like Caesar Salad?” she asked. I replied, “Uh, yes I do…” She said, “Well get used to the idea that you’ll have to give that up. If you want to lose weight, forget eating Caesar salad again.” That diet, of course, didn’t work. And hopefully my embittered “counselor” moved on to a new career, perhaps in Credit Collection.

24. Learn to cook. Over the last year this has become, its fair to say, an obsession. My wife and I are systematically working our way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I truly think this is key, particularly if you want to wean yourself from the industrial food products that many of us are used to.

25. Educate yourself on the diets of cultures that live longer and are generally in better health. 100% true. I would add only that if possible, it’s best to go visit those cultures, which we hope to pursue further in the coming years.

26. Reduce your coffee size to enjoy real cream – not “creamer”. I absolutely believe this is true, but I must admit: working at home as I do, it is terribly easy to “overdo” it by drinking coffee throughout the day. In 2009, I am considering eliminating coffee in favor of Yerba Mate tea, which I also enjoy, and for which I don’t need cream.

27. If you are a coffee drinker, develop an appreciation for espresso. I am hopeful that in 2009 we’ll be able to pick up a quality espresso machine. I am a little particular on this and have my eyes set on one that I of course cannot afford, but with some planning and saving hopefully we’ll be able to pick one up sometime soon without breaking out a credit card.

28. Avoid packaged juices. Juice is one of my biggest weaknesses, because it feeds my inate and powerful sweet tooth. I find that when I drink juice, I stimulate sugar cravings terribly for the rest of the day. I really try to limit juice intake, even going as far as asking my wife to refrain from keeping it in the house. That said, there are a few juices that I do enjoy on occasion, including pomegranate juice from POM. I like the flavor, and it’s expensive enough that I rarely can justify the expense – a built-in moderation feature.

29. Buy the best food you can afford. After a year of doing this, I have to say that it is the most important aspect in my opinion of eating in moderation. A food budget is a balancing act. For the more expensive cheeses that we buy, we have reduced our coffee and packaged foods (we still eat a few) budget. This year we will continue to grow our own produce, which also reduces the overall cost of food for us especially with a family of four. I am hopeful that this year we will have a better handle on our food budget (and our budget in general) – once I find out exactly how much we’re spending, I’ll share the information.

30. Retrain yourself away from the “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” mindset. 2009: THIS one, I think needs a little correction. After reading many, many arguments in favor of eating breakfast, I think I missed the mark on this one in some ways. My original reasoning was that if you overeat at breakfast, you’ll just overeat later. I still think that is true; however, I took it to the extreme and started skipping breakfast altogether, which is a big mistake. I am not entirely convinced of the metabolic reasons yet only because I think this is a matter of conditioning (considering the lack of heavy breakfast in many “lighter” cultures); however I am sure that if I reach lunchtime and am starving, I make bad choices. Better to start out with a whole, light breakfast, than to skip it only to be desperate for anything to eat later.

31. Eat at regular times. This is still true, though I am admittedly not good at it. I tend to eat breakfast sometime in mid-morning, lunch somewhere in mid-afternoon, and dinner at a regular time. I think this is one of my problems, and I need to work on a better morning and afternoon eating schedule.

32. Keep junk food out of the house. To me, this one is obviously true for 90% of us. If you are one of the lucky few who don’t have this weakness, good for you. But for me, this is a necessity.

33. Don’t be in a big rush to lose the weight. This is for me, in the top 3 lessons that carry the most, ahem, weight. I lost 25 lbs or so last year, which is what I would have shot for in a month on some of the crazy diets I’ve tried. Rather, I’m very happy with those results. This is a lifelong process of health improvement; not to mention, it took me 37 years to get to this point. It’s madness to think it will turn around, permanently, overnight.

NEW FOR 2009:

34. Skip the afternoon snack – in favor of afternoon tea. I think our friends across the pond have this correct – afternoon tea time seems to me to be a great idea. I did this today in fact, and it satisfied my slight hunger until dinner. Give it a try. Make the tea time an opportunity to sit quietly and contemplate where you’re at. Enjoy the moment – be present for your life, which will be one of the themes this year for Almost Fit.

35. Focus on broadening your tastes in food. There are so many cultures that eat incredibly healthy foods, often out of necessity. Broadening your taste can lead to tremendous, healthful discoveries. This is something that we are also passing on to our children, who these days will eat pretty much anything – a fact for which I am convinced is at least in part due to exposure.

36. Develop a better understanding of the ethics of food. Foods as they are presented by the food industry are just nice, tasty products that we shouldn’t worry our pretty little heads about – just trust the food industry and surely we won’t go wrong. Unfortunately, this is why we have an obesity epidemic, and quite bluntly, family tragedy from things like poisoned peanut butter – our misplaced trust in a) the marketers to tell us what we should eat, and b) the government to look out for us. Neither is even close to a good source of information on what we feed ourselves and our kids, as they always have an agenda that puts consumers squarely in the last position.

37. Use tools, like social media, to your advantage. I am an active Twitter user and have been for some time. One of the benefits? I follow a number of great health bloggers, inspirational/motivational writers, and generally just good people. I find great inspiration and motivation in their suggestions throughout the day. One great example is a Twitter user I follow posts “nudges” throughout the day to remind followers to get up and move around a bit, or grab a glass of water. This is useful for me, particularly working by myself.

38. Be careful with the calories in wine. I have found that surprise surprise – when one glass of wine at dinner is good, two glasses is often a little better. It’s easy to overdo it – not in an alcohol/sobriety sense necessarily (though that is certainly a reasonable concern), but in the unwanted calories in particular. One glass is usually all I need; I just need to remember that especially after a hard day.

