Nothing says summer like the smell of juicy beef patties grilling out back, chicken smothered in tangy barbeque sauce, creamy potato salad, deviled eggs sprinkled with paprika and refreshing lemonade and iced tea.  When the weather gets warm and you head outside to dine this Memorial Day, do not let unsanitary food preparation spoil the day!

It is important to understand the importance of appropriate cooking and holding temperatures, the dangers of cross-contamination among different food items, length of time foods can be left out and how to properly store leftovers for later.

Starting from purchasing the food at your local supermarket and bringing it home to prepare, always separate your fresh, frozen or raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs from produce and ready-to-eat foods, whether this means your shopping cart, grocery bags, refrigerator or all of the above.  While transporting fresh foods, try to place them in the back seat and not the trunk of the vehicle and store necessary items in the refrigerator or freezer within 2 hours of purchase.

Remember to wash your hands with hot, soapy water, rubbing your hands together for at least 20 seconds before and after preparing food, especially those raw products.  Be sure to use separate plates for each stage of the process.  Raw meats should be on one plate and cooked pieces should be placed on a separate, clean one.  Cutting boards should be designated for cutting raw meat, poultry and seafood and a separate one for produce and ready to eat foods.  Separate knives should be used for either category as well.  Be careful not to cross-contaminate.  When all food preparation has been completed, thoroughly clean and sanitize all countertops and other equipment used.

Keep in mind what temperatures are appropriate for different items.  Use a food thermometer to determine if meat is safe and ready to eat. Hamburgers should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160˚F.  Chicken should be 165˚F, and seafood must reach 145˚F.  Pieces of meat left out longer than 4 hours after cooking should be discarded and not stored for later consumption.  Foods requiring refrigeration, such as potato salad should not be left out longer than 6 hours or if the temperature exceeds 70˚F.  Use separate utensils to serve the different items.  Always store leftovers in clean and sanitized containers.

So this Memorial Day, get the whole family together for a picnic at the park or in your own backyard. Make it a day to remember because of the good company, fun times and great food, not from spoiled memories of the after-effects of unsanitary food preparation!

• COMMIT. Take time on a regular basis to focus on physical activity.
• SET REALISTIC GOALS. Eating low calorie fruits and vegetables and taking a 15 minute walk each day are examples of realistic goals.
• KNOW YOUR TRIGGERS. Give some thought to identify the triggers that make you overeat. Do you eat when you’re sad, frustrated, angry, stressed, happy?
• PLAN AHEAD. Schedule time for workouts in advance.
• GET MOVING. Being active burns calories and also boosts your metabolism.
• EAT HEALTHFULLY. Eating well makes you feel better and you will have more energy to stay active.
• TRACK YOUR SUCCESS. Write down when you exercise. People who do this are more successful in staying active.
• BOUNCE BACK. Everyone is bound to slip on their exercise program once in a while. Just be sure to get back on track quickly.

To guide us in our decision-making we are encouraged to use the new MyPlate tool along with its simple and practical messages. The MyPlate tool was introduced in June of 2011 replacing the pyramid guides of the past. The plate is simple and straightforward emphasizing just a few key points. It serves as a visual to guide our daily food choices.

The first tip is to make half of our plates fruits and vegetables. We are encouraged to eat fruits and vegetables of all colors, especially red, orange, and dark green. When choosing vegetables, we can choose from fresh, frozen and canned varieties. Canned vegetable choices should be “reduced sodium” or “no-salt-added.” Fruits can be fresh, frozen, dried or canned in water or 100% fruit juice.

Next, we should aim to make at least half of our grains whole. By reading food labels and keeping an eye out for the whole grain seal on food products, we can easily identify sources of 100% whole grains including breads, pastas, crackers, cereals, and rice.

Another goal is to switch to fat-free or low-fat milk and dairy products. These varieties are lower in fat and calories, but maintain the same amount of calcium and other essential nutrients as higher fat dairy products. Lactose-free and calcium-fortified soy beverages are available for those who are lactose intolerant.

The MyPlate tool also encourages us to include a variety of protein sources in our diets. Protein foods include seafood, beans, nuts, seeds, lean meat, poultry and eggs.  Seafood should make it onto our plates at least twice each week. Meat and poultry selections should be lean and small.

Another goal is to cut back on sodium, solid fats and sugars. To meet this goal we can choose fruit for dessert. We can be more aware of the sodium found in foods and compare nutrition labels. We can limit saturated fats by decreasing our intake of desserts, pizza, cheese, and fatty meats. Lastly, we can switch from sol id fats to oils when preparing foods.

We are also advised to enjoy our food, but eat less of it. We can watch portion sizes by using a smaller plate, bowl or glass. Also, eating more meals at home can help us stay in control of our food choices. Keeping track of our meals can help us stick to a certain calorie goal. We should also limit alcoholic beverages to 1 drink for women and 2 drinks for men daily.

Lastly, we should find a way to incorporate physical activity into your daily routine. Try activities that are enjoyable and that you will stick to. Children should get 60 minutes of exercise each day and adults should aim for 2 hours and 30 minutes each week.

