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Reality Check On Hunger

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Not too long ago, I went to the grocery store and purchased five small bags of groceries. As I reached for my wallet, the amount popped up on the cash register’s screen, $109. As I carried my groceries to the car I started adding the purchases: cheese – $6, one avocado – $2.29, etc. The prices had quietly climbed but I didn’t notice until I paid for them. At this point, I am blessed to have the money to cover my groceries but what is it like for others?

A recent blog posted 20 facts about child hunger and poverty that would break your heart. Among the list are data such as 21 percent of U.S. children are living in poverty; 15 percent of U.S households have gone through food shortages; and statistically, there are more children living in poor households than in wealthy ones. These numbers are new to the United States but not to the world. This same blog reports that 1 billion children go to bed hungry each night.1 And my heart breaks.

As a Christian, certain beliefs are challenged when I read these numbers. In the Bible, Jesus reminds us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. If I am buying food for my family, should I also be concerned with neighbors who go to bed hungry? I hang my head and answer, “yes.” Another place in the Bible asks the question, “Who is my neighbor?”  

“Those who go to bed hungry each night or those who don’t have enough food to feed their families,” I tell myself.

What can I do? What can we do? The first thing in my mind is to simply be thankful and don’t take food for granted. Second, find a church or an organization that has a system in place to identify and feed those who are hungry. Third, donate or volunteer and love the hungry as we love ourselves. Do you know a family who is struggling to make ends meet? Anonymously slip them a grocery gift card to make sure they have something to eat.

There is another kind of hunger in the United States. This kind of hunger takes place when families eat but the foods are high in fat, sugar and salt; and low in nutrients, fiber and other ingredients needed for good health. With this type of hunger, people gain weight but the body still needs the nutrients for good health. Lack of physical activity compounds the problem. This leads to increased health care cost, chronic disease and disabilities. High food costs and high medical costs add to our hunger and poor health problem.

What can we do? Shop wisely for fruits, vegetables and whole grains that are in season and on sale. Read the label and get foods that are nutrient dense and are free or light in fat, sugar and salt.

Hunger is a human problem that humans can change… even if it is one person at a time!
1. The Economic Collapse. Accessed December 28, 2011Pamela A. Williams, MPH, R.D.​ writes from Southern California

 

Read more at the source: Reality Check On Hunger

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Healthy Living.

The Right Direction

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Picture yourself lost in a forest. You are alone and desperately want to find your way out. You haven’t a clue which direction to hike, but suddenly you remember a map in your day pack. Hope rises as you pull it out and open it up on a big flat rock. As you lean over the unfolded paper, something occurs to you. “If I don’t know where I’m at, I won’t know which direction to go!”

Making progress in the healing of your mind or your body requires self-awareness. That may sound obvious. The overweight person can simply look in the mirror and realize there is a problem. Someone addicted to gambling could just take a peek at their bank account and know something must change. But this oversimplifies the issues. Knowledge of the problem is not the same as understanding what drives the problem.

If you are driving down the road in your car and the low oil warning light begins to flash, you might pull over and put more oil in the engine to fix the problem. But it’s only a temporary solution. There is a bigger complication with your motor. Maybe you need new piston rings or there is a small hole in your oil pan.

In the same way, a person with a food addiction can tell himself, “I need to stop eating so much!” Even a five-year-old could tell you that. But a more important question to ask is, “What drives me to want to eat so much?” or “Why do I keep maxing out our credit cards?” or “Why am I driven to work to make lots of money and neglect my family?”

Answering these deeper questions provides you with self-awareness. Understanding where you are is vital to help you know where to go. It’s like a good doctor who diagnoses before she prescribes. Solutions come after clarifying problems. Self-reflection helps you get to the basis of barriers that prevent you from making progress in living a healthy life.

By looking at our emotions and thought patterns we often uncover triggers that drive us to live in unhealthy ways. Our beliefs influence our behaviors. For instance, the person struggling to control a habit of overeating may realize that when they feel lonely or discouraged they turn to food for comfort. They understand that when people in their past let them down, they came to substitute food as something that would never let them down.

This acknowledgment can open a door to self-awareness. Now they can say to themselves, “When I get lonely, I have used food as a substitute for friendships. It’s not working. I’m going to make more efforts to invest in relationships. I’ll make a list of five to ten people I can contact the next time I feel lonely.”

Some call this self-awareness emotional intelligence, which is “a powerful ability to identify, understand, and manage emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict.”1 This skill can enhance your health by lowering levels of stress (which helps your blood pressure) and give you tools to deal with unhealthy thoughts that drive unhealthy behaviors.

