A food memoir of weight loss, family recipes, and strategies for staying healthy in your 70's and beyond
Upon reading the news on how pizza chains are suffering due to consumer preferences for chicken I decided to personally try to make a difference by eating pizza. Here’s last night’s order:
Look at those discounts! The small cheese was free, the medium thin was a semi-permanent special always discounted, I had a $5.00 loyalty reward coupon, all followed by a 20% off the entire order. In the end, I got a real cheap meal.
And lots of leftovers.
When the conversation centers on finding the next “miracle ingredient,” we risk losing sight of what truly matters: filling our plates with fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and other minimally processed plant foods.
Health rarely depends on a single food. Rather, it depends on the overall dietary pattern and the synergistic interaction between thousands of compounds in whole foods. When we stop searching for the next “superfood” and instead begin building our meals around whole foods, we move closer to the way human biology actually works
Olive oil may be a better choice than butter or other sources of fat, but that does not mean it is preferable, much less essential, for achieving optimal cardiovascular health. Collectively, we could do a much better job of assessing and reporting on the research involving oil. Despite catching so many headlines, it does not need to be the central character in our health stories. In those stories, the true hero has always been the overall dietary pattern. Is Olive Oil Really a “Superfood”? What the Science Says about Olive Oil and Heart Health – https://nutritionstudies.org/is-olive-oil-really-a-superfood-what-the-science-says-about-olive-oil-and-heart-health/?
And is it really olive oil?
It’s reliably reported that 80% of the Italian olive oil on the market is fraudulent.
The Olive Oil Scam: If 80% Is Fake, Why Do You Keep Buying It? – https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2016/02/10/the-olive-oil-scam-if-80-is-fake-why-do-you-keep-buying-it/
You’re welcome.
I never knew there were so many different kinds of soy sauce.
Lesson #13 is : know your ingredients. This can be why a dish, despite following the recipe exactly, tastes better than yours.
6 Types of Soy Sauce Everyone Should Know – https://thewoksoflife.com/6-types-of-soy-sauce-everyone-should-know/
Memo to Self – Don’t be discouraged to learn there are Chinese Americans out there more Chinese than you who know their ingredients much better than you ever will. My favorite soy sauce is Thai. No wonder then why my Chinese dishes don’t taste Chinese.
Thai Soy Sauce – https://thewoksoflife.com/thai-soy-sauce/
Findings In this cohort study of 1865 older adults without dementia followed up for up to 15 years, higher diet quality was associated with lower dementia risk. Among participants at higher risk, only a dietary pattern with lower inflammatory potential showed consistent inverse associations. Diet Quality and Dementia Risk in Older Adults With Alzheimer Pathology – https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2850780
This morning I lowered my risk for dementia with a bowl of berries, banana, and Greek yogurt.
Last Night
Smoked Pulled Pork, Mac & Cheese, Bacon, Cheddar-Jack, Sweet & Smokey BBQ Sauce and Green Onions.
At least the potato didn’t do any damage.
I was in St. Louis on business. One day these things showed up at the office.
I had one (OK, two) after breakfast. Yes, they are that good.
Memo to Self – Don’t get depressed that you only learned about this delicacy in your 7th decade. I wonder if they deliver to Oklahoma.
HT – Marion Nestle – https://www.foodpolitics.com/2026/03/weekend-reading-the-hidden-cost-of-cheap-food/
Download the full report – https://yuka.io/en/report-food-price-composition-us/
Yikes.
Over the years when I invited friends over for dinner they got pretty excited. One day I asked a guest what’s with all the excitement?
Chinese food! They were expecting something I really sucked at making. To this day I don’t make much Chinese/Asian stuff. I’d rather go out and eat something someone actually knows how to make.
So Lesson #13 is this: technique. This is the how and why a dish, despite following the recipe exactly, tastes better than yours.
I found this video and I now know why my Chicken and Broccoli never tastes as good as the restaurant versions.
Who says you can’t teach an old trick new dogs?
Memo to Self – Don’t be discouraged to learn there are Chinese Americans out there more Chinese than you.
Participants with the highest intake averaged 9.3 servings of ultra-processed foods per day, while those with the lowest intake averaged 1.1 servings. Compared with the lowest group, those in the highest group had a 67% greater risk of dying from coronary heart disease or stroke, or experiencing non-fatal heart attacks, strokes or resuscitated cardiac arrest.
American College of Cardiology. “Ultra-processed foods linked to 67% higher risk of heart attack and stroke.” ScienceDaily https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260319074604.htm (accessed March 19, 2026).
I need to add a few more things to my How I Got Fat list of foods I don’t eat anymore.
Like protein bars.
Fetter says that low-calorie, high-protein bars shouldn’t be treated as wholesale replacements for other sources of protein, especially given their use of processed or artificial ingredients. “[I understand] using tools like different bars or meal replacements that could come in handy when someone is on the go, but consuming products like that just isn’t inherently healthier for you,” Debbie Fetter, a professor in nutrition at UC Davis.
Everything You Need to Know About the David Protein Bar Class-Action Lawsuit https://www.gq.com/story/david-protein-bar-lawsuit
Why would anyone want to eat a collection of concocted ingredients like this with hardly any of them recognizable as food? These bars are quintessential ultra-processed products.
Marion Nestle https://www.foodpolitics.com/2026/03/lawsuit-1-davids-protein-bars/
I’m guilty of having eaten several of those plant based burgers that bleed . Impossible Foods https://impossiblefoods.com/ marketed their burgers with a message the burgers “bleed” just like beef burgers. I no longer eat any fake meats because they are highly ultra processed.
I do miss my tofu dogs with sauerkraut though.
I know it’s AI because my recipes can’t be this good!
Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat. In that book, I review research on the “funding effect,” the strong correlations between who pays for food and nutrition research and its outcome. Industry-funded research tends to produce results favorable to the funder’s interests (otherwise it wouldn’t be funded). But recipients of funding typically did not intend to be influenced and do not recognize the influence. The MAHA Dietary Guidelines III: Conflicts of Interest – https://www.foodpolitics.com/2026/01/the-maha-dietary-guidelines-iii-conflicts-of-interest/
Understanding the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans – https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/understanding-the-new-dietary-guidelines-for-americans/
Good luck.
