Eat Out Eat Well

Rx: Apples And Some Broccoli

By Leave a Comment

A sample prescription

A Prescription For Veggies?

Yea for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the docs at three medical centers who are writing prescriptions for produce for families with weight problems.

Families with low incomes get coupons for produce that they can redeem at local farmers’ markets. The value of a coupon is $1 per person per day. It seems like a small amount, but with the coupons a family of four can get $120 of fresh produce  a month.

What’s The Rationale?

This objective is to get kids to increase their fruit and veggies by one serving a day.  It is also seen as a opportunity to introduce the children, who have a limited range of exposure, to real food.  The coupon is somewhat symbolic – the $1 coupon competes with the 99 cent fast food meals so familiar to these kids.

Obesity Has Tripled

According to the CDC, childhood obesity has more than tripled over the last 30 years.   Sedentary lifestyles and limited access to fresh, healthy food are seen as reasons for this rapid increase. Along with handing out the coupons, the doctors will follow the families receiving the coupons to determine how their eating patterns are affected.  They will also monitor health parameters like weight and body mass index (BMI).

The hope is, too, that the families become invested in good nutritional practices by hanging out with both the farmers and the consumers at the farmers’ market – and that they then develop a preference for shopping at these types of markets rather than fast food restaurants, supermarkets, big box and convenience stores.

Will It Help Farmers’ Markets, Too?

It may also help the farmers’ markets compete with the fast food vendors who entice kids and families with cheap calories and cheap meals.

The number of farmers’ markets has dramatically increased: from 1,755 in 1994 to more than 5,200.  Although US farmers’ markets generate over $1 billion in annual sales, they are low on the totem pole compared to the fast food industry which brought in over $22.79 billion in 2008.

Healthy Eating Patterns And Lifestyles

As the mayor of Boston said, “When I go to work in the morning, I see kids standing at the bus stop eating chips and drinking a soda.  I hope this will help them change their eating habits and lead to a healthier lifestyle.”

An Apple A Day . . .

By Leave a Comment

An Apple A Day . . .

Keeps the doctor away!  How often have you heard that – and who said such a thing?

It seems to be a variant of a Welsh proverb, published in 1866, equating eating an apple when going to bed and keeping the doctor from earning his bread.

What’s So Special About Apples?

Magical and aphrodisiac powers are attributed to lots of foods and the apple doesn’t disappoint – remember the Garden of Eden? Ancient Greeks would toss an apple to propose to a woman. Catching it signaled acceptance.

Apples are good for you. They grow in every state in the continental US.  They have Vitamin C and flavonoids (antioxidants) to help immune function and aid in preventing heart disease and some cancers.

They reduce tooth decay by cleaning your teeth and killing off bacteria. They are easily digestable and their high fiber content adds bulk that helps the digestive process. They have pectin, a soluble fiber, that encourages the growth of good bacteria in your digestive tract.They are a good source of potassium, folic acid, and vitamin C.

What Makes An Apple An Apple?

Apple flavor is a blend of tart, sweet, bitter, and that distinct apple aroma — a mysterious blend of 250 trace chemicals naturally contained in the fruit.  The sweetness comes from the  9 – 12% sucrose and fructose content.

A medium apple weighs about 5 ounces, has around 81 calories and 3.7 grams of fiber from pectin, a soluble fiber. Unpeeled apples have their most plentiful nutrients just under the skin.

Popular Apples Found In Markets:

