Food and Nutrition

Since it's the beginning of a new year (which of course always includes those New Year's resolutions), we thought we would re-post this guest article by Marin fitness expert Michele Vaughan. There's one helpful tip here for each week of the year! Michele is president of The Balance Workout, Marin's premiere fitness studio.

Here are 52 things that you can do for the new year 

1. Put yourself first. Write your exercise in your date book as if it were a doctor’s appointment and keep it! If we aren't healthy then we can't take care of our children or partners.
 
2. Put your fork down between each bite of food. It takes 20 minutes for the stomach to signal the brain that it is full.
 
3. Make dates with your girlfriends around fitness and health. Go for a walk, hike or run instead of going out to eat a high calorie lunch.
 
4. Never go to the grocery store hungry.

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It was when packing my son’s snacks for kindergarten that I became acutely aware of just how wasteful storing and transporting food can be. I’d find myself putting his snacks in different plastic sandwich bags, which of course all got thrown out either at school or at home (after we found the baggie containing 3-week-old rotten carrot sticks under the seat of the car).

Figuring that there had to be a better way, I started looking for a better way to pack snacks and sandwiches for school. Enter the reusable snack wrap. The concept is pretty simple in essence: a mat or pouch made of eco-friendly material like organic cotton or phthalate-free plastic that can be used to store food, then cleaned and used again and again, rather than thrown away. Here are some of my favorite reusable food bags:

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One of our favorite destinations for a family road trip is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The aquarium is not only a world famous attraction, but an international leader in environmental education and the fight to save the world's oceans.

One of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's most immediate and accessible conservation efforts is their Seafood Watch program. The goal of Seafood Watch is to raise consumer awareness about the need to choose seafood from sustainable sources, and to advocate for environmentally friendly seafood.

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It’s spring, and that means it's time to go to your local farmers' market and buy fresh and organic produce and other goodies. There are some year-round farmers' markets in Marin, but the majority of them start up again in spring after going on hiatus in the fall.

One of the year-round farmers' markets that I really like is the Civic Center Farmers' Market in San Rafael, which happens every Thursday and Sunday morning from 8 am to 1 pm. They have lots of organically grown produce, breads, eggs, and fresh cut flowers. This farmers' market is a great one to take the kids to. If you haven’t been there yet, it’s located next the Civic Center duck pond and playground. They also have pony rides, live music, and a balloon lady dressed as a clown who will make any shape of balloon that the kids request.

Also year-round is the Corte Madera Farmers' Market, which takes place every Wednesday from noon–5 pm. This farmers' market is located at the Town Center. When we are at the Town Center getting my sons hair cut we love to stroll the farmers' market and buy fresh produce for that night’s dinner.

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A friend asked me about my experience with this the other day, so I thought I'd pass it along here. This something is constipation. My son never really had a problem with it when he was little, since we made sure to feed him a good diet, until one fateful day. Of course we were on vacation, visiting friends down in Pacific Grove, when it happened. Doesn't it usually happen like that?

So one morning Trevor wakes up and instead of his usual happy two-year-old (at the time) self, he's cranky and crying and eventually seems to be in some physical distress. And because he's only two, he can't really tell us what the problem is. All he knows is that he's miserable. On our friends' recommendation we head down to the nearby urgent care clinic on Lighthouse Avenue in Monterey and fill out the paperwork with a crying toddler in the background. Of course this particular clinic doesn't take our otherwise pretty universally accepted health insurance. Of course not!

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Many of us try to buy (and pay a premium for) organic food whenever possible, since it promises to be more healthy than the conventionally grown varieties. But what exactly does “organic” really mean? Many products bear the USDA organic seal, which has been in use since 2002. USDA regulations for organic production

• prohibit the use of irradiation, sewage sludge, or genetically modified organisms
• reflect National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) recommendations for allowed synthetic and prohibited natural substances
• prohibit antibiotics in meat and poultry
• require 100% organic feed for livestock

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The other day while shopping I ran across something that I hadn't seen for years: ice pop (AKA Popsicle) molds. I'm sure they've been around all the while; it's just that they hadn't exactly been on my radar until I had kids. Anyhow, I picked up a set and we've been experimenting with making different kinds of healthy and tasty frozen treats. We've tried the obvious fruit juice, as well as various flavors of yogurt.

Coincidentally, I found some recipes for frozen fruit ice pops on the Food Network's website. The recipes--for strawberry and blueberry fruit pops--involve whirring fresh fruit and various other ingredients together in the blender and then freezing in the molds. They sound pretty good, so we're going to give them a try.

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Now that most schools begin some time in August, it’s time to start buying those back to school items. My son will be starting kindergarten this fall, so we are started shopping for a new backpack and lunchbox. When we were shopping for a lunchbox, we came across Laptop Lunches. These cool waste-free lunch boxes are American-style bento boxes that were developed by two moms in Santa Cruz. They’re designed to help families pack nutritious, environment-friendly lunches that do not contain lead, phthalates, or bisphenol A (BPA). Laptop Lunches also come with a book of healthy lunch ideas and lunch-making recipes. They are reusable, recyclable, and dishwasher safe. The basic Laptop Lunches starts at $20.99 (shown on right) online. You can buy them online at www.laptoplunches.com. read more »