What will it take, America? Seriously, I’m asking a real question & would truly like an answer because I’m ever baffled when I look around me today at the state of our public health. Look around you, what do you see? Because this is what I see…sadness, illness, & death.

• The prevalence of disease according to the CDC continues to rise.
  
• We have the first gen of kids that won’t outlive their parents age according to the CDC as well.
  
• We have a society where every 2^nd commercial on tv, in a magazine, in a store, on a billboard is for a drug.
  
• We fail our children with schools where kids have no energy outlet anymore so they show up with guns and violence due to pent up unreleased aggression & then are drugged up after the Dr’s claim they have ADHD when they’re simply victims of no exercise & poor diet of sugar that jacks them up & wires them.
• 

  Obese kid
• We have a world today where the words gastric bypass and diabetes are as common as ‘the’ & ‘of’ to our vocabulary, and it’s nothing to someone to invade their body & destroy the natural system of disgestion to cut it to pieces & tie it up – that’s more appropriate to them then simply eating right and exercising!

I had a client recently say so eloquently about why she wanted to finally work with me towards making changes in her health & life, “I finally realized if I don’t have my health I have nothing.” If I could put those words on a billboard throughout America I would, because the American people have lost their way when it comes to their health.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Our first wealth is health”… so why is it that when we have a health symptom to address or if it’s just attending to our health in our lives we put it off, it’s always the last of thing to get to, to take care of on our list of to-do’s...washing the car, buying a new tv, going on vacation, shopping at the mall,  ALL more important -  C’mon, you KNOW you are guilty of this!

Or the best is the all too common attitude of people that if I need a health treatment for caring for my health, but my insurance doesn’t cover, I won’t do it because I can’t afford the extra expense – but we can afford vacations, fancy cars, cigarettes, all the costs of our hobbies like golf or motorcycles or hunting, going out to $100 dinners & $40 movies every weekend, high test fuel for our vehicles, and new flat screen tv’s, THOSE we can afford.

I'm here to tell you, look around & take a gander at the cost of NOT AFFORDING OUR HEALTH IN OUR LIVES. Isn’t it funny how people put their money where their values are? Isn’t is sad that as a country we have entirely LOST health somehow as a core value?

Healthy family

Look where we were 20 years ago, look where we are today, now envision where we’re headed ….. mindblowing, isn’t it? Because this is where not valuing our health anymore in our lifestyles is taking us:

• a world of still increased death at younger and younger ages due to MORE diabetes,  MORE cancers, MORE heart disease, MORE death due to failed surgery of gastric bypass or use of pharmaceuticals that toxify and posion the body over time
• still no recommendations by Dr’s and healthcare practitioners and no actions on people’s part to address their poor diet & exercise regimen, and just wait til the arteries clog up with junk & I’ll  just get the Dr to open me up and fix what I’m not adult enough to take responsibility for in my own health because that’s the easy way, that the magic bullet Americans want & I’ve always got that back up plan if all else fails
• children not able to think in class,  learn and excel , or even socialize b/c they’re so slow from excess weight on their bodies and sugar in their bloodstream they can’t function optimally, let alone barely at all
• a world where 50% of people are walking around on assisted walkers, something once only common to the elderly and aged, because they can’t use their own joints anymore such as their knees or hips to do a function as normal as walking because they have too much weight on their joints naturally to sustain them
• a world where our life expectancy, at supposedly the time of most advanced medicine in the history of  the world, begins decreasing!
• a world where costs of airplane tickets and healthcare insurance become too astronomical for the average person to afford as a result of the commonality of obesity in our country and what that does to EVERYONE’s pocketbooks; don’t be fooled, we ALL share the cost & pain of this sad glutonous out of control trend we’re on, with no end in sight….
  

  Corp fitness dilmena

We cry when our loved ones contract cancer or diabetes or heart disease and we lose them, THAT makes us sad, THAT makes us react, THAT makes us finally CARE ABOUT OUR HEALTH.

• Then why is it that we don’t value and care for our health UPFRONT?
  
• Why do we wait for the worst to happen BEFORE WE ACTUALLY PAY ATTENTION TO OUR HEALTH?
  
• Why does it take FEAR for us to finally value the God given gift of our health that is the one blessing we can count on each day, that allows us to live our lives to the fullest? 
• What will it take in this country for people to finally say enough is enough, I want to put my health on the TOP of my to-do list today & everday, and I will be grateful for my health & tend to it as such? 
• What sign can exceed the signs we have already have now, that not valuing our health is a path of sadness, illness, and death? I can’t bear to imagine….

Don’t you want to see a different health future than where we’re currently headed?? I surely do! So you can bet I will do my part & have my health as #1 on my to-do list today, and all the rest of the active, happy, energetic, capable, healthy days of my life.

