by Paula on August 23, 2009
photo by e-magic
How would you like it if someone handed you a
magic potion for good health? A secret investment scheme that would help you to be able to pay for your health care without worrying about the cost of prescription drugs? What if I were a late-night QVC host selling a product that could prevent many of the conditions that we no accept as a “normal” part of aging? Would you buy it?
Most people would – it sounds pretty good. How much would you be willing to pay? Four easy payments of $39.95? Or maybe $99.95? Maybe you already pay $40 a bottle for the “magic” acai berry juice that’s supposed to be good for anything that ails you.
What if I offered to give it to you for free? The only catch is that it’s like an investment. You have to put something in every day while you’re young in order to reap the rewards when you’re older. Still interesed? (If a peek at our finances is any indication, you may be running away by now!)
Well, here it is…
“The potential impact of healthy diet, when you combine it with not smoking and regular physical activity, is enormous. For example, our studies have shown that we could prevent about 82 percent of heart attacks, about 70 percent of strokes, over 90 percent of type 2 diabetes, and over 70 percent of colon cancer, with the right dietary choices as part of a health lifestyle. The best drugs can reduce heart attacks by about 20 or 30 percent, yet we put almost all of our resources into promoting drugs rather than healthy lifestyle and nutrition.”
The author of this comment, Dr. Walter Willett, is professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, a professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School, and the author of Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating. You can find the full text of Dr. Willett’s comments here.
photo by marksteelenz
Anybody still out there? Are you still interested? All you have to do is eat right, exercise, and avoid smoking. How hard can that be? Sure, it’s harder than taking a pill, but it’s cheaper than the funny-tasting juice at $40 a bottle and has a better track record.
People will ask, why worry? I can do what I want to do now, and medical science will fix me later. But I ask, what’s your quality of life like when you’re testing your blood sugar 10 times a day? Or sleeping with a CPAP machine at night? Or maybe recovering from open-heart surgery? Did you know that keeping your weight and cholesterol in check can eliminate much of the need for Viagra? It’s all about the circulation, guys!
Think of all the money you’ll save! Think of all the fun you can have in your life knowing that your health is good, your heart is strong and you don’t need to pack your prescriptions when you go out of town!
Don’t tell me about all the endurance athletes you’ve read about who drop dead in a race, or the football players who collapse in practice. I’m not talking about athletics that push your body beyond it’s limits. I’m talking about “see your doctor first and get a gym membership” athletics. Run a 5K athletics or maybe a half-marathon if you’re in really good shape. Lift some weights, ladies! Eat less sugar and salt, put down the remote and the cheeseburger and get outside. Stop watching reality TV and live a reality life.
Change your life, live your life – all the way to the end.
by Paula on August 14, 2009
photo courtesy of specialkrb
Ever since my boys were young, they’ve taken a lunch from home to school. They would sometimes eat the cafeteria food, but didn’t really like it all that much. Now that they are in middle and high school, they don’t particularly like waiting in the long lines to get food. The middle school actually divides the 45 minute lunch periods into two half-lunches in order to have room to seat everyone, so my younger son gets about 20 minutes to eat. Waiting in line can leave him with a mere 10 minutes to gulp down what is essentially a fast food lunch.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t really think in the morning until I’ve had two cups of coffee so I’m afraid the kids end up with way too many boring sandwiches with cold cuts and some lettuce. This year, I’m on a mission (again) to find great foods for school lunches that I can make ahead of time for early morning assembly with one hand, while drinking coffee and wrangling teenagers with the other. It needs to be easy and quick to assemble at 5:30 in the morning, nutritious, low in saturated fat, filling, tasty and easy on the wallet. It’s a pretty tall order, all before the caffeine has kicked in! I have found a few things, and will be making up some on the fly. I thought I’d feature some of the teenager taste-tested best here on the blog, and so I present recipe #1:
Chicken Satay Wrap
Chicken Sate Wrap
I found this recipe on www.myrecipes.com. It’s from Cooking Light magazine so the nutritional content is in line with what I’m looking for (about 325 calories per serving). The flavors of (light) coconut milk, peanut butter and chicken are appetizing, and there is a good amount of vegetables worked in as well.The boys love it, and I’ve taken it to work myself so I can say from experience that the wrap doesn’t get soggy before you have a chance to eat it.
I substituted whole wheat tortillas – mine have about 80 calories each and 12 grams of fiber, which improves the nutritional profile. I also cooked chicken breast instead of buying a rotisserie chicken. The recipe makes 4 servings, so here’s how the costs add up (numbers are cost of quantity used in the recipe):
Chicken, $2.25 (I buy mine at Costco)
Coconut milk, $0.56 ($1.69 per can, makes three recipes)
Green onions, $0.79 (1 bunch)
Carrots, $1.08 (I did buy shredded ones for convenience)
Tortillas, $1.24 (Costco again, 16 whole-wheat tortillas for around $5.00)
Slaw, $0.50 (shredded and bagged for convenience, you can shred your own for less)
Soy sauce, vinegar, spices – from my pantry.
Total cost for four servings, $6.42 or about $1.60 per serving! This was so easy and tasty that I made extra seasoned chicken to put in the freezer for another week’s lunch down the line. Now I don’t have left-over coconut milk that might not otherwise be used. Add an apple and a handful of nuts and I’ve got happy boys with full bellies, and the satisfaction of knowing that I have, once again, defeated pizza! 
I’d like to know what you do about the school lunch issue. Does your school system actually make healthy food? Do you have a favorite school lunch idea?