  • Braeburn:  sweet/tart flavor; yellow with red stripe/blush; firm, great for snacking. Season: October to July.
  • Crispin: sweet flavor; green-yellow; firm, great for snacking and pies. Season: October to September.
  • Empire: sweet/tart flavor; solid red, crisp, great for snacking and salads. Season: September to July.
  • Fuji: sweet/spicy flavor; red blush, yellow stripes/green; crisp, great for snacking, salads and freezing. Season: Year round.
  • Gala: sweet flavor; red-orange, yellow stripe; crisp, great for snacking, salads, sauce and freezing. Season:  August to March.
  • Golden Delicious: sweet; yellow-green; crisp, great as a snack, in salads, sauce and pies. Season: Year round.
  • Granny Smith: tart and green; occasionally has a pink blush; crispy, great for baking, snacking, sauces, pies and salads. Season: Year round.
  • Honeycrisp: sweet/tart flavor; mottled red over a yellow background; crisp, best for snacking, salads, pies, sauce and freezing. Season: September to February.
  • Jonathan: spicy and tangy; light red stripes over yellow or deep red; less firm and good for pies and baking. Season: September to April.
  • McIntosh: tangy; red and green; tender and best for snacking, sauce and pies. Season: September to July.
  • Red Delicious: sweet; can be striped to solid red; crisp; good for snacking and salads.  Season: Year-round.
  • Rome: sweet; deep, solid red; firm and great for sauce, baking and pies. Season: October to September.

SocialDieter Tip:

Basic apple info: Try to find apples that haven’t been waxed. Farmers’ markets are probably the best places to look. You might want to peel the skin off if it is waxed.

Wash your apple thoroughly before eating or cutting it up to decrease the amount of pesticide residue or bacterial contaminants.

Keep apples in the fridge to keep them in their best shape and so they last longer. Unrefrigerated they get mushy in two or three days. Apples should be firm and blemish-free.

Cut apples will turn brown, a result of oxidation.  To prevent that, toss them with citrus juice — oranges, lemons, and limes all work equally as well.

No Apples From My Apple Tree

By Leave a Comment

An Apple A Day?

Fall is right around the corner and apple season is picking up steam.  At my local farmers market, the different types of apples are outnumbering (sadly, from my point of view) the peaches, nectarines, plums, and berries.

All of those apples in their red, green, and yellow coats are a reminder of my wonderful old apple tree.

My Magnificent Tree

I’m still in mourning for my apple tree.  We had this old, old tree in our front yard that was a prodigious producer of apples. Hundreds of them.  Bright red and medium in size.  I once brought one to my favorite fruit guy to try to identify its variety. “Old fashioned” is what I was told.  Not a hybrid or genetically engineered (I’m kidding) or a fancy new variety.  Just an old fashioned apple.

I loved my tree.  I nursed it for 21 years.  When I moved into this house it stood proud – and gnarly — along the driveway.  I had a great view of it from my kitchen window.  It had not been properly taken care of for a long time.

A Call To The Tree Doctor

The tree guys cabled the tree’s outreaching branches – and cabled it some more —  to keep the heavy load from the apples from splitting the branches from the trunk.  Five cables at last count.  Over the years we lost big, big branches, the size of tree trunks. But we fed the tree and trimmed it and, in return, it lovingly produced hundreds of apples that made for wonderful eating and loads of applesauce.  The garbage man and the mailman would stop each fall and ask if they could have some.  “Be my guest – we have plenty.”

The Tree Gave As Good As It Got

Innumerable deer and deer babies feasted on the apples and the sweet apple leaves, at once annoying but beautiful.  Driving into the driveway at dusk meant turning in slowly to make sure happily munching deer wouldn’t bolt in front of the car.

Scores of people have had to duck their heads walking onto the front lawn to avoid getting poked in the eye by the branches with kinks and turns.  Lawn mowers learned quite quickly:  beware the tree and its low hanging branches.

The Tree Is Down

My wonderful tree survived a horrendous March storm this year that left more than 40 local roads impassable from downed trees and wires and left my house without power for five days.  What a stalwart.

Then, in the middle of summer, on a bright sunny day, I walked outdoors and the tree was lying on its side, broken low on its very wide trunk, surrounded by an array of baby apples – like they were paying homage to the queen.

Despair.  I called for chain saw help.  I really wanted to save some of the magnificent branches,  “To do what?” my husband asked.  There are times when I really hate practical questions.  I needed a remembrance.