Self-awareness is like a built-in GPS unit that helps you pin point your present location. No matter where you want to go, you must know first where you are at. You can practice developing self-awareness by taking time to relax, meditate, or go for a quiet walk when you feel overwhelmed. It’s hard to think clearly under stress. We typically fall back into old habits when we are tempted, feel pressure, or are in a pinch.

You may also find writing in a diary or journal helps you sort through confusing thoughts and emotions. Prayer helps many people calmly think at a deeper level. Talking with a trusted friend can also enhance what is going on inside of you.

When you are lost in a forest, search and rescue experts will often first say, “Don’t panic! Calm down and try to think clearly.” That’s excellent advice when you are struggling to break bad habits that destroy your health.
www.helpguide.org

Curtis Rittenour writes from the Pacific Northwest.

Read more at the source: The Right Direction

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Healthy Living.

Healthy Eating Tips

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Not too long ago, nutritionists used the Food Guide Pyramid to help us understand how to eat a healthy diet. Although it was an effective tool, sometimes it required a little explanation to make sense of it. Now we have a new guide that is easy to look at and understand what we must do. My Plate Food Guide is a simple illustration that teaches us to:

• Eat from the five food groups. Here’s the breakdown: Red is for fruits, green is for vegetables, orange is for grains, purple is for proteins and blue is for dairy and other products that provide calcium. By eating from these groups, we can get vitamins, minerals, fats, fiber, protein and phytochemicals or plant chemicals that keep us healthy.

• Control our portion sizes. Instead of a plate piled with rice, 12-ounce steak and a slice of tomato, we can have a cup of vegetables, a cup of fruit, a cup of rice and four ounces of protein such as fish or tofu. The latter meal will give you the array of nutrients needed.

• Make half our plate fruits and veggies. What a visual! Traditional eating these days may leave a small corner for veggies and perhaps a couple slices of apple on the plate. But My Plate shows us that half of our plate should come from the garden. Why is this important? Produce gives us a steady supply of the nutrients we need with a healthy supply of fiber and healthy fats. They are also low to moderate in calories and supply plant chemicals such as lycopene that is thought to lower the risk of prostate cancer.

Other messages such as eating whole grains, sometimes choosing vegetable proteins such as beans and tofu, and getting enough calcium in our diets also keep us on the healthy track. Couple these messages with a good physical activity program and a good supply of water and we’re on our way to keeping chronic diseases at bay.

If you would like to learn more about how to make your plate healthy, visit ChooseMyPlate and healthy eating to you!

Basic Sample Menu*

Breakfast  
Bowl of oatmeal with raisins
Glass of lowfat milk
1 fruit – peach, pear, etc.

Lunch
Sandwich made with whole wheat bread, lettuce, tomatoes, sliced cucumbers and 3 ounces of protein such as turkey or a vegetarian patty    
Yogurt made with fresh berries

Dinner
Carrots
Broccoli
Lasagna made with protein, cheese & zucchini and whole grain pasta
Glass of lowfat milk
Peanut butter cookie

*Peanut butter and bread, nuts & fruit, hummus and crackers make great snacks in between meals if needed.
Pamela A. Williams writes from Southern California.

Read more at the source: Healthy Eating Tips

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Healthy Living.

Strokes Among Youth

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Here in the United States Heart Disease is the number one killer. Usually we think of this as a problem that happens among older adults. And this is true to a certain extent. Generally, the risk continually increases after the age of 45. Women are naturally protected by hormones until they face menopause; then the risk increases.

New research is showing that heart disease is gradually creeping down the age line and affecting teenagers and young adults. Researchers reviewed data taken from hospitals during 1995 – 2008. While the number of strokes for the older population has decreased, the number of acute ischemic strokes (brain blood supply decreases or stops) rose among youth except for girls aged 5 – 14 years old. The largest number of these strokes took place with males, aged 5 – 14 years; a 51.6 percent increase. Males aged 15 to 34 years experienced a 45.6 percent increase.1 Those who experienced stroke had an additional risk factor. Almost one third of the 15-34 years old had high blood pressure.2

With these types of changes in health, young adults, teens and parents of children should re-examine their lifestyles and make changes to support good health. What can be done to protect the heart and blood vessels?

• Add fruits and vegetables to the diet. These foods offer natural ingredients that protect the heart and blood vessels and helps maintain healthy lifestyles.

• Increase fiber intake. Fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes and whole grain foods such as brown rice, whole wheat bread and oatmeal provide a generous supply of fiber. It is recommended that teens and adults should get 25 – 36 grams of fiber a day. The Institute of Medicine recommends that for every 1,000 calories consumed, both children and adults should get 14 grams.

