Meatless Monday: Fat Facts

Fat Facts


Excess consumption of saturated fats from meat and high-fat dairy products increases the risk of chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers – four of the leading causes of death in the U.S.

What is fat?
Fat is one of the three major nutrients in our diet. It is a source of energy, and it provides a sense of fullness and taste. Fat (aka fatty acids) can come from animal or plant sources. Some fat is essential in our diet because they are necessary for the absorption of important vitamins.

So, what’s the problem with fat?
Fat provides DOUBLE the calories of a carbohydrate or protein, so too much fat can lead to high caloric intake resulting in weight gain. Too much fat is also linked to many chronic diseases.

Is there a “Good” fat vs. “Bad” fat?
Most fats are a combination of different fatty acids; an oil may have some polyunsaturated and some monounsaturated fat. They are usually categorized according to the majority type of fat. Fats differ in structure and function – and the difference is important!

Saturated fat is associated with increased cholesterol levels and heart disease risk because it stimulates the production of bad cholesterol (LDL) in the body. Saturated fat is found mostly in animal products, such as meat and high-fat dairy; however it also comes from a few non-meat sources, such as palm, palm kernel and coconut oils.

Unsaturated fat comes in two categories: polyunsaturated and monounsaturated.

Monounsaturated fats are the stars of the show. They lower bad cholesterol without lowering the good cholesterol. Monounsaturated fats are found in oils made from olives, canola, peanut, and avocado.

Polyunsaturated fats are found in vegetables oils, such as corn, safflower, sunflower, and soybean oils. These fats lower bad cholesterol, but also tend to lower good cholesterol (HDL) as well.

Omega-3 fatty acids are the best of the polyunsaturated fats. Along with possibly raising good cholesterol, these fatty acids decrease the risk of artery blockage and heart attacks. Fatty fishes, such as salmon, albacore, tuna, mackerel, sardines, herring and rainbow trout are good sources, along with flaxseed and flaxseed oils.

Trans-fatty acids are formed through a process called hydrogenation, where liquid oil is altered into a solid fat, such as margarine or shortening. Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils have a longer shelf life. However, these altered fats raise blood cholesterol and increasing heart disease risk. They are common in baked goods and occur naturally in meat.
Where does cholesterol fit in?

Cholesterol is ONLY found in animal products; it is in meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products. Cholesterol is never in a vegetable product, so be aware of misleading advertising, such as “Cholesterol-free” peanut butter – it never had it in the first place! Dietary cholesterol can raise the blood cholesterol; however, the effect of saturated fat on blood cholesterol is even stronger.

Summing up the facts
A low total fat intake (about 30% of total calories), with the majority of fat from unsaturated sources, appears to lower blood cholesterol levels.

How Meatless Monday fits in…
Cutting out the biggest source of saturated fat ONE DAY A WEEK can make a difference!

Current recommendations from research are for NO MORE THAN 10% of our calories (1/3 of our fat calories) to come from saturated fat.


According to the USDA’s Healthy Eating Index (1999-2000), only 41% of the U.S. population meets this goal. That means that 60% of us still need to decrease saturated fat in our diet! And, our meat and dairy consumption has continued to go up, as has our consumption of added fats.

Given that most of our saturated fat currently comes from meat and dairy products, reducing consumption of these foods can have a big effect. In fact, according to Meatless Monday calculations, cutting out meat and high fat dairy only one day a week can decrease saturated fat by about 15%, which is consistent with the recommendations of the American Heart Association and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

And reducing saturated fat from meat and dairy, as well as from other sources the rest of the week, will also help us meet the saturated fat goal!

How do we find saturated fat?
The New food label will include both saturated fat and trans fat. Be aware of the serving size and the grams of saturated fat when looking at the label. Based on an average diet of 2000 calories, you should consume no more than 20 grams of saturated fat each day (10% of 2000 calories) and no more than 2 grams of trans fats.

In the list of ingredients, watch for animal fats, lard, butter, palm kernel oil, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils. Avoid these foods, especially if these fats are in the top half of the list.

Mental and Physical Wellness: The Connection

7 Dimensions of Wellness: Mental and Physical


Did you know that exercise can help with depression and anxiety? Moving your body will help to reduce stress and help to increase your mental wellness as well as your physical well being. Just walking 30 minute per day can do wonders for you mentally. Its is believed your body releases endorphins as you walk which helps to reduce the symptoms of depression and stress.

