Category Archives: Nutrition / Fitness / Weight

Leave No Trace

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eco tourism

A new name and wrapping for an old idea, ecotourism is a spreading buzz word. The idea is to travel without negatively impacting the visited site. Indeed, many ecotourists attempt to help revitalize the area by buying from local business, helping the locals to improve their communities, and by practicing ecofriendly hiking and camping. While many nature-hungry tourists have made their way into tropical forests, coral reefs, and the Sahara with the ‘leave no trace’ attitude in mind previous to the ecotourism movement, the term has provided new parameters and less research for interested parties. Here are a couple of resources for ecotourists:

Nature Tours
Environmental Adventure Company
Pachijal Reserva Ecologica
Big Blue Unlimited

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No Child Left Inside

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As Americans’ obesity continues to rise, our concerns are for the adults suffering from heart disease, diabetes, and other weight-related illnesses.  In the mean time, children’s obesity is increasing drastically as their parents’ largely sedentary lifestyles become their own. 

In 1976, 5% of children were overweight
In 2002, 23% preschoolers were obese or overweight
By 2010, it is predicted that over 50% of children will be overweight

In an effort to combat obesity and a lack of connectedness with the natural environmental in children, the Connecticut Department of Environmental protection founded the  No Child Left Inside initiative.  While the idea is to promote more family time spent outdoors, taking advantage of public parks, there are many health benefits and the catch phrase has spread across the nation.

For more on this topic check out Richard Louv’s book, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder”!

Eggselence: A New Study about Free Range Chickens

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Even if stories of featherless, beakless, sick chickens doesn’t make you want to spend an extra $1.50 on a dozen organic and/or free range eggs, you might want to consider more than the financial costs of your purchase. According to a new study done by Mother Earth News, chickens that live on a pasture create significantly healthier eggs than your average factory-kept chicken. Organic, pasture kept chickens reportedly created eggs that had:

• 1⁄3 less cholesterol
• 1⁄4 less saturated fat
• 2⁄3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene

While these eggs might be more expensive, consider that you would have to eat twice as many to gain the same amount nutrients, which would cause a drastic increase in cholesterol.

Read the whole article.

Got Daioni?

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Daioni- organic milk
Daioni, meaning ‘goodness’ in Welsh, it is what you call an organic, shelf-stable, award-winning, naturally flavored milk beverage produced by Trioni Ltd., an organic dairy based in West Wales. It was established in April 2002 by three organic farmers.

The flavoured milk drinks are available in chocolate, strawberry and banana flavours and are sold in schools and colleges, as well as at 500 retail outlets across the UK.

On the heels of the international reports (also here) that organic food is better, Health Patio wishes we could serve all the “flavours” ourselves.
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Talking plants with Ketzel Levine

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Sugar maple tapped for sap
It’s the first frost here for Health Patio. Not a hard frost, just a “regular” one.

“The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.”

The artist and author, Yankees fan, and horticulturist Ketzel Levine graciously was the voice this morning on NPR Morning Edition for the grand sugar maple tree of New England. Although her home base is in Oregon, Ms. Levine’s passion for talking plants lead her to the land of flowing sap in order to bring us her timely report.
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Hot

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I really do make a cup of tea when I sit down here at Health Patio. Today is Earl Grey, hot. Bergamot, or Monarda didyma, the flavor in Earl Grey tea that makes it so popular, is a simple garden herb and would look lovely growing next to anyone’s patio. (Bergamot flavouring used in Earl Grey tea actually comes from the rind of the Bergamot Orange, or Citrus bergamia.)
The whole plant is strongly impregnated with a delightful fragrance. Bergamot is used as an antidepressant, and is calming and refreshing for the nervous system. It is highly useful as an antiseptic and is used as an insect repellent. When using as an insect repellent use caution and avoid strong sunlight, bergamot contains furocoumarins, which can cause photosensitivity.

Bergamot received its name from the city where it was first cultivated, which was Bergamo, Italy.

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