39. Consider (as in think about) trying moderate fasting. Many, many cultures use fasting as part of their dietary regime. I am currently fascinated with this, and plan on trying it sometime this year as an Almost Fit documented experiment. But for me, it is fasting moderately; I don’t intend to go more than a day on a fast. But it’s definitely something I think may have health benefits beyond weight loss.

40. If you make enough for leftovers, pack the leftovers first. When you make a meal, before you serve it, set aside the leftover quantity you intend to eat the next day. I’ve read this tip in numerous places, and it really both makes sense, and works.

41. When possible, only bring to the table what you plan to eat. For me, if the bowl of pasta is on the table, it’s much easier to eat more than I need. If I serve myself in the kitchen, it’s one step more difficult to overeat on seconds.

42. Find the stress relievers that work for you – other than food. With the economy in the current state of disrepair, this for me is of critical importance. I will be exploring this over the coming year on Almost Fit, and welcome suggestions.

43. Don’t go to bed too late. This one is one of my most difficult habits to break, but one I’m set on accomplishing this year. When I stay up late, I eat more. Simple as that. If I go to bed early and rise early, I rarely eat much if anything before breakfast. This may be different for you, but I have a feeling that late night work sessions, or #afterhours as we say on Twitter, are not great for a healthful diet.

44. Action Feeds Motivation. I think the best thing you can do on the weight loss front is simple: get up and do something about it. It sounds simple, but I know for me, I spent an awful lot of time trying to find motivation to exercise, often with mediocre results. This year, I’m hoping to turn this on it’s head on a personal level – rather than waiting to be motivated to do something physical, I’m going to focus on getting up and doing it as a means of creating motivation. It’s a subtle distinction, but one that I feel is worth making. My intention is to feature great sources of motivation that focus on taking small, immediate actions that you can do with minimal planning. Plans are great. But action is what is always needed if you want to get anywhere.

Thank you for reading. Here’s to another great year of working together. Your comments and suggestions are, as always welcome and maybe more importantly, appreciated.

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readers, both long-time friends and new acquaintances. I will be posting a "Best Of" article shortly, but I think you'll agree that this letter was already plenty long enough. Thanks for reading, and thank you for hanging in there with me in my recent absence. UPDATE: I dozed off last night, so this is now a Saturday post. A day late - but that's what you get for blog dollars ]

Tonight is the one year anniversary of a mild obsession: testing whether eating real food in moderation can actually work to lose weight and achieve better health.

And the principle corollary: Is it possible to live moderately in a culture of excess?

No low fat this or low carb that (both of which I had previously tried, exhaustively, to no permanent success); just eating real, whole, and at times decadent, foods – the key of course being to keep the quantities in check.

Before I get started, let me just say that it’s been a long day; I slept about 3 hours last night before heading out at 5AM for a 4 hour drive to Seattle for a business meeting at 9, and then turned around several hours later to drive 3 1/2 hours back home (don’t ask me where the missing 1/2 hour went). I’m admittedly exhausted, but some things simply cannot wait, things for which any devoted writer knows sleep deprivation is no match.

In honor of this anniversary I am sitting down with my laptop and a stiff margarita – ice, fresh squeezed lime juice and a healthy dose of tequila – evaluating as honestly as I can whether this year’s changes have been worth the effort. So if things get a little squirelly, you’ll know why.

Where did I start?

It has been 365 days since my first post on Almost Fit (“Welcome to Almost Fit – Almost Who?“). So what have I learned through this first year? Am I miraculously thin as a result of this “revolutionary” idea of eating less (hmm…eat less to lose weight? What?) ? Have I left all of my old bad habits for good, happy to eat only truly local, sustainable, whole foods, perhaps donning hemp shoes and opting not to shower for weeks on end? The truth is, if you ask my pants, not only will they stare back at you blankly, but inside they will concur – I’m certainly not thin – not yet – and I don’t own any hemp shoes. That said, this year has marked some of the biggest changes in my diet, how I feel about food on an emotional level, how I feel about taking social responsibility for what I eat, and what I expect from this approach.

A year ago to the day, here’s what I had to say about my condition. At the time, I was:

• “An average guy who’s weight is driving him crazy, and has done so for most of his life
• A card-carrying member of the TV, Coca Cola (second only to Dr. Pepper), and fast food generation
• A food lover, bordering on “foodie”, thanks to my wife’s cooking and mutual love of food
• In my mid-thirties with two children, and at my heaviest weight ever
• In my mid-thirties, at my heaviest weight ever, and tired of it. The whole thing. From carrying several extra useless sandbags-worth of weight every day (I don’t think the near-term global forecast is pointing toward temperatures dropping dramatically, where I’d need this extra layer of fat for warmth) to trying things that work, but don’t last. I am tired of being out of breath when I take a flight of stairs. I am tired of being hot when I should be comfortable. I am tired of being uncomfortable with how I look in horizontal stripes or clothes with any color other than brown or black. I’m tired of being in mild degrees of pain when I crawl around pretending to be an elephant with my kids (oh don’t think for a second I don’t see the irony there). In other words, I am ready for a change.”

Some things have not changed, including:

• Still an average guy in most ways: I still put my talking pants on one argument at a time
• I still watch television – in fact, I am putting off watching a DVR’d Top Chef episode in favor of writing tonight;
• Still very much in a hot and steamy relationship with both my food and, might I add, my smokin’ hot wife ;
• Still in my mid-thirties (which I plan to claim for at least another oh, 9-12 years) with two wondrous and beautiful children;
• Still carrying extra weight - though less of it.

Over the previous 6 years, I had been steadily gaining weight despite a lot of boxes of low fat cookies, losing weight and gaining it back thanks to South Beach, Oprah’s diet guy, and just about every chemical product or supplement that the food industry could throw in the feed trough. I ate it up, and it showed. I was gaining an average of nearly 10 lbs each and every year – even having run my first 10k race and a 1/2 marathon in the 5th year. That’s right: 6 years and 60 lbs later. And quite frankly, with no end in sight, other than the one that wasn’t fitting in the mirror.

