Food Safety News

Hi All,


Food safety is a topic that should be on everybody's mind.  Its important since well, we all eat food.  Food Safety News (FSN hereafter) was founded in 2009 to provide timely reporting on food safety issues.. Simple - and very, very useful. Click here to learn a bit more about FSN. 

The site has information on Foodborne Illness Outbreaks, Food Recalls, Food Politics, Food Safety Events and more.  In addition, users can subscribe to the site and search the site for illnesses, outbreaks, recalls and more.  There is an RSS feed on the site that can be subscribed to as well.

Articles are detailed and include the manufacturer or seller of the product in question.  Articles are dated and included a word cloud of similar/related topics so users can delve more deeply into the topic in question. Users have the option of commenting on articles, sharing articles or recommending them...  Articles can be sorted as well by 'Best article', 'Newest article'  or 'Oldest article'. 

Users can click on other options on the site.  For example there are links to consumer education, food safety leaders, lawsuits/litigation, science/research, local food, sustainability, food recalls, for foodies, victim stories, nutrition and public health, foodborne illness outbreaks and more.  Click each link above for the particular topic of interest. 

Enjoy the site and the various links - they are really quite interesting.

Regards,
Stu

Keeping Those New Year Resolutions

Hi All,

New Year's Eve has come and gone and the new year is 5 days old already.  As many folks know, its traditional to make new years' resolutions.  And lots of those resolutions have to do with exercise.  But how on earth do you keep those resolutions and keep to an exercise routine so it becomes part of your life? 

Great question and the following 4 website will help you keep that exercise resolution you made just 5 nights ago!

MoneyTalks News - 6 Tips For Keeping Your 2016 Fitness Resolutions

Eyewitness News - ABC7 - Easy Tips To Help You Keep Your Get Fit Resolutions 

Greatist - 15 Foolproof Strategies to Stick to Your Fitness Resolutions 

KCTV News - 5 - Tips To Keep Your New Years Fitness Resolutions 

Finally, don't forget the books and DVD's that are available in the library Fitness and Diet section - which is right next to the Reference Desk near the Teen Room.  We've got hundreds of books and dozens and dozens of DVD's running the gamut from pilates, cardio, weight lifting, yoga, running, stretching, dieting, nutrition and much more!

Enjoy the links - and good luck keeping your exercise resolutions!

Regards,
Stu

Food Comparisons - You Choose

Hi All,

TwoFoods.com is a free website that gives users instant food comparisons.  Users can enter the name of one food in the first dialog box and the name of the the second food in the second dialog bog and click on the 'compare' button...and....

Almost instantaneously nutritional information about the two foods appears. Specifically users can find calorie information, carb, fat, and protein information.   Then, under these major categories are variations on a theme. 

For example, I chose to compare apples and oranges.  Under the main category of apples is a breakout of other types of apples - Gala, Red Delicious, Fuji and Granny Smith. On the other side of the table are navel oranges, clementines and California navel oranges.  

I also did a search for a Burger King Whopper vs a McDonald's Big Mac.  Interesting results, I might add...see table below. 

Finally, click on this link to learn how 'TwoFoods' really works.

Category Whopper Big Mac calories 770 530 carbs (grams) 56 47 fat (grams) 47 27 protein (grams) 36 24
Enjoy the site.
Stu

Cooking Light.com

Hi All,

We all do it.  We do it three times a day that is - at least. Some more, some less.  What am I talking about you ask?  Eating of course!  And healthy eating is a great start to living a healthy, happy, active life.  Which is why I want to introduce an interesting, entertaining and healthy website: CookingLight.com.

When you click on the link above you go to the site  - which has plenty of information on Food, Nutrition, Healthy Living, Let's Cook, Diet, Meal Planner, the Cooking Light Blog, Videos and the Cooking Light Community (where you can visit like minded people and talk about food). 

CookingLight.com has a LOT to offer folks who use the site!  One section that I wanted to highlight and discuss from the site is the Let's Cook section.  This section has links to Recipes, Links to Recipes in Spanish and a whole bunch of food related videos.

Finally, the site has a link to ChooseMyPlate.gov - a USDA website that serves as a reminder to help consumers make healthier food choices...

Enjoy the links and recipes and the sensible cooking advice!

Regards,
Stu

Hi All,

The library is hosting a program on Monday, December 15th from 7pm-8pm on 'Healthy Holiday Eating'.  The formal blurb from the newsletter is "Join Ashley Olivieri, Nutrition Coordinator at Syosset Hospital, Registered Dietitian, and Certified Diabetes Educator for his lecture about transforming favorite holiday recipes into healthier ones by using some simple tips. A food demonstration will be done to show how easy it is to make healthy, tasty holiday treats. Preference given to UFSD #22 residents."

