Foodie Ruth: November 2020

You Dine with Platters on the Table, Thanksgiving-Style

One of the easiest ways to avoid over-eating is to make it slightly more difficult to actually reach your food. Conversely, one of the sneakiest ways to overeat is to simply have the entire smorgasbord in front of you all along.

"Putting platters on the table is one way you're guaranteeing that you're going to eat more than you want to," says health and food journalist Ruth Houston. "This will only encourage and facilitate a second and third helping. Instead, always plate your food in the kitchen, restaurant-style."

New Focus for the Foodie Ruth Blog

Hi Fellow Foodies!

Prior to COVID-19, I had been working for quite a while on a book about cruise ship food, when it occurred to me that I should share some of my food adventures with all you fellow foodies on this blog.

However, because the Corona Virus pandemic shut down cruise travel (and most other travel, as well) my travel-related food adventures have come to a screeching halt. Luckily I was also working on another book project, so most of my food writing efforts will be focused on that.

Even though my restaurant reviewing food lecturing, food-related travel adventures are on temporary hold, I’ll always will be an avid “Foodie,” and food will continue to play a major role in my life.

In view of the above, I’ll be changing the focus of my food blog to include a mix of the following food-related things:

· Delicious new food discoveries

· Eating adventures closer to home

· Fond food memories and unforgettable food experiences from years past

· Recipes and cooking tips

· My observations and opinions about food-related things

· Weight loss tips from the research for my upcoming book entitled Eat Smart and Lose Weight: Research-backed Ways to Lose Weight without Diets or Exercise.

· Interesting “food facts” from weight loss studies and research as to why some things work and others don’t.

· Periodic updates on the progress of the book

Hopefully, you’ll enjoy reading about these things as much as I’ll enjoy sharing them with you.

Meanwhile – Happy Eating!

About FoodieRuth

Ruth Houston (aka FoodieRuth) is author of the upcoming book Eat Smart and Lose Weight: Research-backed Ways to Lose Weight without Diets or Exercise.

A member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors for over 30 years, Ruth’s articles and columns (on food, travel, relationships, fashion, health and wellness) appeared regularly in major magazines worldwide. In fact, Ruth Houston has spent most of her journalistic life researching, writing, and speaking about topics that impact people’s lives.

Drawing on her experience as a food journalist, restaurant reviewer, cruise ship food lecturer, and serious foodie, Ruth’s research for the past 5 years has been concentrated on the weight loss industry with a specific focus on proven, science-backed ways to lose weight that don’t involve diets or exercise. This research, along with Ruth’s belief that people should be able to enjoy eating without the fear of getting fat, forms the basis for her upcoming book Eat Smart and Lose Weight: Research-backed Ways to Lose Weight without Diets or Exercise.

In addition to researching and writing about food and reviewing restaurants, Ruth has also conducted enrichment cruise lectures for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruise lines on lifestyle and food related topics.

In keeping with her belief that to fully experience and appreciate a culture, you need to taste the local cuisine, Ruth’s cruise ship food lectures were designed not only to provide an overview of specific island cuisine, but to also appeal to everyone from apprehensive eaters to adventurous eaters, as well as hard-core foodies like herself. Popular lecture topics included:

• Food Lover’s Guide to Puerto Rico

• The History Behind Puerto Rican Cuisine

• A Food Lover’s Guide to Caribbean Cuisine

• An Island Hopper’s Guide to Eastern Caribbean Food

• A Brief History of Caribbean Food

• How to Become a Restaurant Reviewer for Your Local Paper

• How to Become a Travel Writer for Your Local Paper

Prior to the pandemic, Ruth was eating her way through the Caribbean via cruise ship while working on a book on cruise ship food. However, the Coronavirus pandemic shut down the cruise industry 2 months before the book was scheduled to go on sale. As a result, Ruth has been able to focus fully on completing her weight loss book, which will be out in the next few months.

For updates on the progress of the book, and to be notified when Eat Smart and Lose Weight: Research-backed Ways to Lose Weight without Diets or Exercise goes on sale, e-mail www.EatSmartandLoseWeight.com

For a sneak preview of a couple of Ruth’s favorite “Eat Smart Easy Weight Loss” tips from Eat Smart and Lose Weight, click here.

Ruth is also the author of two popular infidelity books, Is He Cheating on You? 829 Telltale Signs and Will He Cheat on You? Her first book, Is He Cheating on You? was based on 7 years of in-depth research on infidelity. What started out as a fact-finding mission turned into a second career and catapulted Ruth to fame as an internationally recognized infidelity expert, where she reigned as the go-to infidelity expert for 9 years (from 2005 to 2014.)

In connection with Is He Cheating on You?, Ruth was frequently called on by the media to comment on popular infidelity issues in the news, including celebrity infidelity, cheating politicians, and high profile court cases involving infidelity, appearing on more than 520 radio and TV news and talk shows in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, New Zealand, Australia, Africa, and the Caribbean, including The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, CBS, ABC News, Fox News, NBC, Fox and Friends, BBC, CBC, Ireland's Late Late Show, NPR,GMTV, 1010WINS New York, Sirius Satellite Radio, Court TV Radio, Telemundo, and Caracol Radio Network , The Breakfast Club, just to name a few)

Ruth has also been interviewed and/ or quoted, by over 80 of the top 100 newspapers in the United States as well as dozens of major magazines and websites including USA Today, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Daily News, Cosmopolitan, United Press International, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, the Toronto Sun, Maclean's, Chatelaine, Flare, FoxNews.com, ABCNews.com, CBSNews.com, NBCNews.com, Entertainment Online, Univision Online, Sante, Visao, and numerous other print and online media worldwide.

In addition, Ruth was featured as the “expert of record” on several infidelity documentaries, including one produced by the History Channel and one by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Utilizing her background in public relations,

Ruth also served as ethnic PR manager and spokesperson for Clairol Inc. when it was a division of Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Ruth Houston lives Queens New York, and when she’s not writing, researching, and speaking about food (or eating), she enjoys the companionship of her 3 black cats, Bandy, Romeo, and Livingston.

Ruth can be reached at FoodWriterRuth@gmail.com or at 718 708-9799.