Something to Buzz About – 8 Foods We May Be In Danger of Losing

Bees.  The first thing you probably think of is they sting – run! Or maybe if you’re allergic to their sting, you’re thinking yikes –epipen! Or maybe you’re a garden buff and you’re thinking pretty flowers?  No matter what you think of Bees, please don’t discount them or their purpose in our world.  The honeybee population is in jeopardy and that that means more to us than you might already know.

Bees are crucial to food production in our world, and I don’t mean in a ‘honey nut cheerios’ kind of way.

90 percent of agriculture crops in the United States are made possible thanks to our pollinating friends, the bees. About 35 percent of the food we eat would not exist without pollinators. If it lowers cholesterol, improves eyesight or turbocharges the immune system, it was probably fertilized by a bee. The bad news of all this is Honeybee populations have been on the decline since 2006 and it’s only getting worse. The situation even has its own acronym – CCD, which stands for Colony Collapse Disorder. Bees are dying at an alarming rate and unless something changes, they could be on their way to extinction.

Let’s just take a leap and say bees became extinct.  These top foods would be on their way to becoming extinct, too, due to their dependence on bees to pollinate their crops:

These foods are entirely dependent on Bees to pollinate their flowers:

Almonds –are entirely dependent on bees to pollinate their flowers.  California produces 2.1 billion pounds of almonds each year (which supplies 80% of the global demand for all almonds). Almonds are a good source of calcium, magnesium, and fiber.

Pumpkins – depend entirely on bees for pollination.  512, 870 tons of pumpkins were produced in 2013.  No pumpkins mean no jack-o-lanterns, no pumpkin pie and no pumpkin smoothies for breakfast. 

Cucumbers – nearly 360,000 tons of cucumber are produced each year. This fruit is a great hydrator because of its potassium content.  If the cucumbers go, say good-bye to pickles, too.

These crops, including watermelon, are 90% dependent on bees for pollination: 

Apples – Production for this year is projected at 263 million 42-pound cartons of apples.  Apples are a fantastic source of fiber and vitamin C.  One of the healthiest fruits you can eat… “an (organic) apple a day keeps the doctor away”.

Avocados – 226,000 pounds are produced in the US each year.  That’s a lot of guacamole! Plus this amazing fruit is a healthy fat and gives us a boost of folate and magnesium. 

Blueberries – The US is the world’s largest producer of blueberries at 564 million pounds each year.  This fruit is a powerhouse of antioxidants and a super-food everyone should incorporate into their diet.

Oranges – Just ask Florida how important bees are to their 104 million boxes of oranges they will produce this year. Vitamin C, anyone? 

You may be wondering, “what is causing this honeybee decline?” Scientists do not know for certain, but contributing factors include pesticides, parasites and loss of habitats. The issue of the dwindling honeybee population has even prompted the White House to establish the Pollinator Health Task Force this year in an attempt to reverse the loss of pollinators such as honeybees.

So, what can we do in the mean time to help save the bees?

·      Plant a bee-friendly garden

·      Sponsor a hive

·      Support local beekeepers by purchasing their honey at local farmer’s markets (my favorite way to help)

And speaking of bees… bees also mean honey and Raw Honey is good for our bodies! It provides phytonutrients and has antibacterial and antifungal properties.  (But please do not give honey of any kind to a child under the age of one.)

That's all the buzz for today... 

 Sources:

www.beesfree.biz/The%20Buzz/Disappearing-Honey-Bees-Infographic

www.onegreenplanet.org

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/sharethebuzz

www.eatingwell.com

A Better You in 21 Days

Old habits are hard to break, isn’t that the truth?! I find it fascinating how some habits not only stick like a fast acting superglue, but they are so permanently a part of our lives that we aren’t even aware that we are doing them.  Then there are those we are aware of and don’t mind, and still others we struggle with as we try to break them.  It is said that it takes ‘three weeks to make or break a habit’, and I wanted to see if there was any truth in that. So while I started out on my own personal experiment in giving up gluten for three weeks, I did some research to see about the 21-day theory.

