Mom Said to “Eat Less, Exercise More”

A forkful of pancakes

Some time ago, I noticed extra weight gain. A panicked call was made to Mom. In a harsh and sweet tone of a voice, she said, “You know how to eat healthy. Now eat less and exercise more,” she continued with the reality of my dilemma, “…if you gain weight now, it’s difficult to get it off… You’re older and the weight doesn’t come off like it use to. There’s no excuse for being fat.”

Some may view the advice as insensitive. Personally, I appreciate the seriousness of it. Why cry about it when the solution is simple: Eat less and exercise more. The following morning, I was up at 6 am for a quick two-mile run. A food diary was started to find potential problems, which revealed large portions of food and too much sugar.

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An Old-Fashioned Fruit makes a Sweet Comeback

Grapefruit Cornmeal Cake

Citrus season has long passed, but it’s never too late for a Grapefruit Coconut Cake. After all, with limes being expensive (Read or listen about this year’s lime shortages in both NPR’s Tell Me More‘s Michel Martin and Carrie Khan’s articles), grapefruit is proving to be a juicy alternative. That’s not too bad of a comeback, considering The New York Times published a story about the decline of grapefruit’s popularity, which cites similar production and growth problems to limes. The article also discusses grapefruit’s competition with seedless and easy to peel citrus varieties. It’s sour taste doesn’t help its popularity. Despite both lime and grapefruit’s production problems, paying more than a dollar for one lime isn’t realistic.

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Tomato Chili Sauce Pizza with Wheat Cornmeal Crust

Hodgson Mill’s Tomato-Chili Sauce Pizza with Wheat Cornmeal Crust

Tomato Chili Sauce Pizza with Wheat Cornmeal Crust

Hodgson Mill asked MyLifeRunsOnFood.com to compete in their Build a Better Pizza contest. My response was an happy ‘YES,’ because I love creating pizza with unusual flavors (see Yellow Beet and Parsnip Wheat Pizza, Sweet Potato, Caramelized Shallots, Smoked Mozzarella Pizza with Wilted Arugula, NY Autumn Apple Prosciutto Pizza and Zucchini Tomato Ricotta Pizza. Homemade pizza is more fun and healthier than having a greasy pie delivered to my front door. The only difficulty was the requirement for making a crust with 50% whole-wheat flour. In my experience, that’s a very dense slice of pizza. Read more

Eggplant Tomato Pizza with Cornmeal Crust

Eggplant Tomato Pizza with Cornmeal Crust

Congress did kids a favor a few weeks ago by declaring pizza as a vegetable because of the tomato paste … um … sauce. Meanwhile, health food advocates and families gasped in horror at the news. Usually made with processed and poor quality ingredients, pizza is the symbol of unhealthy cafeteria school lunches. What’s a health advocate to do when the government demonstrates it doesn’t care about kid’s diets? Read more

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes with Strawberry Puree

In addition to watching my sister and I during the day, our new babysitter initially promised Mom a good lunch for us. She didn’t know we were a pair of extreme picky kids, no fault of our own. Blame it on Dad who knew more about cooking, from a chef’s perspective, than most people who brought into the fast, processed food craze starting in the late 70’s. Good lunches meant a bologna and American single cheese sandwich with bleached white flour bread that never spoiled. If mayonnaise or mustard were added to my sandwich, I would rather starve. Hot dogs weren’t a good option, too. Most people served it with ketchup and mustard. Maybe a little pickled relish. After a few weeks of my sister and I refusing to eat, the sitter told Mom; we are too picky to feed. However, we would spend the next few years playing and growing side-by-side with her three lovely kids. She was tough love. Read more