A HUDSON VALLEY CLUB SANDWICH piles one good thing upon another, starting with whole grain bread and white bean paste, which together contain more than half your day’s recommended fiber. Alfalfa sprouts, avocado, tomato, romaine, and sliced chicken breast bring vitamins and disease fighting phytochemicals to the party. As for the bacon—why not do what it takes to make healthy food taste great, so you keep coming back for more?

the “real-food”

diet

how to succeed in eating without really trying.

We’ve had it with the get-thin, get-healthy, look-younger plans that promise the moon. All we want is a sensible eat-ing regimen that’s easy to fol low and makes us feel l ike a mill ion bucks. What’s the secret? Repeat after us: eat your vegetables, whole grains, and fruits. Sure, it’s a mantra you’ve heard before, but what you may not know is how to make following it tantalizingly easy: learn to love (yes, love) these life-enhancing foods by buying them fresh and locally grown, when their natural nutrients and flavors are, at their peak. Then master a few simple techniques for making them into mouthwatering meals. Nutritionist-turned-chef-turned-green-market-champion laura pensiero shows you how.

Working in the field of food and nutrition for almost 20 years, I have seen many “miracle” diets touted: high carb, low carb, low fat, high protein. During the same time, overweight and obesity rates have skyrocketed. But just tell ing people to eat healthier foods doesn’t work, either. Despite national edu-cation campaigns designed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published data showing our national intake has actually declined slightly from the early ‘90s. How do we change this? People need strategies to help translate health information

to the market and stove top. It’s time to look at the problem from a different perspective. Eating well might require some adjustments, but trust me, none that hurt. The first step? Eat locally and seasonally. This is a natural, easy way to move toward better health and manage your weight. The reason is that locally raised food harvested at the pinnacle of ripeness will taste better, and if it tastes better, the pleasure of eating it goes way up. Biting into a mealy peach is a form of torture, after all. But a peach at its prime... that’s bliss.

Feeling satisfied and well nourished is critical to making last-ing changes. Face it, if you aren’t enjoying yourself, you’ll revert to old habits. So my second piece of advice is this: Don’t do anything drastic. Don’t feel you have to cut out food you love and then suffer and feel deprived. Instead, try putt ing more “good” food on your plate. Add a colorful vegetable to a familiar stew or sandwich, begin dinner with a great salad, or replace mashed potatoes with a whole grain pilaf. Get what you need not through duty but with pleasure.

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No two Gigi “skizzas“ are alike, though they all start with whole grain flatbread. We topped one with red pepper spread, smoked salmon, and capers (top), the other with arugula pesto, chicken, and lemon-scented ricotta.

Mix and match meal planThe versatile templates below can be adapted to whatever seasonal ingredients you have on hand. The risotto, for example, can be made with zucchini and tomatoes in summer, or with radicchio and butternut squash come fall. And next week, substitute hole wheat pasta or polenta for the grains. The idea is that these three days of menus can be expanded into a blueprint for a lifetime of healthy eating.

Note that this plan is not meant to be a com-prehensive guide to everything you should consume in a day (beverages, side dishes, and snacks are absent). Talk to your doctor about your particular nutritional requirements and fil l in the blanks with the foods he suggests a snack of yogurt to increase calcium, perhaps, or nuts for protein. And when your sweet tooth acts up, grab the juiciest, ripest fruit you can find. You’ll barely miss the cookies.

BREAKFAST

LUNCH

DINNER

DAY A DAY B DAY C

Yogurt topped with whole grain granola and seasonal f ru i t

Hudson Valley club sandwich

Mixed grain isotto, with seasonal var iat ions

Fresh or frozen berr ies spr inkled with 1 tsp. sugar

Portobello mushroom and bell pepper sloppy joe on whole wheat bun

Gigi ”skizza” with seasonal var iat ions Green salad

Hard-boi led eggs with whole wheat toast

Toasted whole grain bread with a lmond or peanut butter and preserves

Gigi Barbina salad , with seasonal var iat ions

Biscuit-topped chicken stew

Rustic fruit tart

A meal in a pot, this biscuit-topped chicken stew contains cancer-fighting turnips, plus carrots and sweet potatoes, which are packed with vitamins A and C and potent anti-inflammatory compounds.

