My blender gets all the love

Near the end of 2009, I set out to change my eating habits for better—and for good. Looking back at what I ate, I didn't eat horribly, just too much of everything. Developing recipes (mostly sweets) for the business I'd hoped would take off wasn't lite work by any stretch. For several months in 2009 I was baking between three and five nights a week, and I was snacking on the results as opposed to just tasting them.

I'd like to say I had some wonderful epiphany that led me to my dietary transformation, but I really just stepped on the scale. It was about a week before Christmas when I realized I'd quickly gone from one most-ever weight to another one 15 pounds heavier. After spending a week or so in shock—and overreacting with severe dietary cuts—I stumbling across an article about one of my favorite food-TV personalities, Alton Brown (of "Good Eats"), losing 50 pounds with a simplified menu that seemed mostly doable for me.

Shortly after the start of 2010, I watched the first episode of the new season of "Good Eats," which was hosted by an almost-too-thin Brown. What struck me at the time was the lack of processing to which the foods he ate were subjected. Aside from simple preparations and/or combinations, almost all of it was procured in its natural form.

Here's Alton's list of food items and the frequencies he thought they should be consumed:

DAILY
Fruits
Whole Grains
Leafy Greens
Nuts
Carrots
Green Tea

THREE TIMES A WEEK
Oily Fish
Yogurt
Broccoli
Sweet Potato
Avocado

ONCE A WEEK
Red meat
Pasta
Dessert
Alcohol

NEVER
Fast Food
Soda
Processed meals/frozen dinners
Canned soup
"Diet" anything

A quick analysis of the food listed above should reveal that it's really not that restrictive, which is why Alton rejects calling it a "diet" in the modern sense of the word. I'm not a nutritionist, so I would never recommend that anyone follow this (or any other) food plan, but I used it to guide the changes I was making in my own diet.

By now you've probably noticed the word "carbs" hasn't come up at all. That's because I don't share the same views on low-carb diets that so many others have deemed essential to weight loss. I've certainly tried to eat fewer total carbs, but I've also resolved to choose the right kinds of carbs as opposed to just avoiding them altogether. You might also have noticed that "whole grains" and "fruit"—significant sources of carbohydrates—appeared in Brown's "daily" category.

And I've finally meandered my way to the point of this entry: the recipe. The single most important thing to contribute to my own weight loss has been eating breakfast. In the episode of "Good Eats" I mentioned above, Alton presented a recipe for a huge 24-ounce (by weight) breakfast smoothie. Yes, you read that right, it's a 1.5-pound smoothie made mostly of fruit. I made several changes for my own smoothie recipe, but the process remains the same.

Fruit smoothie

Ingredients:
The ingredients measured in grams allow for even divisions of the bags of frozen fruit over a five-day work week. They were all measured as 4-ounce portions until I reached a point where the smoothie became too large for me to drink.

1 fresh banana
90 grams frozen peach slices
90 grams frozen strawberries
70 grams frozen blueberries
70 grams frozen dark sweet cherries
1 cup light, regular soy milk
1 cup acai, cranberry or blueberry juice

Instructions:
Blend all the ingredients until a smooth mixture develops. Makes one large serving for one person or two medium ones for two people. For best results, drink immediately

The frozen, ready-to-use fruit makes this entire process possible. There's no way I could swing this kind of thing with fresh fruit on a daily basis. I prefer to put the smoothie together in the blender carafe the night before to allow the frozen fruit time to defrost a bit in the refrigerator. You could add nutritional supplements to the recipe or edit it to your personal taste. It's incredibly forgiving, and it certainly doesn't need any sugar added!

The daily smoothie for breakfast definitely doesn't get all the credit for what weight I've lost, but it's played a far bigger role than I ever thought possible. As it worked out, I hadn't read any of Michael Pollan's books until well after 7 months of eating a simple, less processed selection of food, but they've only served to inform, improve and clarify the certainty that I've found something that works for me.

FYI:
Oh, and one bit of information I've been careful not to mention throughout this whole entry is that I'm closing in on having lost 30 pounds.