Food and Nutrition

This guest article is by Lisa Brent, ND, LAc. Lisa is a naturopathic doctor specializing in women’s health and integrative gynecology at the Owning Pink Center in Mill Valley, CA.

Are you in your early forties and doing everything right, yet gaining weight with every passing year? You aren’t alone. Ask any mom and chances are she will tell you that her metabolism has changed over time, and especially after pregnancy. While we are all guilty of snacking on goldfish scattered on the floors of our cars, most of us do try hard to eat well and get some kind of regular exercise. It is frustrating when these efforts do not produce the results they used to when we were younger.

What’s the root cause of this age 40+ weight gain?

There are two main reasons for this: stress and metabolic compromise. It is well known that metabolism changes over time. Around middle age, many women begin to slowly gain weight even though they have not changed their diet or exercise regimen.

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Get ready for back-to-school at any of Marin's Whole Foods Market locations. As part of Whole Foods' Project Healthy Lunch, you can stop by one of the stores and make a free healthy school lunch for your child.

Also check the Whole Foods Market website for some tasty-sounding and healthy back-to-school and kid-friendly recipes, like creamy cherry dip (pictured).

For more information on Project Healthy Lunch, contact each store directly: San Rafael (415) 451-6333, ; Mill Valley, (415) 381-3900; Novato, (415) 878-0455.

Here are the Project Healthy Lunch schedule and details:

I recently was searching the web for info about organic foods and recipes for my kids and came across an article that discusses the dangers of pesticides and how they can adversely affect people, especially during periods of fetal development and childhood when exposures can have long lasting effects. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) tested for pesticides on fruits and vegetables collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The EWG has categorized produce into either the "Dirty Dozen" or the "Clean Fifteen"—the twelve fruits and vegetables that you should always buy organic and the fifteen that are least affected by pesticides.

Some of the produce with the highest pesticide loads included staples like peaches, nectarines, apples, blueberries, potatoes, and bell peppers. Needless to say, you should always seek out the organic versions of these foods. Among those with the lowest pesticide loads were onions, avocados, pineapple, cabbage, watermelon, and sweet corn.

It’s spring, and that means it's time to go to your local farmers' market and buy fresh and organic produce and other goodies. There are some year-round farmers' markets in Marin, but the majority of them start up again in spring after going on hiatus in the fall.

One of the year-round farmers' markets that I really like is the Civic Center Farmers' Market in San Rafael, which happens every Thursday and Sunday morning from 8 am to 1 pm. They have lots of organically grown produce, breads, eggs, and fresh cut flowers. This farmers' market is a great one to take the kids to. If you haven’t been there yet, it’s located next the Civic Center duck pond and playground. They also have pony rides, live music, and a balloon lady dressed as a clown who will make any shape of balloon that the kids request.

Also year-round is the Corte Madera Farmers' Market, which takes place every Wednesday from noon–5 pm. This farmers' market is located at the Town Center. When we are at the Town Center getting my sons hair cut we love to stroll the farmers' market and buy fresh produce for that night’s dinner. Also, the Mill Valley Farmers' Market takes place year-round on Fridays from 9 am-2 pm at the Alto Shopping Center off of Blithedale and Lomita.

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Help make your kids' snacking a nutritionally smart strategy! Nutritionist Amber Wilson, MS, RD, offers some tips on healthy alternatives to junk food.

Michelle Obama and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver have embarked on a mission to improve the health of our children. While we wait for a nutrition makeover of school lunches, there’s no better time to look at what our kids are eating outside of school. According to a study published in the March issue of Health Affairs, snacking accounts for 27 percent of children’s daily calories. The 30,000 children surveyed in the study snacked an average of three times per day on candy, chips and other junk food, and this unhealthy snacking added almost 600 calories each day to the children’s diets. But all it takes is a little bit of planning and creativity to make snack time both healthy and fun for your kids.

Snacking, when done smartly, is a good strategy for children because they have small stomachs and are unable to eat large meals at one time. Healthy snacks give kids energy between meals, and also help to focus attention and regulate mood. Focus on fruits and vegetables, lean protein and whole grains when choosing snacks for your kids and limit their consumption of sugary, high-fat junk food. Look through your pantry and throw out the cookies, chips, candy and soda.

Since it's the beginning of a new year (which of course always includes those New Year's resolutions), we thought we would re-post this guest article by Marin fitness expert Michele Vaughan. There's one helpful tip here for each week of the year! Michele is president of The Balance Workout, Marin's premiere fitness studio.

Here are 52 things that you can do for the new year 

1. Put yourself first. Write your exercise in your date book as if it were a doctor’s appointment and keep it! If we aren't healthy then we can't take care of our children or partners.
 
2. Put your fork down between each bite of food. It takes 20 minutes for the stomach to signal the brain that it is full.
 
3. Make dates with your girlfriends around fitness and health. Go for a walk, hike or run instead of going out to eat a high calorie lunch.
 
4. Never go to the grocery store hungry.

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One of our favorite destinations for a family road trip is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The aquarium is not only a world famous attraction, but an international leader in environmental education and the fight to save the world's oceans.

One of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's most immediate and accessible conservation efforts is their Seafood Watch program. The goal of Seafood Watch is to raise consumer awareness about the need to choose seafood from sustainable sources, and to advocate for environmentally friendly seafood.

A friend asked me about my experience with this the other day, so I thought I'd pass it along here. This something is constipation. My son never really had a problem with it when he was little, since we made sure to feed him a good diet, until one fateful day. Of course we were on vacation, visiting friends down in Pacific Grove, when it happened. Doesn't it usually happen like that?

So one morning Trevor wakes up and instead of his usual happy two-year-old (at the time) self, he's cranky and crying and eventually seems to be in some physical distress. And because he's only two, he can't really tell us what the problem is. All he knows is that he's miserable. On our friends' recommendation we head down to the nearby urgent care clinic on Lighthouse Avenue in Monterey and fill out the paperwork with a crying toddler in the background. Of course this particular clinic doesn't take our otherwise pretty universally accepted health insurance. Of course not!