Clean Plate: Outrageous experiments in sensible eating.

Conclusion: Eating Healthfully, Because You're Worth It?

Six weeks ago I set out to improve my eating. Instead of focusing on weight loss and calories, I decided to zero in on health and habits and why it's so hard to change them, even though most of us know the basics of eating right. I identified the five biggest obstacles to eating sensibly—information overload, money, time, external influences, and inertia—and put myself through a series of experiments to confront one issue each week.

I didn't know what would happen. Would my co-workers find me hiding on the floor in the coat closet, twitching, ranting, and hugging a huge bag of peanut M&Ms? All I had to go on was diets I'd been on previously, which had all gone pretty much the same: I lost 10 pounds in the first two weeks, was starving all the time, struggled to stay with it for weeks or months, was lured back to the charms of chocolate, regained the weight I lost and more. This time I wanted it to be different: I wasn't interested in weight loss, at least not as a primary goal; I was interested in finding a sensible way to eat and seeing if I could do it consistently despite the challenges of my busy, urban, workaday life. Another difference between then and now was that I would be doing it publicly this time, by photo-blogging everything I ate.

So, how did it go?

I think it went amazingly well. Within the first few days of giving up white flour, sugar, and coffee, friends told me my skin looked great. My energy improved almost immediately—I had more than ever before. Maybe I really wasn't the lethargic person I'd always thought myself to be. I felt less heavy, tired, grumpy, and foggy. I wasn't napping on weekends or struggling to keep my eyes open at work on weekday afternoons. My daily tension headaches vanished. And I lost some weight, too. The morning I started the project, I checked in with my internist and got weighed. I was about 11 pounds above "healthy" weight according to body-mass index charts (not the be-all-end-all authority, but which I've used here to give a general idea), not an unusual size for me. And despite being "overweight," my other test numbers—blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar—have always been good. I didn't intend to weigh myself again until the end, but I'd mail-ordered a new winter coat that arrived at the beginning of the project. It was size medium, and the waist/hip area was a bit snug. Within a few days, however, the coat grew looser, as did my pants. Out of curiosity, I stepped on the scale at my dog's veterinarian's office at the end of Week 4 and found I'd dropped about 5.5 pounds.

More importantly, I enjoyed what I was eating. Home-cooked food made me feel good physically and emotionally. I got into the habit of eating breakfast before leaving the house, and, though I hate to admit that the powers that be have been right all these years, breakfast really did set me up for the whole day in terms of energy and blood sugar level. Eating three home-cooked meals a day was a revelation.

Eating was the easy part, however. Eating has never been a problem. But planning, shopping, lugging, prepping, and cooking still remain challenging. I've managed to plan two or three dinners a week, though I've not yet mastered planning an entire week of meals. But the photo-blog helped me see that I eat the same things all the time, so planning ahead shouldn't be that hard. Also my idea that planning is boring and kills spontaneity is kind of silly, since I'm not all that spontaneous anyway. If I want to be spontaneous one night and eat something other than what I've planned, I can. I have also managed to freeze serving sizes of leftovers for lunch or when I need a quick dinner, and this has been incredibly helpful.

Focusing solely on food for six weeks was great in many ways, but not in others. My guitar skills were the real casualty of this experiment. I used to practice every night, but for the last several weeks I've had to use that time for cooking. However, there are two time issues I've been conflating. The first is the project and experiments themselves. The second is the blog, which took much more time than I ever would have guessed and gave me a heightened sense of busyness. I suspect the pure cooking-and-eating part won't seem so onerous once I'm no longer documenting it.

During Week 1, I focused on getting nutrients into my body by following the USDA Food Pyramid. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I'd expected. Once you clear away the fad diets and nonsense information, you see that the components of a healthy diet are no surprise and don't change all that much: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean sources of protein, and lean dairy products (unless you want to be vegan). And if you eat enough of these, you don't go hungry or crave less nutritious foods. This was a first for me.

Week 2's challenge—to spend as little money as possible—did not go as well. Part of the problem was that I wasn't starting with a tabula rasa each week. I was still living off groceries from the previous week, so I was eating things I may have paid more money for than I would have during a week of austerity. In any event, I discovered buying the least expensive options isn't a top priority for me. I'm more interested in getting what I like and what I want. Nonetheless, I was surprised to discover how little it costs to prepare everything yourself, which I calculated per meal and per day in Week 2. I can eat for a whole day with what I used to spend picking up coffee and breakfast on the way to work. This is encouraging.

Week 3's experiment—eating slowly and performing eating meditation every time I ate—was extremely challenging and overly ambitious. Eating incredibly slowly is just incongruous with working during the weekday. It was instructive to time my meals. I knew I ate fast but seeing exactly how fast--most meals I could polish off within five to 12 minutes—was disturbing. I came up with more doable practices to slow me down, including thinking small: small serving sizes, small plates and utensils, small forkfuls or spoonfuls, small mouthfuls. All of these can help me avoid shoveling too much in too fast. I discovered that eating meditation is a good practice to do once a day, perhaps at breakfast, when it's quiet, I'm alone, and I have some time to myself, or perhaps with just one piece of fruit a day. I also concluded that not all multitasking is created equal. Book reading seems more compatible with eating than watching TV or working because it's something we do at a slower pace. Eating slowly is an important practice to cultivate because speed eating is associated with obesity, but it's the most challenging one for me.

Week 4's experiment—increasing awareness of temptations and their effect on me—was one of the easiest for me. As I've said a million times already: Being full on healthy food is the best protection against temptation. Also, not depriving yourself of small indulgences helps. I had some high-quality chocolates at home that my mother had sent me, which I ate one or two of a day, and this was enough to keep me from buying cupcakes and brownies at the bakery. I also found that naming temptations you can predict before they occur is helpful. I know when I get in the checkout line at my market, I will see a rack of fancy chocolate and other candy, pies, and other baked goods. I've named it Temptation Alley and when I get in line I think, Here comes Temptation Alley. It keeps me focused on the market's techniques instead of lost in my own desires. The truth is, we need to avoid more than 90 percent of what we see. But knowing that allows you to group it all into one big category and avoid it as a whole.

