WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS: Lentils for Everyone!

"I feel that good food should be a right and not a privilege, and it needs to be without pesticides and herbicides.  And everyone deserves this food.  And that's not elitist."
                                                                                --Alice Waters

Dried lentils

You should know upfront that I love lentils.  Green lentils, black lentils, French lentils, red lentils.  All the colors are all in my food pantry and they are part of my weekly cooking plans.  I can't imagine life without lentils.  

Lentils are like your favorite cousins.  They are all related and have things in common because they are family but each cousin is different from one another. 

Here are 5 things lentils have in common:

• Lentils are one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet. 
• Lentils are one of the best sources of dietary fiber on the planet (fiber is only found in plant foods).  One serving of lentils = ¼ cup dried lentils which turns into ½ to 2/3 cup of cooked lentils. One serving of lentils contains between 5 and 10 grams of dietary fiber.  Adults need 28-45 grams of fiber every day.  Kids need around 28 grams a day (about 14 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories consumed).  One serving of lentils is an easy way to get your daily dietary fiber. 
• Because lentils are very high in dietary fiber, they fill you up, preventing overeating.
• Lentils cost next to nothing!   A one pound bag of lentils costs between $1 and $2 and will easily make several meals for a family. 
• Lentils, unlike beans, do not need to be soaked prior to cooking. 
• Lentils have a short cooking time.  Twenty or thirty minutes is all it takes. 
• Lentils are in the legume plant food group.  Other foods that are legumes are beans and peas.  

How lentils differ from each other:

• They are different colors (green, brown, red, black). 
• Some remain firm when cooked (French lentils), others practically melt when cooked (red lentils). 

My favorite source for great lentil recipes is www.lentils.org.  Make this your go-to resource! 

With food this good, who needs meat!  Make fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains your main food groups.  

With love,

Nancy Heinrich, MPH

Founder and Wellness Architect

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS: Talking about Diabetes

"Think about it.  Heart disease and diabetes, which account for more deaths in the U.S. and worldwide than everything else combined, are completely preventable by making comprehensive lifestyle changes. Without drugs or surgery." 

                                                                  --Dean Ornish, MD

Fresh vegetables from the New Albany, Indiana Farmers Market

I was recently talking with a staff member at an agency about teaching classes for adults with diabetes.  Out of the blue he said, “I’d love to come to your classes because I have diabetes.”  

People who have diabetes are starving for education.  What they get from their doctors are prescriptions for medicines and an appointment to return in 3 months.  

When I worked for a Medicare health insurance company and was asked by the medical director to redesign its wellness program, I accepted the challenge with the goal of educating older adults about how to control diabetes and prevent complications.  What happened was that people who attended the workshops taught by my staff and I started needing less medicine.  Some people were able to stop all their diabetes medications.  Their lab numbers improved.  They started feeling better.  They had more energy and less brain fog.  Many people lost weight.  People learned how to ask for their test results and became empowered to ask questions about their A1c, LDL, HDL, and triglyceride results with their medical team.  From the perspective of population health, we made measurable improvements in the health of the population we served. 

Can we talk?  Diabetes is not only controllable, it is reversible for many people.  It is also preventable.  With the childhood epidemic in this country, we have thousands of children at risk for developing diabetes. 

Since retooling that Medicare health insurance company's wellness program, I have continued to learn how powerful dietary interventions can be in changing the course of diabetes as well as heart disease.  The consumption of highly processed sugars, sodas, meat, and dairy products like milk and cheese is damaging our health and also our children’s health.  Saturated fats found in meat, milk, and cheese clog the cells, blocking the absorption of sugars in the blood stream to the cells where they are needed for energy.  

Research has clearly proven that plant-based eating can reverse diabetes.  Physicians such as Dean Ornish, MD, Neal Barnard, MD, and Michael Greger, MD work tirelessly to educate their patients and other medical professionals about the power of whole food plant-based eating.  Eating primarily fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes can put you - and your children - on the path to a new life. 

With love,

Nancy Heinrich, MPH

Founder and Wellness Architect

Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS: Only One Earth

“Once destroyed, nature’s beauty cannot be repurchased at any price.”    --Ansel Adams

“Think about how you live and make ethical choices.  How do you treat people?  How do you treat animals?  Do you bother to pick up litter?  Although just you picking up a piece of litter won’t make a difference, the cumulative effect is huge.  The whole of that is the resilience of nature.  I have seen it happening everywhere.”  

   --Jane Goodall, Primatologist

“Wean off beef and other meats and reduce it dramatically to no more than one hamburger a week.  Use non-processed foods.  Preparing food for yourself is healthier and dramatically more energy-efficient; freezing and microwaving takes an enormous amount of energy.”  

   --Denis Hayes, longtime environmental activist and coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970

“He that plants trees loves others besides himself.”  

   --Dr. Thomas Fuller

“What’s the point of a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on.”  

   --Henry David Thoreau

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”  

   --Margaret Mead, American anthropologist

April 22, 2020 is Earth Day.  Every day should be Earth Day.  A vital part of the mission of  the Growing Healthy Kids organization is to teach kids about respect for farmers, for the work it takes to grow foods organically, for not wasting food, for reducing our footprint where we live, for taking care of our water, land, and air so that there will be a healthy planet for our children.  

Do what you can.  We are, after all, Growing Healthy Kids.

With love,

Nancy Heinrich, MPH

Founder and Wellness Architect

Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.