The Yard Needs A New Tree

Since the tree presided over the front lawn from such a pivotal spot – and to just plain feel better – I paid a visit to my local nursery that afternoon.  I thought about replacing my tree with another apple tree, but nothing could do that, both emotionally and physically.  Anyway, my type of tree really isn’t bred for nurseries any longer – newer apple trees are stronger and more impervious to a whole list of plagues.

Logic prevailed.  My tree had needed deep root feeding and spraying every year.  It attracted families of deer.  Lots of Mama deer feasted on apples and leaves to feed their offspring.  Then the offspring got big enough to chow down by themselves.  The deer, wonderful to look at, provide transportation for ticks (Lyme disease is a scourge where I live) and they eat everything in sight, not just apples.

Back Home To A Vacant Spot

By the time I got home from the nursery, man with chain saw had done his work, and what was once my beautiful tree was now a heap of branches, leaves, and baby apples in the back of a dump truck.  I couldn’t even rescue some intact gnarly old branches.

But looking at the heap of wood in the back of the dump truck confirmed that my tree had been strong and determined.  Its massive trunk was hollow.  It had been hanging on – cables and all –through sheer willpower, or treepower, if you will, for a long, long time.

An Adolescent Copper Beech

A  magnificent copper beech in the making (when it grows some more)   — its pyramidal branching structure covered in coppery leaves reaching toward the sky – now stands where the queen once reigned.

I’ve always loved the majesty of copper beeches – they seem gentle and at peace with themselves.  There are quite a few enormous ones around my town, so I have hopes that my copper beech will reside in its new home for many years.  My kitchen window frames a new view– and my family will make memories with this tree, too.

It was heartening when the FedEx delivery man, completely unsolicited, made a point of telling me, just last week, that he really misses the apple tree every time he drives down my driveway.  It’s nice to know that my tree made memories for more than just me and my family.  What a legacy.

Friday’s Post

Check out my post on Friday.   It’s apple season, and even though I won’t have a harvest in my front yard, I’ll give you some thoughts on an old question:  Does an apple a day really keep the doctor away?

What Button Do You Push On The Vending Machine?

By Leave a Comment

Are you facing a long car ride — punctuated by innumerable rest stops — this Labor Day weekend?  Many of the roads I  travel have “Welcome to Massachusetts or New Hampshire or Maine,” in front of a New England style structure with bathrooms and a line-up of vending machines.

What Number And Letter Button Do You Push?

Whether out of boredom or hunger when you’re confronted with a similar line-up, index finger ready to punch the letter and number of your chosen indulgence, what do you ultimately choose?

I have to be honest, I love vending machines – I have since I was a kid and spent a nickel to get cardboard packages of two chiclets of gum on New York City subway platforms.

Here’s a bit of interesting trivia. Around 215 BC, the mathematician Hero invented a vending type device that accepted bronze coins to dispense holy water.

In 1888 vending became economically viable in the US when the Adams Gum Company put gum machines on New York City’s elevated train platforms that dispensed a piece of Tutti-Frutti gum for a penny.

Today’s automated vending business is a $30 billion-a-year industry with around100 million people using 7 million vending machines each day.  Around 30% of the machines are in manufacturing facilities and slightly over 16% are on school and college campuses.

Best Selling Vending Machine Candy

According to an unscientific survey of 20 vending machine owners, when asked what their best selling vending machine product is:

  • 1 said Reese’s
  • 1 said Cashews
  • 1 said Mike n’ Ike
  • 1 said Smartfood White Cheddar popcorn
  • 1 said Stickers (“ cause kids can’t resist them)
  • 2 said Gumballs
  • 3 said Skittles
  • 10 said Peanut M & Ms

Peanuts In Our Candy

We Americans love peanuts in our candy. Out of the ten most popular candy bars sold in the US, five of them — Snickers, Reese’s peanut butter cups, Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, and Oh Henry! —  contain peanuts or peanut butter.  In most vending machines, about 25% of the dispensed food contains peanuts or peanut butter – a cautionary note for anyone with a peanut allergy.

