Health for the Holidays: Share We’re Not Buying It
Help the kids in your life become more media literate this holiday break, and engage them in standing up for health. Watch and share We’re Not Buying It, a 2-minute video that highlights the role of industry in shaping the foods kids eat.
Prevention Institute’s video, We’re Not Buying It, and studies Claiming Health and Where’s the Fruit clearly reveal the deceptive lengths that food industries will go to in order to promote unhealthy foods to kids-from packaging that misleads parents to ads that target kids to behind-the-scenes lobbying to thwart any oversight.
Shop Blue Island Health Hot Spots for December’s Veggie of the Month: Root Vegetables
Root Vegetables include Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Turnips, Rutabagas, Celery Root (or Celeriac) and Beets. Root vegetables are classified as the starchy tubers and taproots of a plant. If left alone they would supply all the nutrients needed by the plant, but we dont. Instead we pull them up so that we may enjoy their vitamin rich yummy-ness.
Some things you can do with root vegetables include:
Braise-Cut them into peices and simmer in a small amount of broth until they are tender, and starting to brown. Sprinkle on your favorite herb.
Grill-Many people dont think of grilling root vegies, but they can be delicious when brushed with olive oil and cooked on an open flame. 10 minutes per side on a med hot grill will give them a crispy outside and tender sweet inside.
Root Vegetable Fries-works best with high starch varieties such as potatoes, or sweet potatoes. Cut the veggies into sticks, as evenly as possible. Soak in cold water for 30 minutes, pat dry thoroughly. heat oil to 325-375. Fry in small batches until tender and browned. drain on cooling rack or paper towels.
Visit Blue Island’s Healthy HotSpot Locations, Hidalgo’s Meat Market and La Unica for root vegetables and other healthy food choices.
(Source: localfoods.about.com)
Join us for the 12/8/11 Model Community Coalition Monthly Meeting & Speaker Series
Topic: Involving Communities in Health Assessment
Date: Thursday, 12/8/11, 8am
Location: MetroSouth Medical Center: Mezzanine Rooms B & C
Speaker: Dr. Laurel Berman, Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR)
Please rsvp to: astillwell@cityofblueisland.org
“Healthy Seal” Program to Launch in Spring 2012
Walmart has announced that in spring of 2012 they will introduce the new “Healthy Seal” on the package front of its private brand “Great Value”. These seals will be supported by a nutritious food standard designed to increase vitamins, minerals, whole grains, fruits and vegetables in food products, while limiting saturated fat, sodium and added sugar. Walmart will also offer this seal to its suppliers for their national brands that qualify. “This effort will complement the front-of package nutrition labeling system already being discussed by the food industry,” states Lorenzo Lopez, media relations director for Walmart.
Walmart has been collaborating with Michelle Obama in support of the Let’s Move! campaign since January 2011. The Healthy Seal program is 1 of 3 elements in their Nutrition Charter.
Skeptical about the motives of this corporate giant? You’re not the only one. Walmart has yet to release the scoring system driving the Healthy Seal program. Only time will tell whether or not this was just another corporate marketing ploy or a marketing ploy that will actually make a positive difference.
McDonald’s Deserves A Little Credit
McDonald’s corporation is often the center of controversy when it comes to health issues. They have been blamed for things such as childhood obesity and diabetes for years. The company has developed a new healthy program, which will include things like apple slices in every Happy Meal.
The chain has already given Americans the choice between fries or apples in the kids’ meals, but only 11% of customers were ordering apples. By the beginning of 2012, all of the kids’ meals will include apples and a smaller portion of fries.
Other changes McDonalds plans to make with this program are:
(Source: New York Post)
CDC Names Blue Island a Success Story!
The following is an excerpt from the CDC’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) weekly update (9/23/11). Go Blue Island, Go!
Cook County, IL: Municipalities Adopt Complete Streets Policies
The City of Blue Island recently adopted Complete Streets Policies, which allow and encourage transportation planners and engineers to plan infrastructure that benefits all users—pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders. By adopting these policies, municipality officials have made a crucial first step in developing a comprehensive transportation network that will improve the health and safety of its residents.
On July 12, 2011, the Mayor of the City Of Blue Island (population 23,000) signed an ordinance stating that Complete Streets principles shall be applied to all public right-of-way projects, including new construction. Any exceptions must be approved by the City Council.
Black Health, Food Insecurity and the Law
7/14 Webinar: “Black Health: Food and the Law” - brief overview of the Black health disparities & social determinants of health. This webinar is the 6th in a year-long series. The foundation of the series is that Black health status is significantly worst than whites and that the law is a determinant of health.
For additional information:
- Dying While Black: Black Health Status, (24 minutes), http://vimeo.com/20545689
- Racial Inequality: A Risk Factor for Health Disparities in the Black Community (20 minutes), http://vimeo.com/20555792
- Law as a Social Determinant (32 minutes), http://vimeo.com/20623661
- Anti-Discrimination Law: A Pathway and Shaper of Racial Discrimination (31 minutes), http://vimeo.com/20625699
Promote the Health of Pollinators
National Pollinator Week has passed (June 20-26, 2011) - but you can still take action to promote the health of pollinators - like honeybees - critical to food and our ecosystem.
- Learn about your ecoregion (Blue Island is located in the Eastern Broadleaf Forest (Continental) Province)
- Select Plants For Pollinators (Planting Guide)
- Fun Stuff for Kids & Adults
- Contact Governor Quinn
- Pollination Fast Facts for Gardeners
- Approximately 1/3 of all the food Americans eat is directly or indirectly derived from honey bee pollination. Some crops pollinated are cucumbers, almonds, carrot seed, melons, apricots, cherries, pears, apples, prunes, plums, pluots, seed alfalfa, cantaloupe, seed onions, avocados, kiwi, blueberries, cranberries, etc.
- There are 3 members of a honey bee colony:
- Queen - mother to all the bees in the colony; she is a fertile female.
- Worker - an infertile female that performs the labor tasks of the colony, including feed preparation, guarding the hive, feeding the queens, drones and brood, and heating and cooling the hive.
- Drone - the male that starts out as an unfertilized egg. Its only purpose in the colony is to mate with a virgin queen. They live to mate with the queen, but not more than 1 in 1000 get the opportunity to mate.
- On average, a worker bee in the summer lasts 6 to 8 weeks. Their most common cause of death is wearing their wings out. During that 6 to 8-week period, their average honey production is 1.5 of a teaspoon. In that short lifetime, they fly the equivalent of 1.5 times the circumference of the earth.
- The peak population of a colony of honeybees is usually at mid-summer (after spring buildup) and results in 60,000 to 80,000 bees per colony. A good, prolific queen can lay up to 3,000 eggs per day.
- Drones fly on United Airlines. This is a corny joke amongst beekeepers because of the way queens and drones mate. When a queen is five to six days old, she is ready to mate. She puts out a pheromone scent to attract the males and takes off in the air. The males from miles around smell the scent and instantly volunteer in the mating chase, which is performed in the air.
Exploring Auto Dependency - Streetfilms.org launched a 10-part video series, “Moving Beyond the Automobile.” The short videos examine issues surrounding auto dependency, including bicycling and road diets.
Moving Beyond the Automobile is a 10-part video series which explores solutions to the problem of automobile dependency. It’s a visual handbook that will help guide policy makers, advocacy organizations, teachers, students, and others into a world that values pedestrian plazas over parking lots and train tracks over highways. Cars were then, and this is now. Welcome to the future.