And Week 5's experiment—broadening my palate by trying new foods—was fun. It allowed me to approach food with curiosity and wonder instead of a feeling of restriction. I discovered new foods I really like (wheat berries! kale!) and rediscovered old ones (apple butter! Brussels sprouts!) to reincorporate into my regular eating.

In Week 6, I attempted to put all of these together as a means of figuring out what my priority should be when it comes to eating. My health and satisfaction seem to rotate for top position in my priority list, followed by time, with money and the environment sharing third position.

So, what happens now? This is a good question. No doubt I was the beneficiary of the Hawthorne Effect, in which subjects of an experiment behave better because they know they are being watched. Many times I wanted to eat something but worried what readers would think. Or, realizing I hadn't eaten greens all day, I added some, not because I wanted them but because I knew I was supposed to and a commenter would likely mention it. What will happen when no one is watching anymore? I'd like to think I'll hang onto some of the knowledge and habits I've acquired and incorporate them into my future eating, but I can't say for sure what will happen.

The main lessons and practices I hope to retain:

1. Eat breakfast at home in the morning before starting your day.
2. Think small: small fruits and vegetables, small portions, small tableware, small bites.
3. Eat beans! They are one of the least expensive, most nutritious foods out there. Per capita Americans eat about 7.5 pounds of beans each year, compared with more than 200 pounds of meat.
4. Planning ahead is helpful and makes you eat better. Cook extra. Freeze portion sizes. You can also chop ahead and freeze chopped vegetables for future recipes (brilliant!).
5. Eating healthy takes work. You can make it easier for yourself, but there is no simple, no-brainer way to eat right. You can set up your 401(k) deductions once per employer. You can visit your doctor twice a year. You can think about car maintenance quarterly. But food is something you have to think about and deal with every day. No way around it.

By far the best part of this entire project for me has been corresponding with readers in the comments section. You have been my biggest supporters, critics, champions, cheerleaders, companions, defenders, guides, information sources, and devil's advocates. I've carried you around in my head with me for the past six weeks, wondering what you'll think, how you'll respond, and what comments you'll leave. I've loved your questions, comments, critiques, encouragement, and the way you've shared your stories and struggles, your tips and recipes. Mostly you've shown me that we all wrestle with these issues and that you are an intelligent and varied group with much insight and advice to offer. I feel I've gotten to know some of you by name, or username at least, and I really am going to miss communicating with you every day. Thank you, all.

When it comes to food science, there may be nothing new under the sun, and during the months I spent researching this project, I didn’t hear much that surprised me. Except two things. I asked almost everyone I interviewed why they thought people have such a hard time eating healthfully. I expected to hear criticism: that people are lazy or unintelligent, that they don’t know what’s good for them, that they don’t care or are in denial. I heard something unexpected instead. My friend, food writer and Slate contributor Regina Schrambling, said: “People don’t think they’re worth it.” Registered dietitian Dana Angelo White echoed this sentiment, specifically in regard to mothers. It never occurred to me that this could be at the base of our national eating disorder. Is this what it comes down to? The L’Oreal slogan? A few commenters also mentioned it. The second thing that surprised me also came from Schrambling: She is completely exasperated with the fact that some people insist that eating healthy is elitist. This issue isn't new but it has become more visible lately, with Michelle Obama championing healthy eating for children and Sarah Palin responding by bringing cookies to classrooms. Is there no issue that can’t be politicized?

I didn't talk much about the joyful role food can play in our lives. It has become such a fraught emotional, financial, social, and political issue for so many of us that sometimes we lose touch with the simple joy it brings. A friend once said we get so obsessed with losing weight that we forget appetite is a blessing. People who are injured, ill, depressed, grieving, or dying lose their appetites. Hunger is good. It is a sign of health, vitality, life. Food fulfills more than just a physical need. There is a spiritual component to it, too. There can, and should, be great joy in satisfying that need.

Eat well and be well.

You can follow me on Twitter or find me on Facebook.

Eating Experiment No. 6: Preliminary Findings

Goal: To put it all together: to continue to eat healthfully, to make smart shopping decisions, to eat slowly and mindfully, to eat foods that satisfy me, and to make the best eating choices for the environment, with the ultimate goal of figuring out what my No. 1 priority should be when it comes to eating and in what order the other priorities should come. The hope is that ordering my eating priorities will help me make better decisions.

Conclusions:

My Eating Priorities:

1. My health and satisfaction. I think health has to be my top priority, because I am the only person on the planet who can take total responsibility for my health. And this gives me the most options. When I have a lot available to me, I can make the healthiest choice, but if I'm in a place with limited options (such as traveling), I can make the healthiest choice based on what's available. Nonetheless, satisfaction is important. There's no point eating healthy food if it isn't enjoyable and satisfying. So my health and satisfaction will continue to vie for top position, but hopefully health will win be a little bit higher.
2. Time will take spot No. 2. I'd love to be able to spend all the time in the world planning and shopping and cooking the healthiest meals possible, but the fact is I can't. I have a day job, I live in a tough city, I have other responsibilities, and there's only so much time I can devote to food.
3. Money and the environment. I am concerned about the environment. I'd love to be able to buy everything local and/or organic, but that's not always possible. I have learned that buying the least expensive option isn't as much of a priority for me as eating what I want, but I can't spend all the money in the world either. So environment and money will vie for position No. 3. The environment will win when I can find and afford the more environmentally-friendly choice. Money will win when I can't.

Next up: Tomorrow I post my conclusions about the Clean Plate project and say goodbye.

Feb. 13: What I Ate. Twice Is Nice.

Breakfast yesterday was so nice, I had it twice: skim milk, wheat berries, apples, raisins, cinnamon, walnuts, apple butter.

Lunch: whole-wheat gnocchi (bought) with marinara (bought) and grated parmesan, broccolette and garlic sauteed in oil.

A Cara Cara orange for dessert.

And lunch was so nice I had it twice.

For dessert: Siggi's pomegranate and passionfruit yogurt with strawberry butter.

Evaluation:

Healthy? Gnocchi = very starchy, but at least it was whole-wheat. Since I bought the gnocchi and marinara, I can't really be sure what is in them and in what quantity.

Financially smart? Premade foods are not the least expensive option.

Slowness and mindfulness? Lunch I scarfed because I was starving and I had to be somewhere. The rest I ate at my "normal" speed.

Satisfying? Very. Everything was delicious, especially the broccolette.

Environmentally-friendly: local or organic? No.

Feb. 12: What I Ate. Old, New, Borrowed, Blue (Not Necessarily in That Order).

Saturday's yummy breakfast, something new(ish): wheat berries, skim milk, apples, walnuts, raisins, cinnamon.

Saturday afternoon banana:

Saturday lunch, something borrowed (recipes/ideas, that is): another big arugula salad, with white-bean-puree dip and whole-wheat pita.

Saturday dinner, something old: leftover black bean soup and brown rice.

Saturday dessert: something blue. Siggi's blueberry yogurt with fresh blueberries crammed in.

Evaluation:

Healthy? I'd say quite.

Financially smart? Siggi's is pricey. So are blueberries out of season, but otherwise, pretty economical.

Slowness and mindfulness? Not so much.

Satisfying? Very much.

Environmentally friendly: local, organic? I believe the arugula is local, and that's about it.

Feb. 11: What I Ate: Clean Plate Challenge Menu Day

Today I ate the menu offered by Danielle Ricci for the Clean Plate Challenge to design my perfect eating day. Here's a screenshot of her menu.

Black bean soup for breakfast. It was actually pretty good. I tend to go for sweet things for breakfast, but perhaps I will have to explore the world of savory breakfasts.

I noticed two things about Danielle's menu: 1. It's vegan and 2. It doesn't seem like a lot of food, so I had to mix it up a little bit.

Mid-morning snack: a Cara Cara orange and chai tea.

For lunch: a giant arugula salad, whole-wheat pita, and hummus. I didn't eat all that hummus. This was really good. I should definitely do more salads at lunch.

Danielle had given me some leeway on snacks: "something that responds to your craving--salty, crunchy, sweet," she had said. I did want to get some dairy into the day, so I had this Siggi's orange and ginger yogurt with crunchy Grape-Nuts on top. The yogurt tasted like ginger snaps.

Still hungry, I added a banana:

And then dinner: Check it out! I made chana masala and chapati! I was going to make raita too, but, as you can see, it was already pretty late (I work until 8 p.m. every other Friday), so I topped it with a dollop of lowfat sour cream instead. The chana masala was spicy--I'd tweak the spices a bit next time. I managed to successfully halve both recipes.

I am in big trouble with this chapati, though. I love this stuff. A local Asian fusion restaurant sells these as an appetizer called Indian pancake with a spicy sauce. A local Israeli restaurant sells them for brunch with eggs and harissa. Now I can make it at home? Uh-oh.

Overall a good menu: beans, lots of vegetables, whole grains, fruits. Mexican, Middle Eastern, and Indian food all in one day. Delicious and not too difficult. Thanks, Danielle!

Feb. 10: What I Ate. Dog Kibble and Halloween Soup?

Uh-oh, I'm in trouble. I had to leave the house at 7:45 a.m. and I felt too nauseated to eat, so I brought breakfast with me. I got hungry around 9:15 a.m., but I was out and about and couldn't eat until I got to the office. This is Kashi GoLean cereal with skim milk. Kinda looks like dog kibble, no?

Berries and yogurt shortly after. I tried a different kind of Greek yogurt: Chobani. Not bad, but so expensive!

For lunch, I finally killed the curried black-eyed pea stew. This is a lot of food. That's a 3-cup container. It probably could have been two meals, but I was intent on killing it today. I brought it all, thinking I wouldn't eat it all, but then I did. There's leftover bulghur wheat under there too. Quite filling.

Some cucumber spears for the crunch and the green:

And a delightful banana:

For dinner I made black-bean soup, since I'm going to have to eat it for breakfast, too. Here's one great way I mess up recipes: I decided I should halve every recipe like this one because I end up with leftovers forever (and my freezer can only hold so much). So I commenced to halve it, but then forgot halfway through with some ingredients. So: too much water, not enough beans. It was still pretty good, though. That's low-fat sour cream and blue-corn tortilla chips on top. It looks like Halloween in a bowl.

Evaluation:

Healthy? Looks pretty good to me, except it doesn't look like a lot of food now. Could do better on the vegetable front.

Financially smart? The yogurt was pricey. Still eating the out-of-season berries. However, leftovers and large pots of bean-based meals are obviously good for the wallet.

Slowness and mindfulness? Not so much, but it did take me forever to eat all those beans for lunch.

Satisfying? Quite.

Environmentally friendly/local or organic? The black beans were organic. So was the sour cream.

Clean Plate Challenge Results: Whose Menu Will I Eat Tomorrow?

On Jan. 12, I asked readers to design a perfect eating day for me, since I seemed to be doing everything wrong. I set out some of the complaints readers had about the way I was eating (too much food! not enough food!) and some guidelines of my own (no meat! no fake foods!), and I promised that if someone designed a day that worked for me, I would eat their menu. The response was terrific. I got more than 60 comments, with everything from advice about how to plan and cook ahead, to specific menus and recipes with cost included, to admonitions that I am on the wrong path and suggestions that I should just eat out, to book recommendations, to advice on what kinds of cheeses to avoid. Someone thought I needed to get more fun in the form of waffles with whipped cream into my diet.

Some menus I dismissed right away, either because they violated my guidelines (they included meat or fake foods), or they included a food readers didn't realize I didn't like (coconut) or a product I wasn't familiar with or didn't want to deal with (Whey protein powder, spirulina, acai).

I was struck by the similarities in many the menus. Some of you advocated for eating a lot of eggs--up to four for breakfast and more for dinner. Many of you suggested a hot grain cereal with fruit for breakfast and some variety of vegetable salad for lunch. Lots of you mentioned hummus.

