National Quiche Lorraine Day – Recipe: Mexican Vegetarian Quiche, #EatingWell http://bit.ly/2IvOZFM
National Rescue Dog Day – Animal Rescue Team, #HumaneSociety http://bit.ly/2KBQHSD Every year they rescue thousands of animals from puppy mills, animal fighting’s, natural disasters, and other animals suffering from life-threatening cruelty and neglect #foreverhomes
National Take Your Parents to the Playground Day - 5 Simple, Fun Ideas for Family Fitness, #WebMD https://wb.md/2ka9fhy Family activities and fitness at an early age can help children form healthy habits for life and create fun memories for families.
Pick Strawberries Day
Strawberries are easy to grow indoors or outside. It's a fun family activity to plant, grow, harvest and eat. Virtually fat-free, no cholesterol & an excellent source of folic acid; good source of potassium. Eat them out-of-hand, on the run. Just wash and bite — anytime. http://bit.ly/2IVeGig
Food History: 1810 On this day Dolly Madison, wife of President James Madison, supposedly served the first ice cream at the White House
Screen-Free Week (formerly TV-Turnoff, founded 1994) is an annual event in which parents, children, teachers and others across the country turn off screen media (TV, video games, computers, cell phones, etc.) and celebrate the magic of being unplugged. Screen-Free Week is a program of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.
Screen-Free Week
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time for children under 2 and less than 2 hours per day for older children. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents create an electronic-media-free environment in children’s bedrooms.
The Benefits of Reduced Screen Time
• Reducing screen time can help prevent childhood obesity.
• Children who spend less time watching television in the early years tend to do better in school, have a healthier diet, and are more physically active.
Hazards of Too Much Screen Time
•Adolescents with a television in their bedroom spend more time watching TV and report less physical activity, less healthy dietary habits, worse school performance, and fewer family meals.
• Children with a television in their bedroom are more likely to be overweight.
Studies have found that: • Pet owners are less likely to suffer from depression than those without pets. • People with pets have lower blood pressure in stressful situations than those without pets. • Playing with a pet can elevate levels of serotonin and dopamine, which calm and relax. • Pet owners have lower triglyceride and cholesterol levels than those without pets. • Heart attack patients with pets survive longer than those without. • Pet owners over age 65 make 30 percent fewer visits to their doctors than those without pets.
Caring for a pet can help with those healthy lifestyle changes by:
• Increasing exercise. Exercise doesn’t have to involve boring repetition at a gym. Taking a dog for a walk, riding a horse, or simply chasing a kitten around are fun ways to fit healthy daily exercise into your schedule.
• Providing companionship. Isolation and loneliness can make disorders such as depression even worse. Caring for a living animal can help make you feel needed and wanted, and take the focus away from your problems. Most pet owners talk to their pets, some even use them to work through their troubles.
• Helping meet new people. Pets can be a great social lubricant for their owners. Dog owners frequently stop and talk to each other on walks or in a dog park. Pet owners also meet new people in pet stores, clubs, and training classes. • Reducing anxiety. The companionship of a dog can offer comfort, help ease anxiety, and build self-confidence for people anxious about going out into the world. • Adding structure and routine to your day. Many pets, especially dogs, require a regular feeding and exercise schedule. No matter your mood—depressed, anxious, or stressed—you’ll always have to get out of bed to feed, exercise, and care for your pet. • Providing sensory stress relief. Touch and movement are two healthy ways to quickly manage stress. This could involve petting a cat or taking a dog for a walk.
Pets and older adults The key to aging well is to effectively handle life’s major changes, such as retirement, the loss of loved ones, and the physical changes of aging. Pets can play an important role in healthy aging by: • Helping you find meaning and joy in life. As you age, you’ll lose things that previously occupied your time and gave your life purpose. You may retire from your career or your children may move far away. Caring for a pet can bring pleasure and help boost your morale and optimism. Taking care of an animal can also provide a sense of self-worth. • Staying connected. Maintaining a social network isn’t always as easy as you grow older. Retirement, illness, death, and moves can take away close friends and family members. And making new friends can get harder. Dogs especially are a great way for seniors to spark up conversations and meet new people. • Boosting vitality. You can overcome many of the physical challenges associated with aging by taking good care of yourself. Pets encourage playfulness, laughter, and exercise, which can help boost your immune system and increase your energy. Resources and References American Humane Association 5 Ways Pets Can Improve Your Health
April is National Youth Sports Safety Month, created to focus attention on sports safety and injury prevention for children and teen athletes. Proper nutrition is also important for healthy youth athletics. Eating right will help children and teens to be healthier and stronger for competition and in their daily life. National Playground Safety Week is a time to focus on children's outdoor play environments. A time to pledge to use good judgment when playing. A time for gratitude for all the adults who work tirelessly on maintaining our playgrounds.
Feeding Young Athletes
While feeding a child athlete may seem like a challenge, it only requires a little knowledge and extra planning. Children need optimal nutrition for fueling and recovery from training as well as meet the calorie demands of growth and maturation. It is important to help kids refuel with carbohydrates, focusing on family mealtime before and after practice or competition.
It is ideal for the family to sit down together for a pre-game breakfast. Three hours beforehand, an optimal pre-game breakfast could include sliced and slightly grilled potatoes, paired with scrambled eggs and nutrient-rich fruit such as berries and orange juice or fat-free or low-fat milk. Hydration is always important before, during and after practice and competitions. Dehydration occurs when your child fails to adequately replace fluid loss through sweating. Dehydration that exceeds 2% of body weight loss harms exercise performance, so make sure your child replace fluid loss after exercise performance, so make sure your child drinks small amounts of water throughout the game. Potassium and carbohydrates are important nutrients to replenish after exercise. Potassium and carbohydrates are found in bananas, potatoes, and fat-free or low-fat yogurt or milk. Chocolate milk is a particularly good post-competition recovery beverage.
If you have more than one child in sports, the hours after practice or a weekday competition may require snacking before dinner. Have pre-prepared snacks ready when kids arrive home hungry after a hard after-school practice or game. These snacks can be cut-up fresh fruit, low-fat yogurt and smoothies. For a tasty and filling post-game family dinner, serve baked or broiled lean cuts of meat such as lean beef or pork, chicken breast, salmon or tuna. Add whole grains, like whole-wheat pasta with a low-fat tomato or cheese sauce. Toss in vegetables or include a side salad. Parents and kids should complete their meal with fruit for dessert, such as baked apples or pears along with a glass of low-fat or fat-free milk. Or create an instant yogurt parfait with layers of low-fat vanilla yogurt, fresh, frozen or canned fruit, and crunchy whole grain cereal. Be sure to consume all five food groups throughout the day, protein, grains, vegetables, fruits and dairy to give your family and young athletes the nutrients and calories they need.
Eating Adequate Calories and Nutrients
Young athletes often push themselves harder than usual, training intensely to gain a competitive edge. This increased activity requires eating more calories to meet the demands of training and recovery in addition to calories needed for growth and development. Children and teens may not understand how their calorie need translate into daily food choices. Bone health is a major concern as girls and boys build 60 to 80 percent of their lifetime bone mass by age 18. If young athletes restrict their eating to keep weight down for sports like gymnastics, skating or wrestling, bone growth may be diminished. Restricted diets can also be low in calcium, vitamin D, which contributes to poor bone formation.
Other potential effects of eating too few calories are increased the risk of injury, and lowered endurance and decreased muscle strength. It can also reduce response to training, decrease coordination, and impair judgment and increase irritability and depression. The good news is correcting low-calorie intake can get athletic performance back to optimum levels.
It is important for parents to teach their children about the calorie demands of their training and the relationship proper nutrition, to good bone health and injury prevention and optimal training. Keep an eye out for weight loss and changes in mood as well as create a supportive environment in which girls and boys can consume three meals and one to three snacks per day. Missing one meal on a regular basis can result in an inadequate calorie intake.
School Nutrition for Athletes
A well-balanced diet provides children and teen athletes with the calories and nutrients they need to power their workouts and support their rapid growth. According to a study in the 2006 Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, children and teens who play team sports have slightly better eating habits and higher intakes of key nutrients than kids who do not, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.
