Health Literate Chick

"When we go to federal or state health officials, or drilling officials, or any officials, and ask..."

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:02:09 -0400

“When we go to federal or state health officials, or drilling officials, or any officials, and ask ‘How common these are?’ … Nobody really knows. Nobody has systemically tracked how many health complaints there are, whether the complaints are similar, whether they can be tied to any specific chemical exposure or any environmental cause. It makes it very difficult beyond an anecdotal answer to get a handle on how widespread a problem this might be.”

- On today’s Fresh Air, ProPublica’s Abrahm Lustgarten talks about health problems near gas drilling and fracking sites — and why industry regulations make them difficult to track. (via nprfreshair)

pubhealth: Harvard’s New Guide to Healthy Eating (From Harvard...

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:19:08 -0400

pubhealth:

Harvard’s New Guide to Healthy Eating

(From Harvard U. School of Public Health)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS… I was so excited when I first saw it a few weeks ago ;)

jayparkinsonmd: THE “fact” that junk food is cheaper than real...

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:44:01 -0400

jayparkinsonmd:

THE “fact” that junk food is cheaper than real food has become a reflexive part of how we explain why so many Americans are overweight, particularly those with lower incomes. I frequently read confident statements like, “when a bag of chips is cheaper than a head of broccoli …” or “it’s more affordable to feed a family of four at McDonald’s than to cook a healthy meal for them at home.”

This is just plain wrong.

(via)

nprfreshair: Alice Waters, on studying abroad in Paris, an...

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:58:13 -0400

nprfreshair:

Alice Waters, on studying abroad in Paris, an experience that changed her life: “I felt like I had never really eaten before. I had liked certain things but I didn’t understand how it fit into people’s lives in a delicious way. When I went [to Paris] and walked past the markets and ate in the little restaurants, it was like a revelation. … So when I came home, I felt like I could really make this happen in my own life.”

"They had imagined that American agricultural abundance would protect the poor in America from severe..."

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:54:16 -0400

“They had imagined that American agricultural abundance would protect the poor in America from severe food deprivation. Poverty was bad enough, but hunger amid the amber waves of grain, hunger in “the best fed nation on earth,” hunger in the context of American abundace was unacceptable.”

- Free For All, Janet Poppendieck

Dear Sweet Followers...

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:23:01 -0400

I have not abandoned you I promise!

I moved to a new town recently and still lack internet in my apartment (thanks verizon strike…) but I promise I will get back to posting all things nutrition, fitness, and public health soon :)

On a personal note— I have lost 18 pounds so far this summer and I have had an amazing opportunity to gather my thoughts on personal health, nutrition, weight loss/ dieting. I cannot wait to share with you what I have learned over the course of the past 3/4 months.

I’ve also arranged my next internship for the fall semester that will involve lots of health education programing in Camden, NJ and I am beyond excited to share with you the things I am about to learn in the coming months.

Life Stress

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:21:00 -0400

I’m so stressed out lately.

My life is just all a giant question mark right now.

I’ll graduate in the fall and then what? I have a full year lease in Philly but dont want to live here after next semester. I want to start an MPH program in January but some of my top choices dont take Spring applicants. What’s more, most schools dont fund spring applicants.

What’s a girl to do?

In other news. I really want to get away from my obsession with always writing about food, nutrition, and the like. So my question to you is this: what are some other health topics you would like to see talked about on tumblr. What interests you? What areas of public health do you love most?

"Our spectacular failure to provide fresh, appealing, healthy meals to all our children is the result..."

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 16:15:46 -0400

“Our spectacular failure to provide fresh, appealing, healthy meals to all our children is the result of a series of specific and identifiable social choices that we have made: a massive disinvestment in our public schools, an industrialized food system, an agricultural policy centered on subsidies for large-scale commodity production, and a business model rather than a public health approach to school food programs.”

- Free for All: Fixing School Food in America

Hi (: I was wondering if there are any public health oriented books that you would recommend?

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 14:45:11 -0400

Hello!

This is such a great question! I myself am always struggling to find new public health books.

Some of my favorite revolve around nutrition and food quality:

Eating Animals
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
In Defense of Food
Four Fish (Interesting but also kind of boring for me since I have never eaten fish)

I also am really interested in epidemiology and Laurie Garrett has some amazing books about disease plagues and global public health:

I’m also really interested in urban planning and how geography intersects with public health. Some good reads in that category include:

The Geography of Nowhere
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
The World in 2050 (I haven’t gotten to read this yet but its on my library queue)

Some other books I haven’t read yet but are on my list include:

And I’m sure there are so many more out there. Feel free to reply/comment with any good books you can thinking of sharing :)

MyPlate Revisited

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:00:06 -0400

As disappointed as I was with the limitations of MyPlate at the time of its creation, I may have had a change of heart.