Walking outside is can be even better. Connecting with the environment; the sunshine, the birds chirping, listening to the wind blowing through the trees, can be soothing as you walk.

Other benefits as cited from the Mayo Clinic:

The benefits of exercise for depression and anxiety

Exercise has many psychological and emotional benefits when you have depression or anxiety. These include:

• Confidence. Being physically active gives you a sense of accomplishment. Meeting goals or challenges, no matter how small, can boost self-confidence at times when you need it most. Exercise can also make you feel better about your appearance and your self-worth.
• Distraction. When you have depression or anxiety, it's easy to dwell on how badly you feel. But dwelling interferes with your ability to problem solve and cope in a healthy way. Dwelling can also make depression more severe and longer lasting. Exercise can shift the focus away from unpleasant thoughts to something more pleasant, such as your surroundings or the music you enjoy listening to while you exercise.
• Interactions. Depression and anxiety can lead to isolation. That, in turn, can worsen your condition. Exercise may give you the chance to meet or socialize with others, even if it's just exchanging a friendly smile or greeting as you walk around your neighborhood.
• Healthy coping. Doing something positive to manage depression or anxiety is a healthy coping strategy. Trying to feel better by drinking alcohol excessively, dwelling on how badly you feel, or hoping depression and anxiety will go away on their own aren't helpful coping strategies.

Most cities are developing walking and biking trails in urban areas to increase accessibility and opportunity for exercise. Check with your local parks department for safe areas to walk in your city and neighborhood.

Healing Through the Creation of Art.

Art has so many healing properties. The wonderful thing about art is no matter where you stand in the process you have a chance to be changed and healed.

The process of creating art can be just as healing as experiencing it, if not more so. Whether you are writing a poem that only your eyes will see, or if you are creating a play that will be seen by hundreds, creating art gives you the opportunity to grow from a place that may have seemed stagnant in your life. I have created many things that have helped me move on from different obstacles in my life.

When I was a child I grew to love music because my father had it playing in the house at all times. On a daily basis and sometimes all day on the weekends we would listen to Luther Vandross. I began to link Luther’s voice and his songs to the feeling I had when I with my parents and everything was right in the world. Years late when my parents divorced I went to that very same Luther Vandross music to find that security that I had lost in the divorce. Because of the power of the art that Luther created I was able to find that security right there in his music. When everything else was chaotic there was peace in the fact that Luther was going to keep making music. When the untimely death of Luther Vandross occurred I felt like someone swiped my crutch and I fell… hard.

I could not hear a Luther Vandross song without crying. I was mourning the death of something and someone I considered to be like a security blanket in my life and I believe I was also mourning the death of my parent’s marriage all over again. I only needed to hear a song and those feelings were brought right back.

One evening I was wondering how I would ever enjoy Luther’s music again. I wondered if that feeling of security that I had when I listened to his music would ever return. I picked up a pen and a pad of paper and I just wrote down how I felt. I said everything that I needed to say. When I read it back it became a poem titled “I miss Luther Vandross”. I felt like I purged everything and once that last word was written it felt like something had been lifted. You know the way you feel when your fever finally breaks, or the moment that headache goes away? That sort of light feeling you have inside, that is what is how I felt when that poem was completed. It is now my favorite piece of work.

I have not shared that piece with very many people. I have guarded it almost as if I was guarding a very tender part of me. I don’t believe that I needed to share it in order for it to do what it was meant to do. I needed to write that poem to heal a very broken part of me, and that is just what it did. Every time I read it I can feel how much I have been healed.

If there is something that you feel like you need to purge, if there is something that you just need to get out, there are many ways you can do it. You can write a poem, a journal entry, a blog, you can even video or tape record yourself. You do not need to share it with one other soul on the planet or you can post it on your Myspace page or You Tube. It is up to you how you get you feelings out. It is when you leave those feelings out there that the healing process truly begins. If you do not feel like you are an “artist”, know you do not have to be to create something beautiful. You just may find that there is in fact an artist that lives inside of you. Take small steps and begin your healing today.
More on this subject to come.

Peace and Blessings,Rashida

Meatless Monday Receipe: Pasta Salad with Tomatoes and Grilled Garlic-Herb Salmon

Pasta Salad with Tomatoes and Grilled Garlic-Herb SalmonServings: 8

The recipe for this hearty pasta salad comes from our friends at Mrs. Dash.

