What is Awaiting Us...?

Doesn't everybody at some point in time look to the future. Whether its looking to tomorrow or 10 years from now. Well how about 40 years from now? What does the future say for us in 2050. Will apparently, according to a new study, in 2050 the number of Americans with diabetes will triple! Especially if things continue as they are now. Triple! 31% of Alabama already have diabetes now! Think what the number would be when it triples for the entire country. Scary huh?

Well it doesn't have to be. Eat Healthier! Outside of school or the past month I've been eating only vegetarian meals, and it does make a difference! Come on healthy food taste good too sometimes! It's as simple as switching to Multi-Grain Tostitos (the ones you eat with salsa) So come on, try it. I promise you, if I can do it, so can you!

October 27

So, I'm doing my project as a short story. The characters are going to be the organic and non organic foods. they'll be basically arguing about who is a better food, and I have a feeling that the organic foods are going to win. It should be pretty intresting, so yeah. I dont really have much to say, except I'm going to start working on it pretty soon, and it should be fun.

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.

Teen Health~ Put The Twinkie Down

Being a teen, it's easy to forget that we should watch what we eat. With stress coming from school, home, and (maybe) a job, we have too much to worry about to care what we are eating. If you believe the previous statement is true, you are completely wrong! There are many things we can do to ensure that we don't consume too much sugar or calories.  According to this site teens, depending upon their age and gender, should only take in between 1800-2800 a day, but many of us will go over that amount way half the day is gone. I'm not going to tell you a lot about what you should eat at every meal every day (meaning you should eat every meal), but I will tell you that you should be weary of one of our main enemies in being healthy as teens:Junk Food.

  Snack cakes, candy, and other junk food items are easy to get offer a quick relief for hunger. It is true that one snack cake here and there won't harm, being a bit pickier with what you eat could bring about some good results. In stead of reaching for a Twinkie or a SNICKERS® bar when you're hungry, try choosing healthy snacks like dried or regular fruit,  vegetables slices, or granola bars. They can give an abundance of protein, vitamins, and amino acids needed for a healthier body. There are other things you can do to make your snacks healthier like choosing butter free popcorn, choosing whole wheat over whole bread, and getting whole grain snack foods.  Also try to avoid drinking your calories in soft drinks and milkshakes. Instead drink some water, fruit juice or grab a V8®.
      There are sites out there have a list of junk food alternatives and fun recipes to try. One of these sites is Seventeen.com. They offer a lot of healthy meals and snacks that are easy to make on your own. Currently they on their website they have thirty days of recipes that you can try.

Don't think that you can't enjoy a quick snack every once in a while, just make sure you eat in moderation; too much of a good thing can kill you.

Who's Hungry?

This week I got a first hand experience at what dinner is like for diabetics. My mom cooked us a homemade low carb, meal. It was he own creation that she came up with on her own. Soon we'll be using the Diabetic cook book I came across, but for now creative ideas will work. She made a chicken casserole, with white chicken breast strips as the main meat. She seasoned it with chives and basil leaves and different vegetables. She used Campbells Cream of Chicken and Cream of Celery soup for the sauce bass. Also instead of topping it with fried onions like we do with most casseroles she crumbled up crackers and topped it with that. It was delicious and good. Eating healthy doesn't always have to be tasteless. You just have to get creative! Here a few pics of our family meal.
For more suggestions and tips about eating healthier click Here. This isn't just for diabetics. It's for anyone who wishes to eat healthier a few days out of the week, or just have a healthy diet. Enjoy!

Laughter is the best medicine - unless you're diabetic, then insulin comes pretty high on the list.
Jasper Carrott

Roots of Change

The organization Roots of Change is a California effort to create public policy in that state that will support and enhance sustainable, healthy farming and eating habits. They do some really powerful work, and what I wonder is: in a state that prides itself as being an agricultural stronghold and as a state with severe obesity and food-related health problems, why isn't there a group like this in Alabama? There may be, but I'm not aware of one.

