Michelle, My Hero

Michelle Obama has been showing up in the news recently with an endeavor to start a vegetable garden at the White House. Along with the garden, she has been touting healthy lifestyle choices and overall nutrition for youngsters. I've always liked Michelle's style, and this is one more reason to give her some positive acclaim.



Here is the story:

First lady Michelle Obama and 26 fifth graders armed with shovels, rakes and pitch forks Friday started work on the vegetable garden at the White House.

Make that the organic vegetable garden, which is intended to grow year-round produce for the White House and Miriam’s Kitchen, a nearby soup kitchen. The Obamas are advocates of healthy eating based on fresh, organic meals with loads of vegetables and fruits.

This is the first vegetable garden at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt planted a victory garden during World War II. “Wow, this is exciting, you guys ready to roll?” Obama said to the students from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, D.C. “This is a big day. We’ve been talking about this since the day we’ve moved in.’’

The children will be involved in planting crops, tending the garden and harvesting.

Obama set aside a shovel and used a pitchfork to work up the area where the pea patch will be located in the 1,100 square foot garden. She told the group the point of the garden was to make sure her family had access to fresh vegetables and fruits.

“My girls like vegetables more if they taste good,’’ Obama said and added, “Especially if they’re involved in planting it and picking it.’’

And nothing tastes better or sweeter than a freshly picked pea.

For information on how to start organic farming, the Rodale Institute’s website is fertile ground.

Healthy eating combined with exercise helps people maintain their ideal weight and avoid a myriad of problems that come from living an unhealthy lifestyle. Sixty-six percent of Americans are overweight or obese, knocking years off their lives.

My Pyramid, created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, explains the different food groups and offers personalized eating plans, including one for pre-schoolers.

Obama’s fellow gardeners got a healthy snack when they were done working the soil. Apples, apple cider and sugar cookies -- with organic flour -- and in the shape of shovels.

Photo by Win McNamee, USA TODAY: First lady Michelle Obama and students break ground on the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn.

--By Janice Lloyd, USA TODAY

Spring Fever

“It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want - oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” Mark Twain

Well, I think it's official - spring feels like it's here today. After a long test week last week, I know that I am not alone in saying that I'd rather be outside playing than typing up blog entries on a day like today.

So here is a happy St. Patty's Day recipe to keep things short and simple:



Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread

2 c. whole wheat flour (or any combo of whole wheat, whole wheat pastry and Irish style)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 c. buttermilk
2-3 tblspn. honey
turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk and honey. Add more or less honey, depending on how much sweetness you prefer. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the flour mixture. Stir until just combined.

Sprinkle some sugar in the center of the parchment paper and spoon the dough out on top. Use a spatula to shape it into a circle, roughly 8-9 inches in diameter and 1 1/2 inches high. Sprinkle sugar all over the top of the loaf. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean, and bottom of loaf is browned and sounds hollow when tapped. Cool completely on a rack (at least 2 hours), then cut into slices. Keeps in the refrigerator for 5 days and in the freezer for 3 months.

Let Me See You Flex

If you’re not doing it to save the cows, you can do it to save your heart.

In recent years, a new form of vegetarian has emerged: those who eat meat. Since eating a fruit and vegetable rich diet is one of the best ways to get all of the nutrients you need for a healthy lifestyle, many have adopted the idea of going almost vegetarian, but keeping a few of their favorite foods with meat in their diet. They’re called “flexitarians” and adopting their diet strategy is one of the best steps you can take towards improving your health. This is a big shift from the traditional American diet, which often features a large piece of meat as the main entrée with vegetables being a very silent side note. However, it is an important change, and one that can help you combat everything from obesity to cancer.

Some ideas for starting to eat like a flexitarian include adding two or three vegetarian meals to your weekly dinner menu, or devising dishes that make vegetables the primary focus, but still contain some meat such as pork, poultry, or fish. Another option is to take your favorite meat dish and turn it vegetarian, like this recipe for Portobello Philly CheeseSteaks listed below. So this Monday, perhaps try to participate in Meatless Monday, an effort to reduce heart disease, stroke, and cancer 15% by the year 2010. Below is a recipe to get you started:

Portobello Philly CheeseSteak Sandwich:


Makes 4 sandwiches

ACTIVE TIME: 25 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 25 minutes

EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, sliced

4 large portobello mushrooms, stems and gills removed, sliced

1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons minced fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dried
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/4 cup vegetable broth or reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce

3 ounces thinly sliced reduced-fat provolone cheese

4 whole-wheat buns, split and toasted

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until soft and beginning to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, bell pepper, oregano and pepper and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are wilted and soft, about 7 minutes. 
2. Reduce heat to low; sprinkle the vegetables with flour and stir to coat. Stir in broth and soy sauce; bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat, lay cheese slices on top of the vegetables, cover and let stand until melted, 1 to 2 minutes. 
3. Divide the mixture into 4 portions with a spatula, leaving the melted cheese layer on top. Scoop a portion onto each toasted bun and serve immediately.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 268 calories; 10 g fat (4 g sat, 4 g mono); 15 mg cholesterol; 35 g carbohydrate; 13 g protein; 7 g fiber; 561 mg sodium; 707 mg potassium.