Perhaps more importantly, when I started this experiment there was one very large fear on my mind: I was staring into the headlights of all sorts of health complications with which I was all but guaranteed to collide. I felt strongly that if I continued on the path I was on, I would certainly be setting myself up for blood sugar management and degenerative cardiovascular problems that go hand-in-hand with my family history. These elements, I am convinced, always loom in my DNA, but their onset is sped up rapidly by poor diet and lack of exercise. Sounds like common sense to me. Ultimately my hope is that doing what I can will help me to outlast the diseases until science finds a reasonable solution.

Where I’m at today

Here’s the short answer: For the year, I’ve lost 22 lbs (as much as 27 before the holiday season – more on that in a bit). And equally as important, I have not gained the 10+ lbs that I was on track to add, if history was any indicator. I’ve also had some pretty big challenges over the last few months, but those are finally starting to settle down.

So in a sense, you could say that all in all I’m down 32 lbs from where I would have been, but I’m choosing to only view it as 22 lbs down for the year. And how do I feel about that? Is that enough for a year? What did I learn? And where am I going with it?

10 things I’ve learned from a year of moderation

Changing my diet to real, whole foods has been a learning experience to say the least. Some successes, some failures, and some revelations. Here’s a list of things that seem clear to me after a year of giving this a shot.

1. It is hard to learn to NOT diet, if you are a career dieter. Since my early teens I had been off and on dieting, buying into the low fat/nonfat craze that swept my generation (and ultimately did not work), trying things like diet shakes, diet vitamin pills, and every edible diet product out there. None of them worked in the long run, and most of them tasted like cardboard with a Xylene chaser. But more importantly, it is the cycle of dieting that I had to break. When I would lose weight, I found that my strong inclination was to essentially starve myself trying to speed up the process, because that always worked before. On a diet of rich foods in moderation, it does NOT work, at least not for me.

2. Dietary choices do not have to be a “religious” choice. In the course of changing my thinking on food, I’ve had to work hard to overcome the desire to “preach” about it in polarized right and wrong terms. When you start to make food decisions based on social or moral principles, it can be easy to come off as judging others who don’t make the same choices. And while I know I certainly do that from time to time here, on my site, in person I have worked hard to avoid sounding too preachy, or even condemnatory of others. And I’m comfortable with that; after all, if you don’t care to hear it on a blog, you are free to move onto something else that resonates. When it comes to food, sometimes changing our dietary habits can become like we’re signing up for a “food religion”, requiring exclusive devotion, evangelism, and the use of “sin” or “guilt-free” metaphors. I don’t think this is necessary, and I’d like to think I’ve proven that over the span of this year. But it required a conscious effort, and learning from a mistake or two.

3. Just because you eat good food doesn’t mean you end cravings for “bad” food. My wife has never been much of a junk food eater – she has always eaten well thanks to some deep rooted family dietary traditions, her thoughtfulness and intelligence, and just plain good taste. So for folks like her, she has a hard time understanding why a KFC commercial would make me want something that makes me feel ill. ME on the other hand…I still, to this day, crave fast food when I see ads for it. Still. Even after a year primarily without. Do I feel bad about that? No. Do I act on it anymore? Almost never, but on occasion, in a pinch, I have succumbed to convenience. So just because I eat decadent cheeses and chocolates does not negate a lifetime of dietary bad habits. It took 30+ years of eating fast food and high fructose corn syrup to get here; it’s not going to change overnight.

4. Overeating is a cultural norm that is beatable – but it’s not easy. On whole, my opinion of our American cultural eating habits is in general, we simply eat too much, and thanks to multibillion dollar efforts of food manufacturers, the wrong things (there I go preaching again). Abundance and immediate availability have led us to consider as normal a portion size that several generations ago would have been considered enough for two or three. It takes real effort to ignore the sense of “this enormous plate is what everybody eats” both in the home and on the town, but it’s possible.

5. Exercise continues to be my weakest link. I openly admit that I am a fair weather runner these days – and even when the winter weather is fair, I seem to find it enormously difficult to get out and really get going. This, I must fix, in part because in life, eating moderately does not always happen. But more importantly because I am better off mentally and physically when I’m engrossed in a regular exercise routine.

6. I have to be OK with slow progress, lest I go mental. Like most of us, I want my weight to be ideal immediately – so when it starts working, I often fall into the “no pain no gain” mindset, where losing weight becomes less about eating right and more about a controlled experiment in denial, pain tolerance, and endurance until the trial is over. In other words, I tend to get a little nuts about it, ultimately to my own detriment. 22 lbs for the year should be a great number, but I struggle even still with the idea that I wanted that to be 50. I still have work to do.

7. I am an emotional eater – this I know. Eating is my response to happiness, sadness, stress, and especially frustration. When I get upset, I go for the cupboards. This too requires additional work. Thankfully there are many folks ahead of me in solving this one, and I think with some education I will beat this.

8. It is possible, though not always fun, to sense 80% full. I am pretty sure that I have yet to do a detailed post on this (hari hachi bu, specifically), but I have read numerous comments on other blogs that suggest that you can’t really know what 80% full feels like, so why try? Well I disagree based on my own experience. I know what it feels like; I just don’t always like it. But it is tangible, and it does work – it just requires retraining a mind that is conditioned to get pleasure and emotional satisfaction from overeating.

9. Eating well requires preparation and time – and believe it or not, not necessarily more money. This subject has been a big question surrounding the suggestions of folks like Michael Pollan that we should all eat better quality food than most of us typically do. While I concede that for some, this is definitely going to be more expensive, I’ve found over this year that you can trade off the cost by using additional time. And in many cases, that additional time is only a perception. It often does not take longer at all; we just think it does. It DOES however require a little more effort and some planning. But we’ve actually saved money this year by eating well.

