Healthy choice
John Schlageck
Saturday, July 24, 2010
No doubt you’ve noticed all the soft drinks, flavored water and sports drinks today. They’re everywhere.
You can’t walk into a supermarket or convenience store without bumping into the many drink offering displays.
And flavors. Wow.
Just think of some taste you desire — fudge malted gumball, cheese yogurt yummy or silvery satin strawberry. It’s out there and you can buy it and drink it down.
Without question, the best part of these drinks for me is the packaging.
It’s unbelievable. And the creativity? Almost too much for one to digest.
Anymore, I don’t even care what’s in the container. I just want to hold it in my hand, caress its coolness, admire its latest, unique logo and look good doing so.
While many are content with the multitude of diet sodas, and flavored waters like blackberry blush, my drink of choice is chocolate milk. I really enjoy it by the way. I have since I was a small child.
Today’s explosion of new soft drinks, flavored waters and sports drinks has one major worrisome aspect I cannot help but point out.
Pitchmen, women and, yes, kids are filling our heads with the idea that these flavored drinks can be part of a well-rounded, balanced diet. Their ads and infomercials are as numerous as the products they’re selling — and it’s working.
The most alarming part of this sales pitch is that so much of it is aimed at our youth. In case you haven’t been in today’s schools, this drink deluge is very much a part of the contemporary scene.
Soft drinks have no business being considered part of a balanced diet at our schools or anywhere else. These drinks have little, if any nutritional value.
Look at the ingredients in a soft drink the next time you pick one up. Most people wouldn’t have a clue what these ingredients are, myself included.
If students or adults want a treat — something out of the ordinary — that’s where soft drinks play a part. To be part of a balanced diet, a food product must have nutritional value. I believe soft drinks have such a negligible amount, if any, they cannot be considered seriously as part of any “balanced” diet.
Unlike water, soft drinks won’t even quench your thirst. They leave you longing for a tall, cool glass of water.
Talk to a nutritionist or physician and what’s the ingredient they’ll tell you we’re supposed to drink at least eight glasses of?
That’s right. Nature’s own liquid — water.
What about that wonderful white liquid chocked full of calcium we call milk? Where does it fit in our daily diet?
Milk belongs in almost everyone’s diet. Nutritional research has stressed that men and women between the ages of 11 and 24 need the equivalent of five servings of dairy products daily. This can be milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream and a whole array of other good-tasting dairy foods.
Juice from oranges, grapefruit, lemons, strawberries and other fruits is another item that belongs as part of a balanced diet. Food products from natural primary crops — not always secondary, highly processed food products — are essential to our youngsters’ diets. We owe it to them and their good health.
Other drinks made from tomatoes, carrots, celery and other vegetables are loaded with vitamins, minerals and fiber. Vegetable drinks also belong as part of our daily diets.
But let’s return to soft drinks. What a brilliant stroke of marketing, linking soft, sports and flavored drinks with a well-rounded, nutritionally balanced diet. Infer something often enough and people will begin to believe. Soft drinks linked with a balanced diet and nutrition is about as palatable to me as the drink manufacturers laughing all the way to the bank.
There is no substitute for healthy, nutritious food in our daily diets. Students and adults should reach for a tall glass of water, juice or milk the next time they’re thirsty. These are truly nutritious products that belong in a daily balanced diet.
If you need to treat yourself, add chocolate to the milk. Mix a couple of the fruit juices together or just drink water. You’ll be doing yourself a favor and you’ll be supporting farmers and ranchers who supply these fresh, tasty, nutritious drinks.
Bottoms up.
• John Schlageck is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
bobhornet (anonymous) says...
John, you never quite hit the mark with these articles! You know what's most alarming about soft drinks--and a great deal of our food for that matter? High fructose corn syrup. This cheap but unhealthy substitute for real sugar is a significant contributor to America's ever-growing problem with obesity.
But why would I expect you to take note of the corn syrup issue? You've been all for the greatest corn-derived boondoggle of all: ethanol. Both corn syrup and ethanol line the pockets of farmers; both are terrible for America.
July 24, 2010 at 6:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
empgazfan (anonymous) says...
If you go to peopleofwalmart.com, you will see the results of America's continuous consumption of Food Inc's cheap calories, including HFCS-laden drinks and HFCS and salt-laden, chemical-laden processed foods. What a horrible diet America has. Processed foods; potato chips and chips and dips of every kind; ice cream of every variety; fatty sausage and meat; processed lunch meat; bread by the ton; oily and fat-laden dressings; McDonalds burgers and fries; deep fried everything with as much breading as meat; yogurt stuffed with HFCS. Go to chain restaurants and see the junk they serve: deep fried cheese sticks; nachos laden with cheese; burgers laden with fat and HFCS-laden sauces; cakes and pies and cookies; artificial mashed potatoes; macaroni covered with cheese (fat) sauces. Greasy meat dishes; sugar-coated cereals. America's diet stinks! We eat no fresh fruits or fresh vegetables to speak of! And we consume nearly 5,000 calories per day, most from fat and HFCS!
