A Bad Week for Chemicals

It hasn’t been a good week for those hard to pronounce chemistry class sounding “things” that we find in our food, things that are deliberately added into our food through processing or through the growing process. Of course, I’m talking about things like pesticides and chemical preservatives.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there’s been an estimated 4.5 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 that have been diagnosed with ADHD, a number that’s risen about 3% a year between 1997 and 2006. A new study in the journal “Pediatrics” is connecting exposure to pesticides, found in our foods, to cases of ADHD. The study also found that these chemical influences may combine with such things as video games, DVD’s, and “hyperkinetically” edited TV shows to further increase the risk of ADHD.

As a parent, this all makes too much sense. We’ve been reading for decades about the dangers of pesticides in our food and don’t we all know that too much time in front of the tube can’t be all that good for you?

Another study by the Harvard School of Public Health, whose study is in the journal “Circulation”, is finding that meat alone does not necessarily increase our risk of heart disease and diabetes, it’s the chemical preservatives that increases the risk. It doesn’t mean that steaks and burgers are all of a sudden “risk free”, but it seems to indict the preservatives found in things like bacon, salami, hot dogs, etc. Of course, the American Meat Institute (is this a school?) isn’t too happy about the report and has little good to say about it. Their disapproval may be grounds for trust in the report!

The bottom line is that reports of this type only add substance to what most of us have always suspected about the food we eat. Once again, we need to encourage each other to use our common sense about what we eat and what we feed our families. Sure, the kids in the Oscar Mayer ads were cute, but let’s get real about what’s inside that tube steak! If you can’t read it, you shouldn’t eat it!


LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

Try this sandwich!

Sometimes I can’t resist a recipe, especially when it seems to be simple, healthy and delicious at all the same time. Martha Rose Shulman offered this recipe is a recent edition of the NY Times. The roasted red peppers are great, you can also buy them canned. Fresh market has them freshly roasted. Enjoy!

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped or pureed
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard, plus extra for the bread
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 cups (about 2 ounces) baby spinach, washed and dried
2 roasted red piquillo peppers, or 1 small red bell pepper, roasted, seeded and cut in wide strips
1 ounce soft goat cheese
1 whole wheat or whole wheat sesame hamburger bun
1. Whisk together the lemon juice, salt, pepper, mustard and olive oil.
2. Place the spinach in a bowl, and toss with the dressing to coat thoroughly.
3. Spread a little mustard over the bottom half of the hamburger bun. Spread half the goat cheese over the bottom bun and the other half over the top bun. Make a layer of half the spinach salad on the bottom bun. Press down, and layer the roasted pepper over the spinach. Layer the remaining spinach salad over the peppers, and top with the other half of the hamburger bun. Press down and wrap tightly in plastic. Allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes, or for several hours in the refrigerator, before eating.

Let me know how you like it!

Martha Rose Shulman can be reached at martha-rose-shulman.com

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers

The Cost of our Food

I recently read a letter to the News-Press complaining about the high cost of food. I can’t argue that food and other basic commodities have constantly risen over the years while most of us are dealing with tighter household budgets and trying to stretch our food dollars.
A sort trip through any supermarket and looking at what shoppers are buying often makes me wonder “what do most of us consider to be food?”
I usually make a trip to the Lee County Alliance for the Arts Green Market on Saturdays. When I returned home yesterday and looked at what I had bought for under $12.00, I couldn’t help but do a little comparison. Thus the two pictures.
The first picture shows my vegetable purchases at the Alliance for the Arts Green Market, for a total of just under $12.00, as well as other items which I purchased at Publix, such as the bottled water ($4.00) and two boxes of pasta ($2.78). I’m also including a two pound block of Cabot cheddar cheese which I bought at Cosco for about $5.00.The total cost for these items is approximately $24.00.
The second picture is a grouping of some things I had at home, such as the Pepsi, and the other items which I purchased at Publix, such as the chips, frozen pizza, and the potato skins. These were all items that I saw other shoppers purchase while I was at Publix. The cost of these items is approximately $21.00.
Is this a scientific study? Absolutely not, but I believe that it makes a point. I recently purchased ten pounds of organic carrots for just over $5.00 ($.50/lb). The potato chips in the picture cost just about $3.00, so ten pounds of potato chips would cost just over $43.00. I'm sure there's some logic here, I'll let you know when I find it.
So much of what we are blessed with in this country is very reasonable as well as plentiful. So much of the food that we consume and carries a high price tag at the same time is seriously undermining our health. This is certainly a case of adding insult to injury! Do your own test and let me know.

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers