Making Your Kitchen Fruit-Friendly

For the record, I do not want you to think that I have always eaten the way I do now. It has been a process. There have been important milestones and realizations along the way such as, for example, the day I realized that there was absolutely no high-fructose corn syrup in my refrigerator. Or the time I decided that we were going to begin diluting the boxes of marginally nutritious “breakfast cereals” with dried fruit, nuts, seeds (e.g., sesame, pumpkin, sunflower), and rolled (steamed) oats until they contained essentially none of the original agents. 

And then there was the time I realized that we had inadvertently made an important change in the way we unpacked the groceries. This change, though virtually invisible, was to have a significant effect on the way we ate.  Continue reading


Can I Eat Fruit?

On many occasions, patients have asked me whether it’s okay to eat fruit. They’re worried about whether they should eat a food that they know is rich in sugar. Let’s think about this for a minute. Does anyone really believe that fruit is what’s causing the epidemics of diabetes and obesity? You can rest assured that the obesity and diabetes epidemics are not being caused by fruit. I think of fruit as “nature’s candy” and while it’s true that some fruits contain a lot of sugar, it is always accompanied by a large amount of fiber. Continue reading


Self-Care Resolutions

Late last year I had an interview with a major news network on the topic of New Years’ Resolutions. I decided not to talk about the popular though self-defeating goals that are nearly impossible to sustain and end up making people feel badly about themselves and their efforts. I didn’t discuss limiting calories, denying yourself things that bring you joy, joining a gym, or signing up for a yoga class. Instead I decided to talk about being kind to yourself.  Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Greens-and-Grains Winter Salad

I love eating food in season, and many of the ingredients for this recipe have winter written all over them. Leftover nuts and dried fruit from the holidays. Quinoa, a staple in the cabinet. Some fall apples and a few leftover stalks of celery in the fridge. And a sweet memory of the large box of oranges sent every year to my parents by friends who used to spend their winters in Florida. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Lentil Soup for Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins tonight at sundown. High Holiday foods tend toward the sweet and the circular: sweet to represent our wishes for a sweet new year, and circular to symbolize the seasons that run one into the next, round and round, year after year.

So it is traditional to eat many different kinds of fruits, especially apples, prunes, pomegranates, dates and apricots; and sweet vegetables such as beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, and leeks (sliced into rounds, of course), as well as black-eyed peas and lentils. And lots of honey, especially for dipping bread and apples. Continue reading


Dieting: It’s Not for the Birds and It’s Not for You

This week I’m sharing a conversation that I have had with a lot of patients lately. They want to weigh less, they know that it’s better for their health, but they cannot figure out how to make it work. I tell them that making it work requires a frame shift, a change in the way you think about food. When we talk about what that means for them, I see the lights go on in their eyes and their expressions. It’s slightly magical, every time. They leave with renewed faith and self-confidence, not to mention relief. It was never about dieting. It was about the food. Continue reading



YOUR HEALTH PLATE: Coffee Nice Cream

Inasmuch as it’s going to be around 90F out there tomorrow, I am sharing a recipe that will be perfect for the weather. It’s like a smoothie but a lot thicker. You can eat it as is, or as the base for a smoothie bowl. It’s not ice cream; it’s “nice cream.” And it is delicious. Continue reading



YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Tsimmes

Preparing for the holidays with my mom was a major highlight of my childhood. Like many other special dishes that we ate on dedicated holidays throughout the calendar, we made tsimmes twice a year, in the fall for Rosh Hashanah (it is traditional to eat sweet foods on Rosh Hashanah), and in the spring for Passover. My mom never used recipes, preferring to combine ingredients as her grandmother and mother-in-law did, but, truthfully, tsimmes is one of those dishes that probably doesn’t really need much of a recipe anyway.  Continue reading