That's not to say that no one is doing anything. For instance, in Birmingham, Jones Valley Urban Farm hosts community education workshops (along with other services) and Frank Stitt's restaurants have impressive menus full of healthy, responsibly grown items. The state also has CSA farms like Red Root Farm in Banks and Snows Bend Farm near Tuscaloosa that allow customers to buy into their harvest on shares, thus providing them with healthy seasonal produce. For a full list of CSAs, published by the Farmers Market Authority, click here.

But what about influencing state policy? I'm no food expert, and beyond a general concern for the well-being of other people, my interest in the subject extends roughly to my own table. I'm not the man for the job. Does anyone know of work like this (not by a state agency, like the FMA) that is going?

The Oprah Winfrey Show

Yesterday, I watched an episode of the “Oprah Winfrey Show” that aired on August 11, and it was about food and healthy eating habits. Oprah’s guests were food writer Michael Pollan, actress Alicia Silverstone who has recently written a book called “The Kind Diet,” and the owner and head chef of the Chipotle restaurant chain. Normally, I’m not an “Oprah” watcher, but my wife has a Season Pass on TiVo for the show, and we watch them sometimes when nothing else is on. The one thing I do like about Oprah Winfrey is her dedication to using her clout to help people lead better lives, instead of running show after show about cheating spouses getting caught or wild baby-daddy arguments.

Michael Pollan’s name is synonymous with healthy food and responsible eating habits. I recently saw a friend reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” and admitted during that conversation that Pollan’s books are ones I wish I had read. He is one of the main voices in the documentary, “Food, Inc.,” which “examines the costs of putting value and convenience over nutrition and environmental impact.” Oprah explained during the course of the show that she made an arrangement with Amazon.com to sell the movie for only $9.99 (for a limited time), to encourage more people to watch it.

Alicia Silverstone, who is probably best known for her role in the movie “Clueless” or for being the girl in the Aerosmith videos of the 1990s, was also on the show, but to talk about her book, not her acting. In the “The Kind Diet,” Silverstone shares ways to eat vegan, for two reasons: first, to feel better and second, to eliminate the cruel treatment of animals raised for food. Her message is to be “kind,” both to ourselves and to animals. Silverstone, who smiled through most of the interview, explained that her switch to being a vegan did everything from give her more energy to clear up her acne.

Steve Ells, owner of Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants, has brought healthy ingredients and actual cooking to fast food. He explained that, in his restaurants, employees chop and measure ingredients and use pots and pans, instead of warming over or frying processed items that were trucked in. There's a clip of Steve Ells on “Oprah" on YouTube.

I even learned a few things just watching the latter of half of this one talk-show episode. I had not realized that the average American eats 200 pounds of meat a year, for instance. That’s an average! I had also never thought about eating habits as being “kind” to yourself, not putting your body through the agony of having to digest and process some things. It was also good to hear that some culinary experts are finding ways to make healthy fast food possible, to have good food without the usual time involved.

I think it was Michael Pollan who said on the show that the average American eats fast food four times a week, which shocked me! I can’t imagine eating like that on a regular basis. I can’t imagine wanting fast food that often. I typically eat fast food when I’m on the road, especially in airports where nothing looks all that good, but only about twice a month normally. I can’t imagine eating fast food more than 200 times in year.

The Project

The "Cast Your Bucket Down" project takes the basic idea in the 1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech by Booker T. Washington -- "Cast your bucket down where you are." -- and applies it to issues of food consumption and production in Alabama. (To read the speech, click here.)

The blog will be written by 34 creative writing magnet students at Booker T. Washington Magnet High School in Montgomery, Alabama, each of whom has chosen a food or farming related topic to explored from August to December 2010.

After that, the students will each produce a creative work based on their experiences and findings. More on that as the project goes on. The final product will be a short film.