Pasta is not the enemy. Seriously! While the diet industry has deemed pasta a "bad" food, it can be an excellent addition to your diet by jam packing it with veggies. Not only do these dishes taste great but...
Along with summer’s seemingly endless bounty comes the beginning of raspberry and blackberry season. You might be seeing them popping up at farmer’s markets or in punnets at the supermarkets. If you are lucky enough to have a garden,...
Eating right doesn't mean your meals have to be bland and boring. Comfort food doesn't have to be junk. Food Network star chef Giada De Laurentiis found a brilliant way to do both! Check out her brussels and mushroom...
While technology offers the chance to connect with people all over the world, it can sometimes be a hindrance to connecting to those closest to us at home. Setting everything aside and having a family meal around the table may now be more important than ever. Family Fare and i understand love heals have partnered up to encourage people to gather as a family around the dinner table to have important conversations around topics such as mental health. Vonnie Woodrick, the founder of i understand, and Deanna Scheid, a registered dietitian with Spartan Nash about how to get the conversation started, and how the food we put into our bodies can play a huge role in our mental health. Gathering around the table with the family can reduce stress, anxiety, and incorporates togetherness. One of the most important things we can do to grow is with the people we're closest to so we can connect and stay strong together.Sometimes, parents can dismiss their children without even realizing it with sayings like "you'll be fine" or "it'll go away." Taking time at the dinner table to ask open-ended questions to the kids can help build that connection and the kids can feel safe to talk to their parents. i understand has plenty of resources for parents on how to get conversations started with the kids. Conversation topics include how to deal with bullies, and how to deal with stress and anxiety.The food people put into their bodies also has a huge effect on mental health. Fruits and vegetables with high levels of antioxidants like berries, apples, bananas, and blueberries actually fight off some depression symptoms. These healthy foods also help prevent cardiovascular disease. Stay connected and stay strong with i understand love heals, and find healthy recipes at shopfamilyfare.com/family-meals-month.If you're struggling and need support, help is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-TALK.Stay Connected, Stay Strong is sponsored by Family Fare.
Frozen treats are one of the best ways to cool down during the summer time. Options that are both healthy AND delicious are hard to come by in the stores. Try out these fruit-sicle recipes below!
From Cleveland Clinic;
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Healthy Eating Research (HER) recently released research that aims to understand the strategies that best increase consumer demand for healthier products. The report, A National Research Agenda to Support Health Eating Through Retail Strategies, highlights ways to encourage better health through food choices. HER also released a journal review to accompany the report, which appears in a special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Regular exercise can help stay fit during the festive season
Festive season is almost here! It is that time of the year where family and friends come together to have a great time and enjoy all the delicacies. In the bargain, all the discipline you worked hard to build during the year often goes out of the window. Sleeping and waking up late, eating a lot of processed foods, consuming a lot of sugar and more alcohol than usual - these can have a negative impact on your bodies. And when the mood is set to just have fun, it's very difficult to make the time to workout and stick to daily habits in the midst of trying to accomplish all your plans.
The Child & Family Healing Center, a residential behavioral treatment center, is putting a focus on food. Freshly-prepared food, that is. In partnership with contractor Culinary Services Group (CSG), wholesome, scratch-made meals will be served to the children and teens who live on-site, as well as those who attend the center’s day school.
It’s no secret that good nutrition is essential to support kids’ growth and development. But it can also support their overall wellbeing. “What we’ve found studies have shown is that what you eat has a direct correlation to mental health. Your gut is directly linked to your brain through the brain-gut access. The bacteria in your gut also play a role in your emotions,” explains Chef Manager David Switzer. “Eating a balanced diet then becomes essential to maintaining a healthy gut and brain.”
Related: Chefs to Watch: K-12 chef-trainer at Clayton County (Ca.) Public Schools serves extra helpings of heart, soul and fun Run by the national nonprofit United Methodist Family Services, the Child & Family Healing Center is home to 50 residents aged 11 to 17. Another 70 to 100 children attend as part of the center’s day school program. Under the new culinary program, residents will receive breakfast, lunch, and dinner and snacks while day-school attendees will receive breakfast lunch.
Developing a menu that was appropriate for both groups meant that meals needed to meet the USDA’s Nutrition Standards for School Meals. At least half of the grains must be whole grains, down to the breading used in the chicken tenders, Switzer notes. Meals must also offer the required servings of milk, fruit and vegetables, and 3 ½ ounces of protein. Fried foods aren’t allowed.
Related: Healthcare system enhances menu to better please customer baseThough the USDA’s guidelines are strict, Switzer doesn’t find them difficult to follow. “Everything is pretty clearly laid out and there are no big regulatory hoops to jump through,” he says. What’s more, Switzer has opted to stick with the guidelines for the center’s menus across the board – not just breakfast and lunch served to day school students. That eliminates the need to follow different standards for different kids or different meals. “It’s easier to stick with one set of guidelines the whole time,” Switzer says.
When the program launches, meals will be served buffet-style with staff serving residents and students. “We’ll start off with a steam table, almost corporate cafeteria-style,” Switzer says. “We could do a salad station, but not a salad bar, because the food has to be served by a staff member. Doing station work would also be fantastic,” he says.
But the program, in its full iteration with the day school students, is still far off. “Due to the transition of [CSG taking over the center’s] service right now, they actually missed the deadline to participate in the USDA’s school lunch program this year,” Switzer explains. “But our process and guidelines are already in place so we can meet them for next year. I don’t anticipate any challenges.”
For now, residential students come to the center’s campus for lunch Monday through Friday. Grocery carts are sent to the residential cottages with pre-cooked food for breakfast, dinner, and snacks. “As we move into October, we’re hopefully going to move into service with the scratch-made food and having that sent to the cottages,” Switzer says.
Approximately 18 months down the road, the center will complete construction on a new commercial kitchen. “CSG is very involved in the planning of that space. Right now we’re working out of the campus dining hall, which has a full-service kitchen,” Switzer says. “It has some older equipment, but it’s in good working order. We’ve made some improvements to the space based on CSG’s meal service program. It’ll be a functional space for when we start scratch-cooking three times a day.”
With many parts of the new meal service plan not fully executed, Switzer has yet to get feedback from the residents or students about the food changes. Still, he’s confident that they’ll be a welcome improvement. “This will definitely be something better for the kids,” he says. “At the end of the day its all about them anyhow, they’re mental wellbeing, and having a home-cooked meal versus something that’s not, I think it will really help in their recovery.”