Homegrown Secrets

If the kids in the family resist eating fruits and vegetables, consider redesigning the backyard. A new Saint Louis University research study suggests that preschool children in rural areas eat more fruits and veggies when produce is homegrown. It seems that vegetable gardens create a positive “food” environment, and when children are involved in growing and cooking foods, their appreciation for wholesome eating grows right along with them. It’s a winning low-cost strategy for improving the nutrition and health of any
family with an eight-by-eight-foot plot of land or room for an even more compact hydroponic garden.

Extra Guests
Don’t Invite Ants to Dinner

Ants in search of food and water can turn into persistent pests unless we know the tricks of turning them away. Diane MacEachern’s strategy at Big Green Purse both works to prevent the little buggers from breaking and entering and interrupts the chemical trail put down by scouts.

After sealing suspicious cracks, MacEachern advises setting up a temporary sticky barrier using petroleum jelly, glue or duct tape. Keeping surfaces free of bits of human and pet food helps. As does keeping trash cans and compost bins covered. Food containers with tight rubber seals outperform screw-top jars, she notes, as the pests can travel up the spiral—a good tip for picnics as well.

When ants do appear, “mop them up using a wet cloth or sponge,” she says. “Then spray using a mixture of one teaspoon of liquid soap in a bottle of water, dousing the trail they followed into the house as far outside as you can follow it.” Baits made with diatomaceous earth or boric acid carried back to the nest should stop the whole colony in its tracks.

Source: Big Green Purse

Info to Go
Avoiding Montezuma’s Revenge

Most people heading off to a foreign land have some inkling about Montezuma’s Revenge—otherwise known as a nasty case of traveler’s diarrhea. But they don’t know everything they should, says a 2007 study published by the University of Alberta, Canada.

A survey of 104 vacationers boarding flights to Mexico revealed an altogether inadequate knowledge of the means of preventing this condition. They did not realize, for instance, that chlorination does not make exotic waters safe to drink due to some microbes’ resistance to chlorination. More, traveler’s diarrhea can be contracted both from bacteria and viruses.

Experts joining the study recommend frequent hand-washing as an effective way to help ward off the sickness. Since water may not always be available, it’s useful to have disinfectant wipes handy. Also, travelers should avoid foods such as salads, partially cooked meats and ice cubes as they pose an especially high risk for contracting illness.

Fly Well
Good Plane Food

It needn’t be hard for everyone to eat healthfully in the air. Joanna Hall, author of The Weight-Loss Bible, recommends three ways to eat well and stave off flying fatigue.

When making plane reservations, Hall suggests preordering from low-fat, low-calorie, low-cholesterol, kosher and vegetarian meal selections. But “watch out for the veggie option as it’s almost invariably high in fat,” she cautions. Before boarding, make the family’s last preflight meal a satisfying balance of protein and starch. Finally, avoid salt- and calorie-laden nibbles both on and off the plane. Instead grab some chewing gum and a bottle or two of purified water.

Source: Real Age

Banning Junk
New National School Food
Standards Raise the Bar

As health experts continue to wrestle with the rising rate of obesity among American youth, the Institute of Medicine is prepared to tackle the problem head-on by proposing new nutritional standards for American schools. Ratcheted up guidelines should spur some “competition” among cafeterias and vending machines, promoting a healthier fare that includes more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and non-fat or low-fat dairy products while limiting the saturated fats, salt, added sugars and caffeinated items.

“The alarming increase in childhood obesity rates has galvanized parents and schools across the nation to find ways to improve children’s diets and health, and we hope our report will assist that effort by setting standards,” says Committee Chair Virginia A. Stallings.

The committee has proposed that two tiers of competitive foods and beverages be available based on grade level. Parents note that standards apply only to competitive items sold or available on campuses, not to federal school meals or bagged lunches and snacks that children bring to school.

Source: National Academies, April 2007

Sweet Fields
Secret of the Tipsy Strawberries

Strawberries and summer go together like, well, baseball and hot dogs, except that strawberries continually surprise scientists when it comes to their health benefits. The latest discovery revolves around strawberry daiquiris. Alcohol, it seems, enhances the powerful antioxidant effects of strawberries already helpful in preventing diseases ranging from cancer to neurodegenerative disorders.

Quite by chance researchers from Thailand and the United States realized that treating the berries with alcohol led to an increase in free radical scavenging activity within the fruit. The alcohol not only helped the berries resist decay, it also made the berries healthier to eat. Dropping the lovely red fruit into a glass of sparkling wine or champagne is another delicious option.

Source: Society of Chemical Industry, April 2007

Stay Balanced
Pitfalls of a Low-Fat Diet

New research shows that drastically reducing caloric intake and minimizing fats in our diet could negatively impact both our emotions and behavior. A study of mice published in a recent issue of Biological Psychiatry found that withdrawing these mammals from their preferred high-fat or high-carbohydrate diets showed increased anxiety and changes in their brain that indicated higher stress levels. This in turn led to significant changes in the animals’ usual behavior.

Researchers suspect that a related reason that human diets usually fail and can’t be successfully followed for long periods is that we’re not “programmed” to go against our so-called preferred diet. Meals that include all food groups apparently sustain us on physiological, psychological and emotional levels.

Source: Elsevier Health Sciences, April 2007

Step Aside
Putting Little Brains to Work

Evidence that toddlers learn new words more easily, and retain them longer, when they are allowed to figure out the meaning themselves could color the future of teaching. Johns Hopkins psychology student Meredith Brinster’s study of how young children learn to attach the names of objects to the objects themselves determined that, as a learning strategy, independently inferring word meaning is more effective for a child than direct instruction, in which an adult points to and names an unfamiliar object. Brinster explains that with the inference method the toddler uses reason (such as a process of elimination) to mentally fasten an unfamiliar word to an unfamiliar object. Evidently, it sticks.

Source: Johns Hopkins University, March 2007