Eat Local Huron (ELH) is delivering local food again from their new warehouse near Bayfield.
Article content
The non-profit company delivered for only three weeks last summer when an electrical fire destroyed the warehouse they were renting in Westfield.
County residents rallied in support of ELH after the fire, raising more than $8,000 through a GoFundMe campaign, which covered some losses and kept the budding local food initiative afloat while they looked for a new home.
“Everyone’s kindness after the fire was incredible,” said Gemma-James Smith, ELH Warehouse Manager.
“I cried so many times when people were donating. I was just speechless. You can really see people appreciate what we’re doing here.”
ELH hasn’t been idle — they spent the downtime between warehouses signing-up Huron County producers, and sourcing food that isn’t produced in Huron County from across Ontario. They are now working with more than 45 local producers.
Huron County residents can shop the store at EatLocalHuron.ca from 9 a.m. Wednesday until 9 p.m. Sunday and have their groceries delivered to their homes the next week.
Eat Local Huron (ELH) is delivering local food again from their new warehouse near Bayfield.
Article content
The non-profit company delivered for only three weeks last summer when an electrical fire destroyed the warehouse they were renting in Westfield.
County residents rallied in support of ELH after the fire, raising more than $8,000 through a GoFundMe campaign, which covered some losses and kept the budding local food initiative afloat while they looked for a new home.
“Everyone’s kindness after the fire was incredible,” said Gemma-James Smith, ELH Warehouse Manager.
“I cried so many times when people were donating. I was just speechless. You can really see people appreciate what we’re doing here.”
ELH hasn’t been idle — they spent the downtime between warehouses signing-up Huron County producers, and sourcing food that isn’t produced in Huron County from across Ontario. They are now working with more than 45 local producers.
Huron County residents can shop the store at EatLocalHuron.ca from 9 a.m. Wednesday until 9 p.m. Sunday and have their groceries delivered to their homes the next week.
For information check their website, follow @eatlocalhuron or email info@eatlocalhuron.ca .
If I asked you to close your eyes and picture Richard Branson, what image would come to mind? You might think of him strapped into a Virgin Galactic rocket shooting into space, or performing some wild publicity stunt like trying to fly a hot air balloon around the world. Perhaps you'd picture him kitesurfing with some celebrity on his private Caribbean island.
Whatever came to mind, I'm going to guess it was active and daring. Now I have another question for you: How old exactly is Sir Richard these days? Don't Google it: He's 71.
Take those two paragraphs and put them together and what do you get? A septuagenarian grandfather who, far from being creaky and forgetful, appears to be maintaining incredible levels of energy and fitness. Which is why I didn't click away when I visited Branson's blog recently and saw a post on how he eats for greater health. Entrepreneurs in general may not be the best sources of nutrition advice, but Branson seems like a guy who knows something about aging well.
Meet Richard Branson's diet guru.
The specific disease-fighting diet Branson follows was designed by Harvard-trained cancer doctor William Li, who argues that certain superfoods help the body ward off diseases like cancer and heart disease. Li recently spoke at a Virgin Unite gathering, and Branson reports being inspired by his work to improve his own diet.
"I have long prioritized an all-round healthy lifestyle. I exercise daily in the form of tennis, kitesurfing, swimming, weights, and cycling (sometimes to my detriment!). I go to bed at 9 p.m. when possible, I have an incredible team around me to help manage stress and am blessed with the most incredible friends and family. And diet, according to Dr. Li, is the final pillar to help realize full health potential," Branson writes.
Happily, many of the foods recommended by Li are ones you likely already enjoy. Branson apparently indulges in three every day.
"Dr. Li argues that drinking one to three cups of coffee a day lowers the risk of heart failure by 33 percent. And that by eating one kiwi fruit a day you can increase protection of your DNA from oxidative damage by 60 percent," Branson reports. "He also suggests that by sipping five cups per day of green tea you can significantly lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels."
If that sounds intriguing to you, you can pick up Li's book Eat to Beat Disease for lots more information, but here to get you started is a sampling of other foods Li claims help prevent disease. Eating all of them every day is a tall order, but regularly adding as many as you can to your diet should help you stay healthy and avoid disease.
In an ideal world, we would all eat a hearty, healthy dinner. It would be followed by something small and sweet — a square of dark chocolate, maybe — and then a few hours later, we would curl up in bed and sleep all night, our stomachs perfectly full until the next day.
The reality is more complicated. Whether we stay up later than we should, eat a small dinner or we’re hungry without a good reason (it happens), a lot of us end up craving a bedtime snack.
Although we’ve long heard that eating before bed is associated with weight gain, this is (thankfully)mostly a myth. That being said,whatyou choose to eat before bed could impact your weight over time, along with your ability to sleep soundly.
So if you know that skipping a bedtime snack will leave your stomach rumbling, what should you reach for? We asked nutritionists. Here are their top picks.
Walnuts
According to Tracy Lockwood Beckerman, a registered dietitian, a rumbling stomach at night is your body’s way of telling you that it’s craving more calories and nutrients. So you should aim to eat foods that give you the most nutritional bang for your buck without being high maintenance.
That’s what makes walnuts such an excellent option. “The nutritional profile of a walnut is plentiful, contributing to calcium, magnesium, vitamin B, protein and heart healthy fats like plant-based omega-3s,” Beckerman said. “Because walnuts hit on so many helpful nutrients,researchhas found that consuming walnuts can help stave off Type 2 diabetes and other cardiometabolic risk factors.”
Banana
Besides being delicious, bananas can actually help you fall asleep. “Bananas contain potassium, which is a natural muscle relaxant, helping to aid in a good night’s sleep,” Beckerman said. “They also low-key have tryptophan, which not only improves mood but can assist in a restful night’s sleep.”
One thing to note is that bananas do contain a decent amount of sugar, at about15 grams per banana. Whiletoo much sugar can disrupt sleep, the sugar found in a banana is natural and will have less of an effect on your blood sugar than refined sugars. And bananas have enough other benefits to still make it a worthwhile bedtime snack — and one that’s unlikely to disrupt your sleep. That being said, if you’re particularly sensitive to sugar, you might want to skip this one.
Chocolate-covered nuts
Let’s face it: Most of us crave something sweet before bed. So it should come as very good news that Beckerman is all about chocolate-covered nuts before bed. “You can’t go wrong with dark chocolate and nuts to satisfy hunger before bedtime, thanks to the blood-stabilizing protein and healthy fat coming from the nuts,” she explained. “The dark chocolate is just the right amount of sweet, too.”
One caveat here is that dark chocolate does contain caffeine — one bar of 70% to 85% solid dark chocolate hasabout 80 milligrams. For context, one cup of coffee has about 100 milligrams. If you’re eating a handful of dark chocolate-covered nuts, it’s very unlikely that you’ll consume a whole bar’s worth of caffeine, but caffeine affects all of us differently — so if you know your sleep takes a hit when you consume even the smallest amount, another option might be better.
Greek yogurt with almonds and berries
If you’re willing to put some work in (and by that we mean mixing a few foods together), registered dietitian Abby Vichillrecommends Greek yogurt with almonds and berries.
“This is a great option because it has a balance of protein, carbohydrates and fat,” she said. “The carbs are in the berries (and yogurt), the protein is in the yogurt, the fat is in the almonds. Having something carb-based, something protein-based, and something fat-based before bed helps to keep blood sugar balanced and keeps your body from waking during the night due to the need for glucose.”
Rice cake with peanut butter
Vichill says this is another great bedtime snack, because peanut butter has protein and fat and rice cakes have carbs. As mentioned above, that trio is great for keeping blood sugar balanced throughout the night. Just do your best to skip the sugary peanut butter options!
Dried shiitake mushrooms
Sure, you probably don’t have these lying around the house just yet. But Beckerman says shiitake mushrooms are one of the best sources of plant-based vitamin D, which is integral to achieving a good night’s rest. And she says dried shiitake mushrooms are a quick and easy way to get it. “Vitamin D plays a role in melatonin production and we want to ensure this hormone is locked and loaded before bedtime to ensure high quality shut-eye,” she said. “I recommendPan’s Mushroom Jerky.” If you don’t want to invest in mushroom jerky, you can always saute shiitake mushrooms before bed — or do that ahead of time and keep them in the fridge to reheat.
How to avoid that bedtime hunger in the first place
While eating a bedtime snack is perfectly fine, if you don’t love eating before bed, there’s a lot you can do to prevent hunger from striking.
“I recommend consuming a sufficient amount of calories earlier in the day. Don’t wait until dinner to eat two-thirds of your food,” Vichill said. “Aim to have 25-30 grams of protein at your main meals, and three to five servings of cruciferous or high-fiber vegetables at lunch and dinner.”
Beckerman adds that our bodies take “nutritional inventory” at the end of the day and then decide what they may have missed out on. “That’s why we may experience a second wave of hunger pre-bedtime if the body doesn’t feel fully nourished and balanced with the right vitamins and minerals,” she said.
And if that happens, she notes, don’t fight it ― just offer your body some food. After all, there’s a lot of joy that can be found in a really delicious bedtime snack!
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
Let's face it, there are many things about the way we eat in the United States that could be much healthier. In fact, the Standard American Diet, which is full of processed foods, added sugar, and saturated fats, contributes to many health complications in our country.
Thankfully, we have other places in the world to pull inspiration from. The Blue Zones, for example, are five regions of the world where the highest concentrations of centenarians exist, and we can learn a lot from their way of living and their daily diets.
These regions include Sardinia in Itay, Okinawa in Japan, Ikaria in Greece, Nicoya in Costa Rica, and Loma Linda in California. And while each region consumes different foods unique to them and their lifestyle, it's helpful to learn about the foods they eat to see what we can incorporate in our lives to be a little bit healthier.
Loma Linda in California is one of the five Blue Zones and is a community that is uniquely made up of mostly Seventh-Day Adventists.
Along with regular religious practice and a weekly period of 24 hours to be in quiet contemplation, those in this community also eat a largely vegetarian diet full of healthy foods.
Avocados, which have a long list of health benefits, are a staple for the Loma Linda community. According to a National Geographic article on the world's Blue Zones, avocados are helpful in lowering cholesterol and contain 30% more potassium than bananas.
Avocados have also been found to help manage weight and decrease your risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes.
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Beans are a staple in most Blue Zones and provide helpful amounts of fiber and other nutrients that help fight disease. For example, black-eyed peas are a normal part of a daily diet in Ikaria, Greece, and these beans have been found to have anti-cancer, heart-healthy, and anti-diabetes properties.
The Nicoya community from Costa Rica eats black beans on a daily basis, often with rice and corn tortillas. Black beans have high amounts of fiber and antioxidants and are known to help manage diabetes, prevent cancer, and lower your risk of heart disease.
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The community of Okinawa, Japan, eats garlic on a regular basis. National Geographic states that garlic is one of "nature's most powerful medicines" and has been linked to lowering the risk of certain diseases that commonly occur as you age.
More specifically, a report from Antioxidants says that garlic has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and is known to help prevent certain cancers, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.
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White potatoes are a staple for those who live in Ikaria, Greece, and purple sweet potatoes (called imo) are consumed in Okinawa, Japan on a regular basis.
Purple sweet potatoes contain a phytochemical called anthocyanins, which are known to help prevent disease. Sweet potatoes are also rich in vitamin A, B6, C, potassium, and fiber.
While some people assume that white potatoes aren't healthy because of their high carbohydrate content, they actually help the Ikarians manage and prevent diabetes, while helping to keep blood pressure levels low as well.
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The Ikarians love using olive oil on a daily basis. A report published in Nutrients found that extra virgin olive oil has a lengthy list of proven health benefits, which is why many people in the Mediterranean where EVOO is widely used are found to be among some of the healthiest people in the world.
For example, olive oil was found to help with weight management, help lower blood pressure, reduce risk of certain cancers, and contribute to your overall health with its anti-inflammatory properties.
Salmon and other fatty fish is commonly consumed by the Adventists in Loma Linda, even by those in the community that are plant-based.
Salmon contains high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which have been found to help with heart health and lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as helping to reduce chronic levels of inflammation.
Sardinia, Italy is another region known as a Blue Zone, and the people in the community consume foods like goat's milk, flatbread, chickpeas, and sourdough bread.
Their sourdough bread is made with whole wheat and live lactobacilli. According to the feature in National Geographic, Sardinians' process of baking sourdough helps turn sugar and glucose into lactic acid. This process lowers the glycemic index, which means you'll stay full longer and your blood sugar won't spike.
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Sardinians also love their tomatoes and use them in quite a few of their dishes. Tomatoes contain lycopene, which is an antioxidant known for its anti-inflammatory properties, as well as its ability to help lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome and stroke, as well as improve heart health.
More specifically, cherry tomatoes contain higher levels of beta carotene, which research has found can help lower the risk of tumor development related to prostate cancer.
This may be the best news you've heard all day. Yes, many Blue Zone regions consume daily glasses of red wine as a part of their healthy diet.
According to the Blue Zones official website, many people in these regions drink around two glasses a day, and Sardinians drink a specific red wine called Cannonau wine.
Some research studies back this up with the conclusion that red wine can be beneficial to your heart health because of its antioxidants and polyphenol content.
Of course, with any alcohol, moderation is key and you should always talk with a doctor about any questions you may have.
