Healthy Eating Decisions

The soul, body, and mind are more essential to life than junk. When you’re eating junk food remember they contain a lot of substances that are harmful to your body. Habits are really easy to obtain; I choose to eat as healthy as possible. I have noticed a change in my figure when I decided to eat healthier and exercise more. I eat healthy because it’s good for my skin, shape and overall health. Eating healthy doesn’t you as much as you would think. Sometimes buying a salad actually helps keep a couple dollars in your pocket. Eating healthy shows that I’m determined to look and be my best. If it wasn’t for my family, and mentors, I wouldn’t have an idea of why it’s important to be healthy. The better you eat, the better your physical capabilities, mental state, and sense of well-being. Studies recently showed that blueberries produce long- term memory. Antioxidants in blueberries help protect the brain from free-radical damage and cut your risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. They can also improve cognitive processing. Wild blueberries, if you can find them, have even more brain-boosting antioxidants than the cultivated variety. A lot of things we eat don’t really affect us until you’re older. If you take care of your health now, risks of illnesses will decrease; first and foremost you don’t have to struggle to be healthy when your 50. Also we should change our diet plans and exercise for at least an hour a day. Every little movement counts which is why I made a change in my diet over the course of a few weeks. My body is indeed a jewel, I will always cherish forever. Instead of transforming it into a trash can full of junk, I will purify it by eating nutritiously. When you eat all that junk and you don’t exercise it affects you periodically. Some people may be wondering how to be healthier? Eating fruits, vegetables and exercising and dieting all fits into that category. Some people take shortcuts into loosing weight, for example all the diets you see on TV aren’t all beneficial. Consistently eating a balanced diet is far better than dieting for quick weight loss and then returning to your previous eating habits. You have to work out and eat right otherwise, it’s going to be an unbalance in your healthy decision making. A single meal or day of eating rich foods will not make or break an otherwise healthy eating pattern. What you eat on a regular daily basis is what matters most. Enjoy your occasional indulgences but follow a healthy meal plan most of the time. Excessive eating and rare exercise will produce an unhealthy future; take control, eat healthy, exercise, and live long.

School Lunches: Mystery Meat After All

An investigative story by USA Today reveals that the quality and safety standards for meat served in school lunches are less strict than the standards for fast food restaurants. In the past three years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided hundreds of millions of pounds of beef and chicken to public schools as part of the National School Lunch Program.

When USA Today reviewed bacteria tests in beef used in school lunches, the newspaper found that the USDA approved six shipments with bacteria levels most commercial buyers would have rejected.

The investigation also found that "thousands of tons" of chicken meat supplied to schools by the USDA was from old birds that would have gone to compost or pet food.

Called "spent hens" because they're past their egg-laying prime, the chickens don't pass muster with Colonel Sanders— KFC won't buy them — and they don't pass the soup test, either. The Campbell Soup Company says it stopped using them a decade ago based on "quality considerations."

(via USA Today)

You would think that the federal government would be more careful about what goes into the mouths of school children. But it turns out that when it comes to meat, McDonald’s, Burger King and Jack in the Box are far more cautious. Those fast food restaurants test their ground beef up to ten times more frequently than the USDA does for school-bound beef.



Still on a school lunch note, Oakland North took a look at how students in the Oakland Unified School District get their food. Oakland students may be getting yummy pasta dishes, but unfortunately their food is not freshly made. Elementary schools in Oakland aren’t using their kitchen to prepare lunches. In fact, only 26 out of 88 schools still prepare their school lunches on campus. The rest of the schools submit their orders to a local central kitchen in East Oakland to prepare meals for the whole week, but most of the food travels across the state before making it to Oakland.

According to Oakland North: A wheat field in North Dakota, a turkey ranch in the Central Valley, a tomato field somewhere south of Oregon and north of Mexico in California are the starting points for an Oakland student's meal.

Check out the video below to get a better understanding of how school lunches for Oakland students get prepared.