And that is all very, very well and good...but here are a few online resources to help you eat better and healthier during this upcoming holiday season. 

From the American Heart Association comes this entry called 'Holiday Health Eating Guide'.  Note that this is a pdf document from Adobe Acrobat and opens automatically.   And from Real Simple (Life Made Simple) comes this article titled '9 Healthy Holiday Eating Strategies'.  From a site called Sutter Health comes this article called 'Tips For Healthy Holiday Eating'.

Finally, for those of you who like to go to holiday parties, you might want to visit Eatright.org's website.  They have an article called 'Helpful Tips For Healthy Holiday Parties'.

Happy holidays and happy eating...and here's to eating healthy!

Regards,
Stu

Pancakes - Everybody's Favorite Breakfast

Hi All,

Today's post is all about pancakes - everybody's favorite breakfast. And why shouldn't they be?  They are certainly fun to make at home, taste delicious, kids love 'em and they are easy to make.  Finally, when combined with blueberries or bananas or strawberries they can be remotely healthy...sort of.

Anyway, read on for more about the history of pancakes, recipes, pancake synonyms,  some pancake trivia, and pictures of delicious pancakes.  I'll also include links to some pancake recipe books that we own in the Farmingdale Public Library.  Note: Before you drive over to the library to pick up the books, it would be a good idea to check the library card catalog to see if the books are on the shelf.

As long time readers know, I like to cover my basic facts about topics by going to my 'go-to' source: Wikipedia.  Wikipedia is a good site to get basic information on a huge variety of topics.

That all said, click here for the link to pancakes on Wikipedia.  The entry is fairly comprehensive entry with subheadings like 'regional varieties', ' pancake restaurant chains', 'pancake day' and 'external links!

For information about pancake history, click on this link from 'The Nibble' entitled 'Pancake History' and from 'The Trib' -a newspaper from the Ohio area. Finally, from ABC.com comes a site called 'The Chew' which also discusses the history of the pancake.

The following 2 links have recipes for making various types of pancakes!  One thing though - DO NOT forget the milk! Milk makes the pancakes go from just 'really, really good' to 'wow Mom - these pancakes are amazing!'.  Go figure - here's a link to the 'Got Milk'  website :) (it also includes commercials, benefits of milk and more!)

1. Allrecipes.com - this link has thumbnails pictures of the pancake recipes - below which is the title of the recipe.  Recipe variations include 'Fluffy Pancakes', 'Banana Pancakes I', 'Pumpkin Pancakes',  "Todd's Famous Blueberry Pancakes' and much, much more.  Delicious!

2.  Foodnetwork - OMG!  Clicking on this link will lead you to a page from the Food Network that has 195 (as of the time of writing) pancake recipes.  Seriously, if you chose one pancake recipe per week from this site, it would take you over 3 years to go through and cook all the recipes on the page!  Wow. Again you get recipes like 'Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes', 'Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes' and 'Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Cinnmon Cream' among many, many others.

For information about the nutritional value of pancakes - from Self - click on this link. You'll find information like a nutritional target map, caloric ratio pyramid, nutrient balance and protein quality.  Go figure!

For some goofy information about pancakes, click on this link from Merriam-Webster!

And of course, click on this link for a whole stack of books that the Farmingdale Public Library owns that deal with pancake recipes, pancake history and pancake fun!

Finally, for some pictures of utterly delectable, delicious, mouth-watering pancakes, click on this Google Images link for, you guessed it - pancakes!

Enjoy the pancakes and the pictures!
Regards,
Stu

What To Eat When You are in a Fast Food Restaurant

Hi All,

The summer might be over, but that doesn't mean we all should eat poorly. Health eating is a lifetime habit - sheesh, I sound like an advertisement. So it goes...at least this will be a healthy blog entry.

And while this is true - healthy eating should be a lifetime habit - it can be very, very hard to do when faced with the likes of McDonald's, Wendy's KFC, Taco Bell, Burger King and other fast-food restaurants.

So what is a hungry fellow or gal to do when he/she is in a fast food restaurant?

Click on this link and you'll get an article from Men's Health entitled 14 Best Fast Food Meals Under 500 Calories

This second link comes from Health.com and is a long article. Essentially the authors surveyed the nations 100 largest fast-food chains...for the results, click on this link.

Click on this link from WebMD to find the best bets from favorite food chains. The article is called, 'Fast Food That Won't Supersize You'.

Click on this link for the various menu options at many large fast food chains to see the number of calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, carbs and sodium content of the various items. Hamburgers, french fries, chicken, and more.

Finally, click on this link from a site called HelpGuide.org (A Trusted Non-Profit Resource - or so the website proclaims...) for an article entitled 'Healthy Fast Food - Tips For Making Healthier Fast Food Choices'. At the end of the article is a nicely organized list of ways that consumers can make healthier choices at fast food restaurants...good stuff.

