Fast Food Calories

I think that everyone looks at calories, whether it is to count or just a quick glance. I usually just quickly glance at the calories and sometimes that usually determines if i chose that snack or food item or something that has fewer calories. I normally eat at home for dinner, so I don't look at calories because i normally eat two vegetables, cornbread or rolls and a side meat or fish, but i read this article about false calories when people go out to eat. I learned that the calories in fast food were off by more than 15%. That means that someone can think that choosing this meal while I'm out is healthier than eating that fast food but really the meal that they choose is the same in calories. That is something to think about when eating out vs. eating at home. One thing that the article stated that stood out when eating out is that eating 10% more calories than you think is enough to cause 10 to 20 pounds in weight gain a year!!! So when eating out remember those calories!!! Eating at home is always better!!!

Homecooking -vs- Fast Food

The evolution of food has grown a long way into what it is now. Homecooking has advanced into many diverse styles and forms. In the early 1900's only woman cooked, while men worked. In contemporary times, not only do woman work, but men as well. As time changed, so did the mindset of Americans. Many men believed that a woman's place was in the kitchen and that was all they were good for. Over time, a mutual bond was formed between the two races.

10:25

I am never getting tired of this blogging thing. Today, I am posting about the Tyson team. Today, Tyson employees from the Robards, Ky. plant delivered a truckload of approximately 26,000 pounds of protein to Tri-State Food Bank, Inc., a member of Feeding America. 26,000, isn’t this amazing? The donation was made to honor the company's month-long celebration of its 10th anniversary of active support for hunger relief nationwide. Not acknowledged by others, but still, there are many who are helping people.

I thought You should Know !

This is my fifth time blogging and the other day I looked up some info about how its better to eat at home than eat out. I got my info from this editor named Phil Lempert and he’s a food editor. Wondering whether eating at home or eating out is better for your health? Well, according to a new national survey released on December 6 by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Prevention magazine there is a strong correlation between consumers who try the hardest to eat healthfully and those who eat dinner at home nearly every day. The topline is that supermarkets have a real opportunity to build a strong relationship by helping shoppers be healthier by offering what we continue to call "meal solutions." http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/16084487

Because people are not eating healthy there have been over seven million deaths from cancer. In the US there are 31 percent of adults that are obese, 34 percent overweight, and 34 percent that are healthy.

We have to do better people!

a NEW idea.... NOT!! CS three

Even though this is a rarity, a restaurant is being commended for going green. This restaurant owner had been awarded for his love of organic and local foods and produce. The owner, Alan Martin, has concocted a menu that is both totally local and delicious. Many more restaurants should try the idea. Buying local produce and foods can and will strengthen the community economy and the community itself. The uplifting of the community and the people within the society can be both a relief and a commodity.

Farmers in the State- Week 5

         Farmers in the states have been in the same need over these last few years, definitely over the few weeks that this post has come out. One big situation in the United States for independent farmers—those not paid by government associations and other groups—have been the selling of livestock. The prices charged by these farmers for livestock are higher ones and do not sell on the market as well as the cheaper heads of livestock that are funded by organizations. For instance, an independent farmer may sell cattle. The price that processing plants must pay for the cattle to be slaughtered is a hefty one in contrast to the prices paid for cattle of the same caliber from a collaboration of farming groups, sometimes even butchered out of the organization’s wallet.
         An independent farmer paying for the butchering out of their own money sometimes leaves the farmer with a relatively smaller sum than the worth of the cattle sold. Some question why farmers do not just join an organization such as this. By giving up their land and cattle to the organization, independent farmers lose legal rights to the land unless the organization deems that they own it, a farmer can lose his land and cattle farming job to the organization if they no longer require the farmer as a worker, and the farmer can lose his respect and identity, as is so common related to land in rural tradition. Some farmers would rather take the risk and remain independent, working other jobs at different times. When a farmer sells their land to any such organization, the group’s profits may bustle for the time being, but if any loss of profit were to occur, the farmer would have to bring about the best profits of the employees to keep from being released from both the job and the land, as many groups sell the cattle and land away and lay off the farmer.
         If a farmer somehow makes enough money, they might be able to purchase their land back, but the association will likely sell it at a much higher taxable rate and a higher down payment. Farmers battle with these situations from day to day, so if farming in the last century was difficult, not much has changed. These people are tied to their work in a way. No matter what course they choose, they are always threatened by bankruptcy, a loss of their homes, overwork, a loss of their honor and their way of life.

I Don't Really Have A Title For This Post, Oh Well...

I've decided to officially end my experimentation with my family's fast food eating habbits. My experiment is going nowhere and every week I end up with the same results. Instead, I've decided that I'll focus on research on why exactly American's eat out so much. This is a pressing issue in health news of today and it's also the number one cause of childhood obsesity. Children are eating more saturated fats than they are vegetables and it's showing greatly on their bodies. If American's keep eating the way that they do, there's a strong possbility that 45% of children and adults will be overweight.

Diabetes in the Raw

I have listed the most common food-related diseases, and in a nail-biting decision, I have decided to go with diabetes because it is so wide spread and common. So, I've already discussed the basics of diabetes, so now I have to get into the extremely complicated, twenty-letter-long words, and medical speech that not even I understand and I'm writing about it. So I'm going to try to keep it as simple as possible. There is type 1 diabetes which is when the body doesn't make enough insulin, and then there is type 2 diabetes which is when the body simple rejects the insulin being produced by the body. The cause of diabetes depends on the type you have. The cause of most type 2 diabetes is genetics and lifestyle. The cause of most type 1 is simply genetics, but usually you can have diabetes but you won't know, or it won't take effect, until it is triggered by a illness or infection. The most common infection to trigger diabetes is Coxsackie B4 Virus. To help monitor a diabetics blood sugar, they use a blood sugar meter.
The meter does simply that, it takes a sample of the user's blood and measures the sugar levels. Common side effects of diabetes is polydipsia (increased thirst) and polyphagia (increased hunger). Symptoms can increase rapidly and become very severe. Watching what a diabetic eats and excersising drastically lower the severeness of the side effects. The side effects can also increase slowly and sometimes not even appear at all. Other strange side effects are going to the bathroom too often, memory loss, and fainting. Diabetics help their symptoms by constantly monitoring their blood sugar and keeping constant insulin shots to keep their body stable. If they falter in any of these daily affairs, then the symptoms rise drasitcally.

Is Fishing Hunting?

I sure don't know! But it is going on my list of things to do. I thing fishing is an excellent way to sustain one's self. I think I am going to go fishing this weekend. It depends on how busy I am... I better get o move on it though! Fall is coming fast!!

Last Weekend

I tilled my garden last weekend! What an amazing feat! No tiller of anything just shovels, hoes, pickaxes, and my raw strength.

Saturday it hadn't rained in about six weeks. No big deal? I think not! The soil was so dry! It took me hours to get the little I accomplished done.

Sunday I was cooped up in the house about to run away screaming. Instead I went outside and began to till my plot. It had just rained so the ground was pretty soft. Then, it started raining. It didn't stop me. I went on and finished my job and finished completely satisfied by the hard work I had accomplished.

Suggestions

My friend called me today and was telling me about her morning. She told me that her grandma sat down at the table and pricked her finger to measure her blood sugar. My friend was throughly freaked out about this little procedure but apparently her grandma didnt even seem to notice that what she was doing was slightly odd. This is because her grandma is a diabetic and has been doing this for a long time. This made me wonder how someone can adapt themselves to pricking their own finger. I did some research and I found a website that had an article by someone who actually is a diabetic. She wrote this article on ways that people with diabetes could get more blood to check glucose levels without the pain. She suggested that people buy the thinner lancet because it doesnt require as much pressure to work. It was also suggested that a diavetic should point their finger down so the blood would not have to travel so far as it would if their finger was point up. I bet these tips would work because they sound logical but I will have to find someone who can actually tell me if these suggestions actually work.

Two Choices One Decision

I'm hungry!!!

This is what was going through my mind earlier. I had two choices. A slice of chocolate on chocolate cake, or a piece of juicy fruit. To me, both were tempting.
Just like last week, this week I was faced with a delima. Only this time I decided I wouldn't call my best friend for advice.

I walked into my kitchen and looked at that chocolate cake. It lloked so yummy, and it was screaming "eat me you idiot!" Then I opened my fridge, opened the drawer, and the fruit was kindly saying "try me I'm better for you!" As you can see that chocolate cake was really mean, but the fruit was so kind.

