Posts Tagged: nutrition
A good breakfast is a back-to-school staple
It's the most wonderful time of the year! Kids are going back to school and the media are covering the joyful moment with UC expertise.
For the Redding Record-Searchlight, that means providing advice on back-to-school breakfasts. Freelance writer Debra Moore spoke to three experts, including UC Cooperative Extension nutrition educator Lori Cocker.
"Breakfast on the go can mean using dinner leftovers, or serving fresh fruit and low-fat yogurt, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole grain bread, or anything healthy wrapped in a tortilla," Coker was quoted in the story. "Brown rice pudding with or without raisins, and whole grain hot cereal with fruit are also good options."
Even in hectic homes, Cocker said there's time to eat a nutritious meal before school."The key is to plan ahead and have things in the house that are ready to go or that are at least quick and simple," she told the reporter.
Other healthful breakfast ideas mentioned in the story:
- A cheese stick and a glass of milk
- A piece of toast with peanut butter
- A high fiber, low sugar breakfast bar
- Mickey Mouse whole wheat pancakes with fresh strawberries
- Omelets loaded with veggies
(USDA photo)
Groceries cost more for the poor
The Fresno Bee devoted more than 2,000 words on Saturday to a sad but real paradox in the San Joaquin Valley. Low-income people pay more for their food than people who make more money.The prime reason: low-income areas aren't served by large supermarkets, forcing people with limited transportation to purchase staples like bread and milk at corner markets and convenience stores.
The first expert cited in the lengthy piece was UC Cooperative Extension nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor Connie Schneider.
She said poor people know they are paying exorbitant prices for food at small stores, but the next opportunity to shop at a supermarket could be weeks away.
"When you're hungry, you're looking at something to fill a stomach," Schneider was quoted.
Fresno Bee writers Barbara Anderson and Bethany Clough delineated the fallout from inadequate access to healthy food:
- The risk of obesity and chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, increases, straining health-care resources
- Children without proper nutrition become sicker, stay sick longer and miss more days of school
- Lower academic performance leads to higher dropout rates and to more adults without the skills necessary to secure well-paying jobs
The story seems to have struck a cord with area readers. As of Monday morning, 25 comments had been posted, many of them expressing frustration at being faced with a problem that has no easy solution.
Wrote one: "Maybe the two writers of this article could open a grocery store in a poor neighborhood. They could then sell healthy food for a loss instead of implying that the major chains are somehow at fault for not doing so. Contrary to what the writers seem to think, grocery stores are not charities. The stores actually have to show a profit to stay in business."
UC scientist OK with overweight surgeon general-designate
Retired UC Berkeley nutrition specialist Joanne Ikeda didn't mince words when she commented about the woman President Obama has nominated to be the nation's surgeon general. The nominee, Dr. Regina Benjamin, is a McArthur genius grant recipient, holds advanced degrees in medicine and business administration, and runs her own family practice medical clinic in rural Alabama that treats predominantly low income patients.
But by all accounts, she is overweight.
"I thank God that Dr. Regina Benjamin is a fat woman," Ikeda was quoted in The Daily Voice, Black America's daily news source. "Maybe now we will stop making the assumption that all fat people are unhealthy particularly in light of new data coming from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey."
The comment was picked up by Huffington Post columnist Linda Bergthold.
According to media reports, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey has data that show more than half of people labeled overweight are metabolically healthy, compared to about a quarter who are what the survey calls “metabolically abnormal.”
The study points out that examination of metabolic health — blood pressure, cholesterol, sugar levels — are better predictors for future health problems.
A White House photo of Dr. Regina Benjamin.
'Prevention' magazine features ANR expert
An article in the July 2009 issue of Prevention magazine is based on information from UC Davis Cooperative Extension post harvest specialist Marita Cantwell. The magazine, with a national circulation of 3.2 million, doesn't appear to put all its articles in the online version; I couldn't find this one.
The two-page feature, titled "Keep Produce Fresh Longer" and written by Stephanie Breakstone, gives up-to-date advice on preventing fruit and vegetable spoilage with specific information about watermelon, grapes, fresh herbs, tomatoes, berries and leafy greens. Cantwell suggests grapes, fresh herbs and leafy greens be wrapped in paper towels to absorb moisture. Grapes and berries should be washed just before eating.
The article referred readers to a page on its Web site for more information: http://prevention.com/storage, but I couldn't find any information there about fresh fruits and vegetables.
UC ANR nutrition professor still eats the other white meat
Elena Conis of the Los Angeles Times "Nutrition Lab" was puzzled when pork, billed for years as "the other white meat," was lumped in with beef for a study that linked their high consumption to heart disease and death.
According to Conis' story, the pork industry adopted the white meat slogan after breeding leaner pigs in the 1970s. Scientists, however, generally consider "white" meat to be poultry and "red" meat to come from mammals because saturated fat is generally higher in mammal meat than in fowl.
"If this sounds really confusing, that's because it is," Conis quoted UC Davis nutrition professor Judy Stern. "Heck, I'm confused."
Authors of the new study, which was published in the March Archives of Internal Medicine, haven't nailed down the reason why a diet high in red and processed meats (including pork) was linked to a higher death risk, particularly from heart disease and cancer. They speculated that the association was due to high levels of saturated fat in meat generally, presence of cancer-causing compounds formed in meats cooked at high temperatures, or the fact that people who eat more meat may eat fewer fruits and vegetables, the article said.
Stern told the reporter that she'll still eat pork, but not every day. "Will this study change the way I eat pork? No," she was quoted.
The story also appeared on Newsday.com.
Swine.