Health Bit

 Trans Fats

(aka partially hydrogenated oils)

Some of you may know how terrible they are for you and some may not.

So, here is a quick low down on them...

• What are trans fats?
• Trans fatty acids are made when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil (the process is called hydrogenation)
• Why are trans fats bad?
• Trans fats raise your LDL ("bad" cholesterol) and lower your HDL ("good" cholesterol)
• The combination of the risk above increases the risk of heart disease
• Consumption of trans fat increases the risk of stroke and type 2 diabetes
• Trans fats are difficult to digest
• Clog arteries
• Think of the grease that comes from cooking bacon and how it hardens..
• That is trans fat sitting in your arteries
• Where can trans fats be found?
• Commercial baked goods and snacks
• Fried foods
• Frozen foods
• READ LABELS!
• Even if the food label says 0 grams trans fat, that may not be the case
• If there are less than 0.5 grams trans fat in a food, it is allowed to be labeled as 0 grams
• GRR!
• So look at the ingredient list
• If you see "partially hydrogenated oils" on the ingredient list, that is another way of saying trans fat
• Note: fully or completely hydrogenated oil does NOT have trans fat
• If the label just says hydrogenated oil - you don't know if it is partially or fully hydrogenated

Above the registers at Earth Fare

Spring into Health

Spring into Health 5k

Pre-5k and yes, my mom's shirt says water boy needed ;)

Our group ready to go!

On your mark, get ready..

Mom finishing up!

We did it!

What are you doing this spring for your health?

It's the perfect time for a fresh/new start!

Do something good for yourself :)

Gangsta Gardening

TED Talks are great.

There is one, in particular, that I 'm loving right now.

The idea is so simple, yet has the potential to make a huge impact.

Click here: Ron Finley: A Guerilla Gardener in South Central LA

Some quotes that stuck out to me include:

• "If kids grow kale, kids eat kale.  If they grow tomatoes, they eat tomatoes.  But when none of this is presented to them, if they're not shown how food affects the mind and the body, they blindly eat whatever you put in front of them."
• "South Central Los Angeles - home of the drive-thru and the drive-by. Funny thing is, drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys."
• "The problem is the solution. Food is the problem and food is the solution."
• "Free is not sustainable.  The funny thing about sustainability - you have to sustain it."
• "We gotta make this sexy. We need to be gansta gardeners. We gotta flip the script on what a gangsta is. If you ain't a gardener, you ain't gansta. Get gansta with your shovel and let that be your weapon of choice."

Juicing

Day 1 of breakfast juicing is complete and was a success!  Didn't follow a recipe and kinda just did what I wanted and it was yummy!

The mean machine

Fresh

All cleaned and chopped up

There she is!!

Skeptical???

• Fruits/veggies can be expensive
• Would you rather pay for healthy foods or future hospital bills/medications?
• The juice is replacing a meal, therefore replacing the price of foods that you regularly would have eaten.
• I love food
• I DO TOO!!
• You can make your own plan. I'm not the biggest breakfast person (unless doughnuts are involved) so I'm currently just juicing breakfast.
• You're getting a lot of great nutrients and doing something GOOD for yourself.