Nutrition bonus (all those veggies!): Vitamin C (140% daily value), Selenium (49% dv), Vitamin A (30% dv), Calcium (25% dv), Potassium (20% dv), Magnesium (16% dv).

Recipe from EatingWell.com

Atkins Revisited

In honor of Diet Week here on Keen, I thought it would be a nice idea to pay tribute to one of the most well known diet trends in America, the Atkins Diet. I'm pretty sure that at some point or another, almost every person who reads this blog has heard of the Atkins Diet. I remember about 5 years ago, Atkins was a common dinner table term that everyone thought of as being the ultimate low-carb, quick weight-loss fad. There were success stories left and right of people who had abandoned their beloved breads and pastas in exchange for high fat, high protein only meals like steak and bacon. The results were intriguing, and it turned out people were actually losing weight. What was the secret behind the mystery?

Here is the quick breakdown of how Atkins works: By drastically reducing the amount of carbohydrates consumed, the body is forced into a ketogenic state where fat stores become broken down for energy. Essentially, you are tricking your body into starvation mode, which results in the break down of stored fats.

There's a TON of information out there for those who are interested in pursuing this diet. Here are a few links for those out there who are interested:
Atkins Diet
Ketogenesis
WebMD

There are also a slew of videos on YouTube. Here are some interesting ones that I saw:




There's the Atkins Diet in a nutshell. We at Keen do not endorse nor reject any one diet plan. My advice to anyone out there looking to change their calorie intake, is to read up and do your research first, and then decided on a diet plan that works for you. Atkins has helped a lot of people lose weight, but it doesn't mean anything if you can't make it last in your long term goals. Good luck everyone!

For Optimum Health Buy and Eat Local

Have you ever thought about how long it takes your food to get from the field to your table? If you buy produce from across the country, do you factor in the time for packaging, shipment, and eventual consumption? Not only is purchasing food that has traveled a long distance unsustainable in practice, but fresh produce loses nutritional value sitting on the shelf or in your refrigerator waiting to be consumed. Buying locally can be easy and inexpensive when you’re armed with the right information. A great site for information on where to buy locally is Food Routes. Another resource, and local advocate of fresh and healthy eating, is the the Urban Nutrition Initiative, a Philadelphia based organization.

A great dish to make with local produce that takes less than 30 minutes to prepare is this Creamy Vegetable Combo. Try out the recipe below!

Creamy Vegetable Combo
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's Healthy Request Condensed Cream of Celery Soup
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
3 cups chopped vegetable combination, such as: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots

Directions:
Heat the soup, milk, lemon juice, black pepper and vegetables in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.


Calories: 65
Total Fat: 1g

Last Meeting

Now that we've gotten this blog rolling a little bit, I feel like it's a good idea to explain a little about what we do. As stated in the title, we are two groups of students working together to increase our understanding about food and the effects of proper nutrition on our overall health.

In the age of fast food, eating an unhealthy diet of cheeseburgers and pizza is far and away the easiest way to consume our calories. The convenience of strolling into the local McDonalds and ordering off the value menu is quick, satisfying, and instantly gratifying. Going out to the grocery and spending time buying veggies and fruits and other "healthy stuff" is challenging and downright time consuming. Finding the time to make those trips (especially with the current school environment I find myself in) is some times a futile effort.

As the American trend of obesity and other diet related health issues continue to rise, I think the overall perception of the public is going to change. People are starting to see the effects of those Big Macs on their waist lines, and they want to do something about it. That's where our groups come in to play.

I think our groups are particularly cool because we span a broad range of ages. We have students from middle school to med school who are all interested in gaining awareness about the current situation, and making adjustments in our own lives to be healthier and happier.

As an example, I want to share some pics from our latest meeting. During the last interaction between the Keen Society and the Urban Tree Connection, we did a little bit of schooling on the anatomy of digestion. What did we look at? Well, we checked out the digestive track, the brain that controls it, and the skeletal system that supports it. Going in order, here are some pictures that detail some of our adventures:



This is a picture of Ben doing some teaching on the finer points of the digestive track.



Here you see the awe inspiring power of the brain!



And here you can see Brian giving a little lesson on endochondral ossification. OK, just kidding. But he did confirm that bones are cool for the body :)

As you can see, our two groups are making some progress and moving in the right direction. This was one of many meetings we have planned with the Urban Tree Connection, and I'm looking forward to working with this enthusiastic group of like-minded individuals in the future. Thanks guys for a fun meeting, and I look forward to the next one!

First Post!

Hi Folks. First post here. I'm excited to get this blog rolling, as I think it will be an interesting source of info and a fun stop to visit on the interweb. To get things started off here, I have a little YouTube video of some interesting things you can do with food. As a blog on nutrition, we are interested in ALL things food and health related. I look forward to sharing more interesting finds, and I hope this will be a fun project for the folks of the Keen Society and Urban Tree Connection. Thanks for checking us out.