Darya Pino is a San Francisco based trained scientist, foodie and a lover of local, seasonal foods. A PhD in neuroscience, she writes for a number of publications that includes The Huffington Post, SF Weekly, KQED Science and Edible Science Francisco. Also, she has been a columnist with Synapse and has been recognized as one of the top students during her graduation.

Darya blogs at Summer Tomato that gives a complete guide to healthy eating. It offers valuable tips and advices on healthy eating specifically targeting the foodies in urban areas. Often we tend to ignore our health issues, take them easy and do not even adhere to basic principles that can really help us remain fit. If your sailing in the same boat and find it difficult to spare time out of your busy life, follow Darya at Summer Tomato. We contacted Darya for a small interview with us. Lets know more about her and her awesome blog in the interview below:

Darya, please introduce yourself to E-junkies.

I'm a scientist turned food blogger in San Francisco, CA. I have a Ph.D in neuroscience, but realized that fresh, seasonal food is the real secret to being healthy so I ditched the academic science career to focus on helping people eat better. I'm also a huge foodie, and quality of life is essential to my message. Nobody should be eating food that doesn't taste good. If you want to stick to your healthy habits, tasty food is key.

Firstly, let's talk about your charming blog "Summer Tomato".

Summer Tomato is a place to learn how to achieve real health and weight loss through food. I use my science background to translate confusing media messages about nutrition news and diet trends into simple, actionable tips that are easy to remember and implement. The basic premise is to start with real fresh, seasonal ingredients, ideally from your local farmers market, and to learn how to cook them simply. I'm no fancy chef, so anyone can follow my recipes. The trick is if you start with good ingredients it is pretty hard to mess them up.

How did you plan on starting a blog? We would love to know about the inception of 'Summer Tomato'.

I honestly didn't know what blogging was until a few days before I launched my first version of Summer Tomato on Blogger. I was a columnist at my school's newspaper and wanted to better way to interact with my readers--newspapers are very uni-directional. When I discovered blogs I knew I needed to create one immediately. Within a few months it evolved into the Summer Tomato you see today.

When you started your blog, did you ever think that it will be as famous and successful as it is now?

Ha! I had no idea what to expect. I took it very seriously, but made no presumption that people would enjoy my message. I did have a core belief, however, that if I could provide true value above and beyond the platitudes usually found on the web that I could build a true fan base. So I never publish anything I don't think would be worth the time of a very busy person. It isn't easy to come up with quality content on a regular basis, but the extra effort is certainly worth it.

What do you think makes your blog stand out?

Summer Tomato is different from other health and weight loss blogs in that it focuses first on pleasure, and adding new things to your diet rather than removing things. My first recommendation is always for people to discover the wonderful world of farm fresh produce. I include lots of vivid images to make people actually jealous of my salad, kale and beets. Only when people have made that mental shift--that vegetables actually taste good and are worth eating for their own sake--then I encourage people to start cutting back on processed foods, especially sugar. I help people understand that most of the "indulgences" they make on a daily basis aren't even worth it, and if you're going to treat yourself choose something of excellent quality. This is the difference between a fresh, flaky croissant from a French bakery and the nasty morning breakfast sandwich at the fast food place.

In your view, what are the soft or indirect benefits from blogging?

Obviously the exposure and networking connections have been wonderful and led to personal and financial opportunities. But by far the most rewarding is the emails I get from readers telling me how much they love their new lives, eat better than ever and have dropped 40 lbs. I love when people share stories about how their children or entire family has developed a new healthstyle and they're exploring it together. It makes my eyes well up every time I think about it.

You have published your own E-book 'How To get Started Eating Healthy'. Would you like to share your experience writing it?

The e-book for me was actually a no-brainer. Most of the people who come to my site are new to healthy eating. They like my message but often don't know where to start. The e-book was born out of a series of blog posts I wrote early on. I just expanded it and packaged it into a PDF for people to see the first time they enter the site. It was actually really fun to work with a graphic designer to do the cover and turn it into a real product.

What are the differences between publishing a book and a blog? Do they support or complement each other?

I think books and blogs complement each other beautifully. Books are more focused, and you can go more in depth on a certain subject than you could in any given blog post. Blog posts are more like little snacks. They're easier to consume and share with friends. I think you need both if you want to be a thought leader in your space.

Would you like to share your future goals/ plans with us?

I wish I could! But they're top secret right now. Stay tuned :)

Many other aspiring bloggers would draw inspiration from you. What message do you have for them?

Understand that your blog is not about you. It's about your readers, and helping them comprehend your little corner of the world. If you value your readers, respect their time, answer their questions and treat them well, they will notice and tell others about the great work you're doing.

Now, that mounts to a precious advice and a wonderful interview Darya. Thanks a lot for talking to us. It has been a pleasure to have you on E-junkie.

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