Blog Spotlight: Fed Up with Lunch

I believe that one of the main purposes of this blog is to educate my readers on food, lifestyle, health and vitality. However, I am only one person. To provide you with the most information I can, I will periodically be spotlighting relevant blogs that I follow providing you with my thoughts on the blog and how it has impacted me. To implement change in the world, there need to be many rock stars-and we need to all work together! Mrs. Q is an awesome example of a rock star. She is a school teacher who started a blog to grow awareness on what children are eating for lunch at school. Her blog is appropriately called Fed Up with Lunch.

I started following Fed Up with Lunch about 5 months ago and it has been a really enlightening read. The daily posts that include pictures of the lunches and Mrs. Q's reactions before, during and after eating them have really gotten me thinking about what children today eat.

Now, I don't know about you, but I remember school lunches fairly well. As a child on the subsidized school lunch program, I ate lunch daily from the hot food line. My favorite item was the McDonald-like hash browns. I would sometimes even ask a friend for theirs. I remember that there were chicken nugget Wednesdays and pizza Fridays. Sometimes a very salty chicken noodle soup and oyster crackers (probably my second favorite thing at lunch). I recall repeatedly trying to eat the spaghetti with the blue plastic sporks (the ultimate utensil of spoon and fork). I didn't know, much less think, about nutrition. All I knew was that I did not have lunch and had to eat something. I don't remember how much of the food I ate vs. threw away. I do remember that I tried as hard as I could to cut the navel oranges with the flimsy plastic knives that we got or clawed at it with my miniature fingers. Providing oranges without the appropriate tools-how were we supposed to even eat it? The food was awful but looking back, I have to say it was not nutritious either. And word is, the food is even worse now!

Lucky for me, I was able to go home every day and was presented a wonderfully mom-cooked dinner that always had vegetables, fish, rice and soup. And oftentimes, we would end the meal with fruit. However, many children were and are not as fortunate as I was. Their school breakfasts and lunches are the backbones of their nutrition and thus, their health. Today's children are more hyper, less attentive, fatter and sicker than ever before. What is even more awful is that this generation's children are the first to be predicted to live shorter lives than their parents. This is ALL directly attributed to the food they are eating and not eating. There needs to be something done about this!

We each have an obligation to play a role in this unofficial campaign for better health for children. Fed Up with Lunch is Mrs. Q's avenue in expressing herself and her disdain with school lunches. And it's a true indication of a growing population impassioned and empowered to make changes in children's foods and especially, school foods. This population includes First Lady Michelle Obama and her Let's Move program and Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver and his efforts to changes school lunches in the UK and US.

Up until about a month ago, I did not think that imparting changes in schools would be part of my mission as a Health Counselor and citizen. I didn't think it was selfish-I just thought, there are so many ways to spread my efforts, is children's school food one of them? However, between everything I am reading and seeing externally and reflecting upon internally, my perspective has shifted. I mean-DUH-how can I not try to impact something so central as school foods-a system that feeds the future of this country more than 3/4 of the year? I believe the idea of approaching a school has been tough as I am away from my school system and the idea of going to a foreign school district to make changes was a bit too daunting for me. But that doesn't mean I still can't be involved in that area. Instead, I decided will be offering afterschool and summer activities/programs for children and teleclasses to parents and teachers on how they can impact changes into their school systems.  Additionally, I am offering health counseling to families!

You don't have to be a celebrity or a health counselor to impact change. You don’t even have to start a blog! (unless you want to). Start with your family and friends! Take your children to the grocery store with you and show them what to purchase. Start a conversation in your school district! Join the PTA. Start after school programs at your local elementary school. Present to the Girl Scout or Boy Scout troops! Talk to your children's teachers.  Start packing awesome lunches for your kids.  Maybe you can even have your kids start a blog :)


Be a rock star and start rocking the boat! There is so much that you can do too!


If you are a parent, teacher or just someone looking to implement change in your school district, keep an eye out on my blog and events section for teleclasses that I am offering on steps you can take to start make changes.


If you are in the Boston area, look for upcoming film screenings, workshops and events at the South End Branch Library regarding food, nutrition and health and local grocery store tours!

Tip for the Week: Lean with It, Rock with It

Every Sunday I will post a quote, thought, or tip to ease you into Monday and carry you throughout the week. (sorry that today's is a bit late...again...)



So I was supposed to go to a restorative yoga class last night-a type called Yin Yoga which I haven't tried yet and was eager to try.  However, when I went to the studio, the person logging me in said that Yin was at 7:00, not 5:00.  Whoops-I must have misread the schedule!  She stated that there was a Vinyasa class at 5:00, but it is very different from Yin. 
 
