A guide to affordable healthy eating
I have railed against fast food and processed food rather frequently on this blog (and in person), and people usually claim that low-income people can’t afford healthy food.
Well, the Environmental Work Group has issued a new publication to debunk that myth. The booklet, “Good Food on a Tight Budget,” offers a wealth of information on how to eat a healthy diet on about $35 a week. You can download it at http://static.ewg.org/reports/2012/goodfood/pdf/goodfoodonatightbudget.pdf.
The guide doesn’t recommend any processed foods or fast foods and steers people away from the more processed foods, “instant” hot and sugary cereals and away from red meats. It contains recipes for chicken, fish and bean main dishes, most of which don’t take a lot of time or effort to prepare.
Did you know you can throw beans and liquid into a slow-cooker before you go to work and they’ll be done when you get home? And they’ll contain a lot less salt (sodium) than canned beans. You can use them as a main dish, in soups or in other recipes like burritos and tacos. Freeze them in small portions and they’re as convenient as canned.
You can make your own salad dressings in a matter of minutes and adjust them to your own taste. You can even make your own mustard and ketchup and you’ll be amazed at the taste.
Throwing together a soup or stew is simple — just toss vegetables, beans, lentils, meat, water or stock into a pan with whatever herbs and spices you like and simmer it in the slow cooker for a few hours. Make a big batch on the weekend and eat it during the week.
I cook from scratch because I want to know what’s in my food. It doesn’t take that much time, especially if you cook a big batch of something on the weekend and eat leftovers during the week.
Big Agribusiness would love you to believe that factory-farmed food is the same as locally grown produce and meats, but it isn’t. Watch the movie, “Food Inc.” if you want to know more about corporate-produced food.
I grew up on a farm and my mother baked fresh pies, cookies and cakes every week. She cooked local eggs and chicken and we drank local milk. We had apples, strawberries, blueberries and other fresh fruits in season. I’ll admit, I did like the fatty, salty taste of fast food when I finally tasted it as a teenager. But when my kids were young, I stopped eating it for the most part. A decade or so ago I gave it up for good. I also gave up factory-farmed meats, and now about 80 percent of what my husband and I eat comes from within a 50-mile radius of where we live.
Thing is, our grocery bill hasn’t increased much. We eat less meat — usually twice a week — and more fresh vegetables. The meat we do eat is humanely raised and slaughtered and it contains no antibiotic or growth hormone. Our pork has rolled in the mud, our beef has grazed contentedly in the meadow and our chicken has eaten what birds are supposed to eat. This low-stress life spent eating what nature intended leads to meat that is tastier and lower in cholesterol. The eggs from these chickens also are lower in cholesterol.
The more you cook fresh food from scratch, the worse the processed stuff will taste to you. Before you know it, you might even lose your taste for fast food.
Tags: Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
Life o’ Mike honors Joe Eblen
Life o' Mike presented its first Michael T. Danforth Community Service Award to Joe Eblen at a luncheon on June 8, in the Friendship Hall of First Congregational Church, 20 Oak St., Asheville.
Joe, seen here with Leslie Boyd, left, and his wife, Bobbie, has spent his life helping children and families, both as a coach and game official for more than 60 years, and as founder of Eblen Charities.
Start From Seed
Life o' Mike has a new program- Start from Seed (SFS).
SFS is a volunteer doula program aimed at providing non-medical, comprehensive support to low income, high-risk women and families of Buncombe County focusing on three areas:
1. We help new doulas with certification and training in return for their participation as a volunteer doula for SFS
2. We mentor volunteer doulas with their first few clients
3. Our volunteer doulas provide birth and postpartum doula services to low income, high risk moms, providing support and tools to empower them as a new parent.
A birth doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; a postpartum doula provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Start from Seed clients are referred to us from the Buncombe County Department of Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership Program, Western North Carolina Community Health Services, and Mission Hospital. The Program is intended and designed for growing clients’ inner strength and helping them gain empowerment to help them cope with the emotional, physical and mental challenges of childbirth, labor, and motherhood.
Our new moms and their infants have many needs. If you would like to help them get off to a good start, please visit our Start from Seed web site: Start from Seed, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.