This is sort of how it is in real life. In real life, that chocolate cake might taste better, BUT it ight also be the reason you have to inject yourself with insulin. However, with that fruit you might be living to see your grandchild's sweet sixteen!!

After considering this, I chose to eat my fruit.

What would you choose?

Football Recipes

So I hear people are writing recipe books that really encourage cooking in. When most people think of families eating in, they assume it's to save money. It is true that it can save money, but that's not always the reason. Sometimes people cook dinner because it's a family tradition. Certain recipes may run through a family for generations and generations. The Acme Fresh Market company just recently put out a book promoting home cooking. They did it because they were concerned about the children. Since statistics show that children who eat dinner with the family tend to become successful more so than those that don't, they decided to help families out by making a recipe book for the whole family. Some of the people who work for the company even included their own recipes.

Its good to know someone somewhere cares enough about the children to make a book for the whole family. It just eliminates more excuses for not eating it, excuses like "I don't know what to cook" or "I can't cook". To check out more about the company and their recipe book, click here.

CALORIE COUNT: There's Strength in Numbers

Well yesterday, while i was searching the web for something interesting about counting calories, i ran into this site: < www.caloriecount.about.com > On this site, you can literally put in a certain food and it will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about that item. Including: total fat, cholestrol, sodium, total number of carbohydrates, protein, etc. And it will adapt and change according to your proportions.

America-thanks to a drink- just may be thinking! What news!!! Fail.

So, everyone in America knows that we don't really  care too much about what we consume. The farthest we go to questioning something is: Is it good? Will it make me fat? And that's it.  *shrug* we don't care. We just like tasty, yummy, filling food. Point. Blank. Period. Well, that's all about to change thanks to Cell-nique Super Green Drink. Read more to find out why...

No More Toys In The Happy Meals?

San Francisco is currently trying to ban toys in fast food meals

Why you ask?

Because they want the food to be healthier they are putting in the kids meals to be more nutritional. My take on why they want to ban the toys is because it entices the kids to want to get kids meals because of the toys. The main fast food chain they are targeting: None other than the almighty Mickey D's.

Why not just cook at home and you won't have that problem. It takes two minutes to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. If you don't want your kids to eat it, don't buy it. And there are bigger things the San Francisco legislature could be worried about. I know fast food is unhealthy, but parents don't have to buy it for their kids.

There has not been a finalization yet, but parents are asking for another reasonable solution that I personally like, Make the kid's meals healthier. Point, blank, period, it's really that simple.

The Experience

So it has been awhile since my last blog. The combined forces of schoolwork, laziness, and forgetfulness have led to my late update. However, I'm back now, and with new stuff to say about my lovely topic of choice.

During my time away, I decided that the best way for me to write about the importance of fresh markets to health would be to visit one. So, I did. I went to the Fresh Market, which I previously talked about in my last blog. What I found was a store with an old-styled construction and an overall comfy atmosphere. I was instantly entranced by it.

The only reason a person would go to a food market would be for the sake of healthier and fresher foods. All the food in the store looked delicious, considering its mainly a grocery store. Healthy food, on the other hand, seemed to be harder to find then someone would expect. The store had whole shelves filled with sweets and snack foods. Granted, some of them were made out of fruits and vegetables, but were coated with enough sugar and salt to still be considered “bad for you”.  That's not to say that there isn't fresher and healthy foods to be found in the store; there is an abundant amount of it.  Not only that, it is also more expensive then the average grocery store.

Still, I love the place.  Something between the atmosphere and the two free chicken wing samples I got while I was there just stuck to me.  I'm goin next week to see if that lady will be working there again, for more free samples.

                                                                                                                                                 Godspeed

Notes in the Kitchen pt. 1

When you are a young teenager learning how to cook may not be one of your top priorities, depending on your circumstances. For some one who has a medium to large family, it may be necessary for them to learn how to prepare meals for the family or younger siblings. There are also those who may not come from a large family there fore they may not have to learn how to take a family till later in left. I am not the type that cooks Bologna or hamburgers on the rare occasions that I do cook, but at the same time following the instructions that come on the box may not always give you the taste or fill the creation you may be going for.

Since my mother does not cook very often I decide to take a trip to Pratville where i visited my aunt, one night while she was preparing a meal. Seeing the time it took for her to prep the food alone was enough to make not want to cook. Not only did she have to prepare it to ensure that all the meat was clean, on top of that she had to stand over the HOT stove and move from counter to counter to make sure everything was cooking at the speed. We live in a generation now where we want everything to be done right now in front of us. The tendency to what for something to be done right is slowly fading away. Once everything was done I can say it hit the spot no doubt. The only problem was the amount of time it took to eat the food was no near the amount of time it took to prepare it.
TO BE CONTINUED......

-FOOD IS FOOD!

Quick Facts

I was running through some sites today and found some interesting information.

First off, I know vegetarianism is so much healthier for you than eating meat, but I wondered if meat-eaters knew just how healthy it truly is. I found an article, although over a year old, that talked about how the likelihood of contracting Cancer is significantly less in people who don't eat meat-- the article even mentions the healthy lifestyle lowers the risk by a whopping 12 % ! (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5698784/Being-a-vegetarian-can-cut-your-risk-of-cancer-by-a-half-claim-scientists.html)

Now for the second point. did you know that there are tons of famous people that are either vegetarians of vegans? (http://www.happycow.net/famous_vegetarians.html#A) For example, here's just a short list:

-Weird Al Yankovic - vegan

-Woody Harrelson- vegan

-Andy Dick- vegetarian (0-0 ...eek...)

-Brad Pitt- vegetarian

-Brooke Shields- vegetarian

-Franz Kafka- vegetarian

-Joan Jett- vegan

-Nelly- vegetarian

-Vanessa Williams- vegan

---> See, if they can do it, so can you! <---

September 29

So, today I found a webite called Organicfoodinfo.com. This website is awesome! It tells what the benefits from organic foods are, and even give recipes for organic meals. Apparently organic food will give you more energy, and are far richer in minerals and vitamins; making them better for your body. Some of the nutrients the food gives can help protect your body from disease, or fight of illness faster. All of the pesticides that the large farms use, we end up eating, since they don't wash it off enough most of the time. The quality of our food has gone down in recent years, so many poeple turn to organic food. This is actually a smart decision, the organic produce has 50% more of the things people look for in their food. The pesticides on the food we buy from mass producing farmers, can be the cause of birth defects and other serious illnesses.

Is there protection for Consumers at Farmers Markets?

There are always pros and cons when purchasing from local farmers markets. A con is insects. Insects destroy a lot of crops each year, leaving farmers with basically nothing. This makes hard for consumers to get high-quality, fresh produce and other items. Recently, I read a story on a website that was talking about protecting your corn from pests.

The article talked about how the three main creatures that t threaten to eat your corn crop earworms, cutworms, and seed maggots. Protecting against insects will require you to frequently check your corn crop. Corn earworms are bugs that you will need to watch out for the most. However, there are certain measures that you can do to protect your corn crop.

For starters, to stop the earworms from entering the tip of the corn husk, you can wrap a rubber band around the tip of the ear or attach a clothespin to the corn after the corn silk appears. This method will help minimize the damage earworms will do to your corn. Secondly, you can protect your corn plants by spraying an insecticide called BT or Bacilulus Thuringiensis that contains a particular bacterium which will affect and attack only the larvae of the corn invader. Some other pests such as cutworms, stalk borers and stink bugs that can destroy the corn stands as well even if you used a soil insecticide is used while planting. So this story can relate with any other crop not just corn. Protecting one's crops will reduce the risk of losing the harvest or selling bad produce.

Now for the consumer. If a farmer's produce is ravaged by pests, that means the produce you will purchase will not be fresh or there will be nothing to purchase at farmers markets. Where as at grocery stores, there is always some type of produce that's not to old or even fresh to purchase.

Blah

Okay, the title has pretty much nothing to do with the actual writing in the blog. It's just kind of there this time.
I've found out this week (some things I've already been subconscious to) that people who are unhealthy (obese / too thin / etc) are more apt to have depression issues as well as worry and stress. As well, there are a ton of people who panic because they go to the gym, and they work out for long periods of time each day. Studies show that working out doesn't actually do that much, where a run might only burn 350 calories or a swim would be 250. As well, when people go out and exercise, when they're done, they go and gorge themselves because they think that, because they DID exercise, they can. Sorry, but the buzzer says you're WRONG. Depending on what people choose to eat when they finish their work out, they could be eating twice as many calories as they just burned. People need to focus on eating right first, and then worry about exercise. Common mis-perception is that being heftier than someone else means your fat, but it doesn't. The media promotes 23" waistlines, which are outside of reality. People have different body frames, and not everyone is destined to look like an hourglass.
There was something that tremendously scared me, though: the pro-anorexia sites continue to rise. On Yahoo!'s servers, there are over 100 sites encouraging anorexia, and that's AFTER 21 were removed. It seems like the more that are taken off, even more are created. And what is malicious about these site-creators, is that, though they claim that they "Are there to help people with anorexia" and "Are not encouraging it," upon inspection there are links and pages full of information encouraging it.

