"How Do You Eat Like This and Not Weigh Three Hundred Pounds?"

Hey everyone,

I received several messages this week, as I continue to eat my way through my new-to-me-again city, that asked something along the lines of: “How do you eat like this and not weigh three hundred pounds?”

As a food writer, this is nothing new. I’ve been getting this question since starting my blog in 2004. I find the question a little judgmental because (a) it implies that there’s something morally wrong with being overweight (there’s not) and (b) it implies that my lifestyle — one focused on enjoying food — is deserving of some sort of comeuppance. America’s puritanical history is at the root of the idea that pleasure deserves punishment. No wonder so many recently deflowered virgins are the first to be murdered in horror movies.

Last night’s dinner (buffalo chicken pizza) at Smith Street Pizza after our friend’s going-away party on a roof went late.

All of that said, I understand the question. It’s a very human desire to eat whatever you want without any consequences; there’s a reason why Defending Your Life — a movie set in the afterlife where calories don’t exist and all of the food is sublime — is my favorite movie.

So how do I do it? What are my strategies for eating deliciously but also nutritiously (as much as possible)? Let me fill you in.