Whole
Health Nutrition News
April, 2004
In this issue:
Early Spring Detox, Friday, April 2nd, 6:30-9PM, Issaquah PCC.
I’m teaming up with chef
Birgitte Antonsen to show you how to create delicious and healthful detoxing
foods that will cleanse your system, restore your vitality and help you shed
excess winter pounds. Healthy food never tasted so good!
Also being taught at West
Seattle PCC, Sat/ 4/3, 3-5:30PM. See http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/foodworks
Note: Both of these classes
are full, but there is a waiting list.
Vegetarian Cuisine,
Thursday, April 8th, 1-3
PM, Everett Senior Center, Pacific and Lombard. Are you interested in trying
some meatless meals, but aren’t sure how to get started? Research shows that
pursuing a plant-based diet, whether in part or entirely can lead to a
healthier, longer life. Learn simple ways to add whole grains, beans, and other
delicious meatless entrees into your diet.
Meals that Heal, Monday,
April 19th, 7-9PM. Jennings Park
Barn, Marysville. Are you dealing with a health condition such as diabetes,
hypertension, or high cholesterol? Learn how to manage these conditions using
whole foods. The latest research will be discussed, and you will sample
delicious recipes that highlight the powerful healing properties of whole
foods.
Spring Cleaning-For Your
Body, April 21st, 7-9PM. Everett
Senior Center, Pacific and Lombard. Get a fresh start this spring with a
detoxifying cleanse! We will discuss diets and supplements that support
cleansing and detoxing. This is a great way to strengthen immunity, lose that
excess winter weight, or simply feel great as you rejuvenate your body. Sample
recipes for delicious juices, smoothies, greens, salads, and herbal teas.
Spring Cleaning-For Your
Body, April 28th, 7-9PM., Frances
Anderson Center, Edmonds. Get a fresh start this spring with a detoxifying
cleanse! We will discuss diets and supplements that support cleansing and
detoxing. This is a great way to strengthen immunity, lose that excess winter
weight, or simply feel great as you rejuvenate your body. Sample recipes for
delicious juices, smoothies, greens, salads, and herbal teas.
Why
are two out of three Americans overweight? We’re eating more and moving less.
Junk food is cheap, at our fingertips, and calorie-laden.
Restaurant
meals typically have at least 1000 calories. Portion sizes are larger then ever
before. And we’re not even aware of it.
Many invisible influences can determine how much of what we eat.
An
interesting study at the University of Illinois identified excessive food
portions as one culprit for obesity. Researcher
Brian Wansink set up several food experiments that show the more people are
given, the more they will eat - regardless of whether they are full or
think the food tastes good.
His experiments - which have included tomato soup, popcorn and
potato chips - target the visual clues people use to tell them it's time to
stop eating.
In the soup experiment, participants come to the lab expecting a
taste test. Some bowls are rigged with hidden tubes that keep them full, while
others are not.
Over two years of the experiment, students with bottomless bowls
tended to eat 40 percent more than test subjects with regular bowls.
Another telling experiment came outside Philadelphia, where
Wansink offered free popcorn to moviegoers at a $1 movie theater. Half the
audience was given fresh popcorn, either in small containers or in jumbo
buckets; half received 14-day-old popcorn in small and jumbo containers.
Even though 82 percent of the people with the old popcorn reported
it tasted terrible, those with the jumbo buckets ate 33 percent more than those
with the smaller container.
Such research has produced commonsense tips for the
weight-conscious: larger portions make us eat more. The size of a package or a
portion gives people a perceptual consumption cue as to what’s acceptable, or
normal. For example, people who drank out of short, fat glasses consumed
considerably more than those who used tall, skinny glasses, even though the
glasses held the same amount.
Bottom line: Think about controlling your portion size. Many of us
are reasonably diligent about what we eat but don’t think much about how
much we eat. Here are some simple
portion control techniques that are very easy to do:
If you buy Costco size packages, repack
the food in smaller bags. Store the food away from the kitchen – that barrier
of inconvenience helps.
The Fast Food Trap: How Commercialization Creates Overweight
Children
This is an excerpt from a great article by Gary Ruskin about the consequences of marketing to children. You can read the entire article at http://www.mothering.com/10-0-0/html/10-6-0/fast-food.shtml
Marketing
Junk Food and Soft Drinks to Kids
McDonald's first national ad
campaign, in 1967, was an unexpectedly huge success: 10 million kids wrote in
to pick floats for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. From then it was off to the
races. McDonald's advertising director put this battle cry on his wall:
"Early to bed / Early to rise / Advertise / Advertise /
Advertise."(18) Since then, McDonald's has been masterful in its use of
beloved characters to sell its high-calorie fast food. Among others, McDonald's
has employed Winnie-the-Pooh, 101 Dalmatians, Nemo, Furby, Tarzan, and Beanie
Babies to sell its Happy Meals.
Fast-food marketers such as McDonald's and Burger King have reshaped the diets
of American parents and kids, and the rise in fast-food consumption has
paralleled the boom in the incidence of childhood obesity. Between 1977 and
1995, the percentage of meals and snacks eaten at fast-food restaurants
doubled. This has been especially devastating to the health of children.