Easy Mac Is Evil, Kid Cuisine Is Worse

Have you ever sat down to the dinner table and told your mom, "But we've already had this this week"? I know I have. That's because we limit ourselves to what is cheapest and easiest to make or quickest to cook. Our fast-paced society has pushed us to microwavable Easy Mac and five-minute lasagna meals, because nobody wants to sit down and take the time to make a healthy dinner anymore. What everyone forgets to realize is that those quick-and-easy meals never give you the nutrients every person needs to stay healthy, and they steal away from quality moments in the kitchen or with the family. Think about it: which would be a better memory? The time you tried to make a fresh casserole with mom and the broccoli mush exploded all over the walls, or the time you dropped your Kid Cuisine and the cat ate it?

Local foods provide the nutrients you need. They can be made into a more variant range of dishes. They are still relatively cheap, and support local economy. They allow for more quality family time and good memories. And best of all, we don't have those annoying nights of eating the same thing twice.

Making Good Diet Choices Is Not That Hard, Is it?

I know from personal experience that being healthy and making good dietary choice is kind of hard. Everytime you past by a food counter in the mall, or where ever, the aroma coming from the food smells so good. Your mind tells you that you don't need it, but your stomach is telling you "let's dig in!"

For me it gets hard to focus when my stomach is jumping around from hunger and I can smell something cooking. I mean if they didn't want us to eat it because it's fattening, then why would you make it and sell it. Yeah, it may benefit you financially, but you're 'supposedly' worried about the obesity rate in the U.S.

I'm sure everybody in the world loves food and loves to eat, some more than others. But now we have to start watching what we eat to look a certain way and do this and do that. It's tiring! But we have to do it so we can be healthy. There are 13 keys to a healthy diet. (Check out the link for more information)

interview #1

A: How many times a week do you eat out?
B: once, every Sunday

A: How many times a week do you actually eat a home-cooked meal?
B: About 5 times a week, sometimes 4 -- it all depends on my schedule

A: What do you eat when you eat out?
B: Chinese, mostly sushi or taco bell

A: What do usually eat when it is home-cooked?
B: Chicken nuggets, veggie burger, fish, and vegetables, salads, mostly healthy things.

Okay, so showing from theses few questions one can tell Annie is a health freak. She always eats healthy, especially at home when it is in her control. When she is out to eat typically she eats healthy things, although she can splurge at taco bell occasionally. Taco bell is her choice sometimes, because it is a very cheap fast food restaurant. Even I will admit, that everytime I go to taco bell, my meal is about three dollars. Annie is a very small percentage of the population that does actually eat very healthy.

One comment that I want to add, is that most people do not take drinking into account. Drinking alcohol uses up a lot of your daily calories, and sometimes makes people go past their daily intake. Budweiser is a very high calorie drink along with pina coladas which usually are around 750 calories each. A lot of mixed drinks can have more calories in them. This is just a note so that people, can be more conscious of their health eating decisions; even when it comes to beverages.

Guess We've Underestimated Our Sweet Food...

Food Insight is a online source that watches over our dinnertable. It is one of the best places to get information on what is going on with our food and their sources today. I found this article and I think you might want to check it out!http://www.foodinsight.org/understandingourfood.aspx

Restaurants

Okay, the topic this week: Restaurants. Not just any though. Restaurants that buy and use local produce in their meals. Sure, they're few and far in between, but almost every community has one bold individual running a restaurant with the local farming seasons. Local restaurants are typically cheaper than something like Olive Garden and a lot healthier than McDonald's. One of the best benefits of these restaurants is that they are willing to let you know everything you want about the foods they buy for their meals, and they are not afraid to admit they buy from farmers of the local area. Another benefit again has to do with the economic benefits. These restaurants buy foods from farms in or around your local area, serve you fresh and in-season produce, and use the money you pay to spend again in the nearby area. This cycle of money flow helps the local area's average Joe by allowing him to loosen his pinch on his pennies. Plus, because they run their meals with what's growing at the time, it keeps its customers in-tune with the production cycle and gives them a sense of connection with the passing seasons. Because the restaurants use local foods, they are not tampered with and replaced with "soy bean meat substitute" or contain more preservatives than actual substance. This makes them a good choice for a calorie-watcher's diet, or a good meal choice for a person who simply wants food that actually tastes like food. On a side note, these restaurants also create local jobs for honest-working people. After this, maybe you should ask Pizza Hut or KFC what is actually in their signature dishes and where their foods came from.

Farmers in the States Week 4- Historic Farmers

            Recently, there has been a civil disagreement over a property that farmers were forced to sell.  The land is not only an example of farmer and property importance, but of some other things as well.  The matter concerning the rightful ownership of the land may be recent, but the literal dilemma dates back to the First World War.

            In the times encircling the turbulent years of 1914-1918, the residents of Lackey, Virginia were vacated from their properties as military forces moved into the town to establish a base.  The area was known as “the Reservation” by troops and CIA agents, now the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown.  This area was mostly built of farmlands, where a perfect training facility was scouted out.  Later, in World War II the military and federal agents vacated the nearby towns of Magruder and Bigler’s Mill for similar purposes.  The agents promised that there would be a reimbursement of property once the time of crisis had ended.

            Now, years later, the people of “the Reservation” and the “the Farm” (as the areas were called) have still not received their land back.  These stations are now official U.S. Military installations, Magruder and Bigler’s Mill becoming known as Camp Peary.  During World War II, Camp Peary was used as a facility to train Navy Seabees.  Now, Camp Peary has been turned into a wildlife and game preserve, but the families who have been forced from those homes are now seeking to attain the property once more.

More info and woops Wal-mart did it again

Government is stepping out to fight the hunger too. Greater Boston Food Bank urges Congress, including the members of the US House of Representative from Massachusetts to pass the House version of Child Nutrition Reauthorization this year. The Senate has passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. These programs can protect many hungry children their health, permitting them to do well in schools.
From http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2010/09/07/taking_a_path_to_end_hunger/
According to Dan Kelly’s article, Wal-Mart funded a nutrition program for children in low-income families. Last year, Pottsville area Wal-Mart’s donated 300,000 pounds of food to the food bank. Tim Smyer, Wal-Mart market manager for Berks County, said the food drive is part of Wal-Mart’s recently announced $2 billion cash and in-kind commitment to help end hunger in America. The company has committed to donate over 20 million pounds of food to Pennsylvania's food banks by 2015 and help raise awareness of hunger in America.
From http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=247136

fail...

So apparently, Google Alerts isn't much help. Filters don't extract helpful articles, just the ones that contain my tagging. Everyone has something to say about diebtes...Even those who are "non-diebetic". Thanks Google Alerts.

tilling the garden, broken guns and plans for fishing

So we got a pellet gun so that I could practice my shooting....it was damaged. We have to send it back.

Saturday I am going to till up the plot in my back yard for my winter garden. I am also going to start germinating some seeds since it is starting to cool down in the mornings and at night.

I am hoping to go fishing on Sunday. I haven't asked my stepdad to take me yet, but I am sure he will say yes.

A couple in McDonald's

Today, I missed school because of my collarbone but I went to the "Fresh Market." I went in the store and bought green bean chips, yogurt pretzels, some fruit (plums, apples, pears, bananas, etc.)

Later I went into McDonald's and there was a couple who ordered two Big macs, four large fries, two large drinks, and five apples pies. At first I thought they were buying for a family . . . but it was just for them! I actually bought my food and sat down and watched them eat all those unhealthy calories. It took them twenty minutes just to eat that . . . and I was no wear close to done.

Put Down the Pen and Pick up the Chicken!

People get busy, we all know it. And what we do when we're busy sometimes conflict with our health. We'll down an energy drink or take a few pills to keep us going. We even skip meals, I know I'm guilty for this. We see eating as taking up time instead of a healthy choice. Diabetics can't make this mistake. Skipping even one meal can lower their blood sugar level to the point where it needs immediate attention! As I posted in an earlier blog, my dad is diabetic. Recently, he had to be taken to the hospital because his blood sugar was too low. Next time we think about skipping a meal, don't. At least grab something to snack on. Some people don't have the "luxury" of being able to skip meals just to be able to have more time in the day. Just something to think about.