We all wake up with the same 24 hours in a day, and we all wake up with our health…what we do with those two factors is up to each & every one of us….and tomorrow is a new day, but HOW MANY days we all have on this earth differs based on what you invest into this equation through your efforts to attend to your health & this is SOLELY UP TO YOU, and you alone –

So how many days do you want to be here on this earth enjoying your loved ones & this life? Put your health on YOUR to-do list as one of your top values finally tomorrow – today it’s the only investment you can count on & I promise you it will pay you back tenfold.

Strength

Don't be like the average American and wait for the diagnosis to make your move, when it's already too late...Harsh maybe, but we've come to a time in our public health where somebody needs to stand up & scream a wake up call because they care deeply about the madness of what they see going on around them & where we're headed. Are you listening?

In health,
Heather Dubé - Health & Wellness Coach
Wellcoaches LWC Trainee, Group Wellness Coach, NASM CPT, BA Psychology

You & Improved Coaching
"Revitalizing Wellness in Health & Home"
www.youandimprovedcoaching.com
healthmatters.vox.com/
hdube@youandimprovedcoaching.com | 408.667.7551

Wellness Coaching Can Help You Feel & Live Better - Find out More Here.

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Amidst Michael Phelp's Olympic achievements this past week there has been much publicity and attention centered on his diet. Here is an article that lays out point by point what he eats at every meal & some commentary to his strange eating plan:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7562840.stm .

As people hear more and more of his high fat high calorie plan, we'd like to make sure no one misinterprets this info as a "free pass" to think that everyone who eats like Michael can be in the health of an Olympic athlete, as this is certainly not the case.

In fact, what it should make people think is: imagine just how much more this man could achieve if he fueled his body with good, quality, nutrient-dense food sources?

THAT is what the media should be talking about, instead of sending out the wrong message about the example Phelp's is not setting for people in the area of nutrition. It upsets me to no end that the media constantly needs to create drama, and in doing so they consistently choose to publicize negative topics to stir the pot.

If he eats that way, then NBC and other media sources should think about the number of people they have as a captured audience in this format & how they can HELP them to eat well through the message their sending, not patronize & confuse their viewers the way they are talking endlessly about Michael's junk food eating program.  Have they never heard the phrase, "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all."?

This is the exact stuff that confuses people and is a detriment to the state of our public health both in adults and children. We may possibly now see a resurgence in the awful Atkins diet, which is basically filling your arteries with fat & unhealthy oils, based on the specifics they're putting out on tv about Michael's diet.

Keep in mind the frequency, length & intensity of someone's training of Michael's athletic caliber can counter some of the junk he is taking into his body for food. So what may APPEAR to not effect him negatively is partially due to the counter effect of his exercise schedule - but remember, you don't see his insides, and outward physical appearance is not always indicative of inner health both short & long-term.

That is how professional athletes sometime die shockingly from cancer or a heart attack unexpectedly every once in awhile to everyone's surprise. People too often wrongly associate outward appearance as synonomous with inward health quality. If he continued to eat like this over time, regardless of his training, it would no doubt take a negative toll on his health.

I'm rather surprised that an athlete of his level is not working with a nutritional consultant on a regular basis to support his training both in term of nutrient choices, meal composition, and nutrient timing to support his pre, during, and post workout periods properly with what he eats. The majority of athletes that compete at that level either are supporting their body with health nutrition through the consultation of a sports nutritionist, or through their own knowledge of being in and around the sport for many years.

I'd also like to mention his diagnosis of ADHA, which is important to note along with the correlation that he's openly admitted he's been eating this way for 20+ years. Why people don't connect what he's putting in his mouth in terms of loads of sugars, processed chemicals and foods, junk food, soda/caffeine, and high fats, along in direct relation to this exacerbated temperament as a child growing up to today leaves me speechless.

How we choose to support or not support our bodies nutritionally to do the work of their natural processes has everything to do with our resulting mood, ability to concentrate, ability to focus, to think, to have energy or not, to function, etc. For anyone who is diagnosed with ADHD or ADD, the absolute FIRST thing any Dr should do is assess the client's diet and rework it to put them on a whole foods paleolythic diet, by removing all processed sugars, all caffeine, all packaged foods, leaving only lean meats, decaf coffee or tea, loads of water and vegetables, and minimal fruit. Once that transition sets into their body over 4-6 weeks, then and only then should the client be reassessed for what type of possible additional medicinal support may or may not be needed at that point. Unfortunately, most Dr's do not even address the current diet and exercise program of the patient both in diagnosis and treatment.

In the article on Phelps, Barbara Lewin, a nutritionist who has advised international athletes on their dietary health for almost two decades, states "Health-wise, if he were eating like this long-term, he'd probably be having to see a cardiologist regularly," Mrs Lewin told the BBC.

