My Plate: Eating Right

Choose My Plate

We attended a nice presentation Friday at the local library.  It was a presentation for kids (although we stayed and learned a thing or two) about healthy eating.  Remember what we all grew up knowing as The Food Pyramid?  Well, things have changed (thank Goodness).  The FDA has now presented to the eating public: My Plate.

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/

The presentation was informative and, since it was at the local library, (a beautiful new building in Livingston, LA), free!  My kids were the only ones to attend and were lucky enough to be the sole subjects of the local Advocate Newspaper article due out next Thursday!  But, I digress...

The idea behind My Plate is simple...fill your plate with the right amounts of the different food groups.  Half of the plate should be fruits and vegetables.   The other half grains and protein.  Be honest.  How many of YOU fill your plates this way?  (I sure don't!)  Dairy is a side "circle" and thus not as large a quantity.

Vegetables and Fruits

Canned (with reduced salt) and frozen veggies, as well as, of course, fresh veggies are great.  Farmers' markets will assure you the freshest...probably more so than any supermarket.  Canned fruit, as long as it is packed in juice and not syrup, can be a great component to your meals.  But fresh fruit, with the skin on (for fiber) is best.  Raw is best for both.

Of course, my brain started to spin for the possibilities this, somewhat new, program can provide...but someone out there already had my idea.

Take The Time and Get Involved

If you think your kids will balk at this...well, you may be right, especially if you have not been following this rule on your own.  We try to get veggies and fruits into almost every meal, but, I have to say it is usually raw carrots, celery, and broccoli for dipping.  Fruits are easier.  But to fill half a plate??  I'd need much smaller plates.

It's not easy so take time to get into a routine.  Plan meals ahead.  Allow yourself to try new foods and learn to like them.  Maybe even use it as an excuse to go to a restaurant to try some new vegetable dishes.  Research how to cook new foods.  Enlist your kids to help look up recipes, shop, prepare, and cook.

Hey, you can even include some Math in with your dinner.

If you are searching for a goal this year, set a goal to eat healthier.

We hope to begin and continue a new food regimen...

Meatless Mondays

Wok Wednesdays

Fish Fridays

We are starting there.  Any ideas for Tuesdays and Thursdays?

Stay tuned for recipes and reviews.

Tick Tick Tick

So, Tuesday, while Ian was at soccer practice, I noticed a teeny tiny tick on his neck...deer tick.  The black-legged tick.  Removing it was neither laborious, nor upsetting, thank goodness.  The little critter was out...Marie Antoinette it was not. However, the entire episode started me thinking about what other individuals from the Insecta Class we would encounter on our travels.  Being reared in New England, we are quite accustomed to ants, mosquitos, wasps, hornets, spiders, etc...which, in their own ways are more nuisance than frightful.

Ixodes scapularis

Apparently, ticks will be residents in many of the states to which we travel.

Minnesota; Iowa; Missouri; Oklahoma; Arkansas; Texas; Kansas; Wisconsin; Illinois; Tennessee; Mississippi; Louisiana; Alabama; Kentucky; Indiana; Michigan; Ohio; West Virginia; North Carolina; South Carolina; Georgia; Florida; Virginia; Maryland; Delaware; Pennsylvania; New Jersey; New York; Connecticut; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; New Hampshire; Vermont; Maine

Whether it is a deer tick or dog tick, as they are commonly called, the recommended method used to remove it is fairly universal:

The best way to remove a tick is to pull it off gently, leaving the tick and its mouth parts intact. This can be difficult because some ticks cement their mouth parts into the skin. Every effort should be made to remove this cement if it does not come out with the tick. Applying heat, alcohol, petroleum jelly or fingernail polish to an embedded tick is not effective. The following is the recommended procedure:

• Use blunt curved tweezers or a thread
• Grasp the tick as close to the skin surface as possible and pull upward with a steady, even pressure.
• Do not twist or jerk the tick because this may cause the mouth parts to detach and remain in the skin.
• You should pull firmly enough to lift up the skin.
• Hold this tension for 3 to 4 minutes and the tick will back out.
• DO NOT squeeze, crush, or puncture the body of the tick because its fluids may contain bacteria.
• Immediately dispose of the tick. If you have any concerns, put the tick in a plastic bag and freeze it. If you get sick you can take the dead tick with you when you see your provider.
• Immediately wash your hands and the affected area with soap and water.

If you do not want to use tweezers, there are several products on the market created by those go-getters of the product world.  Here are a few,  all for around $5.00.   Note: I have never tried these products; I am a tweezer-gal.

cause id like to see you out in the moonlight 
id like to kiss you way back in the sticks 
id like to walk you through a field of wildflowers 
and id like to check you for ticks 

                                            

This site:  www.insectidentification.org/ has a great dichotomous key to help identify insects, or perhaps, arachnids, as the case may be.  (See left side menu).


And here is a great game for the family!  

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