Some Stomach Churning Info

Some stomach churning info and advice, in his own words,  from a bulk candy (machines that you often find in diners where you get handfuls of loose candy for a quarter) vendor’s blog:

The best selling bulk candy is peanut m&m’s, but you have to be careful because the m&ms can be very messy. “Imagine a hot summer day and your bulk vending machine is placed near a window . . . if that sun is beaming down on your vending machine those m&ms will melt and you will lose that location quick when the lady in the office gets chocolate on her hands and accidentally gets it on her blouse.”

On Mike n’ Ikes, his favorite bulk candy: “Man I have had a lot of success with these colorful tasty little bad boys.  Mike n Ikes do well in the winter and in the summer but just like the m&ms please be careful in the summer.

In the summer if your bulk vending machine is in a hot location the Mike N Ikes can stick together and become one big ball. To stop this from happening you can lightly spray the Mike N Ikes with Pam or your favorite cooking spray, and you shouldn’t have a problem in the summer time.”

On Gumballs:  Gumballs are your best friend and are by far the most profitable and are indestructible. “The only tips I can suggest on these gumballs are after a couple of months in your machine please check them by biting into a gumball every now and then.  Sometimes these gumballs get real hard and after that you are going to want to get rid of them.”

SocialDieter Tip:

If a vending machine calls your name, choose wisely.  There are good, better, and best choices to be made.  You can almost always find packages of nuts, or popcorn, or pretzels, or dried fruit.  Be careful of things with too much sugar, especially if you’re driving.  A big time sugar hit may give you energy from an initial blood sugar spike but more than likely it will be followed by a drop in your blood sugar levels possibly making you sleepy, grouchy, and hungry.

Eater Alert: Beware End Of Summer Gluttony

By Leave a Comment

It’s the week leading up to Labor Day weekend.  Not technically the end of summer, but it sure feels that way.

I don’t know about you, but for me the thought process seems to be:  “Oh heck, it’s the last week of summer, the holiday weekend is coming up, all of my family is going to be home, a lot of burgers, ice cream, picnic food – and then it’s nose to the grindstone” (even if it has been nose to the grindstone, as it has been for me, most of the summer).

Holidays And Vacations Often Mean Overeating

It’s the kind of holiday season mentality that starts around Thanksgiving and continues right through New Year’s Day when you swear you’ll never eat another carb again!

Or, it’s the “vacation” mentality, when all of your healthy eating promises become submerged in the deepest recesses of your brain.

Or, it’s the mentality that adds the “freshman 15 . . . or 5 . . . or 10,”  the freedom at last, away from home mentality where no food is off limits.

Four Weeks Of Overeating:  Changes That Last For Years

Some new research may make you think twice.  Amazingly, overeating for just four weeks can cause changes in body fat and weight that last for years. For four weeks people in a study limited their activity to 5,000 steps a day or less (considered a sedentary lifestyle) and increased their caloric intake by 70% (5000+ calories a day). For two years researchers periodically monitored body weight and composition in this group and compared it to another group that did not change its diet or physical activity.

How Much Weight Gain?

The overeater/under-exerciser group gained, on average, 14 pounds. Six months after they were allowed to go back to eating and exercising normally they lost, on average, 71 percent of the gained weight but only one-third of the group members had returned to within one pound of their initial weight.

After one year the overeaters were, on average,  3.3 pounds heavier than before their four week food fest. The normal eaters had no change in body weight.

The overeaters had more body fat and higher LDL (lousy) cholesterol levels one year after their four week binge.  After two and a half years, the overeaters averaged a gain of 6.8 pounds from when the study first started, but the normal eaters didn’t show any significant weight gain.

SocialDieter Tip:

Boy oh boy, the effects of gluttony are really hard to get rid of – even when those overeating habits are ditched for a healthy lifestyle.  Even short periods of overeating and under-exercising can have lasting effects and make it more difficult to lose weight and keep it off.  Keep that in mind around holiday time, vacations, and “let-down-your-hair” times leading up to holidays and vacations.  It’ll serve you well for years to come.