12 oz penne pasta

1 roasted red pepper, peeled and diced

2 roasted yellow peppers, peeled and diced

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved, yellow if possible

2 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 large cucumber, seeded and diced

1 Tablespoon olive oil

3 Tablespoons Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb Seasoning Blend, divided

3 Tablespoons lemon juice

2 Tablespoons low sodium chicken broth

8 4-oz salmon fillets

Cook pasta according to package directions and set aside. Combine olive oil, 2 tablespoons Garlic & Herb Seasoning Blend, lemon juice and broth in a large bowl. Add prepared vegetables and pasta, toss well and chill.

When ready to serve, brush salmon fillets with a little olive oil and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon Garlic & Herb Seasoning Blend. Grill fillets 3-4 minutes per side on medium heat. Serve hot with pasta salad.

Nutrition Information per Serving (serving size 1-1/2 cups)Calories 374, Total Fat 11g, Saturated Fat 2g, Cholesterol 71mg, Sodium 66mg, Carbohydrate 36g, Fiber 3g, Protein 32g

Tip: To get more whole grains and fiber, choose a whole wheat or whole wheat blend pasta for this recipe. If you like your pasta cooked al dente, you'll enjoy the chewier texture of whole wheat pasta. If you prefer softer, less chewy pasta, then try a whole wheat blend instead.

Visit the Meatless Monday website for more information and receipes!!

Hair Health with Thierry Baptiste

Greetings women of CWUW,

My name is Thierry Baptiste and I am a loctician whose work is renowned internationally. I am delighted to have the opportunity to discuss healthy hair with your community. With me practicing hair care for over a decade, I have been blessed with the experience of working with every texture of African American women’s hair. And with this in mind, information and advice on hair care will come from experience (the ultimate teacher).

I was asked to begin my relationship with you on the subject of understanding, obtaining, and maintaining a healthy head of hair for any texture. I believe this is a wonderful subject matter to begin with, and will give you the blueprint for hair success.

Two factors that play a major role in your hair being healthy, and today we will discuss the first, then we will follow up with a separate blog on the second part.

Scenario:

As a show of affection from a friend, I received a plant as a gift. My care for the plant would symbolize the development and growth of our relationship. Therefore, I went all out with the best foods and gadgets, and nurtured it with care regiments instructions from plant experts globally.

Now imagine the investment of money and time applied in the beginning that stimulated growth eventually stopped working. In only 30 days, the blossoming plant had deter acted to stubs and only one. And because I followed all of the instructions in detail, it was very easy for me to find comfort in the too familiar and self destructive mood of being a victim. And because I claimed no responsibility for the plants death, there was nothing to learn from the situation. Because I did not do anything, wrong. Right?

WRONG………………………………………………….

The joy and positive energy toward the plant on the first day soon manifested into the plant now symbolizing a obligation that threatened my freedom; which is the essence of my happiness. I hated that plant and even with using top shelf care products, not even a plant can grow with no love.

With considering my story, now replace the concept of a plants growth with your negative outlook about short hair. We can no longer avoid the decision of having to cut your long see through damaged hair into a short healthy style to create the undeniable foundation needed to eventually get the long healthy hair you desire.

And like the plant, because you hate your hair short, it wants to runaway not grow. Lol


IS YOUR HAIR PLANTED IN FERTILE GROUND?
(On the other hand, do you have negative seeds poisoning your spiritual soil?)

With the exposure of one of the core problems preventing you from cultivating healthy hair, how can we as a people counter attack the negativity associated with our hairitage?

8 STEPS THAT ENHANCE HEALTHY HAIR FROM WITHIN

1. Accept your part in your demise and stop being a victim. The world can plant negative seeds all day in long in your mind, but they are powerless if you don’t nurture the ground around it with your acceptance of the lies.

2. Stop your internal spiritual warfare by working with and not against yourself. The only way you can win is from within. And to get in, you have to identify your newfound self-love as a extension of your definition of beauty and not a replacement.

3. Your hair should only be sparingly given the power to enhance you; not socially create or financially break you.

4. Hair grows from love. Love does not hate. Therefore, hating only hurts you. One of the biggest mistakes I have noticed is when we want people to appreciate what they have, we feel that true clarity will only come from their lost or demise. Out of love, start praying they get it before the end.

