Fish, Rice, Pickles and Soup for Breakfast? A Tale of Two Cultures

The last few issues have explored the health-damaging effects of food marketing. Those newsletters laid the foundation for understanding the link between culture and healthy eating success. I’ll explain that more below, but first, take a look at Japan’s very different and promising food culture that can be a model for us. Long, long ago, … Read more

How to go forward by going back . . . and the bigger picture

This is the final part of a series on Food Marketing that explores why we need a different kind of smarts to stay healthy in an unhealthy food environment, i.e., “marketing-smarts.” The last few posts talked about the dangerous influence of marketing when it comes to making food choices. You might remember the mac ‘n … Read more

How Does This Happen to Smart People? (Part 2: Test Your Marketing Smarts)

This post is part of a continuing series on Food Marketing Shenanigans that explores: How does it happen that when it comes to food, smart people are often not so very smart? It’s because we need a different kind of smarts to stay healthy in an unhealthy food environment, i.e., “marketing-smarts.” (Find Part 1 in … Read more

Did I miss a critical piece of your support team?

A previous post talked about the importance of good eating support. The underlying point was this: If you want to be a healthy eater, you’ll get very little to no support from our food culture. But you’ll get plenty of support and even powerful encouragement to be an UN-healthy eater. Hence the need for assembling … Read more

Feel like the Lone Ranger on the healthy eating frontier?

Earlier this summer I had a classic “post-college-finals crash.” After closing a big house sale, I turned into a pile of mush, unable to do much besides stare out the window. Of course the workaholic part of me demanded that I get up and do something productive. But fortunately, I got calls from each of … Read more

Should You Hang Turnips Over Your Front Door?

This is the last article in a series devoted to ultra-processed foods or UPFs. I’ve written about them for a while because I feel so strongly that they are the root cause of our healthy eating deficiencies. Hopefully, you can see their dangers and feel motivated to start transitioning away from them, step by small … Read more

An overeating episode: Was it the chips or the choice of chips?

In a recent newsletter, holistic certified nutritionist Elyse Wagner made a vulnerable share. She described how she had made a super yummy bean dip for the Super Bowl and then proceeded, chip by chip, to eat “HALF yes, HALF of the bean dip before HALF TIME.” As an experienced health coach, Elyse knew she needed … Read more

Should we welcome Autonomous Cooking?

Meal Making Transformation happens in sync with a transformation of our thinking, which includes developing an appreciation for mastery. A recent article* posed a tongue in cheek question: With all the talk about self-driving cars, why hasn’t the autonomous concept been applied to more areas? The author whimsically proposed a self-playing guitar since he’d never … Read more