10. The more you know about where your food comes from, the better you eat. That said, sometimes that rule goes out the window. In general, focusing on education as a means of motivation has worked. When I go to the grocery store, I really do put things back on the shelf if they are made or grown outside the U.S., and often if they’re not from the states in my immediate region. I also avoid anything with ingredients I don’t recognize, and especially foods with chemical additives that I DO recognize, like HFCS. I never eat diet processed foods, and I have worked for the past year to find locally grown or raised alternatives with great success.

All that said, there are certainly times when I make exceptions to eating seasonally and locally. Coffee being a prime example. We don’t have shade grown coffee as a native crop here in the Pacific Northwest (at least not as far as I know), but I still drink it. And I think that is OK. Like I said, it’s not a religion; it’s choosing to live moderately and, I think, reasonably.

Biggest lesson of all

If I step away from the minutia of eating real food in moderation, the biggest lesson I’ve learned I think is this:

Life circumstances, like it or not, help to determine the success or failure in changing your diet. And despite what the gym Nazis may tell you, that is OK.

When I started Almost Fit, I was in a good place. I had a reasonably stable job; our second child was approaching the 1-yr mark (which meant better sleep); I was and continue to be married to a wonderfully supportive and knowledgeable mate who shares a passion for food; I found an online community of support; I live in a region of the country that leads the way in sustainable food practices; and maybe most importantly I was mentally ready to commit.

I started off in a very good position, and made great progress. I was running much more, and eating very purposefully. But as life has a way of doing, things changed later in the year. Most notably when a) I quit my job and then the economy tanked (coincidence? ), and b) I started a new job as a response to the first point, and c) we had an unexpected death in the family. Over the last few months I have not exercised to any great degree, and my eating habits have slipped. In particular, when I was on a 2-week business trip in November, I definitely succumbed to old eating habits including some really awful fast food choices. I also chronically over-ate at family gatherings, which was rather mindless at the time, but shows on the scale.

January on the other hand, feels like things are finally getting back to normal. I feel the original zeal I had starting to return, and a much stronger awareness of making time to eat better. We shall see.

With that in mind, I have definitely met numerous folks this year that are simply not in this zone. They are nowhere near the mindset that is ready to make changes like this. But you know, That is truly OK. I feel now that if you’re not ready, there is no forcing it. You’ve got to have the circumstances to make it happen, whether that means you create them or you stumble into them. Either way, we often get the message of “there’s no time like the present” to make life changes. Well I disagree with that too. If you don’t have the circumstances, and do not have the power to change that, then now is NOT The time to start. That would work if this were a temporary fix; but it’s not. If you want life changes, do it when life gives you the best chance of succeeding.

Anybody who says different is likely selling something.

Where am I going with all this?

This last year has proved the old cliche: The more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s been a great first year at Almost Fit. I’ve met literally hundreds of people who impress me to no end with their desire to do whatever they can do to improve not only their own health and circumstance, but the world around them. I’ve exchanged numerous emails and rounds of comments with people I never would have had the pleasure of engaging were it not for this site, or the choices I’ve made. And for these things, I am grateful.

So what are my goals this year? What am I changing?

You’ll have to wait until another post, coming very soon, to find out.

Thank you, and the very best to you,

Metroknow

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Since I’ve started making all of our own bread, having bread dough around has meant that pizza has become a staple for us. The great thing about homemade pizza is you are in control of the ingredients, meaning that you can eat very well using the pizza “format” for your meal.

Throwing a handful of fresh ingredients on homemade dough is not only simple, it is something everyone should know how to do. From start to finish, this meal takes no longer than ordering the delivery of an industrially produced pizza that generally includes ingredients that you can’t verify as being real food. At least, in my long, prior history of ordering pizza delivery, I do not believe I’ve ever asked the person who answers the phone whether their pepperoni has nitrates, which should probably be the least of my concerns.

In talking over dinner and evaluating the meal, my wife and I figure that in the last 6 months I’ve probably made over 100 pizzas at home, often as dinner for friends. The keys to this are the bread dough recipe from Artisan Breads in Five Minutes a Day, and a decent baking stone. That’s truly it. I generally make 2-3 smaller pizzas per meal, 1 for the kids (though I enjoy it too), and one that is a little more on the experimental side. I’ve made as many as 5 for one night of entertaining, serving them to guests as they came out of the oven.

For tonight’s dinner, the first pizza course was a classic tomato sauce and mozzarella pizza with artichoke hearts and olives. Believe it or not, that was the “kids” pizza; our kids love things like olives, mushrooms, and artichoke hearts – a fact that I attribute (science or not) to the fact that these elements are common in the food we eat, so our kids have developed a taste for them.

For the second pizza course, I took a few risks. Tonight’s pizza creation, the Ham and Creole Cream Cheese Pizza turned out exceptionally well – good enough that I thought I’d share it right away. Actually, given that I’ve been quiet on this site over the last couple of months (I will explain in an upcoming post), I’m going to call this December’s recipe. I’ll be returning to writing more soon, including a fresh batch of food suggestions, but for now you get pizza. There could be worse fates.

Recipe: Ham and Creole Cream Cheese Pizza

First things first: This pizza has nothing in common with low fat anything – and in my opinion, it’s probably best to let it stay that way. The key to enjoying this pizza is, as always, moderation. The richness of the ingredients makes this possible if you slow down a bit and listen to what your stomach (not your tongue) is telling you. That of course is easier said than done; but you will find that with a glass of wine and a salad, a couple of pieces will satisfy. And if after a 1/2 an hour you’re still hungry, have another piece! But if you play your cards right, you’ll have a great lunch of leftovers the following day. Or breakfast, if like me, you just can’t wait.