• Regular physical activity is recommended. Adults should get a minimum of 30 minutes a day and children should get a minimum of 60 minutes a day. Walking, swimming and biking are great activities to get moving.

• Choose fats and oils that are low in saturated fats and high in monounsaturated fats. Omega-3 fatty acids are also helpful in maintaining good health. Foods such as flax seed and salmon help us maintain a steady supply.

• Eat less refined products and avoid smoking and tobacco smoke.

Make it a goal to keep everyone in the family heart healthy!

1 George MG, Tong X, Kuklina EV, et al. Trends in stroke hospitalizations and associated risk factors among children and young adults, 1995–2008.
2 Anderson P. Stroke Increasing in the Young, CDC Reports. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/749478. Accessed 12/25/2012. Annals of Neurology, 70(5);Nov 2011:713-721.
3 The Nutrition Source: Daily Fiber Requirements. Harvard School of Public Health. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fiber-table/index.html. Accessed 12/25/12.

Read more at the source: Strokes Among Youth

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Healthy Living.

How Sweet It Is!

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Honey is one of the earliest sweeteners used by humans and preceded the use of sugarcane by many centuries. Beekeeping to obtain honey probably goes back to the early Egyptians who used honey in embalming, in medicine, and for food. Honey has long been a staple of the kitchen.

In Bible times, wild honey was collected from tree hollows and the clefts of rocks. John the Baptist had wild honey as a mainstay of his diet. The numerous references to honey in scripture indicates that honey must have been fairly abundant and popular in Palestine. Wisdom literature likens pleasant words and wisdom to honey.

Honeybees collect nectar to make honey to use as a food. A good colony of about 50,000 worker bees can put away about 2 lbs of honey in a day. To produce a pound of honey, bees may travel as far as 40,000 miles and visit more than 2 million flowers. Over 200 million pounds of honey are produced in the US annually. Honey bees collect nectar from different floral sources. There are over 300 varieties of honey, with clover and alfalfa providing the major sources of nectar.

Nectar commonly contains about 20 to 40 percent sugar. The bees in the hive concentrate the honey in the honeycomb to about 83% solids. Bees add the enzyme invertase to convert sucrose to the simple sugars glucose and fructose. After collection, most honey is heat treated to prevent unwanted fermentation by osmophilic yeasts and to delay crystallization. Honey is also filtered to remove air bubbles, solids and pollen grains.

The 3 major components of honey are fructose (38%), glucose (31%) and water (17%). The remaining 14% consists of disaccharides, trisaccharides, oligosaccharides, enzymes, and small amounts of minerals (such as selenium, magnesium, chromium, and potassium). The level of minerals in honey, however, does not compare with the level found in molasses.

Benefits of Honey

Honey has some unique properties that provide health benefits beyond its delicious taste and sweetening capacity. The oligosaccharides in honey have been suggested to promote the growth of beneficial bifidobacteria in the colon. This colonization may be useful following diarrhea or an extended use of antibiotics. Honey is also rich in health-promoting antioxidants such as pinocembrin and pinobanksin. The antioxidant content does vary depending upon the floral source and correlates with color. Honey from buckwheat, the darkest honey, was found to have the highest antioxidant content.

Of interest to the person with type II diabetes, the use of honey produces a smaller blood glucose and insulin response than similar amounts of carbohydrate from sucrose. Since honey contains large amounts of fructose it tends to be sweeter (depending upon the temperature) than regular sugar, so that less may be used. However, a tablespoon of honey contains 64 calories from the 17 grams of carbohydrate, while a tablespoon of table sugar contains 45 calories and 12 grams of carbohydrate.

Honey has been used in ancient and recent times as a remedy for burns, ulcers and wound dressings. Some have suggested that honey may help to prevent bacterial colonization of a wound and help in the healing process. Due to its osmotic properties, honey creates a moist wound-healing environment in the form of a solution that does not stick to wound tissues. Honey can reduce inflammation and reduce exudate formation more promptly than standard treatments.

Honey is not recommended for infants under one year of age since honey may contain Clostridium botulinum spores which can germinate, grow and produce a toxin in the colon of infants who do not have a fully developed intestinal microflora, resulting in infant botulism.

The food guide pyramid reminds us that table sugar (sucrose) is a highly refined carbohydrate and should be used sparingly. Likewise, honey is a concentrated sweetening agent composed essentially of sugars. We should not view honey as a vastly superior sweetening agent to be used without restriction.

Read more at the source: How Sweet It Is!

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Healthy Living.

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