July 25, 2010 at 10:39 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
REWBA (anonymous) says...
I'm eating a peach right now. It tastes peachy. I grew it myself. Everything tastes better when you grow it yourself.
July 25, 2010 at 12:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
oh4theluvof (anonymous) says...
I'm eating McDonalds and drinking a coke right now. I've also been losing weight lately. Balance can include these things. Just don't limit yourself for 30 days straight to only what McDonalds or any other fast food chain sells. Have a little bit of everything through the course of the month...including veggies.
July 25, 2010 at 1:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
I enjoy the occasional sodypop. I enjoy it quite a bit. I also enjoy riding my bicycle as often as possible. But more than those things I like to lift weights. Exercise is important, I believe it's more important than a perfect diet. I think they make too much of weight also. Lean muscle weighs a lot therefore I can't be the right weight for my height. I read an article where a famous doctor was talkin' about how many elderly folks have problems because of lack of muscle. We lose muscle mass as we get older so if we start out with little muscle we are more likely to not have enough when we're all old and wrinkly and stuff. I have determined to not worry so much about what the scales say and just try to get lean muscle. I still weigh more than most doctors would like but when I'm old, If I get there, I'll have more of the muscle I'll need. Plus I don't want to lose muscle to get my weight down because I like looking like a soldier marching to war. Or something like that.
July 25, 2010 at 1:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
REWBA (anonymous) says...
If you have never cared for a big garden then you don't know how much exercise one can get gardening. Just yesterday, I went out and weeded a large section of my garden and achieved total muscle failure. Talk about a workout. The sun was beating down and the humidity was crazy. It was like a sauna at one of those fancy resorts. The cool thing is, while "working out" I discovered a huge zucchini squash hiding under some weeds. Thems some fancy vittles. Yummy!
July 25, 2010 at 1:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Yeahhh, those zucchinis that like to hide make good zucchini bread. Just grate them up, skin and all, and add them to spice cake batter. Voila! Having your cake and eating your veggies too.
Hey serious, all that muscle you think you are developing now won't last until old age. You gotta keep working out to develop the muscle or it goes away.
July 25, 2010 at 2:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
No doubt that gardening is a workout! I watch some of my neighbors garden and they look beat when they are done. I just don't have the time for it now so the weights will have to do. I do have plans to turn my backyard into a sitting/vegetable garden type of dealy after it's not a playground anymore. Keeping it up will help keep some of the muscles I'm building now. After I'm exhausted from tending the veggie garden I can go sit in the sitting garden and watch the veggies grow. I hope the neighbors won't mind me blasting the Miami Vice soundtrack on my boom box when I'm gardening.
July 25, 2010 at 6:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
REWBA (anonymous) says...
Weeding a garden is made easier with a Salvadorian cuma. Every gardener should have one. I had a Salvadorian bring one up the last time he visited. Having it made it possible to enlarge my garden space and still keep it weeded. I don't use herbicides and pesticides. Well unless I make them myself out of ordinary household products like salt, vinegar, dish soap, chewing tobacco, hot sauce and things like that. A cuma is really handy though, It gets the weeds roots and all.
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-29358752...
July 25, 2010 at 7:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
REWBA (anonymous) says...
They come in both right handed and left handed models. My buddy has a left handed one and I can't use it cause I'm right handed. He can't use mine either.
July 25, 2010 at 7:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
REWBA (anonymous) says...
Zucchini bread is really yummy! Better than stir fry. Thanks for that suggestion create! Now what to do with all this basil...Hum... :-)
July 26, 2010 at 1:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Take your basil out to the new Italian restaurant and see if they'll buy some of it from you. But first...
Make tomato confit. (cone-FEE) The best flavor of summer ever. There's a place in Boston that makes it in a pizza oven and they charge dearly for a pan of it, and it goes like hotcakes. Here's how to make it. Be prepared for the aroma to drive you nuts as it simmers.
Cut a bunch of tomatoes in halves and quarters and put in a large shallow pan. I use a large skillet. Take several heads of garlic and cut off the top quarter inch or so to expose the cloves. Keep the heads whole. I use five or six heads. Tuck those among the tomatoes. Then tuck in lots of basil, lots of it, lots of it, among the tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and then pour on about two cups of extra virgin olive oil. Put on a low fire and let it simmer UNCOVERED all day long. Don't add any liquid. What you're doing is evaporating all the natural juices from the tomatoes and making it thick. I've never tried making this in a slow cooker, but that might work too. What you end up with is the best ever tomato stuff in the world. It is a rich, red color and the scent of basil is so wonderful! Serve it over toasted garlic bread or pasta. Pop the garlic cloves out of their shells and spread like butter on thick, crusty bread. Oh man, you'll love this REWBA. Try it. You can also freeze this.
