With peaches in season, you can savor healthy eating at its best! Peaches are packed with natural goodness and they’re not only delicious, but incredibly nutritious. Several major nutrients, including vitamins A (beta-carotene), C and potassium are packed into each peach. Also an excellent source of fiber, peaches are good for blood sugar and keeping cholesterol low. They also provide natural plant compounds called flavonoids, which research suggests may help prevent cancer and heart disease. Today's healthy recipe from the Georgia Peach Commission will make you feel peachy keen!

Makes 15 appetizers

4 boneless chicken breasts
(skin removed)
4 thin slides of baked ham
2 Georgia peaches cut into
1/2-inch thick slices
3/4 cup Peach Honey (see recipe below)
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Place each chicken breast between two sheets of waxed paper and pound with a mallet or use a rolling pin to flatten. Cut chicken breasts in half or into approximately 2 1/2-inch wide slices so that when rolled will be appetizer size. Set aside.

Place ham slices in the center of a peach slice, add one tablespoon of Peach Honey, and one teaspoon of mozzarella cheese. Roll this mixture up and place on chicken breast. Roll up chicken breast and place seam side down in lightly greased baking dish. Place chicken breasts close together to prevent unrolling.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350°. Remove from oven and top each chicken breast with one tablespoon of Peach Honey. Return to 350° oven for 15 minutes or more. Chill before slicing crosswise into 1/2-inch slices.

Peach Honey

Makes eight two oz. servings

5 medium size fresh Georgia peaches, pealed and sliced
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Process peaches in food processor or blender until smooth. Combine peaches and honey in saucepan. Mix together cornstarch, lemon juice and water; add to peach puree and heat until thick and bubbly. Stir in almond extract. Serve with Peach Stuffed Chicken recipe, over ice cream or pancakes.

For more healthy recipes check out the other delicious recipes listed on this blog or visit Green Mountain Healthy Living Recipe Favorites

Tags: peach stuffed chicken, peach recipe, healthy recipe

AP - The first long-term studies of stomach stapling and other radical obesity treatments show that they not only lead to lasting weight loss but also dramatically improve survival. The results are expected to lead to more such operations, possibly for less severely obese people, too.

Reuters - Gastric bypass surgery not only helps obese people drop weight and look better, it also helps them live significantly longer, according to two reports published on Wednesday.

...it weren't so sad. Talking about NutriSystem's current ad campaign. Caught it in last Sunday's Parade magazine. Headline: We Lost the Weight -- Twice! Need I say more? Okay, I will. The ad then goes on to quote two 'success stories' (I call them victims). 'Julie" says she went from a size 14 to a size 6. Again. And Amy says she lost 33 pounds the first time and 23 pounds the second time. Then she exclaims, "This program works!"

Our good friend Josie Leavitt, who holds Humor Weeks at Green Mountain, says to find the humor in a situation because laughing often helps us feel better. But while I can laugh at NutriSystem and what seems like idiocy to me, I also feel like crying at the millions who are probably taken in by this ad. We can be fairly certain that the market research said this was a message that sells.

Tags: healthy weight loss , NutriSystem , permanent weight loss , Josie Leavitt

HealthDay - TUESDAY, Aug. 21 (HealthDay News) -- New research is bolstering the theory that obesity may stem, a least in part, from a common virus -- one that helps create new, heftier fat cells.

“Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.” So say thousands of teenage girls across the country, known as pro-ana’s (anorexia). In their world they look for thinspiration (abbreviated ‘thinspo), from photos of skinny or bony celebrities or models. Sometimes taking the form of celebrities who have lost a great deal of weight. Thinspiration can apparently come from anywhere, books, quotes, song lyrics and films.
Whoa.

Thinspo videos currently number in the thousands on YouTube, FaceBook and MySpace. Accompanied by inspirational messages as the one shared above, which promote the idea of anorexic thinness as the ideal.

In case you feel out of touch (as I did), thinspo as defined by the ever popular online urban dictionary identifies the term as a combination of the words thin and inspiration.
And if you Google ‘thinspo’ you will find as the first link a photobucket account that shares many pictures of emaciated models and actresses accompanied by the following quote:

“View and share thinspo images and thinspo pictures and thinspo videos online. Find a great selection of thinspo photos”

These examples were given are:
Girl 1: My thinspo is this picture of Mary-Kate Olsen.
Girl 2: The Victoria's Secret models are my thinspo.

From the urban dictionary, the slang ‘thinspo’ is used by people suffering from eating disorders to help keep them inspired. Apparently, the idea behind thinspo is that it helps motivate and inspire you to lose weight and become or stay thin.

Thankfully, there is some hopeful news on the cyber-front. More on this story here.

Tags: thinspiration , thinspo , healthy lifestyles , perfectionism .

AP - In the buffet of reasons for why Americans are getting fatter, researchers are piling more evidence on the plate for one still-controversial cause: a virus.

Reuters - A common virus caused human adult stem cells to turn into fat cells and could explain why some people become obese, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Reuters - Obese men have an increased risk of prostate cancer recurrence and death after they have completed radiation therapy, according to results of a study published in the medical journal BJU International.

How often do you find yourself acknowledging that the advice your mother or grandmother gave you was, in fact, based in scientific fact? Advice like, eat your peas and carrots!

New research just came out last week about a recent study from the Archives of Internal Medicine which was designed to see whether taking antioxidant vitamins (in pill form), helped certain women’s heart disease risk. This, because antioxidants have been getting great press over the last several years regarding it’s ability to kill free radicals and help the fight against heart disease. It is believed that antioxidants prevent oxidation where compounds within the body are altered at the molecular level. They then become free radicals, which can place stress on healthy cells.

In question were vitamin C, E and beta carotene and the study revealed antioxidants in pill form offered no heart benefit to women at risk of cardiovascular disease. Foods containing those antioxidants, on the other hand, have been found to reduce heart risk.

So, forget the pills for now, and consider eating lots of citrus fruits, green peppers, broccoli, seeds, nuts, fish, green leafy vegetables, eggs, chicken and garlic, and whole grains.

Just like your mother told you to.

Tags: free radicals , antioxidants , healthy foods , leafy vegetables .