Here's a little something I wrote on this:

You know your body,
you know your limit
don't push
step back

You don't have to be
strong.
Not for me
I can take it

Don't sacrifice
what's important--
you
Please

Yeah, its not great but its just how I felt.

Life is not over because you have diabetes. Make the most of what you have, be grateful."
Dale Evans Rodgers

Just a Thought

It is evident that times are not what they used to be, and among the dwindling markets, there can be found some who cling to the remaining pieces of the tangible world by the skills they had been so confident in for so many years, but which are failing with the markets out of which they stem. Among these are two types of people that are becoming more and more rare with each passing year: farmers and writers. I can only speak, personally, from the perspective of one, and being limited by my own personal experience, I can only say that being a farmer in today's world must be a lot like being a writer, and feeling that with every new iTouch released, you are becoming less and less important to the world. Where are we going, and at whose expense?

Ew. Healthy.

When you’re a diabetic, the one rule you have to learn to live by is: Eat right. For some of us, that’s probably hard to do, so just because you’re a diabetic, that doesn’t make it easy right? I’d think not. So I did my research this week on what types of foods diabetics can eat. It didn’t surprise me that fruits and vegetables were at the very top of the “to eat” list but there are even regulations on that. Diabetics should not eat starchy vegetables like potatoes and corn. Beans, though, are highly recommended because they keep your blood sugar down and have a good supply of fiber. Any type of nut is also a food for diabetics to eat as well, but they are very high in calories so that is something to consider while eating them. Fish and poultry breasts are highly recommended as well. Apparently, poultry breasts can help with insulin and blood sugar levels. All of these foods sound very useful for your health, but they don’t sound as good as chocolate cake or ice-cream. Can you imagine it? “Alright, who’s ready for cake? Oh yeah, you’re a diabetic. Well there’s some left over salad if you want to eat that for dessert.” Let’s just say, I wouldn’t be able to handle all the healthy foods. I wonder how they do it…

Teen Health: Let Them Eat Cake

Well today is my birthday and my mom asked me if I wanted to get a cake or anything else to celebrate. I accepted the offer and now there is a cake on the table waiting to be cut. But it made me wonder- how many calories are in cakes? Well my first reaction to this was "Who cares? They don't even put that kind of information on the box. It's a cake," but I looked online anyway and found that on average birthday cakes have 310 calories. The website never really explained if that amount was in one complete serving of cake or in the entire cake. Another site I went to listed the cake I have has over 200 calories in one slice, but I don't think this is an accurate estimation. My idea of a slice is most likely a lot bigger than whoever posted this information so in other words, void. I estimate that one slice is between 200-400 calories. Now that's a lot for only one serving of food.  So am I going to eat it? Heck yes! My Birthday comes around once a year and it's time for me to celebrate. I'll just work off the calories later, besides, a little self indulgence never hurt anyone. All this cake talk is making me hungry. See ya!

~Chan
PS: Look at these cool birthday cakes I've found!

Cool huh? I don't own any of these cakes by the way.

I can't wait to eat my lunchroom food!

I read this article by this guy named Will Chapman called "Everybody should like their mama's cooking" and he talked about his college days, when everyone anticipated holidays so that they could get home to their mama's cooking. Unfortunately for one of his friends, this was not the case. He not only disliked his mother's cooking, but actually preferred the lunch room food over his her cooking. This caught my attention. I mean, of course not every mother is going to be a wonderful cook, and it's not unbelievable to find one person who's mother cannot cook. However, it did make me think about the future of cooking and mother's as we know them.

Of course our parents were blessed enough to have our grandparents to cook great meals for them, and some of us have parents today that do the same thing for us. But with the way things are going now, I'm not sure how many children in the next generation that will the privilege of saying the same thing. I know many of my friends that still can't cook. And their parents don't cook enough for them to pick up anything. I wonder how holidays will be 10 or 20 years from now. Will food not be a big part of family gatherings like now? That's kind of scary, if you think about it. I mean, what's Thanksgiving without the turkey and dressing? Will there not be anyone who can cook the Thanksgiving dinner in the future? Is this the end of holidays as we know it?

When you have surgery on your mouth or some type of limitation that would change your normally diet you have to roll with the flow. You may not normally eat alot of starches, such as mashed potatoes, or dairy such, such as applesauce or yogurt, but are forced to when you can't eat anything but soft foods. Sitting on the coach with your stomach growling the only thing you can think about eating is the steak and lobster that you see on t.v., to bad you can't. You are than forced to eat soup ( which may contain a high number of sodium), potatoes ( contains a high number of starches and carbs) which can old even more starches depending on what kind they are. So in the need of trying to help yourself recover, you may very well just be hurting yourself. There aren't many soft green vegetables that you can intake. Plus eating to much dairy can be harmful. We are suppose to eat a healthy diet everyday, so when you are eating to much of one thing in the food pyramid you can harm yourself more than you can help.

-food is food

On My Way

Since this is my last year of high school, I will be going to college next fall and that means a chance of freshman 15. I plan on not gaining that freshman 15 and try to continue my healthy eating patterns at college. I read an article that talk about not gaining the freshman 15 and I found it very helpful. It talked about a girl who during her freshman, she ate anything fast and quick to save time because her schedule was so busy. Also in the article list ways to eat healthy while in a dorm. Nobody wants to gain the freshman 15 but by reading the article that I read then no one should. When it comes to eating at home vs. eating out, I have to say that eating at home scores another point because with fruits and vegetable and lean protein in a college student diet, then they should be healthy and fit and that's great news for me!!!

Research

Since my current experiment as has slown down in results, I decided to take this week to just do some research on how often other families eat out. According to allbusiness.com, despite the recession, American's are spending 1 billion dollars a day on fast food. Because of this, it is said that the entire restraunt business will make over $376 billion in the next year. The restraunt business's economic boom could possibly be in some way related to why so many American's are gaining so much weight. A little know fact is that there are hidden oils and greases inside of the majority of restraunt foods, so when Americans are eating out 5 to 6 times a week, they could be secretly gaining weight and not even know. For starters, no one should eat out no more than twice a month. What the problem really comes down to is American's just being LAZY and not wanting to cook their own foods. They look to places like Burger King, Applebees, or McDonalds for their food and don't even care what it does to thier bodies on the insides. I'm not saying that eating fast food is bad, but eating it all the time, everyday, can be bad for someone's health. Do American's seriously care so little about their health?

What Is This ?

Ok , so I told you guys we were going to try the stay away from fast food resturants thing , but guess what? It didn't work. This is like my fourth time having fast food this month so I broke the rule a little. Shhh ! Don't tell my parents.

Yesterday, there was nothing in our house to eat and I was starving. So , I took a trip to .... Chic - fil -A. I know you guys thought I was going to say Longhorn, but I didnt have enough money for Longhorn yesterday. Anyway , I went to taco Chic - Fil - A and looked at their drive thru menu to see what I was interesting in getting. I think I chose the 6 piece nuggets. I looked down at how small the nuggets were and thought " wow these nuggets are to small for my dog to eat". I spent almost seven dollars on half a piece of chicken and didnt get the quality that I paid for. Shame on these resturants for decieving people like this :[.

Next time i'll just wait on my mommy to cook :)

Oh Geeze...

I've known since before I became a vegetarian that it's hard to find options for "eating out". This especially applies to Montgomery. And during my research looking to broaden this subject, I've found that you can't always find the information that you need. So, while looking for what I needed, I came across this one site that will either creep you out or make your day. For me, it made my day :)

... Its at www.veggiedate.org. It's for single, meat-less people from various cities in Alabama looking for love . Although this has little to do with the topic of food, other than all of these people being vegetarians, it is thoroughly entertaining. And no, most vegetarians are not like this, nor do I ever suggest you become like these people. It's so much fun just reading what these people are looking for. But just go look at it, you'll love it; and yes, your welcome. ;P

Grocery Stores Expanding

Everybody knows that Walmarts are located across the country. But, I bet most people don't know that they are planning to build neighborhood markets. Financial Times report that the retailer is scouting locations between 20,000 and 50,000 square-feet in markets across the country.

So, how does this benefit the consumers? Well, it gives people more of a option than just local grocery stores and farmers markets. In cities, there are local groceries like Piggly Wiggly and Winn Dixie. Having another option will let consumers be able to get items that other grocery stores don't have.

