I love grapes. Sweet. Satisfying. I buy them all the time.

And my husband taught me a valuable grape-purchasing trick: in the market, I taste-test the grapes. I try one in the pack to make sure it’s a good batch. I only get the best.

I never used to do this, but since I lost 50 pounds and have kept it off for over 9 years now, I care much more about the quality of my food.

It sounds obvious—we all care about the quality of our food?!

But,...

Surf’s up!

Time to head to the beach.

Having grown up in southern California, the beach holds so many memories for me.

The beach days I remember most as a kid are from camp. We’d get there by big yellow bus with our sack lunches, towels and suits under our clothes. I couldn’t wait to get into the water. I’d swim out past the waves and hang with my only other friend who loved the water as much as I did. We’d body surf back in...

We love to go cherry picking every year.

There’s a short window when the cherries are ripe and it usually falls around Father’s Day and the end of school.

And it’s usually hot. Very hot.

We go to the same place each year, an hour and a half drive away, and each year I notice my son can reach higher and higher branches.

This year I was struck by how different the experience was.

In the past, we’d easily fill our buckets,...

School’s out!

Remember that last week of elementary school before summer break? Before there was such a thing as “finals week”?

Watching videos, cleaning out your desk, playing games, signing yearbooks, end of year parties.

No homework.

It was a transition. A no man’s land after meaningful work was done but before summer vacation was official.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could have those sorts of transitions, too?

 Ugh.  Tight pants.  They feel terrible.

Especially when they’ve hit that critical point.  You know the point . . . when they are just about too tight to wear.

“Did they shrink in the dryer?” you wonder.

“If I wear them a bit, they will stretch out,” you decide.

Not this time.

Oh, I guess you could wear your formerly favorite pants but they hug just a little closer than you would like. ...

I have a client; I’ll call him “Joe”.  Joe lost over 30 pounds and has kept it off for close to 3 years. In the last few months he’s been negotiating with 5 pounds that crept back on and won’t budge. And then he went on vacation . . .

Now what did most of you think just then?

“Everyone gains on vacation!”

“He definitely came back weighing more”

Nope.

Joe came back at his goal weight and had a...

It’s official!  Summer’s a-comin’.

This weekend marks the beginning of bathing suit season. And I think you can start wearing white. (Is that still a thing?)

It’s the season for BBQs, swimming, getaways, longer days and warmer nights.

The combo of more daylight to fit in exercise, hotter weather that may curb appetite and encourage hydration and yummy seasonal fruit that can replace denser desserts makes summer the biggest and...

My favorite salad bag . . .

Side note: I heart salad bags. Those things are awesome! Great time savers and portion controllers. I love anything that makes eating healthier more convenient.

So, my favorite salad bag has the calories listed as 110 without dressing and double with it. Double!

And that’s only for one third of the bag.

No way do I eat one third of a bag of lettuce—to me one bag is a single serving size.

So if I ate the...

Mother’s Day brings to mind brunches and big family gatherings. I’m imagining hats, but I may be confusing it with Easter.

While coming together to celebrate can be joyous, this day may also be fraught. Anytime we gather as a family it’s a mixed bag of love, resentment, laughs and stress.

Resentment, stress and food often don’t play well together, so over the years, I’ve honed a strategy to get through the day with more ease:

...

You’ve finally reached your weight goal and it's time to transition to maintenance . . .

Yikes!?

It should be a time of great celebration, but often there’s fear and resistance.

Many people are afraid that if they stop trying to lose they’ll gain. Yo-yo dieting memories flood in.

Understandable.

Without guidance and patience this process can go awry.

In order to set yourself up for success in the maintenance phase,...