Sometimes it pays to do what you are supposed to do. While waiting for my car to be serviced the other day, I started leafing through professional journals to see if I was missing any important new info. Nothing really big popped up, but I did discover a short article that listed a variety of resources to help people with planning healthy meals. That's a big question that comes up frequently at Green Mountain at Fox Run -- do we really need to plan menus and, if so, help!

The answer to the first question is a resounding yes. Although planning can be very different than many of us think. Instead of the written-in-stone menus that we might be familiar with -- you know, monday at breakfast, lunch or dinner i'll eat this, tuesday i'll eat that, etc... -- meal planning can be as simple as putting together a list of foods you know you like, and making sure to keep ingredients for those meals on hand. Of course, it also helps to think about other things that impact whether we get around to putting a meal on the table, like time and energy. So it's also a good idea to include in our lists quick and easy meals, or dishes that we can make for more than one meal, and freeze or just keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days until we feel like eating it again.

The second question -- the how -- I just answered to an extent. But I also wanted to share these resources for healthy eating. These are good for people who are trying to achieve healthy weights, manage PCOS, stay on a Type 2 diabetes program for management, or any other the myriad of problems that what we eat has an impact on. Here are some of my favorite resources for healthy menu planning from the article I read:

- Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension -- Popularly known as the DASH diet, this plan is about healthy eating for more diet-related problems than high blood pressure (hypertension). The booklet this link takes you to has a lot of info on cutting calories (which regular readers of this blog will know we have a problem with -- the focus on calories, not the actual reduction of intake, that is). So just ignore that focus, and instead take in all the good info on healthy eating it contains. You can download a pdf of the booklet, which gives you a week's worth of menus and easy-to-prepare recipes.

- Cooking with Google -- Just type in the ingredients you have on hand into the Google search engine, and it will come back with dozens of recipes for you to try. My favorite -- and generally dependable to be good -- are from Food Network.

- National Diabetes Education Program Meal Planner -- This is a basic primer for people with diabetes, and contains some pretty good sounding recipes, too. If you're an old hand at planning healthy meals for diabetes, it's probably too basic for you.

- Cooking Safely in the Microwave Oven -- Full of good info to help us do what it says. As far as making it taste good, well, you're on your own. I know a lot of people swear by cooking in the microwave; I reserve it for heating up and cooking vegetables. So if you have any great-tasting microwave dishes, please, let us know!

Those are just a few resources to get us started. A Google search could probably turn up many more. So happy hunting...and cooking!

Tags: healthy eating , Type 2 diabetes program , menu planning , PCOS

HealthDay - THURSDAY, Nov. 29 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Association of Children's Museums are teaming up on a program to combat the obesity epidemic among America's children.

AP - A man who says he was not allowed to adopt a child because he is obese and underwent gastric bypass surgery to lose weight attended a second adoption hearing on Thursday.

For the next few posts I will give an explanation of some of the ingredients of Crave, starting today with Hoodia.

Hoodia is a genus (organism) of 13 species in the flowering plant family Apocynaceae.  Coming from Africa, it can kill the appetite and attack obesity.

The San Bushmen of the Kalahari, one of the world's oldest and most primitive tribes, have been eating the Hoodia for thousands of years, to stave of hunger during long hunting trips.

When South African scientists were routinely testing it, they discovered the plant contained a previously unknown molecule, which has been christened P57.

Research on P57 show how it works:

There is a part of your brain, the hypothalamus. Within that mid-brain there are nerve cells that sense glucose sugar. When you eat, blood sugar goes up because of the food, these cells start firing and now you are full. What the Hoodia seems to contain is a molecule that is about 10,000 times as active as glucose.

It goes to the mid-brain and actually makes those nerve cells fire as if you were full. But you have not eaten. Nor do you want to eat.

When the first human clinical trial was conducted, a morbidly obese group of people were placed in a ''phase 1 unit'', a place as close to a prison as it gets. All the volunteers could do all day was read papers, watch television, and eat.

Half were given Hoodia, half placebo. Fifteen days later, the Hoodia group had reduced their calorie intake by 1000 a day. It was a stunning success.

The plant is said to have a feel-good almost aphrodisiac quality, and people who have tried it, say they have felt good afterwards.

It has become a common problem to maintain weight. If you are overweight but still do not get nightmares then you are lucky. Obesity can really haunt people like a ghost. There are many methods to get rid of this problem, but let us focus on one thing this time and discuss about herbal weight loss pills for obesity treatment.

One herbal pill that comes to everybody’s notice, time and again is Hoodia. Hoodia is popular herbal weight loss pill. It is not only a drug but also a leading appetite suppressant used by people worldwide. In its first clinical trial (normally herbal pills do not go though clinical trials, but this one did), a group of morbidly obese people placed in a closed-off area, where their activities include only reading, watching television, and eating. Half of the people took Hoodia Gordonii, and the remaining took other diet pills. After fifteen days, the group, which was on Hoodia, had reduced their calorie intake by 1000 Kcal a day. Important thing to mention here is that these people lost weight without dieting and exercising. This is an amazing result.

There are no second thoughts for the effectiveness of Hoodia diet pills. Hoodia is effective in suppressing the feeling of hunger, and it has no known side effects. Hoodia diet pills are neither stimulating nor addictive. The main thing you need to keep in mind before buying these herbal weight loss pills is to buy a genuine pill.

Points to remember

• If your supplier does not give you any guarantee, it may indicate you are buying badly processed Hoodia
• Some suppliers sell cheap Hoodia because they process the whole of the plant. The skin of the Hoodia can account for up to 40% of the weight of the plant. Whenever you buy Hoodia, always take care they are made from core/stem/heart of the plant. All Hoodia diet pills do not necessarily have 100% Hoodia stem
• Hoodia is the name given for a group of plants. The Hoodia Gordonii is the plant within the family that you should buy. Make sure the supplier clearly mentions Hoodia Gordonii on the label
• Due to the popularity of these diet pills, there are many companies jumping on the Hoodia bandwagon. Therefore, do some researches about Hoodia diet pills, before you start weight loss treatment
• People under the age of 18 and those with high blood pressure should not take Hoodia diet pills. Pregnant women and nursing mothers should also stay away from these diet pills

If you are serious about reducing weight, then you can try herbal weight loss pills in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise program.

Hoodia Chewing Gum

Dieting has been long associated with nasty hunger pangs, feeling of loss and failure. Most experts discard unaided dieting for weight loss alleging it to be too dangerous and too painful. But with the arrival of Hoodia chewing gum, the scenario has changed and the million dollar question is – will dieting be as dangerous and as painful as before?

Well, rhetorically speaking, the odds are in the favour of Hoodia chewing gum and dieting and weight loss. The ingredients Hoodia in this amazing diet gum has proven its efficacy over and over again and once cynical people are now becoming firm believers of Hoodia diet gums.

Hoodia diet gums make dieting a cakewalk. The hunger pangs, sense of deprivation and feeling of failure are all gone when you chew away the tasty, mint-flavoured Hoodia diet gum. This diet gum works as a tasty appetite suppressant and you will not even feel like you’re missing out on food and sacrificing good things in life. When you take the Hoodia diet gum you will not be even tempted if your favourite pancakes are lying in front of you. Dieting will become amazingly easier and simpler.

Who thought one can lose weight with chewing gums? It is hyper-imaginative to come up with something as revolutionary as a diet gum and truly hats off to clever people who thought of it.

Hoodia chewing gum contains a naturally occurring appetite suppressant molecule, which is now clinically called P57. This molecule is derived from Hoodia plant which is native to South African Kalahari deserts. The native tribesmen of this region have been chewing the Hoodia plant for hundreds of years to curb their diet.

The same principle applies to Hoodia chewing gums and today we can have the age-old, tried and tested slimming formula, right here at our doorsteps.

Hoodia diet gum is cost-effective of all Hoodia products and shows the same effectiveness like them. Hoodia diet gums also remove the inconvenience of taking Hoodia slimming pills on scheduled hours. This diet gums make dieting very easy as you can start chewing these gums away whenever you feel hungry and curb your hunger.

The mint taste diet gums also add flavour to dieting and enable you to enjoy dieting without having to put bland or bitter dieting pills. Also Hoodia diet gums are inconspicuous as know one can suspect that you are dieting while chewing away a gum!

 

 

AP - Ivonne Borrero liked that her son's teacher was pushing him to do good work. She just didn't like the rewards: The pizza parties and Burger King coupons weren't helping 11-year-old Jose's waistline.

AFP - After rising steadily for a quarter century, the rate of obesity in the United States appears to be leveling off, although it remains alarmingly high, a US government report concluded Thursday.

Invited to another holiday buffet and wondering how you can still eat healthily? Make it it easy on yourself and enjoy the holiday festivities without overindulging. Here are two great tasting, festive and healthy recipe ideas from Green Mountain at Fox Run's Recipes for Living cookbook to bring to the party.

Hummus
(Makes about 1 ½ cups)

1 can (15 ounces) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
½ cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
½ teaspoon salt
Pepper

Place all ingredients in food processor. Cover and process until smooth. (Hummus will keep in refrigerator for about a week). Serve with fresh veggies such as carrots, red pepper, jicama and pea pods and toasted whole-grain pita wedges*.

*To make toasted pita wedges, heat oven to 375 ° f., cut pita bread in quarters, lightly brush with olive oil and place on a cookie sheet; bake about 15 minutes.

Yogurt Dip
(Makes about 1 cup dip)

1 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mix all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Serve with fresh fruit such as apple and pear wedges.

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

Tags: yogurt dip, healthy holiday appetizers, healthy recipe, hummus dip

HealthDay - WEDNESDAY, Nov. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Obesity among American adults hasn't increased much in recent years, but there are still far too many adults who are overweight, a new federal study reports.

AP - Obesity rates in U.S. women seem to be staying level, and the rate in men may be hitting a plateau now, too, according to a new government report released Wednesday.