Today breakfast is often available at school, so if students are late risers or are not ready to eat when they get up in the morning, they can still grab breakfast before class. When kids do not eat breakfast, they miss out on a big chunk of their day’s nutrition. That can rob them of important nutrients and also take its toll on their energy levels at practice later in the day.
Active kids need protein to support growth and build and repair hardworking muscles. Today protein is leaner than ever because of USDA guidelines encouraging schools to limit saturated fat to less than 10 percent of overall calories. That means leaner meats, skinless chicken and low-fat dairy in yogurt parfaits, bean and cheese burritos, and egg and cheese wraps for breakfast. Turkey burgers and southwestern chef salads and rice and bean bowls at lunch.
Carbohydrates are the optimal fuel for sports and exercise because they are naturally used for proper energy. The best place to get them is from slowly digested, nutrient-rich whole grains. At breakfast, kids will now start their day with whole grain versions of cereal, mini pancakes, and zucchini or banana bread. For lunch, they will dig into whole wheat spaghetti with meat sauce, chicken sandwiches on whole grain buns and baked chicken tenders with brown rice.
Good hydration should begin early in the day before kids even set foot on the playing field. While sports drinks might be a smart move, water is better for hydration for training that only lasts an hour. Sports drinks are best when used for a two-hour training session or during games.
Parents can provide nutritious meals after a game or training session. Hard training could contribute to an eating disorder if athletes do not have proper nutrition. School cafeterias can contribute to proper nutrition for student-athletes. Nutrition will always be a key component for the safety and strength for all athletes.
Global Child Nutrition Month and the Global Child Nutrition Foundation is running a month-long campaign to help raise funds and awareness for school feeding programs in developing nations.
The Global Child Nutrition Foundation was created in 2006 with the mission of expanding opportunities for the world’s children to receive adequate nutrition for learning and achieving their potential. It continues and expands upon the work of the Global Child Nutrition Forum, formerly conducted by the School Nutrition Association (SNA). Created in 1946, SNA advocates healthy nutrition for every child in the United States.
GCNF is dedicated to helping countries develop and operate successful, sustainable, school feeding programs. GCNF provides training and education to support the development of community-based school feeding programs that respond to the nutritional needs of children while considering local cultural and community values.
National Volunteer Week is organized by Points of Light and is an opportunity to celebrate the impact of volunteer service and the power of volunteers to come together to tackle tough challenges and build stronger, more resilient communities. Each year, they shine a light on the people and causes that inspire us to serve, recognizing and thanking volunteers who lend their time, talent and voice to make a difference in their communities.
Celebrate Service
National Volunteer Week was established in 1974 and has grown each year, with thousands of volunteer projects and special events scheduled throughout the week. Plan or attend an event to celebrate the impact of volunteers in your community, and inspire others to serve.
Five Presidents on the Power of Service
President George H. W. Bush speaks on the power of volunteerism and highlights the importance of helping others through service. "There can be no definition of a successful life that does not include service to others" -President George H. W. Bush
Causes and Solutions
The passion of volunteers is ignited when people can help the causes they care about. Points of Light inspire, equips and mobilizes volunteers in support of these main causes:
Veterans and Military Families
Joining together with and for our veterans addresses critical needs and helps build stronger communities. Points of Light’s military programs connect service members, veterans and their families with their communities through service and support.
Take action:
Volunteer to support your local military community.
Learn how your community can support military members and veterans.
Donate to support the mobilization of thousands of volunteers.
Disaster Preparedness
A strong community is a resilient community, one that’s ready and able to work together if things go wrong. For a community to thrive and survive, residents, nonprofits, governments, and businesses must plan for how they will respond to and recover from disaster together.
Take action:
Get ready with these disaster preparedness resources.
Volunteer in a relief and recovery effort.
Learn how volunteers can help in a local response effort.
Economic Opportunity
Everyone and every family should have a chance at a better life. In an economically sustainable community, people help each other learn how to catch up and then get ahead. In these vibrant communities, people are able to achieve financial stability by becoming better managers of their money and of their futures.