How Safe is School Lunch?

Last summer, dozens of people got sick with antibiotic-resistant salmonella. Officials traced the outbreak to ground beef made at Beef Packers and the company later recalled 825,000 pounds of ground beef. The government emphasized that meat sent to schools wasn't included in the recall. Now, USA Today has obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act that raise questions about whether the government did enough to ensure the meat was safe before sending it to schoolchildren.

The government paid Beef Packers hundreds of thousands of dollars for ground beef that was made during the questionable dates. Of the four orders that were fulfilled by Beef Packers using ground beef that was made during the dates covered by the recall, one tested positive for salmonella. That order was rejected. However, the other three went through, despite the fact that experts say the methods used to test the meat are very unreliable. Most worrying of all might be that Beef Packers was providing meat for the school lunch program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it will carry out an "independent review" of its quality control procedures in response to the USA Today investigation.

(via USA Today)

Get America's Children the School Food They Deserve With "Time for Lunch"

The Child Nutrition Act is a federal law that comes up for reauthorization in Congress every five years. It governs the school meal programs, which feed more than 31 million children every school day.

Right now, Congress leaves school lunch programs with only $1 per meal to pay for food. Schools do their best to stretch that dollar, but it's simply not enough to provide kids with the food they need to stay healthy and to perform well in the classroom.

The original deadline for reauthorizing child nutrition programs was September 2009, but it was temporarily extended. Congress is now expected to address school lunch in early 2010.

The Time for Lunch Campaign is a Slow Food USA campaign that promotes the following agenda:

Invest in health. Find the funding to give school lunch programs $1 more per child per day.
Protect kids from the junk food sold in vending machines, cafeterias and school stores. Approve the Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act of 2009.
Link schools to local farms, and teach healthy eating. Guarantee $50 million for Farm to School programs.
Find out more about Time for Lunch and Slow Food USA at the Time for Lunch website. You can sign the petition, spread the word, and find out more.

South LA Fast Food Ban is Junk

LOS ANGELES-- The LA City Council has extended a ban on new fast food restaurants in South Los Angeles. Experts, however, believe the ban won’t do much to curb obesity and other health problems that exist. While I agree that the plan is taking the wrong approach with the ban, the city council should make efforts to expand the availability of local, healthy food options, instead of outlawing fast food.

The damage by fast food restaurants has already been done in South LA. The area already experiences higher concentrations of obesity than the rest of LA, especially for African-American and Latinos. One of the problems is that there are fewer healthy food options. Grocery stores in South LA aka “the hood” are few, and their produce is far from the freshest in the land. Farmer’s markets, too, are scarce in the hood.

Farmer Larry Williamson, of LA, who sells his produce at the struggling Harambee farmer’s market on Crenshaw and Slauson in South LA agrees that the city could do more to promote farmers like him and markets like Harambee.“The system is not geared to help us, but they need us,” says Williamson, who feels that politics often interfere with making healthy food available via farmer’s markets.

The City has identified fast food eateries as “the enemy,” which it is. Instead of battling enemies of healthy eating, however they should be seeking allies of healthy eating. This strategy is wrong because several fast food chains are making more healthy food available on their menu. The ban doesn't prevent liquor stores and snack stores from opening, and those places are doing more damage to South LA than Big Macs.

A Guide To Surviving Veggies

If you’re not familiar with what exactly a vegetable is, then you’re lucky. “Veggies” are usually green, or otherwise another sickly color. Parents give vegetables to their children to torture them. Some side effects are: nausea, headache, dizziness. Sometimes choking will occur if an attempt is made to swallow the vegetable whole.

The key to veggie avoidance is something called -- the pocket. This item must be on your person at ALL times. The deeper the pocket, the better. As long as it’s brought to the dinner table every night, you’ll be safe.