Overall, there were loads of great meals and ideas, including making a frittata and freezing it to eat all week (done!), eating quinoa with fruit for breakfast, blending a smoothie for a snack, trying mashed turnips, and making a white-bean puree (check!). And there were several entire days that could work for me. Here are some of my favorites:

kate_is suggested an intriguing onion, greens, and beans skillet dish for dinner.

Abby Dye offered a frittata recipe, a lentil soup recipe, and a dressed baked potato for dinner.

Rebecca gave a recipe for some great-sounding chickpea cakes for dinner.

kcar1 suggested sunflower seed butter as part of breakfast, leftover whatever for lunch, and included a black-bean soup recipe for dinner.

Jon had a nice simple menu of oatmeal for breakfast, spinach salad for lunch, and pasta for dinner.

Eric Stoveken included some of my favorite things: a caprese sandwich for lunch and fried rice for dinner.

MK Ryan had a great mix of whole grains, fruit, legumes, and even pasta with tomato sauce.

Megan Jacobs illustrated one way to get five servings of fruits and vegetables in a day.

Any of these menus would be doable for me.

But my favorite came from Danielle Ricci, because she happened to hit on a few things I love: arugula salad for lunch, chana masala for dinner, and homemade chapatti (which she promised is easy to make). So that's the menu I'll be trying tomorrow. I'm a little leery of eating black beans for breakfast, but I'm willing to give it a chance.

Thank you, everyone, for all your great ideas and in-depth comments! I'm sure I'll be drawing from them for a long time.

Feb. 9: What I Ate. Hunger Back With a Vengeance.

True confessions: I woke up at 3 a.m. hungry. I ate two bowls of yogurt with strawberry butter—the second with Grape-Nuts, too. No pictures. My husband was sleeping and my gear was in the other room. This is good. It means I'm feeling better.

Daytime breakfast: wheat berries, blueberries, walnuts, skim milk. I feel like George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life when he returns from bizarro-world Bedford Falls to find the town he knows and loves. Hi, you wonderful old blueberries! I love you!

Boy was I hungry today. Apparently three breakfasts wasn't going to do it. So here is the next one: gluten-free bread toasted with almond butter and strawberry butter. I wanted regular cow butter but figured a protein-rich nut butter would be a healthier and more filling choice.

Hello, you big mutant out-of-season strawberries! I could kiss you!

Sugar-snap peas. Because they are green and I was too lazy and busy to eat a real meal yet.

Lunch: more curried black-eyed pea stew. I know it doesn't look like much, but it's quite delicious. There are more wheat berries hidden under there.

Oh, bananas, how I've missed you! Well what do you know about that?!

More true confessions: I had a little ramekin full of pecans that I neglected to photograph. I'm telling you, I was hungry today. And then I was done being hungry, but I still had to make dinner: pureed white-bean dip (right; a Mark Bittman recipe recommended by commenter kcar1), tabouli (left; also Bittman), babaganoush (bottom) that didn't come out well so I chucked it, and leftover hummus that I didn't make, with little pitas and vegetables. I was no longer hungry so I didn't eat that much. I'm sure you'll be seeing more of some of these later this week.

And today's evaluation:

Healthy? Pretty much, except that strawberry butter is just another sugar-delivery system. I can't seem to do without sweets of some kind.

Financially smart? Aside from my happy reunion with my usual fruits, I'm still living off last week's groceries. The fruits were not the most economical purchases, being out of season and all.

Slowness and mindfulness? Well, I certainly taste and enjoy my food, but I've not been putting much effort into eating slowly. Sugar snap peas are kind of fun and easy to eat slowly.

Satisfying? For the most part. I haven't really been planning new meals so much as finishing old ones. Dinner wasn't as good as I'd hoped.

Environmentally friendly/local or organic? No. (Shame, shame.)

Tomorrow I hope to announce the winner of the Slate Clean Plate Challenge! And I plan to eat the winning menu on Friday or Saturday.

Feb. 8: What I Ate. Yes, You Will Be Seeing Many Leftovers This Week.

Breakfast: wheat berries, apple butter, skim milk.

Lunch No. 1: leftover root vegetable couscous, Twinings English breakfast tea with lemon.

Lunch No. 2: leftover curried black-eyed pea stew with mushrooms and tomatoes, barley, leftover gluten-free pizza crust, water.

Snack/dessert: banana.

Dinner: I tried to make this Jicama, Grapefruit, and Pepita Salad With Cilantro-Lime Dressing. It didn't come out very well. I used daikon instead of jicama, pomelo instead of grapefruit, blood orange, Romaine and arugula. I wasn't quite up for it--not feeling quite well enough to prepare it or to eat it. Or maybe it's the wrong season. The pomelo was good.

Evaluation:

Healthy? Overall, the day looks a little heavy on grains, though they were all good grains. Apple butter is probably not the best choice, since it's really just concentrated fruit--concentrated sugar. I already discussed milk in yesterday's eating. Pretty low on green vegetables and variety too.

Smart shopping? Apple butter not as economical as fruit. Wheat berries and apple butter came from a rather pricey store. Couscous ingredients from FreshDirect, thus not the best buy. Avocado and pomelo not the most cost-effective ingredients. Black-eyed peas came from a can; not as inexpensive as dried beans. Cremini mushrooms not the least expensive choice. Then again, aside from the banana, these were all purchased last week, when economy wasn't the goal.

Slowness/mindfulness? Nope.

Satisfying? All good until dinner.

Environmentally friendly? Not really, aside from the meatlessness. The milk is local.

I'm not quite on the ball this week yet.

Feb. 7: What I Ate. The Winter Illness Finally Got Me.

Not a big eating day today. The winter illness finally got me, but not my appetite. I called in sick and slept all day, aside from these two meals.

Breakfast: wheat berries with apple, pecans, cinnamon, and skim milk. Delicious.