And now you can make better decisions and eat healthier.

Enjoy the meals!
Stu

Choose My Plate

Hi All,

The old food pyramid from the US Government is no more. It has been replaced by a new campaign entitled, 'Choose My Plate'. Click here for a link to the US Department of Agriculture site that is the home to this new campaign: ChooseMyPlate.gov.

So, what does the new site offer users and readers? Simple, the new site is a way to get people to eat more healthy. Shaped like a plate, the various sections have topics related to food - for example there are links to fruits, grains, vegetables, protein and dairy. Click on each of the words to find out about each food group in the food plate.

Along the way, on the side of the main Food page is a section entitled, "I Want To...". Some topics on this part of the page include 'Eat healthy on a budget', 'Look Up a Food', 'Learn about Food Groups', 'Get a Personalized Plan', and 'Learn healthy eating tips', 'Get Weight Loss Information', Plan a Healthy Menu', 'Analyze My Diet', 'Ask a Question' among other topics. Again, click on any of the links above to get more information about that particular topic.

On the other side of the main page you'll find links to the basics of eating healthy and more targeted information for more specific audiences like the general population, pregnant women, preschoolders, kids and more.

There is also a topics entitled 'Link of the Day' and interactive tools toward the bottom of the web page. Finally, if you click on this link, you'll learn about the various food groups.

Here's to a healthy, new you!

Regards,
Stu

A Healthy Summer is a Fun Summer

Hi All,

With the summer season pretty much upon us, I wanted to do a blog entry on summer fun and summer health. Remember, a healthy summer is a fun summer - for both children and adults!

Click on this link to go to the Nassau County Environmental Health Department site. Here you'll find info on bathing beaches and swimming pools, beach closings/openings, lifeguard info, camp information, and drinking water quality information.

Click here for a full list of Health Department Programs and Telephone Numbers from the Nassau County Health Department.

Here is the Lead Poisoning link from the County Health Department.

Click on this link for the County Health Department link to Healthy Women Have Healthy Babies
Click here for a link to the New York Center for Sudden Infant Death.

And who can forget about our young adults and adolescents? Click here to learn about how to keep them happy and healthy (link is from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Note the links toward the bottom of the page on topics as varied as asthma, nutrition, physical activity, obesity, tobacco use and more!

Click on this link for information on how to keep adults healthy. This link is also from the CDC, but in this case it is called Life Stages & Specific Populations. For example, there are links to pregnancy, children, infants and toddlers, adolescents and teens, family, parents, men, young adults and women...whew. Now that is a website.

The site is so comprehensive and thorough, it would take me many, many days to write about this site - it is definitely a good one for finding out about family health!

Finally, it behooves us all to keep our senior citizens healthy - click on this link (again from the CDC) to learn more about healthy aging. Topics here include: health info for older adults, data and stats, healthy brain initiative, resources-publications-press room, states, mental health and again and much more.

Hope this health information helps!
Stu

The Post Post Thanksgiving Blog Entry

Hi All,

So we all made it through Thanksgiving 2010. Congratulations and aren't you glad that you weren't born a Turkey right about now? I thought so...

So, now that you've eaten more than your fair share of turkey, stuffing, cranberries, muffins, gravy, apple pie and what not....it might be time to.....

No, not shop. We did that yesterday and well, we've all heard about Black Friday, Small Businesss Saturday, and Cyber Monday.

No, I'm talking about exercising and working off all that extra food we've all eaten.

Click here for a link from About.com entitled 'Post Holiday Recovery'. The site (more like a blog entry) has links for readers who have, how shall I say it? 'overindulged during Thanksgiving. Some links in the entry are 'I have a Food Hangover', 'I Want Something Simple, and "I Feel Bad About How Much I Ate'.

Okay, next interesting site: Gym Finder from Men's Health. No, I am not endorsing the magazine...I'm just using their gym finder so users who are serious about shaping up can actually find a gym in their area. FWIW (For What Its Worth), the site (and magazine) is pretty darn helpful for men who are want to live life more healthy. Note that Men's Health has links (at the top of the page regarding Fitness, Health, Nutrition, Weight Loss and more).

Well, now that I've covered half the population; what about the other half: women?

Correct: women have their own magazine and website entitled 'Women's Helath Magazine'.
Click here to find the site. As you would think the site covers many, many health topics including fitness, weight loss, food and Lifestyle. Basically is is the companion website and magazine to Men's Health.

Finally, if you're not sure if you are overweight, click here for the National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute website for the BMI calculator. What exactly is the BMI? It is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women. Site is easy to use and is pretty informative!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend - and I'll blog on Monday. I'll remember to make it a lighter, more entertaining entry.

Regards,

Stu

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