One other thing: The Creole cream cheese is important in this dish because it is lighter in flavor (and a different texture) than typical cream cheese. We were lucky this week because our raw milk supplier was also selling homemade Creole cream cheese, so that is where we found it. If you can’t find Creole cream cheese, Mascarpone is a good substitute, and is that much richer.

Ingredients

- Bread/Pizza dough: Either the Boule recipe or the Olive Oil recipe from Artisan Breads in 5 Minutes a Day (highly recommended)
- Creole style cream cheese
- 1 yellow onion
- Good quality ham, cut into 1/4″ strips
- Goat cheese
- Calamata olives
- Corn meal

To prepare

With the baking stone on the center rack, preheat the oven to it’s highest setting (my oven goes to 550 degrees). While the oven preheats, form an orange-sized handful of dough into a ball (see the instructions in the book on how to handle the dough effectively), and let it rest until the oven reaches temperature. While the dough rests, prepare the toppings. Slice the onion and saute the slices lightly in a combination of butter and olive oil. Remove the onions from the heat as soon as they start to turn toward translucent – meaning slightly undercook them. The onions finish cooking when they’re being baked on the pizza. Slice the ham into strips.

When the oven reaches temperature, sprinkle the work surface and the dough with flour, and then roll the flour out to a roughly 12-inch circle. (I typically roll my dough out to about 6 inches or so, and then throw it to get it thinner, and because, well, it’s fun.) The dough should be about 1/8″ thick when you’re finished, with no holes. On a bread peel or the bottom side of a flat cookie sheet, sprinkle corn meal to prevent the dough from sticking, and then lay the dough on the peel or sheet. Immediately add the cream cheese – if you wait, the dough will shrink. Sprinkle the ham, caramelized onions, and calamata olives on top of the cream cheese. Using your fingers, drop good-sized pinches of goat cheese around the surface of the pizza according to your taste.

Slide the pizza directly onto the stone and bake for 7-10 minutes. Watch the pizza carefully once you reach 7 minutes, and let it cook until the surface starts to brown.

Note: You’ll notice that I didn’t specify the quantities of some of the ingredients. That is primarily because all of the toppings should be added “to taste”. We happen to love goat cheese, so we add it liberally. I find that roughly equal amounts of onions and ham is a good measure. But experiment and see what works for you.

To Serve

Serve while it’s hot, alongside a good salad. In our case the salad was spinach and romaine, blue cheese, pears, candied pecans, and an orange muscat vinaigrette.

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I am not alone in saying that fall is my favorite season. I enjoy the summer heat, winter chill, and spring rains, but when I can see my breath when I step outside in the evening, or when the crown of our maple trees starts to show signs of preparing to fall and form swirl patterns on the sidewalk, or when the distant sounds of migratory geese break the silence of falling dew, I know that I am in my element.

This year is unusual; for me, it is my first fall season that I am consciously focusing on a new way of eating. Although I’ve been improving my habits over the last few years, this year in particular I’m focused on eating well, and eating moderately. Real Food in Moderation is not just the slogan of this site; as my friends and family know, it is something I’ve put solidly into practice, and presents some interesting challenges.

One of the big unknowns is what we are going to do for fresh produce as a matter of course. Northwest farmer’s markets typically stop around the end of October (with a few rare exceptions), so finding locally grown produce gets a little more challenging. And perhaps the most difficult change will be that our CSA has also drawn to a close, which has been our greatest supplement to our own garden. The grocery store is the obvious alternative, but it definitely takes more work to make good choices.

I also know that we are approaching the holiday season, and regardless of which holidays (if any) are part of your family culture, there is a reason that the Food Network’s slogan at this time of year is, “Season’s Eatings”. Lots of good stuff springs up at the grocery store, in the office break room, and just about everywhere you turn. It is a cultural fact that this time of year is marked by the association of eating lots of comfort foods with the feeling of “home”. While I do hold to the idea that moderation is key, it is all too easy to overindulge in truly “seasonal” foods. Egg nog is a weakness, I have to tell ya – and it’s only available this time of year.

Somehow, I don’t think the “holiday season” is what “eat seasonal” is intended to mean.

So what are my strategies? We have definitely stocked up on some of the seasonal staples that will help to get us through the winter. We were able to get a freezer for a great price, and we have since purchased 25 whole pastured frozen chickens, straight from the farm. We have also frozen many of the berries we picked over the summer, have started drying the apples we picked, and are getting ready to do some canning of our tomatoes. I’ve also found that buying locally milled organic flour in bulk (the 50 lb. bag) works for us; we just used the last of the flour this weekend, and will pick up more tomorrow. For produce, I’ll start shopping our local markets again, and try to buy organic when possible.

Part of my plan is to review some of the topics I’ve already written, and to get back to reading the blogs that I find useful and inspiring. I’ll be posting a link roundup this week, so watch for that – there are a lot of writers out there who really are blowing the doors off of the traditional diet approach, and focusing instead on a bigger life picture.

Another benefit of moving into the fall season is, oddly enough, less temptation to get distracted by outdoor activities at times when I need to be writing. I find it easier to write consistently when fall and winter are here, rather than when the sun is shining outside my window. I’m hoping that sense takes hold soon. Of course, I’ve got to get a better plan together for exercise, but I’m working on that. As far as writing is concerned, I’ve been consumed with some real-life challenges over the last few weeks, but sufficed to say I am not happy with posting only once a week. Look for that to change as well.

So what does fall mean for Real Food in Moderation? What does it mean to eat seasonally in the non-growing seasons? I’ll let you know as I get there. Thanks for reading.

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Editor’s note: Welcome to Almost Fit. This post is this week’s Friday Fit recipe. The idea is to try “real food” recipes that can be prepared on the weekend. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing. Thanks.