The ACMH Nutrition services and HEALTHY Armstrong are celebrating National Nutrition Month at the ACMH Armstrong Café.  Each day, there will be a heart healthy item on the menu.  Each time a person chooses the healthy food item, their name will be entered to win prizes each week in March.  Prizes have been provided by the Belmont Complex, the YMCA, and HEALTHY  Armstrong.  For more information, contact 724 543 8491.  

Key findings include:

• More than one-third of adults and almost 17% of youth were obese in 2009-2010
• There was no change in the prevalence of obesity among adults or children from 2007-2008 to 2009-2010
• Obesity prevalence did not differ between men and women
• Adults aged 60 and over were more likely to be obese than younger adults

We are not able to circulate papers, but if you have access through your library, you may find them here:

1999-2010 Childhood/Adolescent Obesity Data

http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/early/2012/01/11/jama.2012.40.full

1999-2010 Adult Obesity Data

http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/early/2012/01/11/jama.2012.39.full

Everyone, though, should have access to the CDC’s accompanying data brief: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db82.pdf You may find this to be a useful document to share with your collegues, partners, and organizational leadership as you make the case for more efforts in childhood (or adult) obesity prevention programming.

The ACMH Foundation, HEALTHY Armstrong and Armstrong School district are working jointly on this project. Each elementary school has received vouchers.  The Wellness Coordinator and/or the schoolnurse will identify students that can benefit from the voucher.  The voucher will be sent home with the student and the parent can use them at a number of different local grocery stores.  Local participating grocery
stores in the ASD area include Kittanning Shop N Save, Kittanning Foodland, Ford City Foodland, Ford City Riverside, and Elderton county Market.

The fruit and vegetable program is an excellent example of collaboration.  It promotes the mission of the Foundation by improving the health and wellbeing of Armstrong county
residents and it supports the goals of HEALTHY Armstrong to improve the health of families and help children maintain a healthy weight through improved nutrition and increased activity.

Apples don’t contain fat, cholesterol or sodium.  This is a plus for maintaining heart
health.  Apples do have lots of fiber and fiber helps promote heart health and maintain regularity.

A serving size of an apple is one large apple, ½ cup chopped, cooked or canned apple, 8 ounces of 100% apple juice, or ½ cup of applesauce.

Easy ways to add apples to you diet include stirring apples into hot or cold cereals for breakfast, or garnishing a green salad with diced apple cubes for color and flavor.  For an
afternoon energy boost, snack on an apple.

It is best to store apples in the refrigerator.  To slow browning once cut, coat apple slices
and dices in a mixture of one part lemon juice to three parts water.

Information from this article was taken from a brochure published by Pennsylvania Apples.  www.Pennsyapples.org

You remember the food guide pyramids, right? This ancient Egyptian shape was
the symbol of our nutrition recommendations for almost 20 years! Sadly, reports
showed that only a few Americans actually understood the old pyramids. Luckily,
2011 brought about a new tool called “MyPlate.” This tool is
meant to help Americans make healthier food choices. The plate is
simple and straightforward emphasizing just a few key points. It shows that we
should fill our plates with a little more than ¼ vegetables, a little less than
¼ fruit, ¼ grains, ¼ lean protein and a cup of fat-free or 1% milk. It serves
as a visual to guide our daily food choices and is paired with 10 tips for
making a great plate:

1. Balance your calories
2. Enjoy your food, but eat less
3. Avoid oversized portions
4. Eat more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products
5. Make half your plate fruits and vegetables
6. Switch to fat-free or 1% milk
7. Make half your grains whole grains
8. Eat fewer foods high in solid fat (saturated and trans), added sugars, and salt
9. Compare sodium in foods
10. 10.  Drink water instead of sugary drinks

Vegetables:

Dark-green, red and orange vegetables, beans and peas or 100% vegetable juice counts as a choice from the Vegetable Group. Vegetables can be either raw or cooked and can be fresh, frozen, or canned. The average adult should eat 2-3 cups of vegetables per day.

Fruits:

Fruit choices may be fresh, canned, frozen, or dried. Generally, 1 cup of fruit or 100% fruit, or ½ cup of dried fruit can be considered as 1 cup from the Fruit Group. Typically adults need around 1.5-2 cups of fruit each day.

Grains:

We should aim to make half of our grains whole grains. Look for the whole grain stamp and check your labels for key words like “whole wheat,” “whole meal,” or “whole corn”. Whole grains include popcorn, whole wheat and rye breads, brown rice, barley, oats, and buckwheat.

Milk/Dairy:

Make a switch to fat-free or low-fat milk. These choices have less fat and calories compared to whole milk or 2%, but the same amount of calcium and other essential nutrients. Try lactose-free milk or calcium-fortified soy beverages if you have trouble tolerating dairy products. Milk and dairy products should be consumed 3 times per day.

Meat and Protein:

Eat a variety of protein foods each week. These choices can be seafood, nuts and beans, lean meat, poultry and eggs. Try to make seafood the protein on your plate at least twice a week. Choose lean meat and poultry and make portion sizes small. It is recommended that adults eat 5‑6 ounces of meat per day.

Visit www.choosemyplate.gov for more information on MyPlate!