OR...Make basil pesto in a blender. I always make it this time of year and I use English walnuts instead of pine nuts. I make lots of it and freeze it in small amounts. I've even given it as Christmas gifts. Get some good parmesan cheese out at Wal Mart and grate it yourself. Pesto is so good all winter long. Look for a recipe online. There are many kinds. I love pesto on toasted bread or tossed with penne pasta. Use lots of garlic. It's good for the soul! You'll use lots of basil this way. What a great source of iron too.
Oh yeah, this is real fast. Cut a piece of sirloin into thin strips and toss with a couple of Tablespoons of cornstarch. On a real high fire, stir fry the strips in a small amt. of vegetable oil, add two or three chopped tomatoes, one medium white onion chopped large, one Tab. of grated ginger, two Tab. hoisin sauce, a couple of dashes of white pepper. At the last minute, throw in about a dozen basil leaves then turn off the heat. Serve over rice right away. My granddaughter's all time favorite. Sometimes I add more basil because I like it so much.
July 26, 2010 at 9:21 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
I meant to tell you, I really like that cuma. Looks like lit would work quite well for weeding. I use a short bladed sickle. Cuts the roots underground and then they fall over and become mulch. Eventually they will compost as long as there aren't any seed heads.
Ain't gardening fun?
July 26, 2010 at 9:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
REWBA (anonymous) says...
I have enjoyed your recipe for tomato confit every since you gave it to me last summer. My sister-in-law always makes jars and jars of pesto when she visits. (She sometimes leaves me some too) lol
I really like my cuma. It is shaped just right to get under the roots of the plants with ease while allowing the accuracy to get close to the plants I want to keep without taking them out too.
I love gardening. This year I totally redesigned my vegetable garden. I built a rustic fence in a half coral shape for aesthetics and to support cucumbers, cantaloupe and pole beans. I planted basil at the base of each fence post and it all took off like crazy. One spot that I planted basil last year was shady and the basil there didn't do too well so I didn't plant anything there this year. I guess that tree I cut down this spring let some light in because when I cleaned out the weeds there, guess what I discovered? Volunteer Basil. Lots of it! There must be at least ten large bushes and they are doing great in that spot this year. Some mint, cilantro and lemon balm began growing there too. I planted that stuff years ago but it never came up...until now. Pleasant surprises abound in a garden!
July 26, 2010 at 10:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
I think pleasant surprises in the garden are the best part of gardening. Yes, basil does love full sun and as you've learned, lots of water. Your volunteer basil sounds wonderful. Isn't it amazing how volunteers will come up even after years? I think the seeds are too deep sometime and then when they are disturbed a little, they wake up. I have lots of volunteer dill which I just let do as it pleases because I like the scent so much when I brush it as I pass by.
Your rustic fence sounds wonderful. I have often thought that I'd like one in my own garden, just to set the garden aside and use as support like you have.
Where else can one obtain a cuma? I think I'll look online. Haven't even seen them at Bluestem.
July 27, 2010 at 7:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
REWBA (anonymous) says...
here is a site that sells all types of machetes. They have a cuma too. http://www.machetespecialists.com/imc...
July 27, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Thanks so much for the link. I went to the site and bought one so I'm so glad you posted it. It was only $16. Earlier this morning, however, I did find a similar one by Smith and Hawken. They call it a Swiss Chopper and they want $46 for it so I didn't get it. Big difference.
I can see why they want you to state you are over 18 to buy it. Those things look pretty lethal. Of course, I could be 14 and check "yes, I'm over 18." Oh well...
July 27, 2010 at 4:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
REWBA (anonymous) says...
I was lucky, A friend from El Salvador was coming to the States to visit and he brought me one. At the airport, they made him take it out of his carry on bag and put it in his checked luggage for some reason. :-)
July 27, 2010 at 4:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
LOL, I can certainly see why. I am guessing that thing has a good heft to it too.
July 27, 2010 at 7:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
REWBA, would you believe that cuma arrived in yesterday's mail? That's only two days service. Wow. I ran out to the garden right away to test it. It works!! Looks like this is my new favorite tool. Thanks so much for the heads up about this tool.
July 30, 2010 at 8:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
REWBA (anonymous) says...
Congratulations create! May the sight of your Cuma scare those pesky weeds to someone else’s garden! I just love mine. The first time I ever saw one was in 1981 in El Salvador. About ten farmers there were using them to clear the sod from a meadow. They just formed a line and started slicing under the roots and rolled that meadow on to itself like rolling up a carpet. It was amazing how fast they did it. I knew right then and there that I had to have one. Mine lasted until 2008 when it got tired and walked away in the middle of the night. :-( I couldn’t find one at Bluestem, Waters, Sutherland’s, Wal-Mart or anywhere else locally. Just as my hopes were about to fade, my phone rang and it was an old friend from El Salvador. I’m a lucky guy :-)
July 30, 2010 at 2:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )