- 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.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
In an effort to encourage composting and rain water harvesting, the County of Ventura Integrated Waste Management, Ventura Countywide Stormwater Quality Management Program and local Ventura County cities are sponsoring a compost bin and rain barrel truckload sale.
Composting and rain water harvesting provide many environmental benefits, including reducing urban runoff. As an added bonus these practices can also help save money.
The truckload sale is available to all County of Ventura residents. Bins and barrels will be available at less than half the regular price. The sale will be held at the County of Ventura Government Center on Saturday, October 22, 2011. To learn more, please see their flyer.
The County of Ventura Integrated Waste Management Division website has many other fabulous resources for residents looking to improve the environmental health of their communities.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
Learn how to make low cost and healthy meals with the USDA’s free online cookbook Recipes and Tips for Healthy, Thrifty Meals.
In addition to 40 quick and easy recipes, sample menus, shopping lists are included along with basic cooking and food safety guidance. All menus conform to the recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the USDA Food Guide Pyramid.
USDA cookbook image
- Author: Chris M. Webb
The national Cooperative Extension System has an incredibly informative and interesting website. From their site:
“eXtension is an interactive learning environment delivering the best, most researched knowledge from the smartest land-grant university minds across America. eXtension connects knowledge consumers with knowledge providers – experts who know their subject matter inside out.”
Current resource areas are broken down in the following way:
- Alerts
- Community -- including planning, zoning, geospatial technology
- Disaster Issues -- including agrisecurity, floods, wildfire
- Energy -- including farm, home and wood energy
- Family -- including food safety, parenting, personal finance
- Farm -- including bee healthy, dairy, organic agriculture
- Pest management -- including pest management in and around structures, wildlife damage management
- Youth – science, engineering and technology for youth
In addition to a wide assortment of articles, an Ask the Experts section is also available for people to ask questions. Some of the resources are also available in Spanish.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
Saving money has recently become a very popular topic of conversation. And people are doing more than simply talking about saving money: the savings rate in the US is currently higher than it has been for years.
Do you want to get started saving too, but don’t know quite where to start? Or you’ve already caught the savings bug and want to learn how to save even more? The website America Saves is a great place to get good ideas and encouragement. This site can be found by clicking http://www.americasaves.org/ or by clicking on the Saving and Managing Your Money button on our home page.
Below are two of many easy suggestions on the site for saving money.
- Save your loose change. Putting aside fifty cents a day over the course of a year will allow you to save nearly 40% of a $500 emergency fund.
- Eat out one fewer time each month. If it costs you $25 to eat out, but only $5 to eat in, then the $20 you save each month allows you to almost completely fund a $500 emergency savings account
The site is full of great ideas and information, and best of all it is free!