5. Stop putting self-destructive regulations on the requirements of what your hair needs to look like before you can love yourself. At any length or condition, you are blessed to have hair and be alive.

6. Get informed by reading your history, which explains your inherited destiny.

7. Get involved by giving back. Instead purchasing magazines that "MAY" put on the cover in February, subscribe to black publications that represent you on every cover, every month.

8. Finally yet importantly, defuse the delusions that disappoint you about your hairs rehabilitation from damage, which subconsciously justifies your instant gratification relapse.

To explain the last step, which also closes out part 1 of the “inside” scoop of healthy hair, I must go back to the beginning. You will remember that the plant died in one month from neglect.
Disappointment, with an immediately need for closure, I headed to the trash with a toe tag on the one surviving leaf, where a neighbor took the plant from me.

Surprisingly, two months later, I was invited into her home to see the plant ALIVE.

Therefore, if it took two months for the plant to recover from what only took one month to destroy. You cannot realistically expect for a first time and/or inconsistent haircut, deep conditioner, and hot oil treatment to provide instant results on hair that has abused for years. FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

Are You Afraid To Hope?

As I tried to think of what my first blog would be about, I kept getting a blank page in my head. I could not hear any thing. I couldn't feel any thing. I found my self at a loss for words and for those who know me you know that is a rarity. This week a friend shared with me a wonderful message about her faith to believe in something she had not even been seeking God for at the moment. She had a desire but she didn't feel she was at a place for that desire to come to past. She had a plan a good solid plan. She was content to work her plan until the time was right. Her plan was a nice safe plan, but how many folks know that sometimes life is not always what you plan and it's ok to hope for the impossible and step back and watch it manifest.

Some may say that is easier said then done. Some may be saying do you know what it is like to be hit with so much disappointment that very thought of hope becomes painful. Has the word hope become one of those 4 letter dirty words for you? Are you outwardly confessing faith but inwardly denying the power of faith and hope.

We have all had moments when the Assassin of Hope has put our dreams on his hit list killing our hope:
1) For the husband who after 5, 10, 15, 20 years of waiting has not manifested himself.
2) For better life for you and your kids and yet and still you are still on welfare and or are still in so much debt you can’t see how you will ever get out.
3) To conqueror your addictions to drugs, alcohol, food, low self esteem, etc.

Here is what I have discovered, disappointments will come whether you have the faith to hope or not. You are going to be in a much better place mentally, spiritually, and emotionally if you come terms with these simple facts. Sometimes things are not going to work out exactly the way you hoped. It stinks. It is sad. It’s not always fair. It is life and being afraid to hope won't stop life from happening. You should not live your life afraid to hope. Having hope gives you something to look forward to. Your fear, if you let it, will cause you to miss out on some of the best blessings in life.

I can’t promise you that you will never be disappointed because you hoped for something that didn’t happen. I can tell you this, if you are willing to roll the dice, know that some times it is going to work out just as you hoped. Sometimes it’s not going to turn out the way you hoped and every now and then it will turn out EVEN BETTER than you could even hope or imagine.

Signing Off For Now,
Y.Askew

Dimensions in Wellness: Occupational Wellness

OCCUPATIONAL WELLNESS

"The occupational dimension recognizes personal satisfaction and enrichment in one's life through work. At the center of occupational wellness is the premise that occupational development is related to one's attitude about one's work. Traveling a path toward your occupational wellness, you'll contribute your unique gifts, skills and talents to work that is both personally meaningful and rewarding. You'll convey your values through your involvement in activities that are gratifying for you. The choice of profession, job satisfaction, career ambitions, and personal performance are all important components of your path's terrain.

Occupational wellness follows these tenets: - It is better to choose a career which is consistent with our personal values interests and beliefs than to select one that is unrewarding to us. - It is better to develop functional, transferable skills through structured involvement opportunities than to remain inactive and uninvolved. "

Dr. Bill Hettler, Cofounder and President of the Board of Directors of the National Wellness Institute



Are you living a balanced life between work and leisure? Is your occupation satisfying? Is it causing you stress that pours over into your personal life?

This is what occupational wellness is all about.

Rethink, reevaluate your occupational wellness.

CWUW is looking for volunteers

The Center of Wellness for Urban Women is looking for volunteers to help in the development of the organization.

For me information, contact CWUW at volunteer@cwuwonline.org or at 317-329-8496.