The United States Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture designed the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines to help Americans eat a healthier diet and improve their overall eating habits. It offers key recommendations with specific nutritional targets and dietary limits. Americans’ social and economic cultures have resulted in unhealthy eating habits. The recommended daily intake of dietary fiber is 25 grams of fiber for women and 38 grams for men. Yet, most Americans consume less than half of the recommended daily fiber intake and have become one of our most significant dietary deficiencies. Over time, a deficiency in dietary fiber can increase the possibility of developing…
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National Agricultural Day! Thank a farmer…
March 15 is National Agricultural Day! Below is a link I found interesting – 10 reasons to thank a farmer. http://pin.it/w2FmnBM 10. American’s spend only 10% of their incomes on food. The lowest percentage of any country. 9. The world’s population will grow from 7 billion to 9 billion by 2050. Farmers will need to DOUBLE food production to keep pace. 8. Only 210,000 full time U.S. farmers produce 80% of our food and fiber. 7. Most farms are family-owned enterprises. These families brave exceptional risk and tight margins. 6. For every $1 spent on food, farmers receive less than 12 cents for the raw products. 5. The average U.S.…
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Food Expiration Dates
For the exception of infant formula, food expiration dates are not required by federal law. Some states require particular products to carry “use by” dates or “sell before” dates. These dates are actually not for the consumer, but are mainly for the retailer to judge when a product should be pulled from the shelf. “Open dating” is used for perishable items. Once this date has past, the quality of the food may diminished, but it is not an absolute “expiration date,” for the product. If proper refrigeration has occurred, most perishable items will be consumable beyond the stamped date. “Closed/coded dates” are used for shelf stable items, such as rice…
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Farmer’s Markets
This weekend many local farmer’s market’s will open. Homegrown or homemade products will be sold directly by their growers, without the costly distributor. Freshness is the biggest advantage to buying at farmer’s markets. Direct communication with the grower can be beneficial if you are inquisitive about chemicals or pesticides being applied to the food you will eat. Growers can tell you exactly what they may have put on the food. Also, supporting your own community is gratifying. Usually, farmer’s markets feature vendors within 50 miles or so, of the city in which the market is advertised. I plan to visit 4-5 local area farmer’s markets this Saturday morning. I will…
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Pasta for lunch?
Traditionally, we have pasta only at dinner time. If I have it for lunch, it is a late lunch, when I plan NOT to have a dinner at all. Tonight, we had a pasta dish that was light enough for lunch (see Recipe blog for Pasta alla Trapanese). It was good, but way too light for dinner. Served with bread, this pesto, vegetables and pasta mixture was delicious, but just seemed to be lacking something. If I cook it again, I think I will toss in a bit of italian flavored chicken, just to give it some heartiness. Try it! It actually took only 20 minutes prep and 20 minutes…