It's too bad he has set such a stellar example on areas of physical health & achievement in sport for adults, childrens, athletes throughout the world, yet fails to set a similar good example of nutrition in this world at a time when it's SO needed by someone of his reach. Just like Mary Lou Retton was a unstoppable force and the athlete-to-inspire of my generation, Phelps is just this for figure for generation Y, which needs a  lot more positive role models on the exercise & nutrition front today then we needed back then.

I'm hoping as his accomplishments set in that the realization the amount of kids along with that that look up to him will to, and he'll begin to see the tremendous amount of responsibility that comes along with that & therefore how he can use this platform to help others in these areas of health.

And yet someone who is using high performance nutrition to reach her Olympic goals at the age of 41, Dara Torres, & would prove a wonderful example for people throughout the world on how she approaches her training to get where she has both physically and nutritionally, gets called out by the media in her interview asking if she's using steroids.

Can someone please just release the media from their duties? They are the cause of so many problems in our society today with the drama they try to create. So the media immediately skews and ruins a potentially great example for people by asking Dara if she's taking drugs, automatically assuming she is. Of course she has to be, right? No, not right.

How about asking her how she does it...how she achieves such physical goals at her age? THAT again is what would HELP people watching the Olympics via encouragement, vs. the over-asked steroid question. Just because you don't understand how someone achieves something, doesn't automatically mean it's not possible to achieve or they cheated to get there; it just means she has had some experiences in controlling and developing her health in a manner through her life that you haven't in your own, and we'd benefit to learn from her.

But of course the drama will always be more important to the media than doing what's right to help better people's health in their lives. I do hope people do see through the drama being made over Michael Phelp's diet to realize that it's basically much to-do about nothing & not worth the air time it's getting, as most things the media harps on.

Let's just enjoy his wins for the amazing feat they are & hope that, should he return to future Olympic competition, he adds in a great nutritional program to support his future athletic goals so we can see him at his true best ... & how incredible that would be.

Heather Dubé - Health & Wellness Coach
Wellcoaches LWC Trainee, Group Wellness Coach, NASM CPT, BA Psychology

You & Improved Coaching - "Revitalizing Wellness in Health & Home"
www.youandimprovedcoaching.com
healthmatters.vox.com/
info@youandimprovedcoaching.com

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Show us something gold, silver, or bronze.

Lemon butter and lemons

Some (golden) lemon butter I made yesterday using some of the lemons from the lemon tree we received as a wedding present more than 10 years ago.  I used my grandmother's recipe but instead of faffing around with double saucepans and constant stirring, I just tossed all the ingredients into the bread maker, turned it onto the jam setting and let it cook itself!  Here is the list of ingredients (which I doubled):

• 1 large cup of sugar
• 2 oz or 50g of butter or margarine
• juice of 2-3 lemons
• grated peel

ETA: For those without a breadmaker, you ideally need a double saucepan and at least an hour to spare.  If you don't have a double saucepan, you can boil water in a large saucepan and place the ingredients in a smaller saucepan, put that into the large sauce and stir for one hour until the mix thickens, taking care especially not to get streaks of egg in it (this was always my downfall when I did it this way). 

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100_0780.jpg

I have made this quite a few times as it is very easy (and I am not one of those mums who excels at making fancy cakes!).  Also this book has been one of my son's all time favourites for the past few years. 

All you do is make up basic cupcakes or mini muffins, ice and decorate with lollies/candy and then arrange on a tray to look like a caterpillar.  I have a few different cupcake recipes I use but here is an easy one here. 

For the icing, I just use icing sugar with a bit of butter and/or water and maybe some lemon juice and then only add in a tiny drop of food colouring. 

The candy I have used on this version of the cake is cut up pieces of soft licorice (for legs and hairy bits), smarties for eyes and little jubes for antennas.  I have also dipped them in sprinkles.  REally you can use your imagination though depending on what candy etc you can get your hands on.  I usually ice more than I need for the caterpillar and have these on a separate plate so all the kids in the class can have one each.  

I had actually planned to try and make gluten free this time as one of my son's classmates is coeliac but forgot to buy the mix last week.  I might send in something different for her like a jelly cup.      

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(or squash as the Americans call it).  By way of background to this, I once shared a house with a woman who described herself as an "urban peasant" and was into things like keeping chickens, growing her own vegetables, composting etc etc.  One year she grew these amazing gigantic Russian pumpkins (one of which actually won a prize at the local Agricultural Show) and we ate pumpkins for months and months.  In another effort to use them up, she threw a Pumpkin Party.  A few days before the party, she delivered a slab of pumpkin to all the guests at home asking them to make something with it to bring to the party.  I was in charge of the pumpkin curry from memory.  Here are a few things we ate that night and on other occasions when trying to use up the pumpkin.

