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Eating to Beat the Winter Blues: Healthy Eating February 2020
Eating to Beat the Winter Blues Healthy Eating: February 2020 By Gretchen Heimsoth Right around this time in the new year- after all the hustle and bustle and stress from the holidays is finished, (and hopefully the decorations are put away!) we can come to a pause after all the festivities where we can feel a lull in energy and focus, as well as low mood and motivation. Shorter days/less sun, chilly and rainy days all add up and can express in a syndrome known as Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD. SAD can affect all age ranges. Children pent up inside when they would otherwise be running around expending energy…
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Santa Cruz Gets OK Grades for Lack of Fat
Santa Cruz Gets OK Grades for Lack of Fat Santa Cruzans got a decent report card from the national Nutrition Policy Institute last month, showing that locals were healthier than fellow Californians and diet-seeking peers across the country. The Nutrition Policy Institute, in collaboration with the California Department of Public Health, showed more than 25 percent of all California residents were obese, as of 2014. This percentage has increased by 6 percent since 2001. The average Santa Cruzan needs to lose 42 pounds, while the rest of the state needs to lose 51 pounds, according to this obesity study. Though that may seem like a negative thing, in a nation…
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Stop the Bad Swelling: Healthy Eating January 2020
Stop the Bad Swelling Healthy Eating: January 2020 By Kris Holden Inflammation is the body’s natural way of protecting itself from injury, infection and foreign substances. It can be both beneficial and detrimental to our health. Lack of exercise, unmanaged stress, and inflammatory foods can all contribute to chronic inflammation. Thankfully, studies suggest that you can control and possibly reverse inflammation through a healthy, anti-inflammatory lifestyle. There are two types of inflammation: acute and chronic (long-term). Acute inflammation, is beneficial and protects our health. It activates our immune system response to an injury, such as a cut or a bruise. This allows our body to repair and heal itself. Chronic…
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Impossible Burger vs. Beyond Burger
Impossible Burger vs. Beyond Burger Healthy Eating: December 2019 By Kris Holden The two biggest brands of fake meat, Impossible Burger and Beyond Burger, are all the hype. They are in the news and headlines and displayed on the menus at hundreds of restaurants and fast food chains. The Impossible Burger and Beyond Burger are both highly processed and engineered to replicate meat. They have similar protein amounts to ground beef, but have just as much saturated fat (from the coconut oil) and high sodium. They do offer two to three grams of fiber, where as beef has none. The Impossible Burger has 21 ingredients with the main contents being…
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Juice vs Smoothies, What’s Healthier? Healthy Eating November 2019
Juice vs Smoothies, What’s Healthier? Healthy Eating November 2019 By Kris Holden There’s a lot of hype over juicing these days. More and more juice bars are opening and most grocery stores offer a variety of bottled fruit and vegetable juices. The latest trend seems to be cold-pressed juice. But, what is “cold-pressed juice,”? Are there more health benefits in drinking fresh pressed juice over drinking blended smoothies? Let’s start off by looking at the process and benefits of juicing. Juicing 101 Juicing is the process of extracting the liquid from fruits and vegetables and discarding the skin, pulp and fiber. Without the fiber your digestive system doesn’t have to…
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Small Bikes, Big Confidence: Extremely Sports November 2019
Small Bikes, Big Confidence Girls Take to the Trails in Little Bellas Program Extremely Sports: November 2019 By Karen Kefauver When I first considered volunteering with the Little Bellas program in Santa Cruz, I thought, ‘I don’t have time!’ Then I reconsidered: Just like chocolate and peanut butter, the combo of mountain biking and mentoring sounded irresistible. I took a closer look at the eight-week commitment on Sunday afternoons in Scotts Valley and learned that Little Bellas is a national program for women mentoring girls on mountain bikes. I felt proud that Santa Cruz, our cycling mecca, had its own chapter. After I talked to the leadership crew, helmed by…
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Vaping and Your Child’s Health: What Parents Need to Know
Vaping and Your Child’s Health What Parents Need to Know By Tara Leonard, MPH Our country is experiencing two disturbing crises related to vaping. First, there’s an ongoing epidemic of youth using flavored nicotine products, including e-cigarettes. Public health officials have been speaking out on this issue for several years with growing alarm. Second, there’s an outbreak of vaping-associated pulmonary illnesses which began this past summer. As of mid-October, there were 1,299 cases nationwide with 29 deaths and those numbers are likely to rise. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), patients report cough, chest pain, difficulty breathing, fever and weakness. Many experience severe lung injury requiring…
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You Can Still Buy Packaged Food: Eating Healthy October 2019
You Can Still Buy Packaged Food But “health food” isn’t always healthy Healthy Eating: October 2019 By Kris Holden It’s easier than you think to start eating healthy. That doesn’t mean having to spend most of the day in the kitchen. For convenience, you can still buy pre-packaged food and you don’t have to limit yourself to the designated “health food” aisle found in many grocery stores. Surprisingly, many of those “health foods,” may not be the best choices for your health. Food affects mood, memory, energy and overall quality of life. It’s never too late to start paying more attention to what we put into our bodies. Spending a…
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Why I Chose to Pack My Kid’s Lunches: Healthy Eating September 2019
Why I Chose to Pack My Kid’s Lunches Healthy Eating: September 2019 By Kris Holden Kids are just getting back to school, classroom supply lists are waiting to be fulfilled, disorderly morning chaos is on the rise (at least in our household) and school lunches are needing to be packed. The start of school is always a bit challenging getting everyone back on a routine. Breakfasts now need to be a source of fuel for focus and energy, lunches require research and creativity in order for them to be enticing but nutritious. When my oldest child started public elementary school I wanted to get to know the school and where…
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Organic vs GMO’s
Organic vs GMO’s By Kris Holden Summer is in full gear, kids are out of school and the pantry and refrigerator are expected to be stocked with plenty of snacks for hungry active kids. Thankfully, the summer season brings a variety of delicious fruit that kids enjoy snacking on as well as sweet cherry tomatoes and corn. But how does one navigate buying produce if organic is too expensive or not available? What about GMO’s? The Environmental Working Group puts out a Dirty Dozen list. The Dirty Dozen is a list of the 12 fruits and vegetables that contain the highest concentrations of pesticides AFTER washing and peeling. The Clean…
