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As is our habit, we stopped by the Oregon City Farmer’s Market on Saturday to pick up much of our week’s produce. The Oregon City Farmer’s Market is smaller than many other markets, but we are slowly getting to know the vendors and have found that the size of the market makes it a little easier to recognize familiar faces.

We definitely believe that getting to know where your food comes from, how it’s grown, and supporting the local economy by purchasing from local farmers is a critical value for our family. By both word and example, we hope that these concepts are passed along to our kids who go with us week after week and observe our pleasant conversations with local farmers and vendors.

And nothing is more satisfying than freshly picked berries in berry season here, as our kids know well.

Without further adieu, here are a few photos of this weekend’s spread. And believe me, the food tastes as good as it looks. Read the rest of this entry »

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This post is Thursday’s Real Food Resource, which is a weekly spotlight on books, sites, and relevant media that helps you to identify what real food is. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing to Almost Fit. Thanks.

Every once in a while I stumble across an entirely new, personally unexplored pocket of the Internet that really inspires me. I don’t know why I’m surprised by the discovery, but each time I find an unexplored corner of the Web, I feel like I’ve landed in a new self-contained community filled with thousands of original and interesting perspectives that no one from my tribe has ever seen. Yes, its geeky, but it’s not unlike what I might imagine exploring new galaxies would be like, if I were, you know, to geek out (assuming of course, that we are not…..Alone…..[cue the doom music]…..).

Not that I ever have that mental picture of myself, in a space suit, or anything.

I will admit, however, that in my mind I visualize myself exploring tide pools filled with strange and interesting things.

When I started Almost Fit my inspiration began with a combination of physically local blogs (which I still read) and a handful of widely scattered favorites. The Portland locals included Get Fit Slowly, Portland Food and Drink, and Kevin Allman’s blog for just plain great writing (although Kevin has since moved from Portland to his hometown on the Gulf Coast). My wider net of favorites at the time included Orangette, ZenHabits, and the Sartorialist, among many others, most of which I still read voraciously. Over time, that list has of course grown beyond all rational and reasonable levels of control and safety.

So why stop now?

Thursday’s Real Food Resource

For this week’s Real Food Resource, I’m highlighting a thriving hub of the Internet that I literally had not stumbled across until last night:

http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com/

Eating locally is one of the core tenets of eating Real Food in Moderation, although I don’t insist on making a virtual “religion” out of it. I tend to lean away from the extremes in diet and fitness, as I think for the most part, unless you have a medical mandate to do so, they are short-term solutions at best and sometimes unhealthy practices in the long run. And even the medical mandates should be questioned.

I think that is why I was so excited to find this site - their suggestion is to take your food selection seriously, do your best, but be reasonable. It is not a Cardinal sin to eat a tomato in January - but you should consider including locally grown, seasonal options.

What is their focus? Here is how the writers describe themselves:

EatLocalChallenge.com is a group blog written by authors who are interested in the benefits of eating food grown and produced in their local foodshed.

Spanning the United States, the group is committed to challenging themselves to eat mainly local food during a specific period of time during the year.

In this article, “A few tips for the May 2006 Eat Local Challenge“, the Locavore pledge is cited with the last line as a humorous addendum, which I felt really boils things down on the question of how to shop for food:

If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.
If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.
If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Fair Trade.
If all else fails, at least don’t eat at McDonald’s!

I also really appreciate the site’s candor, with articles like, “About four days ago, I decided to quit the Eat Local Challenge” - not something I expected to see on a site that is dedicated to the polar opposite of the article’s title.

For me however, the greatest benefit of this site is all of the incredibly useful links to other sites that touch on the subject of eating Real Food. In a quick glance through their list, I only recognize one or two - the rest are completely new to me - and there are literally dozens of them. In the few I’ve explored so far, I am already engrossed in a wide array of completely different perspectives that are both new and intuitively familiar.

If you have some time for exploring, be sure to check out http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com/. It’s well worth the stasis period during interstellar travel. But there I go again with the geek thing. To which I say:

Live Long, Eat Local, and Prosper.

(Wow. That was dorky even by my own standards.)

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In general, my children refused to eat anything that hadn’t danced on TV.” - Erma Bombeck

The next time you go to the grocery store, take a moment to look around at the products that happily await you. Everything from paradoxically happy cows to odd, stuffed toy dough characters try to engage you in a repartee over their intrinsic value in your cart (”hmmhmm!!!”). When I look at these shiny, colorful little packages from a marketing standpoint, one big question comes to mind:

How in the world do you make your product stand out amidst tens of thousands of other products in a single 42,000 square-foot megastore?

