To some, it's a dream job---eating delicious meals for free and then writing about them. But _  Karen Fernau, a food writer for The Arisona Republic, said when she first started her job -she began to gain weight. "I always looked forward to lunch before this job, then all of a sudden lunch was all day every day. " she says. Nine years later, keeping her weight steady and her health intact  is a daily battle. If she knows she will be going to a tasting at a bakery or eating a four-course meal, she usually eats fruits or salads throughout the day. Now she is always keeping track of what's in the food she eats and she says most people don't even look at or consider it. At one tasting task alone, she says, upward of l,000 calories is often added to her day. That's about half of the recommended total calories per day for the average adult. But even though she's thought of a special eating method, Fernau says sticking to it is a daily battle. And food editors, writers and critics across the country couldn't agree more. "When I'm at home or not eating for work, it's healthy food to the extreme," says Phil Vettel, who's been a restaurant critic for the Chicago Tribune for 19 years. Vettle, who eats dinner at four restaurants each week, says unlike most professions, he has no right to choose. "If I'm going out to eat, I can't choose the healthiest thing on the menu, I have to eat when they're bringing me. " While Vettel exercises when he can, Joe Yonan, a food editor at The Washington Post, has strengthened his exercise habits since he started the job two years ago. Yonan says he realized early on that he was gaining weight and immediately hired a personal trainer to meet with three times a week, on top of his body training three to five times a week. Still, it's a struggle that many Americans might envy. After all, it's one thing to get your calories from lobster  tails or a delicate chocolate cookie and quite another to get them from sodas and fast-food burgers. What's the main idea of the passage?
A job offering free meals may not be as desirable as it sounds to be. Dishes in the restaurant usually contain too many calories. Eating fruits and vegetables every day is the best way to lose weight. Food writers work hard to maintain their health and weight.