Load of Pumpkins

1. Pumpkin soup

2. Pumpkin frittata

3. Pumpkin lasagne

4. Pumpkin moussaka

5. Pumpkin gnocchi

6. Pumpkin scones

7. Pumpkin in a salad

8. Pumpkin cake

9. Baked pumpkin

10. Pumpkin stir fry

11. Pumpkin curry

12. Pumpkin pikelets

13. Pumpkin tart.

Butternut squash

There are probably more but I have blocked them out of my mind.  Took me ages to be able to eat pumpkins again after that.  Now I am back to using them a lot in my cooking.  I like the sweetness they bring to an otherwise savoury dish.  My daughter also likes cooking and eating pumpkin soup. 

Butternut pumpkin soup

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I was checking out some of the food most recently added to this group and I have never heard of it.  Then after reading this I realized we may not be from the same..errr..area.  That would probably make sense if you felt the same way about the recipe that I posted :)

Do you mind if I ask where you all are from?  I'm from Kansas in the United States.  Thanks and keep posting....I'm bound to try somthing.

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being force-fed vegemite on their pilgrimage to Sydney.  Is this a test of faith?  I don't think I have ever met a non-Australian who likes vegemite.  Also didn't know that baked beans were traditional Aussie fare.  Someone had better tell Mel Brooks. 

Pilgrims to tuck into tradition

June 9, 2008 - 3:39PM

Iconic ... the pilgrims' menu will feature typical Aussie tucker.

 

Pilgrims heading to Sydney for World Youth Day (WYD) next month will get a taste of Down Under courtesy of a traditional Aussie menu.

Over the six-day event from July 15-20, 3.5 million meals will be served, including breakfast at 400 accommodation venues, lunch at 250 sites and evening meals in the city.

To cater for the masses, 210,000 slices of bread, 425,000 chocolate bars, 200,000 meat pies and 300,000 servings of Weet-Bix Crunch have been ordered.

"We want to provide pilgrims with a good feed and a little bit of an Australian taste," WYD director of services Geoff Morris said.

"We have tried to do that by including some of our more iconic items such as Tim Tams, Weet-Bix Crunch, Vegemite, lamingtons and good old baked beans," Mr Morris said.

On the second day of the festivities, 200 barbecues will be held simultaneously, an event dubbed the "WYD Big Aussie BBQ".

An estimated 125,000 international visitors are expected to visit Sydney for WYD.

AAP

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Show us something you can't resist.

 

 

Sago gula melaka

Should say that this is not my photo.  I pinched it from this blog by Terri from Malaysia (where this dessert comes from).  She also has a recipe for it on her blog.  I make it myself sometimes (using a recipe from my Malaysia neighbour in Sydney) but it doesn't tend to look as impressive as this. I think the secret is to use good quality (ie, non gritty) coconut milk as there is nothing worse than grit in your gula Melaka.    

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I have a new family favorite that my husband really enjoys.  Plus, he's a hard critic to impress....so when he comes home and says, "Are we having that chicken dish again?  Sweeeett!", I know it's a keeper.

It's pretty easy, and you may have had something close to this.  Either way, it's kind of a comfort food...so enjoy :)

4 chicken breasts or thighs (pick what you prefer), cut in 1/2

1 can cream of mushroom (You can use the Healthy Choice if you are looking for something lighter)

1/2 cup sour cream (once again, use the light or fat free if you want)

Box of stuffing mix.

Make the stuffing mix and set aside.

Mix the sour cream and cream of mushroom soup together.  Place the chicken in a casserole dish.  Put the sour cream/soup mix on top of the chicken evenly.

Put the stuffing mix on top of the chicken/soup mix. 

Place in the oven at 350 for 30 - 40 min depending on your oven and how big your peices of chicken are. 

** If you like crispy stuffing, leave it alone in the oven.  If you like it softer and less crispy, place some foil over your dish about 1/2 way through the cooking process.

So that's it.  The best thing about this recipe is it only required 4 things.  You can serve it alone or with a veggie.  I hope you like it :)

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TY: Gwen Campbell Sterling, VA Home Cooking Mag.

1 pound hamburger, turkey, or chicken
1 can of condensed beef barley soup with vegetables
1 (10oz) package of frozen peas and carrots : I use mixed veggies sometimes too!
1 cup of beef or chicken broth
1/4 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups of French's fried cheddar or regular onion's, divided
1(71/2 oz) package of refrigerated biscuit dough

S6301014

I DOUBLE THIS RECIPE FOR MY FAMILY OF 6, AND END UP WITH LEFT OVERS.....QUICK VERY FLAVORFUL AND CHEAP TO THROW TOGETHER! F&F!!  Besides it is fun to play around with the recipe...

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