Take action:
Learn how AmeriCorps VISTA members train volunteers as financial coaches.
Mentor youth to help them prepare for college and careers.
Contact us to volunteer as a financial coach in your community.
Youth and Education
When all members of the community become involved in the lives of youth, student attendance and the quality of education greatly improve. Youth have the power to make their mark on the world when they are empowered through service, and can access the education and resources that can help them give back to their communities.
Take action:
Learn how service prepares youth for college and careers.
Inspire youth to get excited about community service.
Find out how young adults boost the academic achievement of low-income students.
Civil and Human Rights
Social change doesn’t just happen – people and communities must work together to advocate for freedom and equality without bounds or limits. It is a transformation that takes understanding, acceptance, cooperation and volunteer service.
Take action:
Volunteer during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service.
Host an America's Sunday Supper.
Donate to support the MLK Day of Service
Nonprofit Capacity
To do their world-changing work, nonprofits must deliver effective programs and also improve their ability to achieve their mission. Volunteers – and the skills, energy and time they give – offer one of the best ways for nonprofits to become greater at doing good.
Take action:
Get certified in using volunteers to increase capacity.
Access training, consulting and other tools.
Volunteer and help a nonprofit in your area do more.
Social Entrepreneurship
Innovative social change comes in many forms – and can come from the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Successful social entrepreneurs often include people as part of the solution to critical social problems. These entrepreneurs work to create greater, more accessible pathways to economic opportunity.
Take action:
Apply for support for your for-profit or nonprofit startup.
Volunteer Appreciation
Recognizing the exceptional work of volunteers keeps their good work going, and inspires others to serve. Celebrating the power of individuals to create change in their communities can also bring more attention and resources to a cause.
Take action:
Nominate a hero in your life for an award.
Visit the only national monument to honor volunteers.
Get inspired by volunteer stories.
Volunteer to Fight Against Hunger
AARP and AARP Foundation: These organizations work with state and community partners and volunteers to help older adults enroll in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commission research on the causes and consequences of senior hunger, and award grants to help develop or expand sustainable solutions for older-adult anti-hunger programs. Volunteer Opportunities: Community outreach, nutrition education, community events.
Feeding America serves 37 million people, including nearly 14 million children and 3 million seniors, through local agencies such as food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters and after-school programs. Feeding America food banks provide nutrition education programs. In addition, the organization’s network operates programs that promote self-sufficiency, educates the public about the problem of hunger and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Volunteer Opportunities: Food rescue, driving, loading, repacking, community outreach, food banks.
Meals On Wheels. Representing community-based senior nutrition programs across the country, the Meals On Wheels Association of America serves approximately 1 million meals a day to the nation’s seniors through two methods of food distribution: direct delivery to homebound seniors and adults with disabilities, and congregate meals served in group settings such as a community center or long-term care facility. Volunteer Opportunities: Meal preparation, packaging or delivery, clerical support, special events.
No Kid Hungry. Families at risk of hunger need access to food and the skills to make healthy meals with their resources, nutrition education is a key part of the No Kid Hungry campaign. Through its Cooking Matters program, nutrition educators and chefs equip low-income families with skills to stretch their food budgets, shop smarter, make healthier food choices and cook delicious, affordable meals. Volunteer Opportunities: Community event planning, nutrition education, fundraising, advocacy.
UNICEF works in more than 190 countries and has helped save more children’s lives than anyother humanitarian organization in the world. Nutrition is a key component to its work, whether through an emergency feeding program during a disaster or famine or an established community clinic offering nutrition education and support to young mothers. UNICEF is the world’s largest supplier of ready-to-use therapeutic food for malnourished children and helped increase the world’s supply of therapeutic food by more than 9,000 percent between 2008 and 2012. Volunteer Opportunities: Fundraising, advocacy, education.
The World Food Programme serves the world’s least food secure in regions where hunger kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Last year, the organization distributed 3.5 million metric tons of food to 97 million people in 80 countries. The World Food Programme works to prevent hunger through helping communities build assets, educate its people and develop stronger and more dynamic infrastructures - from establishing environmental sustainability and connecting farmers with markets to supporting breastfeeding initiatives and introducing school meal programs. The World Food Programme is funded entirely by voluntary donations. Volunteer Opportunities: Fundraising, advocacy, education.