With fall finally here, in many parts of the country it’s time to start pawning off garden-grown squash as fast as is humanly possible. Growing up in a squash-friendly growing zone, it was not uncommon to open our front door in the morning and find a paper bag full of homeless squash having been randomly delivered by a mysterious, mythical creature under cover of darkness.

These days, while we rarely have a visit from the Great Pumpkin or his lesser-known comrade, the Squash Fairy, we do seem to have an awful lot of squash growing, and have to act fast.

So other than carving faces in them or dropping bags of them off in the middle of the night on  neighborhood porches, what do you do with all that squash?

Like most things, if in doubt, FRY IT. Of course, the key is moderation, but squash has a way of filling you up quickly, so it’s a good option for a tasty fried indulgence.

This is a recipe that my wife makes, and we all feel it is a more than acceptable use of zucchini squash. Here’s what she says:

“This is a late summer, abundance of runaway zucchini version of Italian bruschetta.

We often miss a stray zucchini in the garden and within days, we have a rocket size squash on our hands.  When this happens, we love to slice it and fry it like you would an eggplant.”

Friday Fit Recipe #13: Fried Zucchini Bruschetta and Fresh Mozzarella

This recipe calls for a simple herb and flour dredge that really adds a lot of flavor to the zucchini. For this version of bruschetta, the zucchini replaces the traditional grilled bread. The basic tomato topping is also a great way to “use up” some of the tomatoes in the garden, particularly if you had a late ripening like we did this year.

If we have leftovers, we use them later, chopped up and put into soups or sauces. The flavor is an excellent addition.

[Ed. Update: Sheesh. So the original post did not show the recipe number (see the heading, above). I have had huge problems this week with my site due to "server abusers", and the loss of the script that automates this process is one of the casualties. My apologies for showing a little of what's under the covers. In other words, "Folks, move along...nothing to see here...."]

Ingredients

One large zucchini (approx. 3-5 inches diameter) sliced into 1/2″ thick rounds
2 cups of herb flour mix (11/2 c. flour, 1/2 c. masa or corn meal, 1 tsp each dry thyme, oregano or marjoram, basil and a pinch of ground sage, salt and pepper)
3-4 fresh vine ripe tomatoes, (preferably different varieties for color)
1 sm. sweet onion, preferably a Walla Walla sweet or cippollini, finely diced
Lots of fresh basil – about two large leaves per slice of zucchini
1-2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
10 or so ounces of fresh mozarella

Olive oil for frying

Serves 4, depending on the length of the zucchini

Preparation

For the tomato topping: Seed and dice the tomatoes.  Finely chop the onion and garlic. Mix in a bowl and toss with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.  You can either finely chop the basil and add it to the tomato mixture, or you can leave the leaves whole and add them when you assemble the final dish (our usual preference).

Zucchini: Pat the zucchini slices with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. In a large cast iron skillet, add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan, and heat to medium-high.  Coat one slice of zucchini at a time with the flour mixture and carefully place in the slices in the pan in a single layer.  Leave enough room in the pan so that the slices are not touching each other.  You will need to fry several batches.  Depending on how much you are cooking, you may need to add more oil to the pan between batches, letting the added oil heat before you add more slices.  Cook the zucchini for several minutes or until golden brown before turning.  Cooking times will vary.

Remove the fried zucchini and place onto a platter lined with paper towels.  Immediately place about 1 tablespoon of the tomato topping on each zucchini slice.  Top with about a tablespoon of fresh mozzarella.

Finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a bit of fresh basil, salt and pepper and serve warm.

To Serve

It is best served as soon after cooking as possible, however as it can get a bit soggy if it sits for too long.  Our children love this dish!

Notes

In the U.S. (I am not sure about elsewhere), there has apparently been a semantic shift on what the term, “bruschetta,” actually means. Most Americans think of bruschetta as the tomato, onions, garlic, and herbs that are usually added to a grilled slice of artisan bread. However, the traditional meaning of bruschetta is actually little more than the grilled bread itself rubbed with garlic and then dipped in olive oil, with toppings (if any) added based on what you’ve got. (See this article on bruschetta on Wikipedia for more information.)

In classic Italian form, it sounds an awful lot like eating seasonally.

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Editor’s note: Welcome to Almost Fit. This post is this week’s Friday Fit recipe. The idea is to try “real food” recipes that can be prepared on the weekend. Of course, each recipe can also be prepared during the week (that’s when I’m trying it), but with the hectic schedules of most, a recipe might be easier to try on the weekend when work is generally less of a factor. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing to my feed. Thanks.

In case you haven’t guessed from the title of this post, I have a very long and fragmented relationship with beets that has always teetered between love(occasionally) and hate (mostly), good and evil, starvation-if-that’s-all-there-is and, well, ok-I’ll-try-it-again-but-I-KNOW-I-won’t-like-it. I have never been a beet fan; I mean it’s pretty amusing from a geek standpoint that eating beets does all kinds of weird things to color your vital organs and their perfunctory processes (as in the next morning, groggily shouting, “HOLY CRAP! Why am I bleeding internally?!? Oh. Nevermind.”), but other than that, I’ve always felt that beets taste rather like, well, dirt.

Who knew I would develop a taste for dirt?

As part of our organic garden project this year my wife convinced me to cast aside my skepticism, and despite my gut instincts, grow beets (Oh, the horror.). I mention this because it’s a key distinction between what I knew of beets as a child (my, “beets? Not so much.” phase), and how good they can actually taste when you grow them yourself. And now that we’re here in beet season, well, it’s time for the rubber to hit the road with this whole, “eat seasonal” thing I’m always talking about.

I grew up feeling that beets were a mysterious form of food torture that was concocted by some closeted sadistic department of the Del Monte canning company. In fact I also saw a certain movie when I was young involving Charlton Heston, that although the food he was afraid of was technically green in color, I was convinced that beets had to be somehow involved. See the video at the end of the recipe to see what I mean.