Also, its more convenient for people who only shop for groceries on payday and won't be troubled by crowds of people. Most of the time, from experience, Walmarts are extremely overcrowded when paychecks first come out. It's hard to pick out the things one needs because your mind is so focused on the many people instead of what you need. Then, you always forget something because you just don't want to be surrounded by a lot of people and trying to leave as quickly as possible.

Farmers markets on the other hand, may be located across the country but they simply don't add up to Walmart. People choose the most convenient option and don't want t be stressed about time restrictions, location issues, etc.

Food Smarts

Ok, so I've listed the most common food-related illnesses such as diabetes, salmonella, and E. Coli, and I've even explained in detail how our food is infected. But how does it help to know how our food is infected if you don't know how to keep yourself from getting infected also? So here are a few tips to help stay healthy with food:
1) ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS wash your fruits, veggies, AND meat before cooking them, preparing them, and especially before eating them!!!!!!!!!!! Meat is just as, if not more, likely to have germs in it, so wash your meat!

2) Now I know I'm about to sound like every other adult in the world, but WASH YOUR HANDS BEFORE EATING! It doesn't matter if you washed them five minutes ago. If you're about to eat, WASH YOUR HANDS!! I don't know how to make it any clearer the importance of washing you hands.

3) NEVER EVER FOR NEVER EVER eat fruit that looks ripe but doesn't taste right! Don't make the mistake of thinking, "oh, my taste buds must be off", NO! Looks can be decieving even for fruit and veggies! Also, you know how meat comes in those white foam plates thats covered in the thick plastic? Well, when meat spoils, it gives off a gas, and, since the meat is sealed tight, the plastic bubbles because of the gas. When you're looking for meat at the grocery store, look for the meat that is still air tight. If the plastic is bubble and you have to poke the plastic for it to touch the meat, that means it's spoiled! DO NOT EAT!

4) Last but not least, BOIL STUFF! germs die in extreme heat, so when you're washing your food, use hot water, and when you're washing the dishes or wiping the counters, use hot water! If you do actually eat infected food, then all the silver wear that touched that food is infected too. Regular dish washing detergent will not fix that problem. You need to boil your silverwear in hot water to kill all the germs. If your retainer somehow comes in contact with something infected, boil it too! wheather anything that has touched infected stuff is plactic or metal, boiling will fix it.

Infected food is a HUGE AND COMMON PROBLEM. it is not something to fool around with. Be careful and follow these four easy rules.

I Knew it Wouldn't Work

Well, the liquid diet my mom and sister went on was an epic fail. That didn't even make it past the fourth day. I knew it wouldn't work. After the first two days they started feeling the effects of fatigue and dizziness.

My mom and sister weren't constantly hungry, and very irritable. Reducing your food intake by that much and that quickly has a great affect on your mood and body nutriention. They had basically went from eating foods like hamburgers and beef tips on saturday, to all soup and jello and applesauce on Sunday. There's body had no time to react, so of course they reacted badly to it.

Their experience, is a prime example that diets don't work. They just cause many health problems that you have to deal with.

Problems, Problems, Problems

I debate on why I love all these depression topics with all their problems, and why they interest me, and then I decide I don't really care. So, moving on, let's begin with this week's depressing topics! Google Alerts came up on my list of emails a while ago, and there was a... discovery, to say, that shocked but, at the same time, did not shock me. You've all heard of bulimia, the binging on food just to puke it up. There has been found a new type of bulimia: Exercise Bulimia. I reason it has been around for a while. We've all known or heard of people who don't eat enough and exercise profusely. We all know or have heard of people who freak out of if they miss an exercise session. This is the base of the disorder.
I've never understood why people freak out about their weight. Perhaps it is because I'm, to say, small and pretty slim, but I guess for school, a wedding, or other get-together with a lot of people, some might. What too many people don't understand though, is that gradual weight loss is the BEST way to go, simply because, once you lose that weight and start back on your regular diet, you'll gain it all back and possibly more.
I also found out, and I know this blog isn't "flowing" too well, but no matter, that excessive drinking is a promise for obesity. Though it is less calories than eating something with fat in it, it only has 2 calories less, and studies have shown that for 2-3 bottles of alcohol, there is risk for abdominal obesity.
Now, last, I have discovered some tips for parents (they could also be applied to friends or siblings) for dealing with anorexia! 1: medical diagnosis is best if it is an early diagnosis. 2: Self-help organizations can be a big help. 3: Don't get angry or frustrated. You'll just be making the person dig themselves into a deeper hole. 4: Don't dare try to manage their problems as well as your own. Seek out someone to help you manage your stress levels. 5: Eating disorders effect everyone. Be aware of your other children / siblings / friends. 6: Be inclusive and work together! 7: By God, be aware of online activity. There are too many sites that encourage eating disorders. 8: Be involved in their life and school. 9: Never be reluctant to attend family therapy (or go with your friend). 10: Recovery takes time. Don't add on to the stress. 11: Change tactics if what you're doing isn't working. There are always other options. 12: For serious cases, hospitalization may be necessary. Don't put it off if it needs to be done. 13: There has to be willingness. Don't be forceful. It won't help. 14: Be positive and upbeat. Showing your own depression issues won't help you or the person you're trying to help.

Fast Food..Getting What You Pay For?

We all know fast food ads can be deceiving. For example the almighty Big Mac isn't ha big juicy two-layer burger you say on the McDonald's commercial. I was recently reading an article from The Huffington Post on fast food lies. The article explained how people are getting ripped off because food at fast food restaurants isn't exactly the same as the ad. But is ha neccessarily a bad thing?

What if the burgers were as big as they are on te commercial?

What if McDonalds really put as much bacon on your sandwhich was they do on the ad?

We'd be in more trouble than we are now with obesity. I'm not saying what these fast food chains do is right, but if they really made the burgers how they look on the ads,we'd probably be eating twice as much. My suggestion is to make more realistic ads so people know what they are getting and paying for.

The Golden Corral blog coming soon ^_^.

Wonderfully Inspired

Today for breakfast, I ate nothing. For lunch I had a salad, and for dinner, I'm having pizza. I started wondering when I got home from school if eating a pizza was the right choice after eating a healthy salad. I mean I had a healthy lunch just to come home and ruin it with an UN-healthy dinner? Then, I wondered if people with food illnesses such as diabetes have to go through this. I called my friend to ask her, the one I told you about in my last post. Well, she inspired me, when told me that she doesn't wonder very often if eating a healthy lunch and and un-healthy dinner is a good idea. She says usually she just eats healthy during the week, so that on weekends she can feel like a normal candy-eating, brownie-stuffing, junk food junkie. She told me Saturday's are the day she cheats the most. She also told me her doctor doesn't get angry with her for cheating on Saturday's because she eats healthy during the rest of the week, and she takes her insulin when she's supposed to. After hearing all of this, I decided against pizza and instead I'm going to bake myself some chicken, and have another salad.
So today, I've been inspired to eat healthier. Who knows maybe you'll be inspired too.

P.S. I can't jump off my junk-food wagon that quickly. I'm going to have a cherry cola with it. Besides, a girl's got to take baby steps first right?

Eatting Fresh

My family is known for hosting big dinners on Sundays, but we all deserve breaks, right? We decided to eat light. After church, we went to the grocery store and bought the classic bag of potato chips, bologna, ham, turkey, cheese (along with other condiments), wheat bread, and two cartons of lemonade. When we got home, each of made our own Subway sandwich. I chose to make a bologna sandwich and the condiments I placed on it were Mayo, lettuce, tomatos, pickles, and cheese. I placed my sandwich on a tray, grabbed some chips out of the bag and placed them on my tray, and poured me a nice, cool, full glass of lemonade and took a sit at the table. Even though it was not the fried, greasy, heavy meal I was used to, it was still delightful and everyone around the table was glad to eat the sandwich of their choice.

Revolutionary!

I am working this morning on the curriculum guide for a forthcoming book on Alabama food traditions. (I won't say a whole lot more about the book, since its title and release date both aren't set by the publisher, and as far as I know no press releases have been issued about it.) I was just working on the chapter on fried green tomatoes, which tells the story of not only the famed novel by Fannie Flagg but also begins with chefs Frank Stitt and Scott Peacock's input about eating seasonally with local ingredients. A connection I had not made previously was that the subsistence farming lifestyle of most Alabamians prior to the mid-twentieth-century was exactly what the new trends suggest is the best way to eat and live: grow it yourself if you can, and if not get it from close by and eat it very soon after it is picked.

