School Lunches

It's no secret that the food options in school cafeterias are often lacking nutritional substance. When I was a kid, school lunches were most often something fried, pizza, pasta or some other type of starch. In the 20 years since I was in elementary school, I gather that there has been little improvement in the selection. So, I am both glad and sad that steps are being taken to make school lunches more healthy. I'm glad because it's about time, and sad because it hasn't happened sooner. There is no bigger killer in this country than obesity, and it gets our kids while they are still too young to know better. It's up to us parents to make sure our kids are putting good stuff into their bodies, but we cannot do it by ourselves. We need our community's support, and that starts with schools. It's good to see that we are, at least, making progress.

Buying Local on a Budget

Okay, so let's just go ahead and say it: eating healthy is not always the most financially viable option. It's no coincidence that the foods that are slowly killing us are the cheapest ones. Guess what. It's possible to get healthy, fresh, local food inexpensively. Example: I just got a whole growing season's share of food for $50 and 25 hours of work in any of 13 local gardens per year. Can't beat that deal with a stick. And that's the beauty of CSA. Consult this list from Serious Eats for more ideas about fitting local products into your budget.

Get involved, get healthy. That's what we're talking about.

Going Green!

I don't know about y'all, but every January I start in on the usual new year's resolutions: exercise more, eat less and healthier, etc. In previous years such "resolutions" have been quickly forgotten in the hullabaloo of daily life, but 2012 is going to be different. I've realized over the years that big changes are daunting and scary, but small changes are easier to accept and incorporate.

In my search for healthier diet choices, I came across this article on KSL about making smoothies. This is such an awesome idea! My neighbor actually introduced me to incorporating spinach into my smoothies some time ago, but using other leafy greens never occurred to me. So smart, so healthy and so easy, there's pretty much no reason why spinach and other iron-rich greens can't be blended into any fruit smoothie. Think of it as homemade V8 Splash, only more delicious and less expensive.

So, cheers to the new year with health-packed, delicious smoothies!