No, in our case, I discovered that when you roast beets that you’ve pulled fresh from the garden, something miraculous happens: They do NOT become magical purple jello globs that are capable of sliding out of a can, already sliced. No, friends, these beets are food-like, almost as if they were related to other familiar root vegetables that I love, rather than the eggs of extraterrestrials that are preparing to terrorize the globe.

I found, much to my chagrin, that I actually like them. Well, mostly. I still reserve the adolescent right to complain about it.

Friday Fit Recipe #12: The “I Hate Beets. What am I Doing Eating Beets?” Beet Salad

This beet salad is ideally made with leftover roasted beets. You can roast them the same day if you like, but roasting generally takes about an hour, and then you have to let them cool. In our case, we usually roast a larger batch of beets for dinner, and then use the leftovers the next afternoon or evening in this salad.

Ingredients

Green leaf lettuce, the darker the better
Handful of fresh mint leaves
6 medium-sized roasted and peeled beets (roasted in olive oil with salt and pepper), refrigerated
10 to 12oz. Goat cheese, feta, or paneer – whatever you have/prefer
Basic balsamic vinaigrette (3 parts oil to 1 part good balsamic vinegar, with herbs to taste)
Salt and pepper

Serves: 4 beet lovers, or 9 billion non-beet lovers

Preparation

Cut the skinned, refrigerated beets into roughly bite-sized chunks. Tear or chop the lettuce into bite-sized pieces. Combine the beets, lettuce, mint leaves, and balsamic vinaigrette in a large salad bowl and toss. Salt and pepper to taste. crumble the cheese on top and serve.

To Serve

Serve as a side dish with protein. It goes particularly well with chicken or fish, in our experience.

Options

This recipe is also great with fresh spinach rather than lettuce. For the photo, we happened to have some herbed paneer from our local dairy resource, which was wonderful. I don’t know that I’ve seen herbed paneer anywhere else, but we’ve also had this salad with goat cheese, as well as feta, and it is excellent.

And finally….

For all my film geek friends out there, I couldn’t resist. Just insert “Beets” when you hear the word “Green”, and you’ll get the idea. Nobody ever said that soylent green didn’t taste good. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks for reading Almost Fit. If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing via your favorite social media. I prefer StumbleUpon.

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One of my goals with Almost Fit is to demonstrate that you don’t have to be a world-class chef to improve your health by eating quality meals at home. Neither my wife nor I have been through culinary training of any kind, but we do possess a passion for food, a desire to learn, and a spirit of adventure when it comes to what we eat. To me, those are the simple prerequisites to learning how to cook. You don’t have to be an Iron Chef to prepare meaningful, tasty dishes that you aren’t embarrassed to share with friends. Well, unless you hang out with Mario Batali, in which case you might want to have a culinary spotter when you prepare supper.

I think that is one of the reasons why we have always liked Jamie Oliver’s approach to food. Since the first time we saw him on Food Network his cooking has always resonated with us as attainable. I think he approaches cooking as if it is a game; in some sense when he cooks he is always trying to pass Go, collect his $200 dollars, and land on Chance to get the Get Out of Jail Free card, all in the course of one roll of culinary dice. I am by nature a puzzle solver; I used to do Sudoku puzzles at night before bed to fall asleep, I love crosswords though I can rarely finish them these days with attention-sharing requirements of children, and I may even have a pocket-sized Rubik’s Cube that goes with me when I travel.

Jamie Oliver is now trying to solve a new puzzle: How to get a nation of people motivated to start eating better before it’s too late for their collective health. The UK is the third most obese nation in the world, and it doesn’t appear to be improving. In response, Jamie has started The Ministry of Food, a throwback to World War II when the nation was in a different kind of emergency: Food shortage. These days, it could be said to be the opposite. An overabundance of convenience food is resulting in a general loss of knowledge in basic food preparation, which almost always leads to a loss of healthy eating habits. In general, people who cook more eat better, and in turn have less problems with health. (You can read more about the history of the Ministry of Food on the site.)

The first campaign of the Ministry of Food is the Pass It On campaign which will hopefully encourage a nation of people to start cooking more, and to share with others what they learn. This sounds like a great idea, and a principle that my wife and I believe in as well. Here’s a quote from the site describing the goal of Pass It On:

“The idea behind Pass It On is to inspire people who have never cooked to give it a try and then, once they’ve learned a recipe, to teach two other people how to make it too. We also want to mobilise anyone who can cook to pass on their skills by teaching their friends, family or workmates how to cook good, honest, affordable food.”

Although the Ministry of Food sounds terribly official, what I like most about this concept is that it has nothing to do with politics. It is focused on sharing thoughts and ideas with one another on how to improve our collective health through good cooking. In Jamie’s words, “Great Britain is the third most obese nation in the world, and we’ve got to sort it out. We’re not going to wait for the Government to do it; We’re going to do it.” I love this idea because it starts with personal responsibility, and taking action. Although his “campaign” is targeting the UK, I think it’s something we here in the U.S. can learn from greatly as well, so I’ve signed up to be part of it. I don’t know that the television program will be shown here in the U.S., but I’m certain that there will be a lot of information on it on the site as things progress. 

Certainly this is all just kind of entertainment on one level; And it won’t hurt his book sales either. But I’m OK with that. I think that raising awareness of eating fresh, locally grown organic food is a great use of celebrity status. One of my favorite Portland local blogs is Portland Food and Drink, where their slogan is, “Throwing Ourselves on the Grenade of Bad Food to Save You.” In a sense, this is kind of what Jamie is attempting to do – And if you’ve ever eaten some of the boiled meat dishes common in the UK, you know what I mean. 

The campaign kicks on on September 30th, so it will be interesting to see what tidbits we get outside Great Britain. Hopefully it will also be broadcast at some point in the U.S., but regardless, I think it’s a great idea, and a concept worth thinking about. The site is JamiesMinistryofFood.com, and is worth a visit.