To use the pocket, you must wait until the opportune moment. This usually occurs when both parents are obliviously shoveling food into their mouths, or looking away. The trick is to stuff as many vegetables into the pocket as possible. After dinner, you can calmly walk to the bathroom, wait a few minutes--enough time to have realistically gone to the bathroom--then flush the contents of your pocket down the toilet. The pocket is the most useful and effective device in surviving your vegetables. In case you don't have access to a pocket of your own, there are other options.

The George Washington maneuver is not one of them. If you haven’t heard the story, the short version is that George Washington poured his lima beans in the sink. Unfortunately, after the famous cherry tree incident, he couldn’t tell a lie. Poor George ended up spilling the beans to his parents. They scooped up what he threw away and made him eat every last watered-down lima bean. After becoming president and what not, the story was published and sold in bookstores around the world. Now all parents check the sink after dinner.

The “sibling tactic” is another recommended approach. However, it only works if you have access to a faithful family member – who likes vegetables. When the opportunity presents itself, the sibling can secretly snatch the vegetables off your plate and stuff them into his or her mouth as quickly as possible. The problem is that an attentive parent may notice your vegetable-free plate, and give you another serving. If another sibling--one not as faithful as the first-- betrays, you'll be served a lecture on the side.

One of the most rewarding ways to survive your vegetables is to give them to someone else. Children under the age of seven are recommended, as they're known for their easily obtained attention and gullibility. The scene could play out like this:

“Hey! Look over there! I see a chicken crossing the road!”

The child will turn, and search for the chicken, leaving you plenty of time to add your vegetables to their pile. Fortunately, no cover up is ever needed after he realizes what has happened. For a child of that age is too proud to let anyone know they could not see the chicken.

Supposedly vegetables help the growth process, but don’t believe any of it. It’s just a way for parents to have control, and a legal way to torture their children

Vegetables are almost deadly.

Fortunately, surviving your vegetables IS possible.

Do You Want 230 Calorie Fries With That?

The idea is, if you knew how many calories were in a venti Frappucino, then maybe you wouldn't buy one. California is requiring that fast food and restaurant chains list how many calories are in each item. The eventual idea is that those numbers will be right on the menu you order from.

Even though it can be a little depressing to know the truth, this seems like a good thing for our health. New York has had calories on the menu for awhile, and I remember how shocking it was when Dunkin Donuts made the transition to list calories. Here I had been trying to be healthy by ordering bagels instead of donuts--and the bagels had more calories in them!

Being more informed is always a good thing, and when it comes to food, it's no different. The truth might be ugly, but we deserve to know. Maybe having calories listed will even make fast food chains offer healthier alternatives. It all comes down to money, and if chains see that knowing the calories in a Big Mac are scaring people away, then maybe they'll finally be motivated to make healthier, but still tasty food.

HOT POCKETS !! FROM SCRATCH.

Reclaiming Processed Food.
YR EATS Has been making processed foods that are popular from scratch and with a healthy twist! Hot Pockets
Rice - a - Roni
Pop - tarts

Today the wonderful youth radio interns made delicious homemade hot pockets . We started by creating the dough , after that we put pieces of deli style cut turkey meat and cheese , we used two different types of cheese pepper jack and cheddar .

Last week Rynesha made Rice a roni from scratch, we broke noodles into a pan, added rice and vegetable broth, some seasoning and it was delicious with OUT MSG.

Hundred Racks

NYC Urban Bee Keepers, illegal but good for the world

Brooklyn's Urban Beekeepers: Breaking The Law For The Planet (Part I) from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.

thanksgiving!

Yahoo blog describes foods experts wont eat

This is from Yahoo.

