My theory

Think about it, until recently humans spent a great deal of their time simply gathering, growing, preserving, or preparing their next meal. Whereas, we might get anxious waiting for that 4 minute meal in the microwave, our ancestors would be planning the food they would be eating for the next year. Talk about slow cooking!

So perhaps an obsession with food isn’t so unnatural. Perhaps we are genetically engineered to be obsessed with food. After all, the person who could space off and forget about eating might very well starve to death. Frankly, that’s absolutely beyond my comprehension. How can one possibly forget about eating? That’s like forgetting about breathing…Simply incomprehensible!!!

Everyone in my family tends to put on the pounds. The thing about the genetic connection to weight gain is that we need to remind ourselves that those of us with this family heritage come from a long line of survivors. Back in the days when food was scarce and humans had to scrounge for every morsel they could find, our ancestors survived because their bodies successfully stored the energy they needed in the form of fat. People who didn’t store fat successfully died off from starvation. But our bodies have not adapted to this new environment of ours, where food is plentiful, and those who don’t pack on the pounds are now the successful survivors.

So how do we adapt? We use our brains instead of our genetic programming. I've tried tons of diet plans. And to be honest, I could make a small village from the amount of weight I’ve lost and regained over the years. What's worked best for me is counting calories. And that requires that I do the math. I weigh and figure every little detail. And anyone who knows me will tell you that I don't do math. There's a reason I teach English. But doing the math is necessary and worth it. It is also necessary and worth buying a good kitchen scale. It also means that I prepare most of what I eat from scratch. And after reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto I am convinced that whole foods, and if possible local foods, is the answer to our society's food issues.

I also keep a diet log. Don't worry. You're not going to be subjected to that. You don't want to read every time I decide to eat a half a banana. But this record keeping keeps me in line. I can't fudge the results. Microsoft makes a nice little Diet log that's worked for me. Although it'll tally my calories and fat grams for me, it won't do the hard work of figuring the calories of every ingredient.

In case you don't know how to go about figuring the calories of recipes, let me tell you, it's easy. You weigh or measure each ingredient you include in a recipe. And there are plenty of websites that'll tell you the calorie count per measured amount. My favorite is http://www.thecaloriecounter.com/. You take the calories as listed, divided by the amount listed, times the weight or measurement of your ingredient. Once you've figured the calories of all your ingredients, you add them all together and then divide them by the number of portions you plan on serving.

It's a balancing act. You want to divide it into as many servings as you can to lower your calorie count, but you also want to have enough food to satisfy you. You naturally eliminate those foods that are so high in calories that you have to eat next to nothing in order to keep the calories down. You just learn that french fries simply aren't worth it.

So, what about those frozen, low calorie "TV" dinners? I'll admit, I have some of those in my freezer. However, I'm determined not to use them on a regular basis. Yeah, there are days when I come home and I don't have anything prepared and I'm dead tired, or when I haven't had time to go to the store to get ingredients and I don't want to deal with the hassle (I hate grocery shopping). I don't think it's going to kill me every once in a while. But these foods are incredibly processed. And I don't think they're healthy for the individual or for society. Also, according to a January 11, 2010 New York Times article by Nicholas Bakalar entitled “Counting of Calories Isn’t Always Accurate,” it was found that restaurant and packaged foods can contain “18 percent more calories than listed.”

In addition, if that's all I eat, what do I do after I've reached my goal? Do I go back to my old habits? Do I continue to eat those expensive, highly processed foods? No the answer is to continue eating my homemade foods. Sure, maybe I'll be able to increase my consumption of "naughty" foods a bit, but I can easily go back and make my healthier diet foods when I need to.

So, who wants to do that kind of cooking every day? I don't! I cook weekends and snow days. I divide the dish into individual servings, package, and either freeze or refrigerate. I zap a meal when I need it.

One of my new favorites is Butternut Squash Soup. I got this recipe from pages 50 and 51 of the January/February 2008 issue of Everyday Food

Ingredients
3 pounds butternut squash peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 inch chunks
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion coarsely choped
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 can chicken broth
1 to 3 teaspoons lemon juice

Preparation
1. In large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion. Season with salt; cook stirring occasionally, until softened, 5-7 minutes.
2. Add squash, broth, and enough water (4 to 5 cups) to cover. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
3. Working in batches, purée broth and vegetables in a blender until smooth, transferring to a clean pot as you work. To prevent splattering, fill blender only halfway, and allow heat to escape. Remove cap from hole in lid, and cover lid firmly with a dish towel. Adjust soup's consistency with a little water if necessary. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste.

Serves 4-6: 141 calories and 4.9 grams of fat per serving.