Then I conked out. I'd hoped to get up and eat lunch at around 1 or 2, but next thing I knew it was dark out. I wanted some eggs and toast but didn't think I'd have the energy to stand at the stove long enough to cook eggs, so I nuked more couscous. That's homemade seltzer with orange juice. Thirsty from sleeping all day! Yes, it was fantastic to have a quick, nourishing meal ready.

And then back to bed for the night. I hope to make up for it tomorrow!

So let's evaluate based on this week's criteria:

Healthy? Milk is questionable, depending on how you feel about animal products. There was probably more oil than there needed to be in the couscous. Perhaps more grains in both. Not much protein, except the milk and nuts. Juice is also not the healthiest choice, though there wasn't much. And seltzer is unnecessarily fancier than plain water. The tea is black, not green. Also, this is clearly not enough food or a balanced day. If we are going to be nitpicky about it.

Cost? The wheat berries and pecans came from an uptown produce store--likely not the least expensive choice. The milk and apple are from the farmers' market, both local farmers, so not the least expensive. The apple was something like $1.80/lb., but I did eat it at three separate meals. The couscous ingredients came from FreshDirect.com. I don't think any of them were organic or local. Also, some of these vegetables are enormous--much more than I need. So, overall, I could have made smarter shopping decisions.

Mindfully eaten? Nope. I ate lying down and was just trying to cram some food down my piehole so I could go back to bed. Being sick slowed me down a little bit though. And I certainly enjoyed the taste.

Satisfying? Most definitely.

Environmentally friendly? Because it was a meatless day, yes. But only the apple and milk were local. The farm I buy my milk from, Ronnybrook, uses antibiotics. The juice is Tropicana.

This seems pretty standard for me: satisfaction first, then health, cost, environment, and mindfulness.

Feb. 6: What I Ate. Farewell, Exotics.

For breakfast: wheat berries with apple butter and almond butter for protein, half a pomelo without sugar--turns out it really doesn't need any.

For lunch: minestrone soup with parmesan, wedges of hothouse cucumber, and leftover gluten-free pizza crust from the night before.

For dinner: This is sort of a roasted root vegetable couscous of my own invention, to use the vegetables in my fridge: rutabaga, turnip, parsnip, eggplant, daikon, red pepper, onion, garlic, potato; with whole-wheat couscous. The yellow chunks are golden beet. Came out pretty well, but not as good as if I'd known what I was doing and had some turmeric in the house.

This is a prickly pear, which isn't actually a pear and comes from a cactus.

Here is the inside:

The texture is sort of like watermelon. The taste is sort of appley and pearish. It was edible but not enjoyable, so I tasted it then chucked it and ate an apple instead, but at least I tried a different kind. This is a gala apple:

I've got a mango and some plantains ripening, but other than that, my recent foray into exotic fruits is over for the time being.

Week 6: Putting It All Together

When I started Clean Plate on Jan. 1 to try to improve my eating habits, I had a question in mind: Could someone like me--a busy urban professional--eat healthfully without it ruining her life? I had hoped the answer would be yes and that it would be easier than I'd anticipated: that it wouldn't take all my money, time, energy, and brain power. I identified what I thought to be the five largest obstacles to eating sensibly--confusion, money, time, outside influences, and inertia--and set out to conquer one each week with an experiment related to that obstacle. During Week 1 focused on getting the nutrients my body needs. In Week 2 I attempted to spend as little money as possible. In Week 3 I slowed down the act of eating itself by performing eating meditation. In Week 4 I monitored the outside influences that affect my eating and tried not be sidetracked by temptation or pressure. And in Week 5, last week, I tried to expand my palate by trying new foods. By isolating each obstacle, I'd hoped to discover they weren't as obstructive as I thought or, if they were, to find ways around them.

Focusing on one obstacle a week was the easy part. In this, the final week, it gets difficult: I have to put all my goals together. What I'm seeking is balance. I'm looking for the perfect formula for eating nutritiously, spending as little money as possible, taking time to eat slowly yet not taking up all my time, buying and preparing all my own food, planning ahead, fulfilling my needs and wants, and eating in the best way for the environment.

But I already know this formula doesn't exist. These goals come into conflict with one another all the time. You can't spend as little money as possible and buy everything organic. You can't buy and prepare all your own food without putting some time into it. You can't plan ahead and be spontaneous. You can't eat only nutrients and fulfill every eating desire. You can't always find or afford organic or locally grown foods.

And so I will have to decide what my priority is going to be. Should my main food concern be health, money, time, satisfaction, or the planet? And once I choose my main priority, what else will go down the trash compactor?

Experiment No. 6: Putting It All Together

The goals for this week are manifold: to continue to eat healthfully, to make smart shopping decisions, to eat slowly and mindfully, to eat foods that satisfy me, and to make the best eating choices for the environment.

I will keep track of which of these come into conflict when and report on it at the end of each day. When I'm standing in the supermarket trying to decide whether to buy conventional or organic bananas, which should I choose: lower cost or planetary health? When I know I should eat a piece of fruit for dessert but I want chocolate, which should I choose: health or satisfaction? When I'm late for work, should I be even later by making my own lunch or pick up something on the way? Should I choose time or money or health?

In the last five weeks, I didn't fully succeed at the experiments. I was particularly bad at spending as little money as possible. For me, desire trumps money: I gotta have my pineapple. On the other hand, there's only so much I'm willing to spend when it comes to organics. It's impossible for me to justify spending $7.49 for 6 ounces of dried organic cranberries when the non-organic ones are only $2.99. But why eat dried cranberries, which are sweetened, at all? For me, desire still comes into conflict with health constantly. When it's time to eat, I still tend to ask myself What do I want? instead of What does my body need? I still have difficulty eating my vegetables when I'm not in the mood. And I continue to struggle with time: I resent having to spend so much of it planning, shopping, cooking, and cleaning up. Other things in my life I care about have fallen by the wayside, so how will I cope when­ I have to face all of these issues at once?