I find myself thinking about MyPlate as I sit down to each of my meals. Its a much easier thought process than my previous habit of tallying up my fruit/vegetable consumption from the course of the day—“Uh wait, what did I have for breakfast today?”

I’ve started to more consistently eat salads with my dinners in order to assure that vegetables take up half my plate. While I completely ignore the dairy component of MyPlate—don’t get me started on my feelings about the dairy industry’s involvement in recommendations; humans do not need that much dairy—I rack my brain about the other groups:

Is this dish half fruit and vegetables? I should add a protein source to this meal since that component of MyPlate is missing. Can I count quinoa as both grain and complete protein—too bad if not, because I always do.

My point is that MyPlate is so simple I cannot help but think about it when cooking.

It may be missing many components we find important as public health professionals, but if it gets people to incorporate more fruits and vegetables and less grains into their diet, perhaps it is enough for now?

Perhaps it is a solid first step in focusing our nation on nutrition basics before concerning busy Americans with things like DRVs, RDAs and RDIs.

Perhaps by starting small with MyPlate, we can make widespread societal diet changes that will lead Americans to care more about other nutritional concepts once they’ve mastered this one.

What do you think!? Have your thoughts of MyPlate changed in the past few weeks? Do you personally think about MyPlate when meal planning?

"…A lot of us are under the illusion that we all get a fair shake growing up in this country,..."

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:00:06 -0400

“…A lot of us are under the illusion that we all get a fair shake growing up in this country, and it was pretty clear to me at an early age that you don’t. To be poor in this country is to kind of hide in plain sight. Health care is very uneven in places where there are just no doctors and no hospitals.”

- Health interview with Julianne Moore

Discussing her involvement with the Children’s Health Fund.

I just love the part “to be poor in this country is to kind of hide in plain sight.”

"Where would more Bachelor graduates of public health fit in the work place and what does that mean..."

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 07:24:39 -0400

“Where would more Bachelor graduates of public health fit in the work place and what does that mean for Masters Programs of public health? How will they now distinguish themselves from a high performing bachelor? So it’s a very interesting question for me. It’s a very hopeful thing because by allowing people to come in at a bachelor’s level–I think there will be more opportunities for us in public health to hire more qualified people.”

- RWJF NewPublicHealth Q&A with Paul Jarris M.D., Executive Director,Association of State and Territorial Health Officers (ASTHO),

Random Thought: Writing papers in the summer is lame.

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:40:36 -0400

Sure, I like writing. Sure, I like writing papers.

But gosh, when its 90 degrees outside and everyone else is having fun, I cant say I like writing papers.

Summer school is not for the faint of hearts I tell you.

This is my 7th straight semester with nothing more than 2 weeks off, sooo I’m gunna go ahead and say I may in fact be a bit drained of writing papers…

Climate Adaptation: GOOD Magazine has jumped the shark.

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:27:38 -0400

Climate Adaptation: GOOD Magazine has jumped the shark. :

climateadaptation:

I’ve written three pieces for GOOD, and probably will write no more. I’ve covered Egypt’s climate change troubles post Mubarak, the deep irony of Oil companies adapting to climate change impacts, and the little discussed Executive Order by President Obama on climate change.

I am…

Please read this whole post….I cannot believe that GOOD would post something such as “The Upside of Cigarettes”

Cigarette smoking is the number one preventable cause of death in the United States. There really is no worthwhile ”upside”

"If left to its own devices, it’s pretty apparent that the [food] industry will not come up..."

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:34:56 -0400

“If left to its own devices, it’s pretty apparent that the [food] industry will not come up with a system that works for consumers and will help guide healthy food choices.”

- NPR: Food Industry And Health Experts Face Off Over Package Labeling

(Via: NPR- Men With Social Media Savvy Love Their Fast Food)

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:29:00 -0400

(Via: NPR- Men With Social Media Savvy Love Their Fast Food)

Photo

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 07:20:09 -0400

"There is no such thing as an advanced variation. My body can not be more advanced than yours...."

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 07:34:00 -0400

“There is no such thing as an advanced variation. My body can not be more advanced than yours. It’s just mine, and yours is yours.”

-
Michael Taylor on Twitter about “advanced” variations in yoga.

