Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
This week we welcome Darya Pino Rose to Inkwell.vue. 

Darya is the author of Foodist and creator of Summer Tomato, one of
TIME's 50 Best Websites of 2011. She received her Ph.D in neuroscience
from UCSF and her bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from
UC Berkeley.

Darya spends most of her time thinking and writing about food, health
and science. She eats amazing things daily and hasn't even considered
going on a diet since 2007.

Interviewing Darya will be our own <debunix>: 

Debunix is a pediatric specialist in Southern California, who left her
heart in San Francisco, where she occasionally gets to go visit it. 
She was a foodie long before arriving in San Francisco for a decade at
UCSF, but enjoyed experimenting with food and cooking techniques long
before she became a graduate student, and she still cooks obsessively.

She can still remember her excitement when she finally took a course
in nutrition in medical school--the hope that finally she was going to
get the real skinny on diet and health, and her utter disappointment
when the class focus was on the metabolic needs of the hospitalized
patient.  

Recovered from that disillusionment, and more skeptical than ever
after seeing a lot of dietary fads come and go, she still reads a lot
about nutrition, but when her patients' families ask her, as they
always do, 'what's the best diet for a person with [problem x]', she
likes to keep it simple, starting with Michael Pollan's 'Eat food, not
too much, mostly plants', and to hand out Darya's "How to find real
food in the supermarket" diagram.

Welcome to Inkwell.vue, Darya and <debunix>!
  

    
So Darya I understand that you are not about diets or about shoulds
when it comes to what you eat. So could you explain your philosophy
about diets and eating?
  

    
I think the purpose of eating is to make your life awesome. This can
be achieved through the sensual pleasure of enjoying food, the health
and fitness a positive healthstyle can bring, and the people and
relationships that are made stronger around food. I strive to create
balance among these things when choosing what to eat.

I believe that when you start with dieting and deprivation you are
selling yourself short. For starters, dieting is not a proven strategy
for long-term weight loss or maintenance. Dieting also makes your life
suck, and that is unacceptable. To get healthy you need to build
healthy habits that last, and the only way to do that is to make them
rewarding.

The moral of the story is that if you don't love the food you eat
you'll never stick with it. So you HAVE TO enjoy food if you want to be
healthy. Isn't that the best news ever??
  

    
Darya,  my life is particularly awesome right now as I am spending two
weeks in the greatest city for food in the United States, New Orleans.
Over the years, I have seen a slight shift in the better restaurants
toward local and a few lighter options, especially fish. But typically
even these places throw butter, bacon, etc. on nearly everything. I
walk a lot here, but still, I do get a bit sluggish after a few days.
Do you just give up and go with it when you're on vacation, then "diet"
when you get back, or just gradually return to normal?
  

    
That is a great question--I don't travel much (we have two young
children) but I love summer tomato and I am really happy you're here. 
  

    
Sorry I'm late to the start here.  Welcome, Darya!  I've been enjoying
Summer Tomato for quite a long time--I think I first discovered it
through the SF Chronicle food pages, which I still browse long after
leaving the city.  The blog form seems to break things down into
manageable chunks of graduate-student time.  I'm curious what would
inspire someone who has just completed a PhD thesis to uncurl from a
fetal position and immediately go out and write a book.
  

    

It is my sincere hope that you have just written *the last diet book ever
published* and we can write, read, think about, and act like humans have for
millenia: as gatherers, cooks, eaters, and enjoyers.
  

    
WELCOME Darya!  I've been a fan of your blog for several years.
Congratulations on your marriage and your book!
  

    

I like your blog, and I also wanted to say how happy I am that your dad made
those huge changes and your part in that. I love how he changed when he was
ready, but you put the pieces out there for him.

<http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2013/05/01/family-fat-loss-foodist/>
  

    

Welcome Darya,

I've almost finished your book now. A number of years ago I went on
a modified Food Addicts in Recovery diet and lost a lot of weight. I
noticed that your food recommendations are reasonably close to what I
lost all the weight on.

