Welcome to TrueFoods

For years I’ve wondered if I would ever get a chance to use my middle name in a byline. What a byline it would be! I could say “Truth is my middle name.” Well, almost.

My middle name is True; it was my paternal grandmother’s first name, and my aunt’s first name. It dates from the days when popular girls’ names were virtues appearing in the New Testament - Faith, Hope, and Charity among them.

As a print and broadcast reporter for 35 years I have tried, always, to write the truth. And now I’m being honest with myself about my health and diet. As I wrote in an article in the Seattle Times published April 14, 2008, I began dieting young. Not from choice. My mother was afraid I would be plump like my father and all the women in his family. I am. As I child, I was stocky. My mother meant no harm, but she withheld food from me. I remember a summer, maybe when I was 11 or 12, that I ate sardines and soda crackers for lunch – every day. She would sit by me and both monitor my eating and keep me company. I began sneaking food, just in case. Studies show that if you want to guarantee a child grows up to have weight problems as an adult, put them on a diet when young.

After years of dieting – everything from Weight Watchers (numerous times) to Optifast, calorie counting, prescription ‘uppers’, cognitive therapy, hypnosis, and yes, exercise – I am ready for a new way of living. At least three times I have lost 50 pounds or more. But each time I return to old habits, eating sweets (especially) when I am happy, sad, worried, fearful, optimistic, busy, bored, lonely or even in love. I learned young to cope and calm myself with food.

I am tired of being tired, would like to have more energy, and hope to lessen my arthritis and sciatica. My original goal was to lose 100 pounds while eating real food for one year. I have sliced that to 80 pounds; the weight doesn’t fall off as it did when I was younger.

I decided to follow writer Michael Pollan’s manifesto: eat real food, not too much, mostly plants. Also, don’t eat food your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize, avoid foods with more than five ingredients or with ingredients you can’t pronounce, and stay away from food products that make health claims. Pollan says that the processed and refined stuff most of us eat isn’t food but rather “edible food-like substances.”

You can learn more about Pollan’s take on America’s grocery stores and eating habits in his book “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.” It has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 14 weeks.

How am I doing eating real food? The first few weeks went well. I lost nine pounds and my blood pressure dropped significantly. Then, my mother died; it wasn’t unexpected, she was 97 years old. But within 24 hours of her death, I was consoling and distracting myself with ice cream (at least 37 ingredients) and pizza (who knows). Here’s another lesson: real life happens. While enthusiasm carried me in the early days of this dramatic new way of eating, what I lean on now is my commitment to my health, even if I slip into old habits occasionally.

My physician, Sallie Dacey, a Group Health family practice doctor at Northgate Medical Center in Seattle, will occasionally ‘weigh in’ on questions of health and nutrition.

I invite you to join me, whether every day or occasionally. Tell me and others your experiences about eating real food. Maybe we can form a community where we share recipes, tips on eating organic and finding farmers markets, ideas about eating in restaurants and portion control, and the highs and the lows of loving food - a community that reaches beyond ‘dieting’ to be about living.