There's little doubt I'll need your input and advice this week. What is your priority when it comes to eating? What do you think mine should be? In what order should I prioritize these goals?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Eating Experiment No. 5: Preliminary Findings

Goal:

Loved: This week's experiment was the most fun because it cultivated an exploratory approach to food, rather than a restrictive or punitive one. Each day I fell in love with something: artichoke hearts, wild rice and cranberry salad, and pepitas on Monday; apple butter and roasted corn pudding in acorn squash on Tuesday; wheat berries on Wednesday; barley for breakfast and Siggi's yogurt on Thursday; curried black-eyed peas on Friday; and strawberry butter on Saturday. I managed to incorporate about one-third of the foods on my "Foods I Don't Normally Eat" List (with more to come: Some are still ripening and/or waiting in the fridge). I made some new discoveries and several rediscoveries.

Hated: The exotic fruits were for the most part disappointing. I am not a squeamish person, but some of them wigged me out a little bit. Of the 10 I tried, I'd only willingly eat two of them again. I don't blame the fruit. In some cases I think I bought a poor specimen or let it get too ripe before trying it. I'm sure they are amazing in their native countries. This week took a lot of work: a lot of research and shopping and money and lugging and cooking. I went shopping at least three times in addition to getting groceries delivered. Too much! My dishwasher also took a beating this week.

Learned: My culinary repertoire is limited and repetitive. Trying new foods and new recipes is fun, even though it takes a lot of work. Obviously it's crazy to try to eat all new foods at every meal, but I think trying one new recipe a week would be great and would broaden my world. Emu eggs are green and gorgeous and enormous. Duck eggs are not as good as chicken eggs. I do like acorn and butternut squash; I just don't like cooking them. It's a completely different experience to approach food with apprehension than anticipation. I also realized a lot of the foods on my "Don't Normally Eat" list are there because I don't like them (cabbage and radicchio, I'm talking to you). Almond milk isn't gross. Neither is unsugared cereal.

Surprises: My picky husband told me he loves tofu. We've been together for 19 years; I knew he would eat tofu but I had no idea he loves it. My husband was also pretty excited about trying new dishes and he liked almost all of them. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this week. I thought it would be a lot of work and not a lot of fun and that I'd feel weird physically. Gluten-free products aren't bad.

Funny Things: Twice I bought fruits I couldn't identify and the cashiers couldn't either. But neither of them asked me why I would buy something when I didn't even know what it was.

Conclusion: Trying new foods is something I should incorporate into my life regularly. It creates a positive exploratory approach to food and broadens my repertoire--and my mind. Plus, it's fun. I subscribed to Vegetarian Times, as a reader suggested.

Next Up: Tomorrow I begin my final week—when I try to put together everything I've learned.

Feb. 5: What I Ate. Yes, I'd Like Some Starch With My Starch, Please.

After the dog run, I went to the farmers' market in search of more apple butter. Little did I know there'd be so many other kinds of fruit butters. I bought two: peach, which I've seen before, and strawberry, which I never have. Lucky me. They had others: blackberry peach, plum, etc., but I figured I should limit myself, at least a little bit.

For brunch I warmed up leftover Curried Black-Eyed Peas With Tomatoes and Mushrooms from last night. It was even better and spicier the next day. This is a great winter meal.

It was time to try another exotic fruit. This is a pepino melon:

Once again, I waited too long. Here's the inside. You can see it's browning around the top and bottom:

I tasted some of the non-rotting flesh. It was bland. It tasted like an extremely watered-down cantaloupe, so I chucked it after one bite and opted instead for yogurt with the new fruit butters: peach on the left, strawberry on the right.

We had company coming for dinner--they wanted to make pizzas. Before they arrived, I put together this Asparagus, Fingerling Potato, and Goat Cheese Pizza suggested by commenter Jill Brickey. I made mine on bread-machine whole-wheat crust and used white asparagus. Here is pizza slice No. 1. My crust was a bit dense--I had my doubts about the yeast I used--but the toppings were amazing. Yes, I'd like some starch with my starch, please.

Pizza slice No. 2 came from a more traditional pizza: marinara, tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, garlic, parmesan, and basil leaves on a delicious cornmeal crust my guests brought from Whole Foods. Yum. Perfect texture.

Another guest brought an exquisite chocolate mousse cake from Financier Bakery in Manhattan. Yes, I had some. I didn't want to be rude. Yeah, that's why. He couldn't have chosen a better cake for a chocolate fiend if he had tried. It was so rich, you could really only eat a little sliver.

No, it wasn't a very healthy eating day, but it was the first social occasion of the new year. Considering it was pizza and chocolate cake, I think I did all right. I'll have to mainline some greens tomorrow.

Feb. 4: What I Ate. So Many Good, New, Exotic Things!

We begin with a breakfast battle of the berries (wheat) and the barley, in lowfat milk. Who will come out a winner? The berries are buttery but the barley is nutty. No winner declared. Both delicious.

One thing was sure: It wasn't enough food. Time to hit the fruit. This is a pomelo, a grapefruit native to Southeast Asia. Huge.

This is the inside. Look how thick that peel is and how the edge of the fruit curves in and out.

I haven't eaten grapefruit halved for a long time, but I was pretty sure I couldn't eat it without sugar, so I threw some turbinado on it. I also had some gluten-free toast with apple butter. The toast tasted fine. The pomelo was much milder and less bitter than our grapefruits. Very juicy.

Then work got busy for several hours. I held off eating because I wanted to make something new, but there was just too much to do and I got too hungry, so Round 2 of the battle of the berries vs. barley, with dried cranberries, because I'm out of raisins, and almond milk, because I'm out of regular milk. The almond milk added something to it. And I declared a winner in this battle: me, because I don't have to choose one over the other and together they are kind of nice.

Exotic fruits were rotting in my fridge and I felt guilty about it--so it was time to try to eat some. These were the wiltiest: dragonfruit on the left and I don't know what the one on the right is. Maybe you can help me out. The cashier where I bought it didn't know either, so he gave it to me for free. I thought it was either some kind of pear or melon. My co-worker said it looks like a little owl, so I'm calling it owl fruit.

