I loaded up last week at a discount grocery on a few things I can get more cheaply there than at my local grocery chain.

I find these stores to be a mixed bag. Sometimes the sales at my local chain offer better deals.

And I don't like highly processed foods, and I am picky about meat, so a chunk o' beef that's been sealed in plastic and left to soak in polysyllabic ingredients for a few weeks or months is out. I find some cut-rate stores to be full of this stuff, even more than chains.

I also circle with suspicion the veggies and fruit at discount stores. In the winter, I might buy some. In the summer, forget it. Especially now -- the farmers markets are hitting full stride.

At the checkout, I chatted with two women, one with an overloaded cart who was feeding children home for the summer, and one who said as an empty nester she often found she had too much food, especially vegetables.

"Go to the farmers markets. You can buy just as much as you need, and the taste is so much better, you'll be amazed," I said. She said that's probably so, but running around to several places to shop -- there's not enough time.

I understood. But of life's choices, how many are as important as being careful about what you're eating?

I'm one to talk. Elastic waistbands are currently my best friends.

The Post-Gazette carried a story Sunday about shows featuring overweight people and their struggles, most notably "Ruby," about Ruby Gettinger, who has been wrestling with her weight all of her life, once weighing as much as 700 pounds.

Her message: "Don't look at this [overweight] person going, 'All they do is overeat.' It's bigger than that. It's an addiction. It's a disease, and I want to bring that to the world."

I read this shortly after I had watched "The Barefoot Contessa," a Food Network show I just love. I saw host Ina Garten preparing a dinner for her 40th wedding anniversary. It included brownies, which she made for her husband, Jeffrey, when they were in college.

"Don't start on me," she said as she dumped two sticks of butter into the mixer. "You can't make brownies without butter."

Well, sometimes, maybe not. And sometimes you can't get to the farmers market.

And sometimes, elastic is all you can do.

But the farmers markets are full of fresh vegetables just now.

Weight Watchers has a Rocky Road Brownie recipe that uses the great trick of substituting applesauce for oil to cut calories and fat. As with many of its recipes, portion control is also key, so this recipe makes 24. Find it at http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeId=51439.

Denny's restaurants have added Better for You menu items featuring reduced fat and lower sodium, such as turkey bacon, chicken sausage, fresh fruit, granola and yogurt. The move is in reaction to negotiations with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition watchdog group (cspinet.org; interesting reading). Denny's also has changed its children's menu to do the same, adding such things as carrot and celery sticks, spaghetti and yogurt (Jell-O, too, which I guess is better than two scoops of ice cream in satisfying a sweet tooth). It also will soon offer smaller portions of favorite items to reduce sodium and fat. ... Chipotle Mexican Grill, which prides itself on using sustainable and organic products to allow customers to tailor-make their food, is offering $10,000 to the person who devises the best advertisement for its chain. Details at mychipotle.com; deadline, Aug. 14. ... Franktuary, the Downtown gourmet hot dog shop on Oliver Avenue, has added the Locavore, a grass-fed, nitrate-free all-beef dog from Ron Gargasz Organic Farm, Volant. Discounted 50 cents during July; $4.25 each. Franktuary.com for more details. ... Buy a box of any Post Shredded Wheat between now and December and Post will donate one bowl of cereal to Feeding America, the hunger relief charity. See postshreddedwheat.com.

The Art Institute of Pittsburgh has added an associate's degree in baking and pastry. Enrollment begins in October. Courses include pastry techniques and artistry; baking science and theory; classic European cuisine; chocolate, confections and sugar crafts; European cakes and tortes. Artinstitutes.edu/Pittsburgh.

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 2930 Beaver Road, Ambridge, begins its food festival at noon Wednesday and continues through July 25. Church dancers will perform nightly at 7 and also at 2 p.m. on the 25th. Also performing is the Greek band Kakias. Pastisto, stuffed grape leaves, chicken, fish on Friday night, more. 724-266-5336.