This idea that the Farmers Market Authority have wrapped into the slogan "BUY LOCAL" is truly revolutionary, in the most exact sense of that word. Revolutionary, as in a revolution, as in to revolve, as in circular, as in returning back to the way things were (before they got screwed up). To be revolutionary means that the person wants society to make a great big U-turn and cycle back to the old ways. Isn't it weird that rural people who lead such a life as they could grow their own food are often demeaned by more sophisticated city people as dull, uncivilized, and culture-less, while now the city dwellers are trying to be like them, at least in this one way?

Well, now back to work on this curriculum guide . . .

Teen Health: My weakness

I hate snack cakes, I'm cautious around fried food, but the one thing I can't resist is ice cream! I absolutely positively LOVE IT! Well, any kind of frozen desert actually. It doesn't matter if it's frozen yogurt, frozen juice, a slushy, or whatever, I love it and always have to get one when I'm out! But is it healthy? Well according to an article released by News Week, that all depends on which brand of frozen treats I eat. Not all ice creams are made the same and the calorie intake could be different depending on what type of cold treat you get, portion size, and even flavor. So here are a few things you should watch out for.

Pecans, and Nuts-

Don't be fooled! Just because your flavor has pecans and nuts inside doesn't mean it's healthy to eat! That butter pecan or black walnut ice cream won't give you any points on the health side.  the article reports that  Häagen-Dazs Butter Pecan has 310 calories and 23 grams of fat.
 Fruit toppings
See Pecans and Nuts.
Shake It Up
Sundaes are better than milkshakes because they have fewer portion sizes and fewer calories.
Alternatives
 Go easy on the serving sizes and don't over do the topics and other additives.The article also recommends eating sorbet or frozen yogurt as healthier alternatives. Eating slow churned ice cream is also a better choice as it contains fewer calories than regular ice cream. Frozen fruit juices made from real fruit juice is better than all other frozen snacks because they don't have any preservatives or added flavors. Don't swear off ice cream just because of this report either, like all sweets, it's best when eaten in moderation.
 ~Chan

ps.  Doesn't that picture at the top look delicious?Yum!

Everything is safe. but...

Testing has been going through all seafood before it is placed in the hands of buyers and those eating at restaurants. So far all have been proven safe, but it is taking time to double check that the effects of the oil disaster is not poisoning the fish. The Mullet Festival has been postponed in Alabama down at the Gulf as sellers are hesitant to sell their mullet for a ‘just in case’ reason. The Perdido Bay Mullet Festival has based postponements before in its history, but never a complete lacking of, well, Mullet. In Mobile the mullet is said to be safe but this year if the festival is to be put on it is more likely goers will be enjoying catfish and other seafood.

CS week two

As discussed in Green Plum Tree, the use of organic no pesticide ridden foods are much more healthy and richer in nutrients than their chemical saturated counterparts. The advice given is to use organic, and buy local produce. Among the reasons the author of the blog states that he advocates the consumption of organics is that it protects the family and it just tastes better. The author states various reasons and stands behind every one with information and facts. I support the information in the blog.

As a person who grows vegetables and other produce, I agree on many of his/her points.
Furthermore the Organic Industry is Thriving, states the SafeLawns Foundation. The recent meeting by the SafeLawns Foundation recognized the added help and security of many other organizations such as Master Nurseries, EcoSmart, and the Espoma Company. The success in the field could open many other doors to the organic field in time.

Farmers in the States: Week 3

Same stuff, different day. That phrase that has been coined by Stephen King remarks the feeling that an audience must get from the topic of "bad farming, where we all get a raw deal." Rappahannock County, Virginia is likely to soon be called a drought disaster area by its state so that farmers in the area may apply for drought relief. Lately, the land has been suffering from a severe drought with an estimated loss of 55% of mixed forage grasses, a 49% loss of all corn crops, 50% for soybeans, and 38% for both apples and peaches. These percentiles result in a $6.4 million loss in mixed forage grass, $38,500 in corn, and a much larger $380,000 in apples.

Applying and qualifying for draught relief would mean a free way to enrich crops. In other ways, the county is raising tax rates on open-spaced land. Other counties in the area are raising taxes on land such as golf courses and parks. Hopefully, the crops will return for next season when the relief comes.

Info #5?

More than 17 tons of donated food was transported to Ford Field to be donated to Gleaners in September 14, 2010. Gleaners and more than 200 other food banks across the country have designated September as Hunger in Action Month and called upon the community to help.
From http://www.detnews.com/article/20100914/METRO01/9140399/1409/METRO#ixzz0zkCSFSoQ

Also, I learned that organization called Oregon Food Bank distributes food. OFB distributes food to 20 regional food banks, which, in turn, distribute food to 935 local agencies and programs, such as food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters and more. These local programs provide food directly to people who are hungry in the form of boxes of food for people to take home or prepared meals. The OFB Network serves an average of 240,000 hungry people each month.
You can go to its website, and donate food insistently! http://oregonfoodbank.org/Donate/Ways-to-Give

Starting Point

So, starting from the beginning, someone has to look you in the eye and tell you that you have diabetes. Otherwise, how do you know? So I decided that this week I would look into how a doctor can really tell if you have it or if you don’t. I had asked my aunt previously about how they diagnosed her with it and she said that they did a blood sugar test. My question: What does that mean? I’ve been looking it up on the internet and I found a website that was most helpful. It said that before the blood sugar test the patient is not allowed to eat for eight hours or so. After not eating for so long, a normal blood sugar level should range from 70 to 99. If they are anywhere between 100- 125 then they are considered to be a pre-diabetic. Anything above 125, and they probably have type 2 diabetes. To make a definite diagnosis they give the patient a 75 gram glucose drink. Two hours later, if their blood sugar is over 200 then they defiantly have diabetes.

Are We Really Safe?!

I learned something new this week!

I learned that not only is it a task to live with diabetes, but it's also a task to be safe while at school, and have diabetes. About 200,000 kids in the Unted States have diabetes.

There are schools across the country that have excellent plans in place to provide care that children with diabetes need to thrive at school. However, not all schools are easing the way for children with diabetes.

In California an appeals court recently ruled that state laws prohibit school staff, that are not nurses, from volunteering to help children with diabetes by administering insulin. That means that with only one scool nurse for every 2,700 students in the state, many kids with diabetes will not get insulinwhen they need it- and their health an academic progress will suffer as a result.

After I found this out, it made me question what the policy is for my school, and the schools around me.

Homecooking -vs- Fast Food

Poorly cooked food is another fact to consider when deciding whether or not to eat out or keep the meal at home. Just because fast food restaurants prepare at a rapid rate, doesn't imply that the food was prepared correctly. As opposed to having numerous people in a restaurant handle a customers food, a home cooked meal is prepared by a select few. Poorly cooked food could happen in any circumstance whether it be home cooking or fast food. Food will always be food, regardless of who prepares it. The food itself could be poisoned and could have nothing to do with the chef.

Salads can be very tasty:)

OK so I'm not the whole eat more green when you eat, i prefer to eat all the delicious sugars and carbs in a meal that can be afforded. Doctors would tend to say that eating more green vegetables will help out in the end. The more green things you are the better off your digestive system is. Even though they say eating fruits and vegetables are good for you for numerous reasons like; a healthy colon and a system that functions properly.

Don't mislead the whole go green idea with salads, though. Just because you do eat them doesn't mean every kind is good for you. Some doctors would tend to say that Iceberg lettuce is not as healthy for your body as Romaine or Spinach leaves would be. They also suggest you watch the things you load them up with. Putting a few croutons, bacon bits, pickles, eggs, or anything else you might like on there could be just as bad as eating a burger, if it is not done in moderation. The dressings you use should also be used in moderation. Some the dressings may have just as many calories carbs and carbohydrates, or even more, as the salad it self or anything else that could be on it. So next time you decide to have a salad make it a healthy one

- food is food

The Successful Experiment (Finally)

Since I have been failing miserably at trying to turn my family onto some better food options, I decided that it would be better just to see how their food choices differ when they're in a different setting. Instead of it being just regular fast food, I decided to see if their food choices would be similar at an actual restraunt.

Dad's Meal:
Chicken Quesadilla: 1440
Monzerella Sticks: 430
Spinach and Artichoke Dip: 1460
Boneless Buffalo Wings, Spicy: 360
Iced Tea: 0
Total Calorie Count: 3690

Mom's Meal:
Grilled Bacon Cheese Chicken Sandwich: 720
Fries: 420
Water: 0
Total Calorie Count: 1140

Jarria's Meal
Chicken Fingers: 240
Fries: 400
Coke: 70
Total Calories Count: 710

My Meal
Cheeseburger Sliders: 870
Monzerella Sticks: 430
Boneless Buffalo Wings, Hot: 590
Coke Zero: 0
Total Calorie Count: 1890

According to my observations, it seems like our family eats twice as many calories when we're acutually at a restraunt; and for the most part they're the same things that we would usually get when we go to McDonalds or Burger King. If we could possibly just cook the things that we get at fast food places, we could probably cut down on the calories.

What should I eat today ?

Lord knows how I love me some Longhorn Steakhouse , but i really need to lay off because eating that on a regular basis will make you extremely fat. So, my family has come to a conclusion that we only going to eat Longhorn once a month. That means that if we eat Longhorn at the begining of the month then we can't have it till the next month.

The Powell family has decided to have a salad at least three times a week with our main course meal. We're basically going on a diet and getting healthier. I think this would be better for us and better for our pockets. !

Wait or eat now ?

Today, when i got from school i was very hungry. I was so hungry that my head started to hurt and i began to get sick . I wondered to my self , should I stop and get some fast foods or should I just wait till i get home ? Well , I waited till i got home. When I got there was a box of noodles in the cabinet. Then, I thought about if I would have sopped at a fast food rsturant and got something to eat it would have been maybe Wendy's or take out at Longhorn ( yes of course you all know I love Longhorn). Then it would have been really hard to burn calories off from resturant food.
In the Ramen noodles that I ate when i got home, the package says it has a total of 7 grams of fat , a cholestral of 0 , and soduim of 790 mg. If it was resturant food it probably have been alot more.
I think I made a good choice :]

Slice 'em and Dice 'em (organs that is)

Well apparently Kenya is doing more about diabetes then we are. Now, I find that down right hilarious. 1.5 million Kenyans are living with the disease while nearly 21 million Americans are as well. The National Diabetes Control Strategy is all about anti-diabetes campaigns and early diabetes screenings these days. "Diabetes" could be another way of doctors making money of our organs, though. There's a thought for a play or short story: a girl is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and is some natural health freak and her father insists on her receiving treatments, while that's completly out of her beliefs? Or should it be the other way around? Who knows?

Eating Out

I recently read an article that said that most Mexicans consider Americans to eat zero other than McDonalds and I was thinking that maybe true. Most people do run out to get something to eat at McDonalds or somewhere else of their choice. One time someone told me that they ate Mcdonalds the whole week because their mother didn't feel like cooking so I kinda agree that many people go out to eat. I myself use to love eating a double cheeseburger with large fries at McDonalds but i stopped because I knew I was eating to much of McDonalds. Like I said, now I try to eat healthier but last night I went out to a restaurant and I knew all they had was wings and hamburgers so I ate a salad to save money! and make a healthy choice but when I got there and saw everyone else eating, I started to get hungry and ordered me a basket of fries...which was sooooo good!!! So I guess that's another point for eating out, when you get hungry eat a little something like fries or a roll because you never have to eat everything on the menu! :-)

Lagging Behind But Still In The Game

Okay I've been a little behind in checking my Google alerts lately... 97 hit links to be exact... But I've found some new stuff. All these "genetically altered" foods we get from Wal-Mart and other supermarkets are higher in calories, sugars, and fats than naturally grown foods. This is basically going to lead me back to my rant about organic not being as safe as it seems. The genetically altered foods, like beef, are not required to tell you that they're altered in any way, just that they come from a cow. All those growth hormones and scientists making cow-in-a-tube may not bother most people, but it seems freaky to me. All the cows on a traditional super-farm are not cared for individually, either, so if one gets sick, so does half the herd. But if you buy your beef from a local farmer who raised the cattle naturally (instead of with needles and test tubes) he/she can guarantee that the cow wasn't altered in any way to make the cow bulkier or leaner depending on the cut, and that the sick were kept away from the healthy. You can often visit a local farm and see for yourself how the cow was raised before buying the beef. But to visit a huge major-industry ranch, you would have to travel out of state and hope the employees let you in the door, much less see the herd. In reference to produce, genetically altered plants are altered for the specific purposes of making them last the shipping trip and appear healthy for the buyer. These fruits and veggies may look healthy, but by the time they reach your dinner plate, they've already lost over half of their nutritional value, due to the time span it takes from picking to your plate.

As you can see, I may be lagging behind on Google, but I'm still in for the count.

I'm Changing my Name to Google-Lover

I've gotta feelin' that this blog isn't gonna be as long as my others, which may excite some of you... if anyone actually reads this blog, hahahah. Yeah, anyways, I'm kinda feeling a lack of creativity today... it's probably just the loss of sleep over the past few days. But anyways, I'm not really up to giving all of you my usual pep-talk on being healthy and eating organic, locally grown food as I usually do. BUT, you're not going to escape the vegetarian talk that easy. Which brings me to the point of my awkward title for this blog. I love Google, and its amazing accessibility to anything vegetarian. So I was feeling lazy and was like what the heck, let me just be as simple as possible and put "vegetarian" into the Google search bar. What I found is something I should have introduced to anyone wanting to be a vegetarian in the first blog I ever wrote. Furthermore, my surprise for you today is www.goveg.com. It's a great site, that will both inform and scare you about meat. So, once you are disgusted by the pictures of bloody animals, you should then head over to vegetariantimes.com so that you can feed yourself with their amazing recipes and learn how to get started on your "new life". Hope these helped! :)

Genetically Modified Foods

Did you know that foods that have been gentically modified are not labeled to indicate so? Yes, it's true, a vast amount of the food you are consuming could be gentically altered in some way, even soda. Genetically modified sources -genes have been taken from one species and insert into another to obtain specific traits or characteristics.  Other countries such as Japan and Austrailia have made it law that (GM) foods are to be labeled accordingly. Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/13/1822255/earthtalk-genetically-modified.html#ixzz0zeNWcgHY

How Our Food Is Infected

We live in a microbial world, and there are many opportunities for food to become contaminated as it is produced and prepared. Many food-borne microbes are present in healthy animals (usually in their intestines) raised for food. Meat and poultry carcasses can become contaminated during slaughter by contact with small amounts of intestinal contents. Similarly, fresh fruits and vegetables can be contaminated if they are washed or irrigated with water that is contaminated with animal manure or human sewage. Some types of Salmonella can infect a hen's ovary so that the internal contents of a normal looking egg can be contaminated with Salmonella even before the shell in formed. Oysters and other filter feeding shellfish can concentrate Vibrio bacteria that are naturally present in sea water, or other microbes that are present in human sewage dumped into the sea.

Later in food processing, other food-borne microbes can be introduced from infected humans who handle the food, or by cross contamination from some other raw agricultural product. For example, Shigella bacteria, hepatitis A virus and Norwalk Virus can be introduced by the unwashed hands of food handlers who are themselves infected. In the kitchen, microbes can be transferred from one food to another food by using the same knife, cutting board or other utensil to prepare both without washing the surface or utensil in between. A food that is fully cooked can become recontaminated if it touches other raw foods or drippings from raw foods that contain pathogens.

The way that food is handled after it is contaminated can also make a difference in whether or not an outbreak occurs. Many bacterial microbes need to multiply to a larger number before enough are present in food to cause disease. Given warm moist conditions and an ample supply of nutrients, one bacterium that reproduces by dividing itself every half hour can produce 17 million progeny in 12 hours. As a result, lightly contaminated food left out overnight can be highly infectious by the next day. If the food were refrigerated promptly, the bacteria would not multiply at all. In general, refrigeration or freezing prevents virtually all bacteria from growing but generally preserves them in a state of suspended animation. This general rule has a few surprising exceptions. Two foodborne bacteria, Lysteria monocytogenes and Yersinia enterocolitica can actually grow at refrigerator temperatures. High salt, high sugar or high acid levels keep bacteria from growing, which is why salted meats, jam, and pickled vegetables are traditional preserved foods.

Microbes are killed by heat. If food is heated to an internal temperature above 160oF, or 78oC, for even a few seconds this sufficient to kill parasites, viruses or bacteria, except for the Clostridium bacteria, which produce a heat-resistant form called a spore. Clostridium spores are killed only at temperatures above boiling. This is why canned foods must be cooked to a high temperature under pressure as part of the canning process.

The toxins produced by bacteria vary in their sensitivity to heat. The staphylococcal toxin which causes vomiting is not inactivated even if it is boiled. Fortunately, the potent toxin that causes botulism is completely inactivated by boiling.

Everybody, follow food on twitter!

