I’ve been alive long enough to remember when grapefruit was practically a weight-loss strategy. Then came the cabbage soup. The low-fat everything. The low-carb revolution. The points, the shakes, the fasting windows, and the diets that required so much planning you practically needed a project manager…

Not long ago, a friend’s husband told me I was a very beautiful woman. He wasn’t hitting on me. It was simply a lovely compliment, sincerely given. I thanked him, but inside my head, I was thinking: You have no idea how much maintenance this takes now. I may be a little vain. I’m okay admitting that…

I have spent a ridiculous amount of my life standing in front of an open refrigerator. Usually around six o’clock. I would stare at perfectly good food I had purchased only days earlier with the best of intentions. Chicken. Vegetables. Salad ingredients. Fruit. Maybe something I had specifically bought because I had promised myself this […]

For a long time, I believed healthy eating meant compromise. Less flavor. Smaller portions. Skipping the foods I loved. If dinner was delicious, surely I’d done something wrong. I don’t know exactly when I started believing that. Maybe it was years of magazine headlines. Maybe decades of hearing foods labeled “good” and “bad.” Whatever the reason, I stopped trusting my own plate…

I turned 60 on July 7. I did not wake up that morning suddenly craving kale, although I like kale. There was no magical transformation in aisle seven. I didn’t swear allegiance to broccoli, or suddenly start examining avocados with the wisdom that apparently comes with six decades of life. But turning 60 did make me realize something.

If you had asked me a few years ago whether I ate healthy, I would have answered without hesitation, “I believe so.” I cooked most of our meals at home, watched my sugar intake, bought whole-grain products, and even subscribed to Green Chef because I loved having fresh ingredients and recipe cards delivered right to […]