What's for dinner at Al Roker's house? The TODAY co-host and Chief Motivation Officer of Start TODAY has some simple eating habits that make a healthy diet enjoyable, helping him stay consistent.
His approach is simplicity, quality and enjoyment.
"Surround yourself with the best food possible. The best food is the freshest food, and your local farmers market is what provides that," he told AARP magazine in an article published on Dec. 6, 2023.
He's been a customer at the farmers market in Hudson, New York, for more than 20 years.
"The great thing about a farmers market is that it takes care of the whole you," he said. "You get clean, organic food that's been brought to you by the people who grow it and produce it."
The TODAY weatherman, 71, also enjoys the social aspect of a farmers market, where he gets to talk with the people who grow his food and make a morning of it, rather than rushing in an out of a grocery store. His grocery list includes vegetables, fresh herbs and fresh-caught fish.
When it comes to dinner, Al said he and his wife, Deborah Roberts, eat at home four or five nights a week.
"I eat a lot of fish, a lot of chicken, and just olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs. Just good-quality proteins, lots of great veggies and herbs to elevate the flavor," he told AARP.
"Sauce takes too much time. ... I'm all about easy," Al added, so his entrees are usually roasted in the oven or pan-sautéed, like Rosemary Roasted Salmon with Joy Bauer's Best Roasted Vegetables.
But when time allows, Al says that cooking is a hobby that he finds therapeutic.
"I really love to cook ... I used to watch my mom cook, and I just really enjoy being in the kitchen," Al said in a walking podcast for the Start TODAY app. "I find it very relaxing: the chopping, the dicing, the slicing, the measuring. Depending on what you're doing, it feeds different parts of your soul. To me, cooking is like jazz in that it's improvisational. Baking, to me, is more classical music or science because of interactions -- chemical interactions, physical interactions -- but I like them both."
He is also using his daughter's Parisian lifestyle as inspiration. "My daughter, Lila, lives in Paris and we visit a fair amount. Their food is not low calorie, it's not low carb, it's just smaller portions," he says. "They walk a lot. There's a lot of activity. And so I've tried to adopt that more than anything else."
That's why after dinner, Al and his wife have the habit of taking a quick walk -- a healthy finish to a healthy meal. Research shows walking after eating can aid in weight loss. It can also help improve blood-sugar levels, aid in digestion and reduce bloating
Make an after-dinner walk more enjoyable by pressing play on one of these podcasts and bringing Al along as a walking buddy: