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Sunday night’s Gens game goes green
January 21, 2010
OSHAWA — The Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation is celebrating the fifth anniversary of the greenbelt this weekend with a special event at Sunday night’s Oshawa Generals game.
The Greenbelt Foundation has partnered with the Foundation for Building Sustainable Communities for the event, which takes place as the Gens face off against the Saginaw Spirit at the General Motors Centre.
During the celebration, T-shirts will be launched into the crowd and screens will showcase videos about the greenbelt, clean water and local food.
Outside the arena, Durham’s own Kent Farms will offer patrons a taste of their greenbelt-grown hot apple cider, and fans will have the opportunity to donate to the Child Nutrition Program, which provides healthy snacks to elementary school children throughout Durham.
Fans are encouraged to wear green to the game to show their support for the greenbelt.
The game starts at 6 p.m. Tickets are $16, with funds raised going to support Durham’s Child Nutrition Program.
For more information, visit www.oshawagenerals.com/greenbelt.
Some healthy choices
June 30, 2008, 8:50 am
The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating
By TARA PARKER-POPEAndrew Scrivani for The New York Times Maybe you should be eating more beets, or red cabbage.
(This post was originally published on June 30, 2008, and recently appeared on The New York Times’s list of most-viewed stories for 2009.)
Nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden has created several lists of healthful foods people should be eating but aren’t. But some of his favorites, like purslane, guava and goji berries, aren’t always available at regular grocery stores. I asked Dr. Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth,” to update his list with some favorite foods that are easy to find but don’t always find their way into our shopping carts. Here’s his advice.
- Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters.
How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power. - Cabbage: Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes.
How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches. - Swiss chard: A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes.
How to eat it: Chop and saute in olive oil. - Cinnamon: May help control blood sugar and cholesterol.
How to eat it: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal. - Pomegranate juice: Appears to lower blood pressure and loaded with antioxidants.
How to eat: Just drink it. - Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but they are packed with antioxidants.
How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked. - Pumpkin seeds: The most nutritious part of the pumpkin and packed with magnesium; high levels of the mineral are associated with lower risk for early death.
How to eat: Roasted as a snack, or sprinkled on salad. - Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.” They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.
How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread. - Turmeric: The “superstar of spices,” it may have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
How to eat: Mix with scrambled eggs or in any vegetable dish. - Frozen blueberries: Even though freezing can degrade some of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables, frozen blueberries are available year-round and don’t spoil; associated with better memory in animal studies.
How to eat: Blended with yogurt or chocolate soy milk and sprinkled with crushed almonds. - Canned pumpkin: A low-calorie vegetable that is high in fiber and immune-stimulating vitamin A; fills you up on very few calories.
How to eat: Mix with a little butter, cinnamon and nutmeg.
You can find more details and recipes on the Men’s Health Web site, which published the original version of the list last year.
In my own house, I only have two of these items — pumpkin seeds, which I often roast and put on salads, and frozen blueberries, which I mix with milk, yogurt and other fruits for morning smoothies. How about you? Have any of these foods found their way into your shopping cart?
Media Advisory
Annoucing Greenbelt Night with the Oshawa Generals
Greenbelt Night with the Oshawa Generals
What: Greenbelt Night with the Oshawa Generals
When: January 24 @ 6:05 p.m.
Come and support the Ontario Greenbelt by purchasing a ticket and wearing green to the Oshawa Generals game.
Defining sustainable agriculture
For more info, visit: www.sustainabletable.org
Sustainable agriculture is a way of raising food that is healthy for consumers and animals, does not harm the environment, is humane for workers, respects animals, provides a fair wage to the farmer, and supports and enhances rural communities.
Characteristics of this type of agriculture include:
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Conservation and preservation. What is taken out of the environment is put back in, so land and resources such as water, soil and air can be replenished and are available to future generations. The waste from sustainable farming stays within the farm’s ecosystem and cannot cause buildup or pollution. In addition, sustainable agriculture seeks to minimize transportation costs and fossil fuel use, and is as locally-based as possible.
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Biodiversity. Farms raise different types of plants and animals, which are rotated around the fields to enrich the soil and help prevent disease and pest outbreaks. Chemical pesticides are used minimally and only when necessary; many sustainable farms do not use any form of chemicals.
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Animal welfare. Animals are treated humanely and with respect, and are well cared for. They are permitted to carry out their natural behaviors, such as grazing, rooting or pecking, and are fed a natural diet appropriate for their species.
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Economically viable. Farmers are paid a fair wage and are not dependent on subsidies from the government. Sustainable farmers help strengthen rural communities.
- Socially just. Workers are treated fairly and paid competitive wages and benefits. They work in a safe environment and are offered proper living conditions and food.
In 1990, the US government defined sustainable agriculture in Public Law 101-624, Title XVI, Subtitle A, Section 1683, as “an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term, satisfy human food and fiber needs; enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends; make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls; sustain the economic viability of farm operations; and enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.”
The confusion with sustainable agriculture is that the definition is more a philosophy or way of life than a strict set of rules, and farmers can interpret the meaning differently. In addition, there is no legal obligation to follow any of the criteria for sustainability, so food can be labeled sustainable when in actuality it isn’t. Many terms that describe this type of food, such as natural or cage free, do not have a legal or clear definition (though the USDA is currently working on this). For example, cage-free chickens might not be raised in cages, but they could be raised in overcrowded conditions in indoor barns, which is still inhumane. See our Sustainable Dictionary for an explanation of these confusing labels.
That said, we must stress that the vast majority of sustainable farms are run by family farmers who are hardworking, honest and sincere people. They work all hours of the day and night to bring you the freshest, tastiest, best quality food available. Read on to find out how you can reconnect with your food and eat more sustainably.
If at any point you become confused, please remember that changing to sustainable eating is a process and will take a little time. Sustainable Table has been created to help make this transition as easy as possible and to guide you through any confusion.
Sustainable agriculture is more a way of life than a law or regulation. Each step you take benefits both you and your family, and helps preserve and protect the planet for future generations.
US Food Safety Agency Created
Published: January 13, 2010
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, moving to address the nation’s fractured food safety system, on Wednesday appointed Michael R. Taylor, a veteran food expert, as deputy commissioner for foods at the Food and Drug Administration. The newly created position is the first to oversee all the agency’s many food and nutrition programs.
Times Topics: Food Safety
The federal government’s oversight of the nation’s food supply has for decades been split among 13 disparate and sometimes feuding agencies. The result has been a growing menu of food recalls, including contaminated peanut butter, spinach and cookie dough, and the annual sickening of about 70 million people.
With new powers and extensive Washington experience, Mr. Taylor is supposed to fix this mess. But he is likely to be on a short leash.
Some powerful legislators in Congress had proposed creating a new agency combining the government’s many food functions. The compromise legislation headed for passage by spring will instead invest more food authority and money in the F.D.A. functions Mr. Taylor will oversee.
But if Mr. Taylor proves unable to prevent or quickly resolve the growing number of food scares, the idea of a separate food agency is likely to be revisited.
In an interview at a Washington coffee shop, Mr. Taylor said his biggest task was readying the F.D.A. to handle the new powers that Congress will soon give it. The legislation is expected to grant the agency the power to recall suspect foods, require manufacturers to establish plans to prevent contamination, and increase food inspections.
“Unless we work in a more unified way, we won’t be able to implement the law effectively,” Mr. Taylor said.
Setting safety standards for produce — a source of a growing number of food scares in recent years — is a top priority, although the task is enormously complicated, Mr. Taylor said. Even more difficult will be enforcing the rules, since there are more than two million farms in the nation, he said.
Mr. Taylor started his career in 1976 as an F.D.A. staff lawyer and over the next three decades migrated among government, industry and academia. He returned to the F.D.A. in 1991 as deputy commissioner for policy and moved in 1994 to head the Department of Agriculture’s meat inspection service.
Since July, he has served as a senior adviser to Commissioner Margaret Hamburg of the F.D.A. He once worked for Monsanto, the agribusiness giant, leading some in the organic movement to oppose his appointment.
Mr. Taylor is popular among many food-safety and nutrition advocates, who call him intelligent and courageous. But he stumbled in his first major policy initiative since returning to the agency in July, and his considerable experience may have been his undoing.
Fifteen years ago, Mr. Taylor took the top job at the Food Safety and Inspection Service, the unit within the Agriculture Department that oversees meat inspections. Within weeks, he told a gathering of meat industry executives that the government would soon insist on tougher safety standards. An uproar ensued, but Mr. Taylor prevailed.
Then in November, a few months after rejoining the F.D.A., Mr. Taylor told a conclave of oyster industry officials that voluntary efforts to eliminate deaths associated with consumption of live Gulf Coast oysters harvested in warm months had not worked, and that the agency would soon ban their sale. Same speech, different audience.
But after members of Congress protested, the agency indefinitely delayed the new rules. (Mr. Taylor said that the agency was still committed to its goal of reducing oyster-related deaths.)
Dr. David Acheson, who was until last year the F.D.A.’s top food official, said the oyster reversal was the result of an alarming naïveté on Mr. Taylor’s part that seriously damaged the agency’s credibility. Dr. Acheson criticized Mr. Taylor for failing to live up to President Obama’s promise to increase significantly the safety of the nation’s food supply.
“We’re nearly a year into this new administration, and what have they done to move the ball forward?” Dr. Acheson asked. “I think the answer is a big fat zero.”
At a food-safety conference in Washington last year, Dr. Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, stood in the hallway and debated Mr. Taylor’s qualities with Russell Libby, the executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. “He’s extremely knowledgeable and public-health oriented,” Dr. Jacobson said in a later interview.
Mr. Libby responded that Mr. Taylor reflects the view “that everybody’s going to eat food from large corporations and we need someone from that world to solve these problems.”
At the interview, Mr. Taylor got coffee, but no pastry. He said that he was trying to avoid gaining the usual 15 pounds that top F.D.A. officials often pack on, but that candy corn was a problem.
“We want accountability at the F.D.A., so check back with me on the weight thing,” Mr. Taylor said.
Two of my favourite activities
Eating and having fun – singing. I love roasted beets, fava beans and greens….mmm delicious! I would add a little goat cheese, olive oil and wine vinegar. Visit improveverywhere
Advisory Board
Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees is primary role is that of funding oversight, especially for international humanitarian projects. The role of Asset Management is:
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promote the work of the Foundation
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appoint members
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review the annually strategy plan and its effectiveness
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review all community funding applications recommend collaboration
Trustees are appointed exclusively by Joan Kerr, and must have a global perspective and an understanding of how FBSC can best assist in local community development, preserve the environment and make financial sound decisions.
The current Trustees will be announced shortly.