It seems there is quite a large body of research that backs the ‘three weeks to make or break a habit’ saying. And there is also evidence that says it can take longer.  I’m going to give you the nutshell version here, but if you want to know more, Google is more than happy to help. In one sense, habits are a part of us, woven into the fabric of our day-to-day lives in varying levels of deep-seated roots.  These are explained as “patterns of well-used synaptic pathways”.  When we repeat a behavior enough, the pathways are reinforced and the triggers and signals become automatic. (Automatic also infers that no thinking is involved, so of course it would be hard to break a habit that doesn’t even need a pause when it plays out.)

Habits are easier to make than they are to break and that’s good news and bad news all at once. Repeating a habit over and over creates new signals and pathways, but trying to break a habit only weakens the response; the pattern is always settled in somewhere in the depths of your brain.  Some of the most difficult of these types of deep-set patterns are drinking and smoking and people who break or try to break those habits spend years battling the triggers that bring back the old behaviors. Luckily, those are the extremes and most people find a great deal of success with the three week (or so) scenario. Just there is no one diet for everyone, what takes one person three weeks might take another five… but any new habit that is healthy and betters your life is worth the effort. Especially when it comes to eating and exercise!

When it comes down to it, three weeks is a reasonable amount of time to at least give a new habit (or the breaking of an old one) a chance to take root. At the very least, it should help create momentum to keep going. But how you go about doing that has a big bearing on your success.  Here are some tips on how to make or break habits (or do both!) to improve your life. 

Here are a few tips:

• Break your goal down into manageable steps.  For example, if you don’t exercise at all, aim for 1 day a week and add a day every few weeks until you are up to 3-4 days a week. Or if you drink 5 sodas all day, replace two  of those sodas with water one week, three the next, etc.
• Start with one or two new behaviors to work on at the beginning, not four or five – ease into it.
• If your habit is hard to remember to do, then write it on a to-do list or a post-it note as a reminder… even if that means putting a post-it on the refrigerator door telling yourself to “eat the oranges” you just bought. There are also apps like “Lift” “StickK” and “Habit Streak” that use your iPhone or Android phone to help you stay on track. (I’m sure there are many others, too).
• Think Positive! You can do this! And give yourself credit for every little accomplishment you do make – doing something is better than doing nothing.
• Set a goal and a reward for yourself when you meet it.  Everyone will have his or her own ‘carrot’ to dangle. What is yours? Enlist a friend or family member to help keep you accountable.
• Give yourself a break.  If you fall short of your goal one day, then start up again the next, each day is a clean slate for making positive changes.

And above all, remember that in making healthy choices you are worth it, so take time to take care of you!

And about that wheat-free habit? I made it through with a few set-backs, but I felt sharper and less tired in the afternoon and I even have less joint pain in a troublesome shoulder. It is easier and easier to choose foods now that my kitchen is stocked with options and I’ve learned how to navigate eating out. Do I miss foods with wheat? Sometimes, yes, but feeling better helps me get past it quickly. 

Have you given up wheat? I’d love to hear your experience in the comments below. 

Some information taken from:

* HuffingtonPost.com

* NewLeafandCompany.com

Take a "Me" Moment

Has ‘Christmas Craziness’ moved in to your house? It has settled in at our home even though our kids are college-age. It’s hard to imagine that anyone escapes the chaos of this season, but even when Christmas isn’t days away, taking a ‘me’ moment always has benefits.

When the craziness of a busy day is upon me, I have learned to steal a little moment of ‘me’ time.  No, I’m not talking about finding enough time to have a massage or get a pedicure (which are both really nice, though!). I mean stealing small little moments, seconds in my day, to pause my thinking and breathe… really breathe.

Taking time to breathe deeply and consciously has many health benefits.  It helps increase oxygen in your system, relieve stress, assists with lymphatic system drainage and can aid with digestion.

So while it may only be when you are sitting in traffic, the carpool pick-up line or waiting for your turn to pay at Target that you get a chance to try this exercise, it counts as ‘me time’ in my book. Here’s how it works:

Pause and think of something you are grateful for.  Then do a series of three of these slow count breaths: 

1-    slowly breathe in for the count of 5

2-    hold for a count of 3

3-    then slowly breathe out for a count of 5.

Fill your lungs as full as you can and empty them as much as possible with each breath. While you breathe, focus on gratitude and soak up the stillness of the moment. 

In less than a minute’s time you will have given your body healthy boost and given your inner self a moment of peace. Me? I give thanks to God in that moment, for there is always something to be thankful for, no matter how small it may seem to be.

Wishing you a day filled with some ‘me’ time and moments of peace.

Meatless Monday - What's on Your Plate?

When I first heard about the “Meatless Monday” movement, I thought it sounded like an easy way to remember to eat more fish and try some new recipes.  Then I became a Health Coach and learned how much impact one less day of eating meat can have on our health and on our planet.  While going meatless once a week may reduce your risk of chronic illness (such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity), it also reduces your carbon footprint.  According to the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, livestock production accounts for 18% of global greenhouse emissions.  Who would have thought cows are contributing to global warming?

But one day a week, you can make a difference in your health and in healing our planet by not eating meat.

Meatless Monday doesn’t always have to be about eating fish, although eating fish is a good place to start. Here’s how my Meatless Monday sometimes looks:  Smoothie for breakfast (mixed berries, protein powder, kale and coconut water); Lunchtime is a smashed avocado on toasted sprouted grain bread topped with spinach (pears on the side) and for snack, a handful of homemade trail mix. Dinner brings fresh grilled fish and veggies with quinoa. There are lots of recipes that don’t have beef, chicken or pork as their focus.  Check out the Meatless Monday website for new meatless recipes: www.meatlessmonday.com.

How will your Meatless Monday look? Experiment and have fun with your meals… you might find a new favorite dish in the process, and you can be sure your body and your planet will thank you.

Eat Clean, Live Green!

Improve Your Water Delivery System

The Healthy Way to Drink Water

Want to live a greener lifestyle? Start by drinking water more healthily. That sounds strange, I realize, but with more people choosing water to quench their thirst (over sugary drinks, which have major health consequences and pitfalls of their own) single serving water bottles are more available than ever before, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best method for consumption. You can buy a bottle of water at nearly every fast food chain, sporting events, movie theaters, airports, even coffee shops… but it will cost you and our planet.

Let’s talk about water for a moment. More than 60% of our body is comprised of water and staying hydrated is critical to our health and overall well-being.  It turns on digestion, helps keep hunger in check, controls thirst, keeps muscle function working properly, helps your kidneys, keeps your bowels moving, aids in weight loss…well, you get the picture. 

Water should be your number one drink of choice. Every day. All daylong.  How much to drink? A lot of guidelines say half your body weight in ounces, but the easiest guide is what your urine looks like… the darker it is, the more water you need, but strive for 48 oz./day.

Let’s get back to the first point - drinking water in a healthy way for you and our planet.

The healthiest way to drink water is from a BPA (Bisphenol-A) Free, reusable water bottle.  BPA is the commonly used designation for bisphenol A, a chemical found in many rigid plastic products, food and formula can linings, dental sealants, and on the shiny side of paper cashier receipts (to stabilize the ink). Exposure to this chemical has health consequences (see below). 

The simple step of choosing a BPA free water bottle packs a lot of punch:

It’s good for our planet. Less plastic manufacturing, less trash in our landfills, less environmental impact from water companies pumping water from springs and recycling plastics and less consumption of oil from the manufacturing of the plastic bottles. The Ocean Conservancy reported that 1.1 million pounds of plastic beverage bottles were collected in 2012 from coastal cleanup initiatives… so much for recycling.

It will save you money! If you drank the equivalent of eight glasses of water a day in plastic bottles, you’d spend about $1400/year.  The cost of a good quality, re-usable water bottle averages $15. Plus they come in all sizes so you can carry more water with you. Just think what you could do with that extra $1385!

It’s good for your health. Both the consumption of water and staying away from BPA mean a healthier body. The structure of BPA resembles estrogen, and as a result, exposure to it can affect how estrogen and other hormones act in the body, by mimicking or blocking them. This can disrupt the body’s hormonal balance. Many women choose to limit their exposure to BPA and other estrogen-like chemicals because it is known that estrogen can make hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer develop and grow. Some experts have expressed concern that BPA exposure in early life may lead to an increased breast cancer risk later in life. (facts from www.breastcancer.org)

And it can brighten your day.  There are so many variations on reusable water bottles that you can find a style to fit your mood, match your exercise clothes and even go with the time of year.  Most have a wide opening to make it easier to add ice and a large wedge of lemon. 

If you haven’t already made the switch to water as your primary hydration choice, make that your goal this week… and treat yourself to a fun, new reusable water bottle to celebrate a step toward better health for you and a healthier planet for all of us.