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I have been anxiously waiting for something to happen, and in the last few weeks, it did.

Our tomatoes have begun to ripen. (The photo above was taken this morning in our backyard.)

Tomatoes may sound like a pretty mundane thing to anticipate, but believe me, when you’ve shoveled a dozen tons of dirt into a large garden space and gone to the trouble of tending to them through the odd summer we’ve had, getting a few beautiful round red, green, and yellow orbs to spring from the ground is a welcome reward.

Summertime and fresh tomatoes are a childhood memory of mine. Somewhere around 6th grade, my memory was emblazoned with the sensory experience of growing our own tomatoes in a square-foot garden. My Dad was a fan of sliced tomatoes with salt (I was not, at the time – ah, how things have changed), and I remember the first harvest from the garden as being a momentous occasion.

These days, we are passing this memory down to our kids at their very young ages, one at 18 months and the other at 4 years. I recently listened to a program where the host described growing cherry tomatoes in his garden and then serving them to his children like grapes. We do the same. In fact, our biggest challenge with our cherry tomatoes is getting the ripe ones into a salad before anyone else gets them.

Not a bad problem to have.

Friday Fit Recipe #11: Jamie Oliver’s Mothership Tomato Salad

Today’s entry is based on a simple recipe that we stumbled across while watching Jamie Oliver. His program, Jamie At Home, is one of our absolute favorites. He cooks much like we do, so his fresh palate of ideas really gets our creative juices flowing. If you are interested in eating seasonally and enjoy a good English accent sprinkled with a passion for food combined with a great sense of humor, Jamie At Home is the place to be on Saturday mornings. (Sorry – I like run-on sentences. )

Last weekend we watched Jamie making “The Mothership Tomato Salad“, and both of us could practically taste the goodness. When we made it at home this week, it didn’t disappoint – for such a simple recipe, it was incredibly good.

Ingredients

2 1/2 lbs fresh, locally grown tomatoes of different varieties (varying color is a great touch)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
A good pinch dried oregano (we used fresh oregano blossoms from our herb garden)
Red wine or balsamic vinegar (we used balsamic vinegar)
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and grated
1 fresh red chile, seeded and chopped

Serves: 4 as a side

Preparation

For a more complete description, see the recipe link, here. I highly recommend both checking out the original recipe, as well as looking for Jamie’s show – the recipe is very clearly explained on the show, and really does make your mouth water.

In our case, here’s a quick summary of how we prepare it:

Cut the tomatoes into bite-sized pieces, varying the size and shape. For example, cut the cherry tomatoes in halves, and the larger heirlooms into several larger bite-sized chunks.

In a colander, season the tomatoes with a healthy dose of salt and let them sit for about 15 minutes, draining away a decent amount of liquid. The salting, true to the recipe’s description, didn’t make the tomatoes salty at all; the salt seemed to draw out moisture, leaving each bite even more flavorful.

In a bowl, toss together the tomatoes, oregano, grated garlic, and finely chopped chili (no seeds) with a mixture of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil (the basic salad vinaigrette ratio). Removing the seeds from the chili is one of the keys, as this removes the majority of the heat from the chili, but leaves a crisp, sweet chili flavor.

To Serve

Jamie recommends serving with fresh mozzarella, which is fabulous. In our case, the salad became an accompaniment to dinner over the next couple of nights.

Options

The original recipe called for dried oregano blossoms, but we found that the fresh blossoms, though not quite as concentrated, also added a brilliant aroma and flavor.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it with your favorite social media tool. For example, I use Digg and StumbleUpon. Thanks.

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Summer supper outside, Sunday evening

• Fusilli pasta with yellow squash, zucchini, and cipollini onions all from our CSA, swiss chard from our garden, and frozen shrimp, cooked in a good quality extra virgin olive oil (quality is key), 4-5 cloves of fresh garlic (CSA), half of a fresh-squeezed lemon, several tablespoons of homemade whole milk sour cream, tablespoon of locally made tomato and pepper chutney (farmer’s market), 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste
• Sauteed carrots (from our garden) in olive oil and butter, salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh organic avocado, salt and pepper to taste

Ed. note: April would like me to clarify that we would normally have accompanied this with a fresh salad from the garden, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be this evening. We eat salad. We promise.

Chutney makes it all better

Chutneys are not a particularly common element in American homes, but they are a standard accompaniment in many International cuisines. We are fortunate enough to have a local chef who sells her homemade chutneys, jams, and relishes at the Farmer’s Market. Diana Robson’s products are aptly named Diana’s Delights, which are made by hand by Diana herself. She has been mentioned several times in local media (that I’ve seen), including a recent mention in the Oregonian:

“[...]it was hard to resist the bewitching English accent of Diana Robson as she handed out samples of her exquisitely tart lemon curd, along with chutneys, jams and relishes. After shuttering her antiques store and returning to her culinary roots as a personal chef, she started Diana’s Delights using produce from her daughter’s farm.” -The Oregonian/OregonLive, Market Watch

At one point in her life, Diana owned a restaurant in the UK that was recognized by the Michelin Guide. Her lifelong passion for food is manifested these days in her wonderful creations, which are constants in our refrigerator or cupboard. If we’re going to purchase prepared food, Diana’s Delights are our first choice.

You might be wondering, “So what’s the big deal with the chutney?”

The reason I am focusing on it is it’s the secret to this simple dinner. The chutney added a sweet, peppery surprise that I think I tasted directly only once or twice; but it added a nuance to the savory dish that made all the difference.

One other tip which was garnered from Jamie Oliver (one of our favorites): cut the zucchini and yellow squash into pieces that are similar in size to the pasta you’re using. The bite sizes are perfect, and cook well.

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