Along with an active lifestyle, how you cook and what you eat have significant impacts on your overall health and well-being! Last week, Mrs. Green joined Chef Janos Wilder and TMC at the Carriage House for a fun, healthy, informative Lunch and Learn that inspired us to talk about food and our health this week.
Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, improving your health, and stabilizing your mood. If you feel overwhelmed by all the conflicting nutrition and diet advice out there, you’re not alone! One thing we do know, many studies have linked eating a typical Western diet – filled with processed meats, packaged meals, takeout food, and sugary snacks – to a higher rate of both physical and mental illness.
There is no “one giant step” that keep us healthy – it’s lots of little steps – and we hope we’ll inspire you to take one or two steps for yourself!
Variety is a Major Key
- Trusted scientific evidence suggests for optimum nutrition, we should include in our daily diet not only an array of whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, fruit, and as many vegetables as we can eat, but also specifically dark green leafy vegetables, berries, and white (or green) tea.
- Keep your plate colorful!
- Browse through some of the latest scientific research on NutritionFacts.org
Here are some unique and yummy recipes from our friend Chef Janos that you can try:
- Mushroom, Roasted Chile, Salsa Fresca Tacos
- Roasted Broccoli, Parmigiana Reggiano, Lemon, Garlic and Black Pepper
- Roast Chicken and Tepary Bean Salad
- Minted Honey Glazed Carrots
Buy USDA Certified Organic
For a product to be certified organic, it’s required to meet specific standards:
- Organic crops cannot be grown with synthetic fertilizers, synthetic pesticides or sewage sludge.
- Organic crops cannot be genetically engineered or irradiated.
- Animals must eat only organically grown feed (without animal byproducts) and can’t be treated with synthetic hormones or antibiotics.
- Animals must have access to the outdoors, and ruminants (hoofed animals, including cows) must have access to pasture.
- Animals cannot be cloned.
Check out these 10 Cost-Saving Strategies for Buying Organic
Know Your Fish
- Check out the Seafood Watch website which can help you make a seafood choices better for you and our oceans.
- Download the Seafood Watch app so you can reference it on the go. Our oceans will love you for it!
- Read about the possible impact on your health that not knowing where your fish is from can have.
Eating a healthy diet doesn’t have to be overly complicated. The cornerstone of a healthy diet pattern should be to replace processed food with real food whenever possible. Eating food that is as close as possible to the way nature made it can make a huge difference to the way you think, look, and feel.
A huge thanks to TMC for last week’s Lunch & Learn and all they do to keep the Tucson community healthy!