Jill's Tips!

Hello!

Buying organic is always a wonderful thing to do for the earth. In terms of avoiding pesticides for your health, these are the foods for which organic matters most. According to the Environmental Working Group, common growing practices make these crops the most likely to contain pesticide residues:

1. Apples
2. Bell peppers
3. Celery
4. Cherries
5. Imported grapes
6. Nectarines
7. Peaches
8. Pears
9. Potatoes
10. Raspberries
11. Spinach
12. Strawberries

If you don’t have access to organic produce, don’t sweat it. Eating plenty of fruits and veggies is the best thing you can do for your health—organic or not. Just wash the non-organic variety a little more thoroughly. Have a good week!

-Jill

Top 10 Trends: Nutrigenomics

RedHerring.com post:

Dehydrated ice cream meets the Michelin guide and the human genome.
December 19, 2005 Print Issue

Whether they know it or not, the best cooks have always been scientists. Marinating a chicken breast, for example, in a simple concoction of vinegar, olive oil, and rosemary is an elegant bit of chemistry. The acidic vinegar bores small pathways between the fibers of the muscle, allowing the herb-infused oil to deliver flavor deep inside the meat before it is cooked.


While the science of cooking has largely remained invisible in most kitchens—grandma never mentioned amino acid chains when she passed down her brisket recipe—the lines between the lab and the kitchen are growing increasingly blurred. The interest in cooking at the molecular level is not confined to the massive food science laboratories managed by global conglomerates like Altria and Nestlé.

Nutrigenomics are Here!

What is Nutrigenomics?

Everyone knows that the foods you eat, the supplements you take and the exercises you do (or don’t) can have a significant impact on your health. But did you know that your genes play a role as well?

In recent years, scientists have discovered that small variations in your genes can influence how well your body metabolizes food, uses nutrients, and cleanses damaging toxins.

Jill's Tips!

Hello!

This week's tip is in honor of JOYCE'S 78th BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOYCE!

If you know my mentor (and founder of Diet for Health), you know that Joyce is a fantastically energetic, fit Superwoman who does more activities each week than I do in a month. Her vitality is such that she thinks nothing of flying to Tahiti for New Year's Eve swimming with sharks, walking 18 holes of golf when it's 110 degrees outside and raising thousands of dollars for local charities.

Although people usually comment on her figure, it's her youthful brain that inspires me most. Is it just luck that she is smarter, wittier and sharper than her juniors? NO! The following healthy habits can make a brain IMPROVE with age:

1. Eat your fruits and veggies. They are the fountain of youth for every cell!
2. Avoid doing low-carb diets for very long. Your brain prefers it's fuel in the form of carbs...about 450 calories-worth per day! That's a hungry organ!
3. Eat a bit of healthy fat--like nuts, seeds and fish--most days.
4. Have a little caffeine. Only a little is necessary, but it enhances neural connections.
5. Nurture relationships. People with more friends and family have less cognitive decline as they age.
6. Exercise. Your brain thrives on the extra oxygen it receives during a workout.
7. Embrace a little adversity. Chronic uncontrollable stress ages your brain, but regular challenges are healthy and stimulating.
8. Keep a healthy heart. Research is showing that heart health and brain health are very closely related.
9. Do something novel every week. Even blowing your nose with your non-dominant hand creates new neural connections!

Joyce is living proof that if you care for your brain, it will make you smarter, funnier, wiser and more valuable to society with every year.

THANKS FOR INSPIRING US, JOYCE!

Have a good week,
Jill

California's Farm to School Program is here!

If you are in the Sacramento, California region, then check out this conference. If you want this program at your school - Email Moira Beery for more information at beery@oxy.edu.

Upcoming Events and News

Register now to attend the next Farm to School Workshop in Sacramento:
Ready, Set, Grow! Farm to School for the Sacramento Valley
August 3, 2006, 8:30-4:30 in Sacramento, CA.
Download the registration brochure as pdf file or jpg
For more information call Temra Costa at (530) 756-8518 x18 or email temra@caff.org

Organic Makeover for your Family

Check out Horizon Organics Great Makeover Plan:

There's no time like the present to transition your family to a healthy, organic lifestyle. Learn how easy it is! CLICK HERE

Grandpa and G-Bob

IMG_6426
Originally uploaded by farmgirl.

4th of July - getting into the swing of things...

Jill's Tips!

Hello!

Summer is officially here, so eat these super-foods while they are in season:

--Gazpacho soup (keep it handy as an anytime snack)
--mango slices (with cinnamon, perhaps)
--Corn on the cob (if you consider it a grain instead of a veggie, it's super nutritious!)
--Berries & cherries (the fountain of youth and cherries fight pain)
--Grape tomatoes
--Button mushrooms (you can buy them pre-washed and ready-to-eat)
--Red, yellow, orange, green peppers (they travel well as snacks. Slice them ahead of time, or just bring the entire pepper plus a paring knife)
--Papaya with lime
--Portobello mushrooms (grill them like hamburgers)
--Watermelon (sprinkle cocoa powder and splenda on top and it tastes like fudge cake. No foolin'.)
--Anything else you find at the farmer's market

...well...ALMOST anything you find at the farmers market. When it comes to Kettle Korn, candied nuts, etc., enjoy your free sample and don't even THINK of buying any!

If you have other summer snack ideas to add to my list, please let me know!

Have a good week!

Jill

Click here for more on Jill and Diet for Health.

Meet Jill Brook, Nutritionist

Farmgirl here, just back from my first week with my nutritionist, Jill Brook. You can learn more about Jill at: http://dietforhealth.com. She rocks. And she's getting Farmgirl in even better nutritional shape. It's necessary for me to reduce my inflammation inside. This is caused by my multiple sclerosis. And it's what gets me down and staying in bed when I should be out working, playing and living!

Our first goal is to reduce inflammation by altering my lean mass to fat mass ratio. I'm not overweight, just undermuscled. This is a relatively new problem for me - the last year or so. I've already got a handle on it and am looking forward to learning more about doing this right. After a walk with Ellie Hounddog and a trip to the gym, I went to the market and splurged on organic cottage cheese, fresh, organic fruit and other nutritional goodies. Heck, I deserve it!