Because fast food is typically so high in sugar, fat, and calories, these meals
can quickly add pounds to a kid's waistline. In a study published in the
International Journal of Obesity, researchers found that, compared to
adolescents who did not eat at fast-food restaurants, boys and girls who ate
fast food three times in the previous week had astoundingly higher calorie
intakes: 40 and 37 percent, respectively.(19)
The increase in soft-drink consumption has been similarly damaging to
children's health. Between 1977 and 1996, soda consumption among 12 to 19 year
olds increased 75 percent for boys, 40 percent for girls.(20) According to a
study in The Lancet, for each can of soda drunk each day, a child is 1.6 times
more likely to become obese, all other things held constant.(21)
Soft-drink companies use every trick in the book to hook kids on their
high-sugar, caffeinated products. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have been especially
effective in marketing to children. Coca-Cola paid Warner Bros. an estimated
$150 million for global marketing rights for the film Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone.(22) "The Coca-Cola Company recognized the wealth of
possibilities inherent in [Harry Potter] for engaging the world's adults and
children," explained Brad Ball, then President of Domestic Marketing for
Warner Bros. Pictures, now Warner Bros. Entertainment. (23) Product placement,
too, is great at implanting brands in the minds of children. When the movie
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial featured E.T. eating Reese's Pieces, sales of the
candy shot up 65 percent; Hershey, maker of Reese's Pieces, had to put two
factories on 24-hour production schedules to meet the demand.(24)
Product placements can now be found in nearly every medium children watch, and
have taken over commercial television. Coca-Cola has been heavily featured in
product placements on American Idol and the teen-targeted, short-lived Young
Americans, which the New York Daily News called "a slick, thinly disguised
commercial" for Coke.(25) Pepsi is featured heavily in the WB network show
Pepsi Smash, and Mountain Dew was showcased in the CBS reality shows Survivor
and Survivor II.
Product placements have even spread throughout children's books. Junk foods now
featured in children's books include Hershey's chocolates, M&M's, Froot
Loops, Reese's Pieces, Oreo cookies, and Skittles. "It's not that these
books resemble advertising-they are advertising," said Kate Klimo, vice
president and publisher of Random House Books for Young Readers.(26)
Featured Food of the Month
The Easter holiday puts eggs
in the spotlight this month. More than ever, the egg is being recognized for
its outstanding nutritional qualities. Nearly all the essential nutrients
required for proper functioning of the human body are hiding under that shell.
Eggs are an excellent source of high-quality protein and many essential
nutrients, and are one of the rare food sources of vitamins A, D and K. They
are also an excellent source of choline, an essential nutrient that plays an
important role in brain development and memory. Contrary to popular belief,
eggs do not have a negative effect on blood cholesterol levels. In fact, a
study by the Harvard School of Public Health found no significant link between
eating eggs and developing cardiovascular disease in healthy individuals.
Cholesterol is in fact essential for body functions. Certain factors, such as
body type, family history and diet, can contribute to elevated blood
cholesterol levels. But, when it comes to cardiovascular disease and diet, it's
better to point the finger at saturated fats and trans fats. These two types of
fat are found in pastries, potato chips, processed foods and any food that
lists hydrogenated oils. One large egg contains barely 5 grams of fat, of which
only 1.5 grams is saturated.
With so many eggs available,
choices may seem overwhelming or confusing but differences are easy to
understand with just some basic information. Brown eggs only indicate the eggs
were produced by a different breed of hen than those that produce white eggs.
Organic eggs come from chickens raised on organic feed in cage-free living
conditions strictly regulated by National Organic Standards as set forth by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Omega-3 or DHA eggs are from chickens that have
been fed a diet supplemented with a source of omega-3 fatty acids (often
flaxseed). Also, look for cage-free eggs if you want to make sure your eggs
come from chickens that are allowed to perch, scratch and nest wherever they
choose.
Recipe of the Month
YIELD:
4 servings
PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes
6 to 8 large eggs (organic
or cage-free if possible)
3 tablespoons minced fresh basil
¼ cup chopped kalamata olives
2 tablespoons minced scallion
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups (packed) spinach (preferably organic)
½ cup crumbled feta
1 cup diced ripe tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes
1. Break the eggs into a
medium-sized bowl and beat with a whisk until smooth. Stir in the herbs and
scallion, and grind in a good amount of black pepper.
2. Place a 10-inch skillet or
sauté pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add
the spinach, and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the spinach has wilted and
turned a deep green.
3. Pour the eggs into the pan,
scrambling them slowly. As the eggs begin to set, push the curds from the
bottom to one side, allowing uncooked egg to flow into contact with the pan.
The spinach will blend into the eggs.
4. When the eggs are mostly set
but still slightly wet, sprinkle in the crumbled feta. Continue scrambling
slowly, allowing the cheese to melt slightly into the eggs. After about a
minute, stir in the tomatoes and olives.
5.
Cook for
just a few seconds longer, or until the eggs are done to your liking. Serve
right away.