A global youth service movement igniting the power of all kids to make their mark on the world. They are the youth division of Points of Light.
GenerationOn has brought the nation's leading youth service organizations and programs under one umbrella including Children for Children, The League, Learning to Give, and Kids Care Clubs, HandsOn Schools. By partnering with teachers, parents, schools, community organizations and businesses, generationOn gives kids the opportunity to see firsthand the issues in their communities and the tools and resources they need to respond and become part of the solution”.
What Will You Bring to the Table?
Powered by generationOn
Points of Light connects people to their power to make a meaningful difference by providing access to tools, resources, and opportunities to help volunteers use their time, talent, voice, and money to meet the critical needs of our communities.
Do you eat when you are anxious or excited? Does food make you feel better? If so, you may be conditioned to turn to food for comfort. April is Emotional Overeating Awareness Month.
For many people, eating is something to do when you're bored, tired, anxious or dealing with emotions. Often these behaviors can lead to overeating. But eating to cope with emotions can lead to more negative feelings (guilt, lack of personal control and poor self-esteem) and perhaps to a cycle of mood-triggered eating.
If you eat because of emotions, start keeping a food record of what you eat, when you eat and why you eat. Recognizing what triggers eating can often make it easier to make changes.
Calgary Dietitian Andrea Holwegner speaks on Emotional Eating
#NationalEggsBenedictDay - a day set aside to enjoy poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce and Canadian bacon or ham on English muffin halves. http://bit.ly/2H6AcwB
Today in Food History
1521 Martin Luther arrived at the Diet of Worms. This was NOT the first fad diet.
1890 Donald Forsha Jones was born (died June 19, 1963). American geneticist who invented the double-cross method of hybrid corn development, making the production of high-yielding hybrid corn practical.
1906 William James Farrer died. An Australian agriculturist, he developed new varieties of wheat.
1928 Ellsworth Milson Statler died. American hotel owner, founder of Statler Hotels. His Statler Hotel in Buffalo, New York was the first hotel in the U.S. to have running water and private baths in each room.
1941 The original Elsie the Cow died. Elsie the cow was originally a cartoon character appearing in ads for Borden Milk. She is buried in Plainsboro, New Jersey.
2. Mediterranean Spinach Salad with Feta and White Beans #meatlessmonday Elena Paravantes #RDN http://bit.ly/2qDzu2H3. Does ginger help nausea? #NutritionAction http://bit.ly/2H31doE
4. FDA Investigates Salmonella Infections Linked to Shell Eggs from Rose Acre Farms. Affected eggs are from plant number P-1065 w/date range of 011 through date of 102 printed on either the side portion or principal side of the carton or package http://bit.ly/2JPJWwN
5. Why ‘healthy’ snacks could be stopping you from losing weight Leanne Ward, #RDN https://ind.pn/2HDu7sB
6. Grocery Stores Get Mostly Mediocre Scores On Their Food Waste Efforts https://n.pr/2IYVmx6 7. #EarthDay (April 22) is a perfect time to look at food choices and how they affect the planet http://bit.ly/2qClB5Q
A mousse is a soft prepared food that incorporates air bubbles to give it a light and airy texture. It can range from light and fluffy to creamy and thick, depending on preparation techniques. A mousse may be sweet or savory.
In the case of some chocolate mousses, egg yolks are often stirred into melted chocolate to give the final product a richer mouthfeel. Mousses are also typically chilled before being served, which gives them a denser texture. Sweetened mousse is served as a dessert, or used as an airy cake filling. It is sometimes stabilized with gelatin.
Smoked Salmon Cucumber Bites
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These Smoked Salmon Cucumber Bites make the perfect low-carb, holiday
appetizer. Each cucumber cup is scooped out and filled with smoked salmon,
whipped cr...
Mumbai Sandwich
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On a recent trip to India, I enjoyed a wonderful Mumbai/Bombay sandwich at
a friend's house. It was tasty and a fun change from your regular sandwich.
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