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/the-7-foods-experts-wont-eat-547963/

Yahoo! Shine


* by Liz Vaccariello, Editor-in-Chief, PREVENTION, on Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:15am


How healthy (or not) certain foods are—for us, for the environment—is a hotly debated topic among experts and consumers alike, and there are no easy answers. But when Prevention talked to the people at the forefront of food safety and asked them one simple question—“What foods do you avoid?”—we got some pretty interesting answers. Although these foods don’t necessarily make up a "banned” list, as you head into the holidays—and all the grocery shopping that comes with it—their answers are, well, food for thought:

1. Canned Tomatoes

The expert: Fredrick vom Saal, PhD, an endocrinologist at the University of Missouri who studies bisphenol-A

The problem: The resin linings of tin cans contain bisphenol-A, a synthetic estrogen that has been linked to ailments ranging from reproductive problems to heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Unfortunately, acidity (a prominent characteristic of tomatoes) causes BPA to leach into your food. Studies show that the BPA in most people's body exceeds the amount that suppresses sperm production or causes chromosomal damage to the eggs of animals. "You can get 50 mcg of BPA per liter out of a tomato can, and that's a level that is going to impact people, particularly the young," says vom Saal. "I won't go near canned tomatoes."

The solution: Choose tomatoes in glass bottles (which do not need resin linings), such as the brands Bionaturae and Coluccio. You can also get several types in Tetra Pak boxes, like Trader Joe's and Pomi.


2. Corn-Fed Beef

The expert: Joel Salatin, co-owner of Polyface Farms and author of half a dozen books on sustainable farming

The problem: Cattle evolved to eat grass, not grains. But farmers today feed their animals corn and soybeans, which fatten up the animals faster for slaughter. More money for cattle farmers (and lower prices at the grocery store) means a lot less nutrition for us. A recent comprehensive study conducted by the USDA and researchers from Clemson University found that compared with corn-fed beef, grass-fed beef is higher in beta-carotene, vitamin E, omega-3s, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), calcium, magnesium, and potassium; lower in inflammatory omega-6s; and lower in saturated fats that have been linked to heart disease. "We need to respect the fact that cows are herbivores, and that does not mean feeding them corn and chicken manure," says Salatin.

The solution: Buy grass-fed beef, which can be found at specialty grocers, farmers' markets, and nationally at Whole Foods. It's usually labeled because it demands a premium, but if you don't see it, ask your butcher.


3. Microwave Popcorn

The expert: Olga Naidenko, PhD, a senior scientist for the Environmental Working Group,

The problem: Chemicals, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), in the lining of the bag, are part of a class of compounds that may be linked to infertility in humans, according to a recent study from UCLA. In animal testing, the chemicals cause liver, testicular, and pancreatic cancer. Studies show that microwaving causes the chemicals to vaporize—and migrate into your popcorn. "They stay in your body for years and accumulate there," says Naidenko, which is why researchers worry that levels in humans could approach the amounts causing cancers in laboratory animals. DuPont and other manufacturers have promised to phase out PFOA by 2015 under a voluntary EPA plan, but millions of bags of popcorn will be sold between now and then.

The solution: Pop natural kernels the old-fashioned way: in a skillet. For flavorings, you can add real butter or dried seasonings, such as dillweed, vegetable flakes, or soup mix.



4. Non-organic Potatoes

The expert: Jeffrey Moyer, chair of the National Organic Standards Board

The problem: Root vegetables absorb herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides that wind up in soil. In the case of potatoes—the nation's most popular vegetable—they're treated with fungicides during the growing season, then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting. After they're dug up, the potatoes are treated yet again to prevent them from sprouting. "Try this experiment: Buy a conventional potato in a store, and try to get it to sprout. It won't," says Moyer, who is also farm director of the Rodale Institute (also owned by Rodale Inc., the publisher of Prevention). "I've talked with potato growers who say point-blank they would never eat the potatoes they sell. They have separate plots where they grow potatoes for themselves without all the chemicals."

The solution: Buy organic potatoes. Washing isn't good enough if you're trying to remove chemicals that have been absorbed into the flesh.


5. Farmed Salmon

The expert: David Carpenter, MD, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany and publisher of a major study in the journal Science on contamination in fish.

