Somerset dad delivers when it comes to healthy food

Deborah Allard Herald News Staff Reporter @debsallard

SOMERSET — Four years and 66 pounds ago, Mark Campanale was a different man.

He was a busy bank vice president of marketing with little time to consider food choices.

He wasn’t shy about filling his plate and put down lots of fast food.

And he ate fast. Beer? Sure.

“I ate a lot,” Campanale said. “There was no portion control. I ate my seconds first.”

Today, life is a bit different for Campanale, 45.

A health scare not only inspired weight loss, but a business venture: Fit Dad Cooking meal delivery service, a cookbook and a whole new way of living.

Campanele in 2013 was diagnosed with pre-diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and sleep apnea.

He said his doctor told him he was too young to be in such bad shape and called him a “ticking time bomb.” Without serious changes, he might not be around for his daughter.

That was his turning point.

“I decided to take my life back, if not for me, for my daughter,” Campanale said.

He started attending a support group, eating healthier and even running. He liked his new lifestyle and with an online course became a certified nutritional therapist.

When sciatica stopped him from running and required surgery, he worried about weight gain.

“I had to start cooking for myself and maintaining that weight loss,” Campanale said. “I fell in love with it.”

He experimented with a paleo diet and cut the gluten. He also realized he wasn’t alone. Lots of people wanted to eat better. They just didn’t know where to start.

“I took meals I liked and made them healthier,” Campanale said.

In 2015, Campanale published a cookbook, “Fit Dad Cooking: A Tasty Tale” of healthy recipes.

As for his career in banking? He gave it up to pursue his passion for cooking and nutrition.

“That’s what I did today,” Campanale said, standing at his kitchen island showing off the fruits of his labor — a Margharita chicken crust pizza and apple, cranberry, pecan chicken salad on lettuce leaves.

Best of all, he got his daughter Sydney, now 11, interested in cooking.

“I would consider myself a good cook,” Sydney said. She likes to make egg rolls and “can flip pancakes faster than dad.”

Sydney, Campanele’s official taste-tester, said she’s working on her own cookbook.

A couple of times per week, Campanale uses the certified kitchen at Hope & Main in Warren, Rhode Island, to prepare a menu of healthy foods for his customers.

Campanale started Fit Dad Cooking, a healthy meal preparation and delivery service, in July.

About 20 meal choices include flourless quiche with sweet corn and sweet potato hash; chicken or black bean burger with grilled pineapple, tomato and braised cabbage; luau pork with summer succotash, inside out stuffed cabbage, plus chocolate peanut butter energy bites and banana bread doughnuts.

Each meal contains roughly 300 to 400 calories and runs around $10 or $12.

Campanale said all the meals are cooked and delivered, taking the guess work out of dinner.

He said he never imagined himself owning his own healthy meals business or writing a cookbook.

“It’s still surreal to me sometimes,” Campanale said. “It’s very cool.”

Campanale has been offering food samples at the Somerset Open Air Market with his wife, Angie. The next market — open the first and third Saturdays of the month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. — will be held on Sept. 2. in the field at Newhill Street and Riverside Avenue.

To view food offerings or purchase a cookbook, visit https://fitdadcooking.com or follow on Facebook.

Email Deborah Allard at dallard@heraldnews.com.

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