Since then I've tried to maintain the weight by small plates, farmer's
market food and avoiding junk . But the weight has crept back up. I
found one "Homeric" D'oh in your book that I had totally forgotten about:
chew your food. I'd go start raving bonkers if I counted how many times
I chew each bite, but I found it's been reasonably easy to remember to
chew rather than bolt my food, dog like. We'll see what affect is has
on my weight.

So I'm wondering if you've found that some people need a little nudge
like that and how many need to do what I did originally - start from
scratch?
  

    

I have gotten tremendous value from the lists and advice etc on
<http://www.sumemrtomato.com>.  "Ten reasons why you should never eat free
food," surprsing places you'll find sugar, stuff like that.  As Diane notes
above, the quick-read presentation makes it easy to absorb.
  

    

I also got great value from reading Gary Taubes' book "Why We Get Fat." FRom
him I learned that some people are better off avoiding carbohydrates (almost
entirely) and sticking with protein and fat. I seem to be one of those:
quitting bread, pasta, sugar, etc. has worked well for me, and the eating of
eggs and cheese has not increased my cholesterol and triglycerides.  I still
eat carbs in the form of fresh fruits and (non-starchy) vegetables.  In doing
this, I am obeying Darya's dictate of enjoying the foods I eat!  I don't even
miss bread all that much.

Have you read Taubes, Darya and Diane?
  

    
I'm with you, David - semi paleo!
  

    
Yes!

BTW both my PCP and my cardiologist are on board with my decision.
  

    

There's a typo in <tnf>'s post of the URL. It's http://summertomato.com/
  

    
Sorry about that!
  

    
Just read the story <debbie> linked to in <8>.  So inspiring!!
  

    
What I skimmed was fascinating, and I just bookmarked it.
  

    
robinsline,

Vacation can be tricky, but when I have special occasions like that I
try not to worry about it too much. If you're healthy at home most of
the time, I find that my body will naturally get itself back to its set
point if I put on a pound or two. 

That said, normally with all the walking and better portion control I
tend to lose weight on vacations, but only outside the US. 

The one thing I do is try to be sure and eat as many fresh vegetables
as possible when traveling. That is, even if I'm eating bacon crusted
dinner rolls for dinner, at least I try to have a salad on the side or
for lunch earlier in the day. It at least prevents the "sluggish"
feeling, and I think wards off the colds that often accompany long
flights.
  

    
debunix,

Hahaha, you understand grad school well.

The truth is that I was itching to write the book, and the only thing
preventing me from doing it earlier was time. It also helps that I only
had a small amount of savings to live on, so if I didn't get the book
deal soon after graduation I was going to go broke!
  

    
wickett,

You and me both! Dieting is the worst. If nothing else, I hope to
change the popular dialogue about dieting and have at least a few
people question its value.
  

    
<jmcarlin>,

People are really all over the place when it comes to health. Some
people start off like me, very familiar with the dieting world and most
of the "science" out there, but just haven't figured out the code for
themselves. Others, like my dad (in <8>), need to start from scratch.
It is my hope that Foodist can help all of them across the board.
  

    
<tnf>

Thanks Gans!! I actually wrote a review on Taubes' book. I think it's
good to read, but had a few beefs with it (no pun intended):

http://summertomato.com/book-review-why-we-get-fat-by-gary-taubes/
  

    
Thanks!  Off to read it now.
  

    

ANd from that review, another small pile of books that are worth a look.

You characterized Gina Kolata's "Retinking Thin" as "not a particularly good
read."  She seems to have written a lot in the New York Times that doesn't
really serve her subject matter (and all of us eager readers) very well.  Do
you ahve concerns about her writng in this area, too?
  

    
I don't follow her work very closely, I just thought the book wasn't
particularly helpful. It basically said "diets don't work, and there's
nothing we can do about it." I hope to convince people that there is
something we can do, it just isn't a diet.