This is what they look like on the inside: The owl fruit looks even more like an owl!

I think they were both past their prime, though. I took one bite of each--the owl fruit smelled delicious, like a cross between an apple and a pear. It tasted appley and pearish and melony, so I still couldn't determine what it might be. The dragonfruit had no flavor--maybe because I tasted the other one first. After one bite I threw them out. There goes 10 bucks.

But, not to worry, Siggi's yogurt and apple butter will revive me. This is happymaking:

I think Siggi's might be--dare I say it?--better than Fage? Go ahead, fight it out in the Comments section.

What could be better for a scratchy throat and congested nose than a little spicy Indian-ish food? This is a recipe recommendation from commenter Liz Derosier: Curried Black-Eyed Peas With Tomatoes and Mushrooms. It's extremely fragrant, so I took a shower between cooking and eating so I could fully taste it. It's like healthy, tasty comfort food. The recipe included a spice blend called garam masala. Super yum. What else can I do with garam masala? The recipe also suggested serving this with rice, but I already had cooked barley waiting in the fridge. Hearty and delicious and plenty of leftovers for lunches next week. This dish also helped alleviate the cold symptoms. Thank you, curry, and Liz. Now I need to find a good raita recipe.

And then I realized I'd eaten nothing green today, so I snacked on some sugar snap peas. Everyone said the best way to eat them is raw. Now I understand why they are called "sugar" and "snap." Nice crunchy snack.

Tomorrow night friends are coming to dinner and we are making pizzas (their idea). I'm gonna go for this recipe suggested by commenter Jill Brickey: Asparagus, Fingerling Potato, and Goat Cheese Pizza. And I've got some white asparagus to use. Can't wait!

Fun With Decoding Misleading Food Labels

This is a 14-ounce container of Tropicana Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice. It's not big; it's a size you might get to-go, and it would be quite easy to drink the whole thing. Oh look, the picture suggests it's just like sticking a straw right into the fruit and drinking it.

You can see pretty clearly at the top in large print it reads, 2 SERVINGS OF FRUIT!*, with an asterisk. So you might naturally assume that this carton contains two servings of fruit. Seems reasonable.

If you turn to the nutrition information on the side panel, you see that it says this entire 14-ounce container is one serving. It's almost as if they want you to think of it as only one serving. OK, so maybe one serving of juice is equivalent to two servings of fruit according to some specific guidelines or diet plan or something. Makes sense. Let's see if we can find where that asterisk leads to. Nope, not on this side.

Oh, here it is, way down at the bottom below the bar code in tiny print.

I've retyped it in case it's still too small to read. It says:

*Per 8-oz. serving. Under USDA's 2005 Dietary Guidelines 4 oz. of 100% juice = 1 serving of fruit.
The guidelines recommend that you get a majority of your daily fruit servings from whole fruit.

So let me get this straight. When they say "2 SERVINGS OF FRUIT," they mean at least two servings of fruit are in this carton. If you drank all 14 ounces, what the nutrition information refers to as 1 serving, you'd really be getting 3.5 servings of fruit, according to the USDA 2005 Dietary Guidelines, or, in my case, more than my entire daily requirement of fruit. Well at least they are clear and up front about it.

Oh, and by the way, it would really be better if you ate actual fruit instead of drinking this juice. So nice of them to let us know that.

Feb. 3: What I Ate. What's a White Sapote?

For breakfast, a different grain: barley with raisins and skim milk. I wasn't sure—barley is so nutty and savory—but it was good. Not as good as wheat berries, of course. Notice I held off on the apple butter.

All the exotic fruits I bought are not being consumed fast enough and are getting soft. This is a white sapote fruit. It was a bit overripe, but unusual—takes like a pear but texture is kind of like an avocado combined with a peach.

The hunger began but work was busy, so the snacking began. Lots of leftovers and things you've seen before coming up.

Edamame:

Wild rice and cranberry salad. Still delicious.

Brussels sprouts:

Someone suggested I try other brands of yogurt, such as this one: Siggi's. I've actually had this before, but I was so sugar-saturated then I couldn't taste the pomegranate and passionfruit flavor, but this time it tasted really good, yet subtle. Also, very rich, which encouraged eating slowly.

Then leftover tofu, asparagus, mushroom, and pepper stir-fry over red quinoa. Much better as leftovers—especially the quinoa. Usually when I cook I take a shower before eating to get the smell off of me. Otherwise I don't quite taste the food fully. No time to shower the other night when I made this, and I didn't really love this dish then, but today it hit the spot.

Thursday tiredness was setting in or maybe I'm coming down with another cold (it's been a tough winter in New York). I was still hungry, so I tried these waffles, dry (not even with apple butter!). They're gluten-free. In the interest of trying to avoid wheat this week, I bought a few gluten-free products. These were grainy, but they squashed the hunger.

And that was it. My husband reminded me he was going out with a friend tonight, I was no longer hungry, and I was tired, so I skipped dinner. Boring, I know. Hopefully I'll make something new and exciting tomorrow. I bought some garam masala today.

One Way My Supermarket Tries To Fool Me

Though I do most of my regular grocery shopping online and thus am not regularly subject to the trickery of actual supermarkets, my online market has its own tricks, such as this one: Atop the homepage, there are options to click; I've circled "Organic."

Which you would expect to take you to their organic food section, but when you click on it, it takes you here:

The organic and "all-natural" section. What's so wrong with that? While the term organic has a specific legal definition and organic producers are inspected and regulated, all-natural has virtually no meaning, or rather, it can mean whatever producers want it to mean.

That's not the only misleading term the food industry uses. There are several meaningless and unregulated food terms.

Though the USDA has set forth a definition of natural, without regulation from the FDA, it remains meaningless. However, this may be changing in 2011.

Before I started researching this project, I was fooled by my market. I'd click on "organic" and when I saw all the products, many of them items I regularly buy, I actually thought Oh good, I didn't realize that was organic. Marion Nestle's book What To Eat has lots of great information to help you see through the techniques of the food industry.

