- Author: Chris M. Webb
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics “encourages all Americans to take time during National Nutrition Month to look at their eating patterns…” Nutrition can greatly affect our health. Even small improvements in nutrition can lead to significant health benefits.
Consider taking sometime this month to learn more about the foods you put in your body.
- Empty calories can be okay in small amounts.
- Grains include wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, and barley.
- Dairy foods include all fluid milk products and many foods made from milk.
- Vegetables can be consumed, raw, cooked, fresh, frozen, canned, dried, whole, cut-up, or mashed.
- Fruit can be enjoyed fresh, canned, frozen, dried, whole, cut-up, or pureed.
- Protein foods include meats, poultry, eggs, beans and peas, processed soy products, seafood, and nuts and seeds
USDA’s ChooseMyPlate.gov website is well designed, easy to navigate, and full of information and tips to help you improve your nutrition.
ChooseMyPlate.gov is also available in Spanish.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
The recent issue of UC’s California Agriculture is packed with interesting and informative articles. Two articles help to directly connect farmers and consumers. All articles can be accessed online.
Please see topics below:
- 150 years after Morrill Act, land-grant universities are key to healthy California
- Uncertain future for California’s biomass power plants
- Community Supported Agriculture is thriving in the Central Valley
- UC Cooperative Extension explores a farm-to-WIC program
- Crop rotation and genetic resistance reduce risk of damage from Fusarium wilt in lettuce
- Citrus growers vary in their adoption of biological control (availible only in E-Edition)
- Author: Chris M. Webb
Do you know that California apple producers grow more varieties than any other state west of the Rocky Mountains? In addition to those grown in commercial orchards, apples can be grown at home in many areas of California.
UC ANR’s free publication, Apples: Safe methods to store, preserve, and enjoy provides practical information and advice to get the most out of this delicious and nutritious fruit.
Topics include:
- Nutrition
- Growing apples in the home garden
- Selecting apples from the home garden or pick-your-own site
- Selecting apples at the grocery store
- Storing fresh apples
- Safety tips for handling
- Methods for preserving
- Freezing
- Drying
- Canning
- Recipes
- Author: Chris M. Webb
USDA’s ChooseMyPlate.gov website is full of great ideas to improve nutrition. Part of the site includes the Ten Tips Nutrition Education Series. This series provides clear, concise, and easy to follow tips designed to lead people towards better health and nutrition.
ChooseMyPlate.gov encourages visitors to their website to “choose a change that you can make today, and move toward a healthier you.”
Currently the Ten Tips Nutrition Education Series contains the following topics:
- Choose MyPlate
- Add More Vegetables to Your Day
- Focus on Fruits
- Make Half Your Grains Whole
- Got Your Dairy Today?
- With Protein Foods, Variety Is Key
- Build a Healthy Meal
- Healthy Eating for Vegetarians
- Smart Shopping for Veggies and Fruits
- Liven up Your Meals With Vegetables and Fruits
- Kid-Friendly Veggies and Fruits
- Be a Healthy Role Model for Children
- Cut Back on Your Kid’s Sweet Treats
- Salt and Sodium
Looking for ways to prepare these foods? The USDA has many great recipes for low cost, healthy meals. Recipes can be found at the ChooseMyPlate.gov website, in their downloadable online cookbook, Recipes and Tips for Healthy, Thrifty Meals, and at the Recipe Finder database.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
The dry bean is an amazing and inexpensive food source. Costing just pennies per serving, beans are the only food listed in the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans which counts as both a vegetable and a protein.
An ever growing body of research suggests that beans promote good health and may even reduce the risk of several diseases.
Studies show that beans:
- Increase both soluble and insoluble fiber in the diet
- May reduce the risk of cancer
- Aide in weight loss and maintenance
- May improve blood vessel function and cardiac health
- Contain many key nutrients necessary for optimum health including folate, manganese, magnesium, potassium, and iron
- May protect against the development of type 2 diabetes
- Are cholesterol and fat free
- May increase general health and longevity
- And much more
As an added bonus dried beans have a long storage life.
But what about…flatulence? Many people avoid eating beans due to the fear of gas and bloating. The same bean properties that cause gas, also provide some of beans’ benefits – including stimulating healthy gut flora. Research has shown that people who experienced gas and bloating after introducing beans to their diets, no longer had the problem after two to four weeks of regular bean consumption.
To learn more about the benefits of beans, including cooking instructions and delicious recipes, please visit the US Dry bean Council or the California Dry Bean Board.