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This sloppy joe is no nutritional slouch, fi l led as it is with sauteed peppers (for sarotenoids, plus vitamins A and C) and portobello mushrooms (Seleium)

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U-pick It—the fil l ing, that is. This rustic fruit tart contains four cups of ripe summer berries and sliced apples. The simple crust is folded around them before baking.

No garden-variety side dish, Gigi barbina salad has more than halt your daily supply of vegetables, including beets (loaded with folate, potassium, and antioxidants) and butternut squash (for beta-carotene), walnuts and goat cheese make it a meal.

Think of mixed grain risotto as your culinary blank canvas, adaptable to any season; this version has ripe tomatoes, zucchini, and basil. The grains deliver vitamins (E, thiamin, folate. B6) and minerals (zinc, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium) year-round.

I’ve long found that Mediterranean-style cooking offers the most enjoyable way to eat healthy. Since 2001 I’ve owned Gigi Trattoria in Rhinebeck, New York, and as a restaurateur, I’ve had a chance to share with customers my passion for foods made and harvested r ight here in my community. Recent research suggests that such ingredients are not just delicious but actually better for you the similar items grown halfway around the globe. Produce bred for long-distance shipping, for example, is l ikely to be lower in some nutrients and antioxi-dants. Most supermarket food travels an average 1,500 miles after it is harvested. So calorie for calorie, locally grown food may offer more nourishment as well as more flavor.

During my four years as culinary coordinator at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Wcllness and Prevention Center, I gave regular cooking demonstrations and saw firsthand how even dedi-cated meat-and-potato eaters respond to vegetables that have been cultivated and prepared with care. The usual wide-eyed response is, “I didn’t think I would ever like that.” That’s the power of fresh food.

Six steps to sustainable eatingWe’ve all tried—and failed at—our share of diets. To really shake up your eating habits once and for all, you need a plan that’s easy to follow and enjoyable, so you’re genuinely motivated to keep at it. You also need a diet you can’t “break”—one that’s flexible enough to adapt to any changes, from your activity level to the company at your table. Here are six steps to get you on your way:

GO LOCAL Visit localharvest.org or eatwellguide.org. Type in your zip code for a list of products grown and made in your community, from honey, cheese, grass-fed meat, and pasture-raised eggs to lettuces and herbs.

START SMALL. Changing everything all at once never works, instead, go through your refrigerator and pantry and weed out a few empty-calorie traps: foods you reach for when you’re rushed or bored, that don’t nourish your body. Then substitute fresh, seasonal foods Keep whole grain bread and cheese handy to grab instead of chips. Add a salad every day, at lunch or dinner. Try fruit at snack time.

BRANCH OUT. Try a fruit or vegetable that you didn’t think you liked when it’s at its peak. I’ve seen people converted to foods from asparagus to zucchini just by tasting them freshly picked and simply prepared.

LEARN THE STORY BEHIND YOUR FOOD. When you connect with the men and women who grow what you eat, it tastes all the better Kids especially become more courageous when they know what went into the food they have for dinner.

PLANT A GARDEN— HOWEVER SMALL. Seeing the miracle of a seed turn into a delectable ingredient instil ls an appreciation for all it takes to grow great-quality food. if you don’t have a green thumb, try a simple container garden: Cultivate a few herbs or cherry tomatoes in pots on your windowsill or patio.

PLAY THE (GREEN) MARKET. Visit your local farmers’ market. While there, talk to farmers and sample food that’s likely within 48 hours of picking. Most farmers eat what they grow. So they’re a great source of tips for preparing, serving, and storing the foods they sell.

Face it, if you aren’t enjoying yourself, you’ll revert to old habits. So my advice is this: Don’t do any thing drastic. Don’t cut out food you love and then suffer and feel deprived. Try putting more ‘good’ food on your plate. Get what you need not through duty but with pleasure.”

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