Feb. 2: What I Ate. The Day I Fell in Love With Wheatberries.

For breakfast I cooked wheatberries in a crockpot overnight, then added skim milk and apple butter in the morning. I know, the apple butter looks like a gift the dog leaves you in the middle of the night, but it tastes like rich appley, cinnamony goodness. It's really the hot fudge of apple products. I think I've found my Pop-Tart replacement. And—ding! ding! ding! ding!—I think we have a winner. Wheatberries rock. These are obviously overcooked—in fact, luckily I woke up at 2 a.m. and turned the crockpot off—but they were still hearty and textured: a bit like steel-cut oats or brown rice or barley. I guess I like a little texture in my morning grains. Someone send me a recipe for wheatberry salad, please. I could eat wheatberries all day long. I kind of hoped to avoid wheat altogether this week, since I've probably never gone a week without it in my entire life (at least once I got on solid food), but I had an inkling I would like these.

I was in a bit of a grocery bind today. New York City got an ice storm, and everyone else had beat me to putting in a grocery order. I couldn't go out and get my own groceries because it was too slippery, and my order wouldn't be delivered till 8 p.m. at the earliest. So what did I have in the house that was new?

Lunch: Swiss chard (the first I've ever eaten, as far as I know) cooked as commenter "Nina" suggested. Sort of. She had written to saute it in olive oil and garlic, add raisins and pine nuts, then salt and red pepper flakes. I did as she said, except I didn't have pine nuts—I looked at some in a store yesterday and they were 10 bucks!—so I used pistachios instead. That's the other duck egg I bought, fried. Turns out I do like dark leafy greens—they just feel healthy and nutritious. I would have been happy without the nuts and raisins even. I didn't have a new grain to try though, and I didn't want to indulge my new love of wheatberries.

But this wasn't enough food and I was hungry again soon after. Time to break out the uglifruit. I gotta be honest: I was a little scared of finding out what was under that peel. When I bought this there wasn't a sign near it, so I didn't even know what it was. The cashier didn't either, so she went to find out. When she returned I said, "What is it?" She said, "Uglifruit." I said, "Sho' is."

Here's what it looks like inside:

Just like an orange or a grapefruit. In fact, it's a hybrid of a grapefruit, an orange, and a tangerine. It's not as sweet as an orange and not as bitter as a grapefruit. It was quite delicious, though I'd still prefer a good orange.

I was pretty hungry again a couple hours later, so I had a snack of yogurt, Grape-Nuts, and apple butter. Nothing new here; I was just hungry and craving this. However, this does make my new addiction to apple butter official. Does anyone know if there's a chapter of Apple Butterholics Anonymous in New York City?

Then, of course, my 5 p.m. edamame—a bit early:

And dinner: I thought I'd have leftovers for dinner, but the husband wanted to get something new delivered. I said OK as long as I could try some new foods. We ordered from one of our favorite places, an "Asian fusion" restaurant (I know it sounds horrible but it's not). I chose seaweed salad (at 12 o'clock on the plate below) and shiitake spinach (on the right). We split "Fantastic Four," which is tofu, string beans, broccoli, and eggplant in malay curry.

You know, I have given cooked spinach chance after chance after chance, and it's just too mooshy for me. I like it raw and baby and in a salad or sandwich, or stirred into sauces where I won't notice it, but I'm just not going to like it cooked and that's going to have to be OK. I've tried. I was not a fan of the seaweed salad either. It was too gelatinous. I've had "Fantastic Four" before and it is one of my favorite dishes. How can I get my tofu crispy on the outside like that?

So, not bad for a day with limited resources. I will always remember it as the day I fell in love with wheatberries.

The new groceries did arrive—so many vegetables that I had to clean out my fridge. I bought lemongrass: What the heck am I gonna do with that?

Feb. 1: What I Ate. Another Day of Fun Eating.

Breakfast was Bob's Red Mill 10-grain hot cereal with dried cranberries and milk. It tasted a bit like Cream of Wheat—a little grainy, a little salty. Eh. Steel-cut oats are better. On the right is papaya. It was OK, a little overripe.

Snack No. 1: an Asian pear-apple. Once in college I tried one and didn't love it, but this one was quite good: crispy, juicy, and pearlike. They are huge, though.

Yesterday I bought some duck eggs:

They look similar to chicken eggs—a bit more oblong and narrow at the top, and spotted. The shell is thicker and harder to crack.

Lunch was one fried duck egg, a pile of baby arugula, and leftover wild rice and cranberry salad from yesterday. The egg tasted similar to a chicken egg, though a bit richer and gamier.

I also saw emu eggs—they are large, dark green, and bigger than my two fists put together. They seem as though they might contain a baby dinosaur. Should I try one? They are also $6.99—each. And what does one do with quail eggs?

Afternoon snack: yogurt with apple butter. Yum.

Plus Tazo chai tea:

The Twinings from yesterday was spicier.

Fact: I get really hungry around 5 p.m. Since I don't eat dinner till 8ish, a snack at 5 is helpful. Today's: edamame.

Commenters have been posting such amazing recipes and ideas. Tonight I tried my first, sent by "Jane Doe": Roasted Corn Pudding in Acorn Squash. Here's how mine came out:

The house smelled amazing, and aside from cutting and hollowing the squash, it's super easy. (Let me give my Santoku knife another shout out!) You don't have to do a lot of preparation or tending to it. I wouldn't call it diet food: It's hearty, total comfort food for vegetarians (though not vegans). It would be great at Thanksgiving for vegetarians (or carnivores), and it makes a hearty, comforting cold-weather dinner. I'd even eat the leftovers for breakfast. It makes a lot of food; my husband and I didn't even finish one of these. And he loved it!

Here's my plate:

Thank you, "Jane Doe"!

On another note: I find peeling garlic really annoying and frustrating, so at last I bought myself a garlic peeler. It's ridiculously expensive for what it is, but an amazing tool. I recommend it! (And if you are smarter than me, you could probably buy a tube at a hardware store of the same material that would do the job for much less!)