The problem: Nature didn't intend for salmon to be crammed into pens and fed soy, poultry litter, and hydrolyzed chicken feathers. As a result, farmed salmon is lower in vitamin D and higher in contaminants, including carcinogens, PCBs, brominated flame retardants, and pesticides such as dioxin and DDT. According to Carpenter, the most contaminated fish come from Northern Europe, which can be found on American menus. "You can only safely eat one of these salmon dinners every 5 months without increasing your risk of cancer," says Carpenter, whose 2004 fish contamination study got broad media attention. "It's that bad." Preliminary science has also linked DDT to diabetes and obesity, but some nutritionists believe the benefits of omega-3s outweigh the risks. There is also concern about the high level of antibiotics and pesticides used to treat these fish. When you eat farmed salmon, you get dosed with the same drugs and chemicals.

The solution: Switch to wild-caught Alaska salmon. If the package says fresh Atlantic, it's farmed. There are no commercial fisheries left for wild Atlantic salmon.

6. Milk Produced with Artificial Hormones

The expert: Rick North, project director of the Campaign for Safe Food at the Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility and former CEO of the Oregon division of the American Cancer Society

The problem: Milk producers treat their dairy cattle with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST, as it is also known) to boost milk production. But rBGH also increases udder infections and even pus in the milk. It also leads to higher levels of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor in milk. In people, high levels of IGF-1 may contribute to breast, prostate, and colon cancers. "When the government approved rBGH, it was thought that IGF-1 from milk would be broken down in the human digestive tract," says North. As it turns out, the casein in milk protects most of it, according to several independent studies. "There's not 100% proof that this is increasing cancer in humans," admits North. "However, it's banned in most industrialized countries."

The solution: Check labels for rBGH-free, rBST-free, produced without artificial hormones, or organic milk. These phrases indicate rBGH-free products.

7. Conventional Apples

The expert: Mark Kastel, former executive for agribusiness and codirector of the Cornucopia Institute, a farm-policy research group that supports organic foods

The problem: If fall fruits held a "most doused in pesticides contest," apples would win. Why? They are individually grafted (descended from a single tree) so that each variety maintains its distinctive flavor. As such, apples don't develop resistance to pests and are sprayed frequently. The industry maintains that these residues are not harmful. But Kastel counters that it's just common sense to minimize exposure by avoiding the most doused produce, like apples. "Farm workers have higher rates of many cancers," he says. And increasing numbers of studies are starting to link a higher body burden of pesticides (from all sources) with Parkinson's disease.

The solution: Buy organic apples. If you can't afford organic, be sure to wash and peel them first.
How to pay less for organic.

food party!

Empowering Teens to Green the Food Desert

How students in Los Angeles are helping foment a healthy eating revolution in their own neighborhoods.http://www.good.is/post/empowering-teens-to-green-the-food-desert/

youth radio EATS wishes happy holidays to our friends @

Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services

Alameda County Food Bank

Alameda County Nutrition Services

Alameda County School Based Health Services

Alameda Family Services

BANPAC

Berkeley High School

California Department of Public Health-EPIC Branch

California Endowment

Cal State University East Bay-School of Social Work

Children’s Hospital Oakland

Desert Mirage High School

Family Violence Law Center

Family Violence Prevention Fund

First Place For Youth

Gay and Lesbian Center-Los Angeles

HOPE Collaborative

ISIS

Oakland Food Connection

Oakland School for the Arts

Oakland Unified School District

Peace Over Violence

Planned Parenthood

San Francisco State University-School of Social Work

The DJ Project

The Wright Institute

UC Berkeley-School of Social Welfare

UCLA Community Programs Office

Westat

Yellow Brick Road

Youth Alive!

Youth Movement Records

Youth Uprising

No such thing as a chemical free lunch.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/03/EDAA1AO2MM.DTL&type=health

November moments.

Youth Radio produced so many things we are backed up on delivering the goods to you. In the next week you'll get pictures from thanksgiving. treats and ideas from our yr-celebrity chefs. December too will be holiday madness, healthy treats and local food issues!