I was playing around on twitter, and i noticed that there are a few twitter pages dedicated to home cooking. My first thought was, "Wow, i guess people actually do cook." One of the pages had a little over a thousand followers. This may seem pretty good, but this is about 1,000 people out of, oh I don't know, 7 billion maybe? Doesn't seem so great now, does it? (@homecookingtips)

Could this low follower count be because people that cook don't need tips from twitter pages? Or could it be because they don't have time to get on the computer to even look up things like that?

I read this article called "Just Like Mom: Back-to-basics meals and a little planning can feed busy family" and a quote stood out to me. When Cheverly, Md., Doris Deegan was asked about how she managed to fit in family meals with such a busy family schedule, she added in her response "but I came from an Italian family, and this was what we did." Why is it that home cooking is something rooted in the culture of Italians and other nationalities, but not in America? Why do we just brush off taking the time out to cook? Our lifestyles really aren't an excuse. Italian people come over here and live the same fast lifestyle we live and still make time to cook at home instead of stopping at the nearest fast food place. Why is that?

We pick up letters and spellings from different cultures. We may take the sport of another country and make it our own. We take religions and celebrations, but we can't seem to pick up on any of their good habits, like cooking more often.

The Family Choice

On Sunday of September 12, 2010 my mother and sister decided to go on the all liquid diet. Driven by the need to loose weight, they will stay on this diet for an entire week and then immediately start weight watchers. I have tried to tell them that this diet isn't good for them and how they need all of their proteins, caolries, and carbs.

Liquid diets require you to drink pratically all liquids, all day, and for breakfast and lunch and dinner. But of course there are other ways to do a liquid diet. You eat less calories so you burn more. This really isn't a good dietary choice because you lose weight extremely fast, which isn't always good.

Liquid diets, like most, lack in the daily nutrition that your body needs. Side effects include: fatigue, dizziness, hair loss, gallstones, cold intolerance, electrolyte imbalance, and heart problems. Also, because of lack of fiber, you can experience constapation and other digetsive problems and loss of lean body mass.

For these reasons, and the fact that my mom won't allow mw to do it, I have chosen not to participate in the liquid diet with them. I need my energy for school, which isn't much energy, and the fatigue the liquid diet causes would make my situation worse. But when they start the weight watcher, I'll join because provides the daily amount of nutrition needed a day.

Children are hungry too!

      The problem of childhood hunger is not simply a moral issue. Child hunger lowers a young person's ability to learn and becomes more likely to suffer from poverty as an adult. Scientific evidence suggests that hungry children are less likely to become productive citizens. Children have no right to wake up in the morning thinking what can I find to eat today. It's even tougher on the parents because they feel weak. They feel like their bad parents and they feel like they should give their children up to a family that can provide for their children. Children count just as much as adults do so lets not forget about them.

Meat But No Bread

What's a good excuse to leave church early on a Sunday? Well, that's easy. Going home to finish up dinner of course. After singing along with the choir and shouting "Amen" to the preacher, nothing is better than coming home to hot dinner. My mom and grandma got a head start on Sunday's dinner. They let the roast sit in the crock-pot Saturday night so that all that would be left after coming home from church would be to warm the green beans, green peas, fried corn, and make the macaroni and cheese as well as the corn bread. A rule that we follow in my house is all or nothing. In other words, either all of the food is done or none of the food is done. Everything else seemed to be getting done in a timely manner. The last time that I had walked in the kitchen, my grandma was spreading the cream cheese on the macaroni. I decided to go back in my room and wait for about twenty minutes or so. I reasoned that the food would be plenty and that it would be still be warm. I came back, asking if the corn bread was done yet. "No, not yet," my mom would say so I would go back at wait some more. I came back again and asked the same question, "Not quite," my grandma answered. There is only so long that a girl can wait so I went back one final time and it was still not done! My mom told me to go ahead and make my plate and I did. My mom and grandma told me that the bread was not cooking on the inside. They started cutting the bread in the inside and it was not the golden brown color that it should have been. Instead, it was more a very light tan color. My mom was going to put the corn bread back in the oven but my grandma stopped her and pinched a piece of it and ate it. "It's done. It just doesn't have any browning to it," she said. She told us that we could still eat it, but my mom and I had second thoughts. Usually when you eat, you have meat and bread. But what's meat without bread?

Breakfast for Dinner?!

Sometimes, eating big dinner can get a little boring and rutined. Yes, green beans are healthy and taste good, along with corn, corn bread, neckbones, and fried apples, but there is a time when those food items need a break from the digestive track. Last Sunday's dinner became Sunday's breakfast and my best friend and I made it ourselves. We looked in the cabinet for Bisquick and from there, we were on a roll! He did not know how to make pancakes, so of course I had to guide him, but after the first one, he became a professional. In fact, I was surprised how fluffy and golden brown be made them! I was resonsible for the eggs, which bought back memories. I remember the first time I cracked an egg - I was four years old in the kitchen with my mom - and I got some of the shell in the yolk. (Gross, right?) Luckily my mom was there and got them out. I have to admit that my egg cracking skills have increased over the years and that is something that I am proud of. Anyway, after cracking the eggs and beating them a little bit, I added a little bit of milk in order to make them a little lighter and fluffier. After pouring them into the skillet, I waited for a few minutes and moved them around with my skillet so they would not stick and burn. In no time they were done and I was off to make the bacon, but not just any old bacon, pork bacon. I fried that on the skillet too, making sure not to cook it too hard or too light but just right so it could have the equal amount of juicy goodness. Now it was time for the hash browns. I heated the oven to about 400 degrees, placed them on the pan, and after the beep, placed them inside the oven to warm. My best friend and I placed the already cooked food on plates and waited on the couch for about ten minutes. We get up from the couch, happy to know that the hash browns were done, and let them cool. We got us a plate from the cabinet and fixed our plates. Luckily, there was some apple juice in the refigirator that calmed our thirst. Next time you don't feel like really cooking, just pull out the eggs and start scrambling!

To Care or Not to Care? That is the Question.

Back onto the depressing matters at hand for the required blog post of the week, I dive deeper into eating disorders. I keep learning, and it makes me really hate that at one point in time I considered starving myself, or giving in and then puking it up. It's not good for you. Bulimia has some nasty side effects besides that "weight loss" thing. As it turns out, vomiting rots your stomach, throat, and gums. You can lose your hair as well as the ability to create offspring, and you have a chance at your esophagus exploding, which would obviously result in: DEATH. I know I have really stressed using eating disorders as a way to lose weight, but that isn't all it is used for. As research has shown, eating disorders are ways to cope with depression, stress, peer pressures, codependency, or the need for control. Many parents, and even kids, don't realize that being bullied about your body at a young age can drastically increase the chance to use an eating disorder to fix the "problem" the bullies have pointed out. But these diseases aren't just physical; they have a ton of mental roots, which is why the road to recovery takes so many stops at health care facilities. The sad fact is, only one third of people with these problems are receiving mental help, while everyone in need of it should be followed by a physician, a psychologist/psychiatrist, and a REGISTERED dietitian. There is a break in the storm though. The amount of young ladies that have gone for eating disorder help has risen from ~1,300 in the previous year to ~1,500 this year. Help is possible, but there has been debate on an official cure. Some claim that it is like being an alcoholic, it will always be there, while others will tell you that the psychological problems can be isolated and fixed. Who's to say but the patients?

Busyness

As I watched my surroundings of people who would rather eat in or dine out, started the idea that there are many reasons for that choice; One reason is busyness. Families usually have to dine out or pick up  food from a restaurant, only because of their schedule. It should not be a factor, the expectation should be that all homemade meals should be pre-planned. There are families that i have noticed where the mother will plan out her meals for the week, go to the grocery store to buy ingredients, and then make meals as planned. Also, some mothers make the excuse that they have a job; however, a very close family named the Bakers always have homecooked meals. I believe it saves the family a lot of money; however, people do not take that into account until after-the-fact when they are looking at what the family spent and where. Even on a hectic, busy night the mother will throw a pizza in the oven. Pizza may not be the healthiest thing, but at least she can choose which pizza she wants and know what ingredients is in the pizza. The Baker familiy was my first observation, and my second observations will be another close family called the Peavy's.  

Homecooking -vs- Fast Food

In addition to doing research I also did a small experiment to test home cooking and fast food. For my home cooking category, I used Hamburger Helper. For my fast food category I used McDonald's. To keep the experiment reasonably fair, I had the Hamburger Helper followed step by step without any extra spices. I went to my local McDonald's and ordered a simply cheeseburger. I closely examined each one with my five senses. I concluded that both were delicious and were pleasing to the senses. The first process of the experiment was the observation aspect.