I saw this quote at a very fitting time. That same morning my yoga instructor was talking to us about motivation that stems from our desire to compete with—and look like—our neighbors in practice.

He reminded us to always ask ourselves if we are going deeper into a pose because that is what our body wants or if we are going deeper in to the pose because that is what our neighbor is doing.

Are we listening to our body and practicing in the way it wants to practice? Or are we ignoring our body and striving to look a certain way regardless of our need to feel a certain way?

Mike Keefe’s take on the new MyPlate icon. I honestly...

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 14:40:06 -0400

Mike Keefe’s take on the new MyPlate icon.

I honestly couldn’t agree more…I have been hard pressed to find anything about portion control with MyPlate.

It’s kind of unfortunate because portion control is one of our biggest issues as American eaters: “Ugh, I just payed 7.99 for a tiny burger with only 10 fries! What a rip off.” You know you do it too….

Almost Guilt Free Pizza Recipe

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 12:30:06 -0400

Honestly, I could eat pizza all day everyday for the rest of my life. Dare say its my favorite food?

Even BETTER: My favorite pizza is light cheese, extra sauce, and ~~pepperoni~~—make it double pepperoni. Not the healthiest.

In my quest to become a full vegetarian I wanted to find a filling substitute to my BFF pepperoni. It has seriously been the only meat I am willing to eat for years. After a few combinations of veggies I came up with my NEW favorite “healthy” pizza.

Almost Guilt Free Spinach and Broccoli Pizza

Makes one 8 slice pizza @ about 185 calories per slice

** You cannot taste the spinach and the broccoli is melt in your mouth good with the pizza sauce and cheese***

What you need:

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (I use the $0.99 Whole Wheat dough from Trader Joe’s)
1 cup pizza sauce (I am usually in a rush and use the Trader Joe’s version)
1-2 cups Fresh Uncooked Spinach
2 cups Broccoli
1-2 cups Light Mozzarella Cheese (I usually use a little less than 1.5cups)
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
2 teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes

Start by pre-heating the oven to 500 degrees

While the oven preheats cook the broccoli almost completely as it will not cook enough in the oven.
Roll out the pizza dough over a pizza stone or cookie sheet—be sure to use some flour to prevent the pizza from sticking
Next, place the pan of dough and nothing else in the oven for about 2 minutes to prevent a soggy crust!
Next remove the pan and layer the sauce and garlic powder over the pizza dough
Once the sauce is spread layer the pizza with fresh, uncooked spinach. I usually cover the whole thing
Then spread 1-cup Mozzarella over the spinach
Layer pizza with broccoli and finish with remaining half cup of Mozzarella and red pepper flakes to taste (I love my food super spicy!)
Reduce oven heat to 450 degrees and then bake pizza for 13-17 minutes, depending on how cooked you like it.

In theory, I would not like this pizza—where is the pepperoni? In reality, it is so tasty I don’t miss my ~~triple?~~ double pepperoni pizza one bit!!!

Plus at 185 calories per slice I can enjoy 2-3 slices and feel full without the guilt!

Health Literate Chick

"When we go to federal or state health officials, or drilling officials, or any officials, and ask..."

pubhealth: Harvard’s New Guide to Healthy Eating (From Harvard...

Harvard’s New Guide to Healthy Eating

jayparkinsonmd: THE “fact” that junk food is cheaper than real...

nprfreshair: Alice Waters, on studying abroad in Paris, an...

"They had imagined that American agricultural abundance would protect the poor in America from severe..."

Dear Sweet Followers...

Life Stress

"Our spectacular failure to provide fresh, appealing, healthy meals to all our children is the result..."

Hi (: I was wondering if there are any public health oriented books that you would recommend?

MyPlate Revisited

"…A lot of us are under the illusion that we all get a fair shake growing up in this country,..."

"Where would more Bachelor graduates of public health fit in the work place and what does that mean..."

RWJF NewPublicHealth Q&A with Paul Jarris M.D., Executive Director,Association of State and Territorial Health Officers (ASTHO),

Random Thought: Writing papers in the summer is lame.

Climate Adaptation: GOOD Magazine has jumped the shark.

"If left to its own devices, it’s pretty apparent that the [food] industry will not come up..."

(Via: NPR- Men With Social Media Savvy Love Their Fast Food)

Photo

"There is no such thing as an advanced variation. My body can not be more advanced than yours...."

Mike Keefe’s take on the new MyPlate icon. I honestly...

Almost Guilt Free Pizza Recipe