Open the food marketer’s little black book and one big trick will come tumbling out like a fish: “Healthy!” claims are one of the most effective means of getting attention. And these days, that contentious health buzzword Organic is on just about everything that doesn’t move. I imagine someone will soon invent Organic Tires or Organic Jet Fuel. Then again, maybe I’m too late. Read the rest of this entry »

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Welcome to Almost Fit. If this is your first time here, Almost Fit is about losing weight and improving your health by doing one thing: Eating Real Food in Moderation. No low fat this or low carb that, just eating real food for health, pleasure, and satisfaction. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing - it’s free, as always. Thanks.

“Plant carrots in January and you’ll never have to eat carrots.” ~Author Unknown

When you start to look at common thought on organic produce, one argument repeats itself over and over again:

“I’d love to buy organic, but I can’t afford it.”

I obviously don’t know everyone’s circumstances, so I am sure that this is true for some. But I would argue that in general if you shop wisely, prioritize your money toward being mindful of the power of food as a means of preventative health care, and don’t buy a lot of processed, prepackaged foods (especially boxes of foods labeled “organic” or “heart healthy”), it can be done on the important things.

As I mentioned in the last article on the subject of organic vs. conventional produce, it is a matter of the choices you make, and in particular where you feel the risks of life are greater. Eat organic apples because you don’t trust big industry with what you feed your kids? Or buy a car with a higher payment because it has better side impact ratings? Ultimately, it’s up to you. Read the rest of this entry »

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This post is this week’s Real Food Resource, which is a weekly spotlight on books, sites, and relevant media that helps you to identify what real food is. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing to Almost Fit. Thanks.

Every once in a while you come across a person that is truly dedicated to helping others. Robin Plan over at Whole Food and More, in my estimation, is just such a person. Her site is this week’s Real Food Resource.

One of the reasons I frequently read Whole Food and More is because Robin is very clearly passionate about her subject matter. Whether the topic is addressing the benefits of eating avocados (remember when the low fat nutrition fad vilified avocados? Times have changed…), a recipe for a healthy cheeseburger (yes, there’s real, grass-fed beef in it), or the psychology behind the Western world’s addition to junk food, Robin’s articles are informative, well written, and enjoyable reads.

In one regard in particular, Robin’s focus is crystal clear: She is dedicated to the eradication of synthetic vitamins and the education of the public on their dangers. Read the rest of this entry »

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This article is the second part of, “Should you bother with organic fruits and vegetables?“. If you enjoy these posts, please consider sharing them through Digg, StumbleUpon, or the social media of your choice. Thanks.

In part 1 (“Should you bother with organic fruits and vegetables?“) I suggested that when it comes to the debate over organic vs. conventionally grown produce, if you are relying strictly on the moving target that is statistical evidence you are likely to be confused at best, and disillusioned at worst.

With so many loud opinions on the subject, deciphering which pieces are truthful and accurate is nearly impossible. But for me, ultimately the statistics are not making my decision. My wallet has something to do with it of course; but really it comes down to one of those Life questions. (Ughh…not one of those…)

For me, it’s a question of Risk

To state the obvious, life involves a degree of risk. You choose to accept the risk of driving a car at 70 miles an hour on the freeway. You accept the risk that the guy who is hooking up your bungee cord KNOWS that everyone lies about their weight, so he’ll shorten the rubber band for that extra 15lbs that you forgot to mention. You accept the risk that watching The Soup may actually ruin your Dancing with the Stars viewing pleasure.

We all have to choose what we’re willing to risk in our lives. So how does risk play into organic vs. conventional produce? Read the rest of this entry »

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Ed. Note: The debate over organic produce vs. conventionally grown produce is constantly in flux, making it really hard to decipher what the truth is. I don’t claim to have the de facto bottom line, but I have come to a few conclusions…so far. I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas. And if you enjoy articles like these, please consider subscribing to Almost Fit. Thanks.

If you’re concerned with what you eat, you are bound to run into the ongoing argument surrounding conventional vs. organic produce. Stepping into the food fight of thought on the subject is like stumbling into a game of grown-up Dodge ball, with people on both sides hurling 30-pound watermelons of opinion at their opponents, with you somewhere in the middle just trying to buy a couple of limes.

While the battle might be engaging, in my estimation the truth about the healthfulness of organic vs. conventional from a statistics perspective is surprisingly simple:

Like life on Mars, I don’t think anyone really knows for sure what the truth is. Even if they think they do. Read the rest of this entry »

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