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From: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/health/03brod.html?_r=1&partner=rss
To assess which foods provide the best value of balanced nutrients for less money, Dr. Drewnowski said, “we need to calculate nutrients per calorie and nutrients per dollar and make those foods part of the mainstream diet.”
Researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo who studied families in a program for overweight children found that basing the family diet on low-calorie, high-nutrient foods not only improved the health of the entire family but also reduced the amount spent on food.
One myth to dispel is that fruits and vegetables must be fresh to be nutritious. Not only do canned and frozen versions usually cost less and require less preparation, but nutrient value is as good or better and less food is wasted. Fresh produce is often harvested before it is fully ripe and so comes to the consumer with fewer than optimal nutrients. But fruits and vegetables that are canned or frozen are picked at the peak of ripeness. There is more vitamin C in a glass of orange juice made from frozen concentrate than in freshly squeezed juice.
So let’s welcome back to the American table meals made from potatoes, eggs, beans, low-fat or nonfat yogurt and milk (including reconstituted powdered milk), carrots, kale or collards, onions, bananas, apples, peanut butter, almonds, lean ground beef, chicken and turkey, along with canned or frozen corn, peas, tomatoes, broccoli and fish. For nutrient-dense beverages, Dr. Drewnowski suggests 100 percent fruit juice blends and fruit-and-vegetable juice blends.
To his suggestions I would add pasta and rice (the whole-wheat kinds cost just pennies more), which can be a base for many quick, nutritious meals. Combining leftover vegetables and meat or poultry with a pot of pasta or rice takes just minutes, and has the added benefit of reducing potential waste.
For dessert, try frozen yogurt or low-fat ice cream topped with seasonal fruit for the best nutrient-to-calorie ratio and value.
Potatoes: One of the Good Guys
Some perfectly good foods have been unfairly smeared by a broad brush. Potatoes are an example, deplored by nutrition advocates for how they are most often consumed — fried and heavily salted — and by the low-carb set for their high glycemic index.
In fact, potatoes are highly versatile, they are easily prepared in many delicious ways with little or no added fat, and they are nearly always consumed with other foods, which greatly reduces their effect on blood sugar. And they are nutritious. A five-ounce potato provides just 100 calories, for which you get 35 percent of a day’s recommended vitamin C, 20 percent of the vitamin B6, 15 percent of the iodine, 10 percent each of niacin, iron and copper, and 6 percent of the protein.
Try potatoes baked, boiled or steamed and topped with low-fat yogurt or sour cream seasoned with your favorite herbs or spices.
Beans, whether prepared from scratch (soaked overnight and then cooked) or taken from a can, are a low-cost nutritional powerhouse. They are low in fat, rich sources of B vitamins and iron, and richer in protein than any other plant food. When combined in a meal with a grain like rice (preferably brown), bulgur or whole-wheat bread, the protein quality is as good as that of meat.
Cabbage, too, gives you more than your money’s worth of nutrients, including vitamin C and potassium, at only 17 calories a cup eaten shredded and raw, 29 calories a cup when cooked. Collards are high in vitamins A and C, potassium, calcium (cup for cup, on a par with milk), iron, niacin and protein, and yet low in sodium and calories. Kale has only 43 calories a cup when cooked.
In the fruit category, it’s hard to beat apples for year-round, economical, nutritious and versatile fare that can be a part of any meal or served as a snack or dessert (as in baked apples). Bananas are also handy; even when overripe, they can be mashed and used to make banana bread or a smoothie.
Here are some other tips for busy cooks concerned about nutrition and cost:
¶Buy family-size packages of meat or poultry; divide them up and freeze meal-size portions, labeled and dated.
¶Choose the less expensive store brands of canned and frozen produce.
¶Use powdered reconstituted milk for cooking.
¶Cook in batches, enough for two or more meals, and freeze single portions for lunch.
¶Use meat, poultry and fish as a condiment, in small amounts added to main-dish salads, soups and sauces.
¶Try main-dish soups and salad for filling yet low-calorie meals. Soups can also be made in large amounts and frozen.
¶Consider buying a slow cooker for efficient, one-dish meals.
For many months behind-the-scenes, we've all been hard at work in the vineyards, in the barrel rooms and labs, tasting rooms and offices, to do our part to make wines that are good for the environment, the people who enjoy them, and our communities. Wednesday, February 18th, we publicly unveil our 3-acre solar tracking system, the largest tracking array in use by any winery in North America, in a small, local event at 10a.m. at our Paso Robles winery. We will use this unveiling as the platform from which we widely communicate our sustainability initiatives to the media and through to consumers, via press release, HD video and our Web site.
Here's a summary of recent J. Lohr sustainability efforts, with more to come.
J. Lohr's Solar Tracking Array and Fact Sheet
We have partnered with Conergy, the world's leading supplier of solar electric systems, in the design and installation of our 3-acre solar tracking array, the largest of its kind in use by any winery in North America! Our PR firm, J.A.M, has assembled impressive wine industry and 'green' consumer lists to which they are pitching the release. Please see the attached fact sheet for a snapshot of this array and its substantial benefits both to J. Lohr and to the environment.
HD Video tracking of our solar unveiling
In concert with Lynn Diehl Media, we will be filming in HD aspects of our solar unveiling, which will be promoted in a two-minute segment via new Central Coast lifestyle news site, wineregionsnews.com, and for use on our Web site. The television arm of this new online property, Wine Region Weekend, airs Saturdays and Sundays in various markets along the Central Coast.
An interview with J. Lohr Water Quality Manager Jeff Zucker
We've harnessed all the great water conservation leadership on behalf of Jeff and his team and turned it into a dynamic and relevant read. Click here to read about the water-saving measures of Jeff and his team.
J. Lohr's Sustainability Task Force
Chaired by Steve Lohr, the task force, comprised of J. Lohr employees from varying disciplines, has assembled several times in the last year to coalesce the communications of its various initiatives and to kick-off J. Lohr's participation in the self-assessment program through the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA), in concert with Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers. A natural outgrowth of this is J. Lohr's leadership in the development of the CSWA's first statewide certification program in sustainability.
*NEW* J. Lohr Sustainability Web site sub-section
Launching Wednesday, 7:30a.m. PST, in tandem with our solar tracking announcement, is the new sustainability portion of our Web site. Here you will find an overview of J. Lohr's sustainability efforts and links to our solar press release and fact sheet, wine industry 'green' definitions, our list of sustainable wines, and the link to Jeff's interview.
Our newer Web site and social networking strategy is a work in progress, but we're excited to tell the world of the many earth-conscious efforts we're all enacting on behalf of J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines!
"When you choose to serve -- whether it's your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood -- you are connected to that fundamental American ideal that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not just for ourselves, but for all Americans. That's why it's called the American dream."
The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation's challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by setting a goal that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/09/BAPS140CSQ.DTL&type=politics