This incident-going to a yoga class/studio expecting one type of class and getting another-has happened before.  I always go with the flow.  This is yoga for Pete's sake!! If I can't take a change of class in stride, I've got much bigger issues.  And end result was feeling amazing after a hard workout and being quite sore today.
 
So the tip for this week is to not take things too seriously.  Go with the flow, lean with it-rock with it, what is meant to be will be, it all happens for a reason.  I think that pretty much sums up my personal philosophy :) 
 
I'd love to hear examples of how you have had a light hearted attitude in a similar situation.  Also, anyone notice a similarity between last week's tip and this week's?  First person to get it will get free access to one of my upcoming teleclasses!

Eat Well to Excel Teleclass!

Happy Weekend everyone! I'm really excited to announce a very new development-I'll be hosting my first teleclass this Sunday!  This class is inspired by my friends who have been and are studying for the CFA exam which takes place in June.  Anyone who is studying for a test or trying to use their brain power can benefit from this teleclass.  It will cover tips and tools that you can start implementing today to get the most out of your studies!  Below are the details, or you can check out my Events page!

How would you feel if you passed your big test?

How are you feeling now?

Are your eyes burning?

Brain fried?

Learn how to reap the MOST benefits from your effort!

Don’t let all those hours of studying go to WASTE!

Take action and learn how to Eat and Live WELL to EXCEL!

Eat Well to Excel Teleclass

Takeaways:

   • Usable, simple tools and tips you can start implementing DURING the call

   • Opportunity to have your questions answered

   • Handout summarizing tips from the call

   • Access to the call if you can’t make it

   • A special offer

Don't waste any more time: Sign Up NOW

All you need is a phone!

Sewage Sludge aka Green Smoothie

 drink up! (yes, I reuse glass jars to bring stuff to work...like my mama!:)

You know what I would l absolutely LOVE? No, not flowers or candy. I would LOVE if everyone tried to eat greens at EVERY meal. Yes. Every. Single. One. Lunch is easy-add a salad (no, the lettuce on the Italian sub does not count). For dinner have a side of steamed broccoli or sautéed kale. So that leaves breakfast...sure you can add spinach to your scrambled eggs but what about a green smoothie?  

We all know that smoothies are delicious and chock full of fiber but it also has a good amount of sugar-usually from juice bases or loads of fruit. However, we can replace some of those sugary fruits, amp up the nutritional and fiber-ous value of a normal everyday smoothie by adding in glorious greens, and upgrade your breakfast! I promise that it does not alter the taste of the smoothie, just the color. You can add any green you want (e.g., kale, cilantro, celery, parsley, seaweeds). So far I have used spinach and spirulina powder (it’s a seaweed!) and neither has affected the taste of the smoothie at all. The beauty of smoothies is that you can put ANYTHING you want in there. So dig deep in your freezer for all those bags of frozen fruit. Also, summer is coming up and the warm mornings will be the perfect time to start drinking green smoothies.

I don’t have an exact recipe for the smoothie pictured above (which I've been having the past couple of mornings) but here is approximately what I used to make my sewage sludge green smoothie:

• 1 banana
• ¾ C frozen Trader Joe’s berry mix (includes cherries, blackberries, raspberries, & blueberries)
• 1 T (or more if you want) nut butter (I used Trader Joe’s organic chunky peanut butter)
• 1 T Bob’s Red Mill ground flaxseeds (you can leave out or use chia seeds, if you want)
• ½ C Whole Foods organic rice milk (you can use water if you want or another liquid, use your better judgement)
• 1 T of cocoa powder (the kind used in baking)
• 1-2 C organic spinach
• 1 T spirulina powder (I got mine from the bulk section of a local co-op)
• Add ice and water to your desired consistency.

There are a lot of ingredients listed. Do not feel like you need to use all of them.  Adjust it to your taste and to what you have in your kitchen/pantry.  Also, I used a lot of organic ingredients, and you don’t have to. I specified them to remind you to keep the dirty dozen top of mind when making your purchases. Buy organic ingredients if you can, but remember that a smoothie with non-organic ingredients is better than a bowl of cereal and milk or a triple mocha frappucino for breakfast.

Drink up and get ready to answer questions from inquisitive or grossed our minds :) And please share your favorite or ideal green smoothie “recipes” with me!

Boil Over is Over…

For those of you who didn’t know, Boston was in a state of emergency this weekend into yesterday. A water main broke outside of the city and 2 million residents in the Boston area were urged to boil all of their water for everything but showering/bathing. This included brushing my teeth! The water was contaminated with foreign organisms that could cause diseases, especially in the young and old. It definitely set a damper to my hydration the past couple of days as drinking water was not 100% available. I could only carry so many glass jars of water in my bag for my 30 minute walk to the office. It definitely made me appreciate the technology, infrastructure and operations that are required to bring me clean water every day. As I sipped my first glass of non-boiled, purified water yesterday, I could not be more content. It made me think about those in this world who are not so blessed to be able to have access to clean water and to be adequately hydrated. Did you know:

Water is essential for survival:

• People can survive for up to two months without food, but die within three days without water
• 1.1B people in the world do not have access to safe water, roughly 1/6 of the world’s population-more than 3 times the number of people in the US
• The World Health Organization has estimated that 80% of all sickness and disease in the world is attributable to inadequate water or sanitation
• ~2,000 children a year (~6,000 a day) in developing countries die from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene
• It has been estimated that if clean water were universally available, the world rate of infant mortality could be halved, primarily through eradication of diarrheal diseases.

Women in developing countries spend much time, effort and strength to ensure their families have clean water:

• Women in Africa and Asia walk an average of 6 km (3.7 miles) daily to collect water and carry it on their heads
• In Kenya, 3M women each spend an average of 3 hours a days on the single task to fetching water - that equals 9 million hours daily.
• The weight of water that women in Africa and Asia carry on their heads is the equivalent of your airport luggage allowance (20kg; 44 lbs!). The most a woman can carry in comfort is 15 liters, each liter weighing one kilogram. If she carries only enough water for her family (husband, mother, five children) to survive each day, she would need to fetch about 40 liters. But to keep them all clean and healthy she would need to fetch 200 liters of water every day, which is basically impossible...

The developed world uses way too much water

• One flush of your toilet uses as much water as the average person in the developing world uses for a whole day’s washing, cleaning, cooking AND drinking

We will not have clean water forever-it’s not an unlimited resource

• Projections for 2025 indicate that the number of people living in water-stressed countries will increase to 3 billion – a six-fold increase. Today, 470 million people live in regions where severe shortages exist

(stats courtesy of rehydrate.org)

 

The past couple of days have been a reminder of how precious water is and how good we have it. This brief post has only touched upon several topics of our planet's water issues.  One step that we can personally take care of and with little effort is evaluating our water footprint. Yes...here I go with the footprints again.  I have had the image (below) as a poster at my desk for a couple of years and several co-workers have come over and are shocked by the content. It shows examples of how seemingly small decisions we make leave a very large water footprint. 

(from www.good.is)

Summer is right around the corner; it is a time where we are all tempted to douse ourselves in water, fill our pools, run our sprinklers, and wash our cars. Before doing any of those things, please take the time to think of the impact it will have on the world. Be conservative with your water usage because its not going to be around forever. Be on the lookout for an announcement of my screening of Flow in the Boston area. If you are not in the Boston or are particularly interested in the topic of water conservation and access, I would recommend for you to check out this film.

How do you feel about your usage of water? What can you do to reduce your water footprint?

Tip for the Week: Walk it Out

Every Sunday I will post a quote, thought, or tip to ease you into Monday and carry you throughout the week. (sorry that today's is a bit late)

I spent yesterday afternoon in one of Boston's suburb. I walked from the train stop to a shopping plaza about a mile away and did not run into a single soul on the sidewalk. There were plenty of cars and trucks but no one using the most natural form of transportation: our legs! So that inspired this week's tip: try to walk more this week! Park the car a little further away from where you normally park. You'd probably get to where you are going quicker without circling the parking lot 5 times. Walking is probably the easiest way for us to incorporate more activity into our days and utilize our muscles. Also, walking allows us to slow down and smell the roses! Spring has finally sprung in the Northeast. Enjoy it! Relish it! Soak it in because before you know it, you'll be complaining of the heat and humidity.

What are some ways you are going to incorporate more walking into your routine this week?

Motivating Exercise

Happy May, everyone! I'm going to keep this post short and sweet so that you and I both can enjoy the gorgeous weather that this month is already bringing us in the Northeast!

I wanted to touch a bit on motivation to hit the gym.  We've all had those mornings where we absolutely cannot get out of bed or those afternoons where getting post-work drinks at the rooftop bar is way more enticing than the 3-mile run on the treadmill while watching Rachel Ray cook.   One tactic that I would like to share with you today is a little reminder that I tell myself.  Whenever I feel like I don't want to workout, I remind myself that, "Every time I work-out, I never regret it afterward. I always feel better."  This little mantra is a great way to shift longer term goals like losing 10 pounds or fitting into those pair of pants into short term ones.  By doing that, you will celebrate the smaller victories that eventually accumulate to a larger one.

Hope this resonates with you and helps you get more exercise more often!  What are some tips and tricks you'd like to share about fitting in your workouts?