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I ran a day care for over fifteen years and one of the best loved activities for any age was when we had the kids cooking. They love to stir, mix, taste, and create their own snacks and lunches. The great thing about cooking is that it is fun and educational. Cooking requires math, science, reading, cooperation, and planning. We can hide all this in the fun of breaking eggs, stirring in vanilla, baking muffins, and tasting the ingredients before and after they are mixed together. Of course it is a little more time consuming and a tad bit messier than if we did it on our own but well worth the effort. And if you are trying to have your kids eat healthier this may be the ticket you are looking for. Kids are generally more apt to try something they have made themselves than if it is plopped down in front of them. A few suggestions to start cooking with your children would be to do some no bake recipe first. Try peanut butter balls, or trial mix then move onto recipes that are a little more complex like pita crisp or pancakes. Before you know it you will be having them bake along side you to make pizzas and apple pie.

This is a great very-thin-crust pizza. You can make your own, healthy version at home.
But you probably won’t notice the difference when your crust is made from pita bread. Buy whole-grain pitas, or make your own, spread your favorite tomato sauce over it, add toppings and shredded mozzarella. You can also make great snacks by splitting the pita pocket, topping the two halves with pesto sauce and grated parmesan, and baking.

May was National Bike Month. Many states including my own held special biking activities to encourage new bikers to join the trend. A Bike to Work Day was proclaimed and many participated in it.

Even more exciting was a set of NH bike maps were available for the many tourist regions in our state. More programs include “Safe Route to Schools” and Bike-Ed Programs.

Find your local biking group to help answer all your recreational biking questions.

http://www.granitestatewheelmen.org/On-Road/non-recurring_files/main_r1_c01.gif

Roger Turner has written a fabulous book for those avid cyclist in the Boston Area. “Bicycling on Boston’s North Shore” is the perfect guide for cyclists of all ages and abilities: for families with children, for university students wanting to explore off campus, and for power riders looking for a scenic workout. There are rides as short as seven miles as well as challenging itineraries approaching 50 miles.

Each chapter begins with a short introduction to the terrain to be covered, plus a description of such highlights as historic sites, great views, and essential stops—including rest rooms and ice cream parlors. Ride itineraries are concise, with mileage and landmarks provided. The guide’s ease of use is enhanced by the clear maps hand-drawn by calligrapher R.P. Hale.

ROGER TURNER has been a life-long cyclist and learned early on that seeing the world from over the handlebars of a bicycle was a great way to view life. Turner incorporated this love of cycling with a love for writing in 2002 when he wrote Bicycling with Kids in DownEast Maine, published by Nicolin Fields Publishing. He lives in Bedford, New Hampshire with his wife, and their two children.

Statistics from U.S. Centers for Disease Control show that a vast majority of food-borne disease is associated with cross contamination and handling later in the distribution chain and in the home. Keep the following tips in mind to avoid cross contamination:

• Separate meats from fruits and vegetables in your shopping cart and refrigerator.

• Never let meat leak onto other foods when stored in the refrigerator or cooler.

• Always wash fresh fruits and vegetables thoroughly in clean drinking water before eating them.

• Thoroughly wash your hands before preparing food and immediately after handling raw meat.

• Keep utensils and cutting boards separate for meats and vegetables.

• Wash all countertops and utensils thoroughly when handling food.

• Always clean any surface that has come in contact with raw meat before any other item is placed on that surface.

• Always cook meat until the juices run absolutely clear, and use a meat thermometer to insure the interior of the meat has reached its recommended temperature.

• Select fresh-looking fruits and vegetables that are not bruised, shriveled, moldy, or slimy.

• Remember to keep all cut fruits and vegetables covered in the refrigerator.

• Store prepared fruit salads and other cut produce in the refrigerator until just before serving.

• Throw away cut produce that has been out of the refrigerator for four hours or more.

• When picnicking or eating outside keep food refrigerated until just before preparation and never let foods sit around without covering and refrigerating or cooling them shortly after the outdoor meal.

Stay healthy, eat smart.

Swimming, hiking, biking, karate, pilates? What makes you excited to exercise?  Research shows that if you enjoy what you are doing for fitness, you will stay at it longer, work at it harder, and determine to set that time aside for that activity. There is nothing more emotionally and physically draining than dreading your exercise routine.

Find Fun in your workout. Here’s a few tips to get you started.

• Find activities you enjoy. Try a new class at local community centers or gyms.

• Use a personal trainer to help design an individual program that will help you meet your goals.

• Be creative. Walking a few blocks to work or to the store, standing instead of sitting, take the stairs instead of the elevator, getting up to stretch and move all count toward activity.

• Set a goal of exercise for 30 minutes a day.

• Consider starting a walking club in your neighborhood or work place.
• Finding a training partner will hold you accountable.

• Incorporate exercise at home between innings or at commercial breaks (if you have to watch TV). How many sit-ups can you do in a two-minute commercial break?

Look for fun ways to stay active. What do you do?

2 T olive oil
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
2 pounds sweet potatoes, unpeeled, cut in 1/2 inch wedges
Kosher salt or coarse sea salt

Preheat oven to 425. Lightly oil a baking sheet
In a large bowl or plastic bag, combine all the ingredients except the potatoes and salt. Add the sweet potatoes and toss to coat.
Spread the potatoes on the baking sheet. Season lightly with salt and bake 40 minutes, turning once, until browned and crisp. Salt to taste

Often you hear that the best thing to eat is whole foods. Now if you add that to your grocery store list you’ll look a bit foolish when you ask the clerk what isle they are in. A whole food is simply the entire food not just part of the whole. Not making any sense ? Take an apple, the whole fruit is a whole food. If you peel it you have lost some of its nutritional value. Applesauce, apple juice, and apple jelly are just a bit of the apple. You can apply this to milk, eggs, flour, or just about anything. Milk is pasteurized and homogenized which breaks down the nutrients in the milk. If you drink 2% or low fat you are again taking a valuable part out of the food. The fat in milk helps your body break down the protein in the milk. Without it your body struggles and usually reacts poorly to the process. White flour or any flour has some of the best part of the wheat taken out. The wheat germ and the wheat bran are wonderful sources of fiber for your body. Don’t even go to the egg goop found in cartons, I don’t want to know what is truly in the milk style container.
Remember whole foods haven’t been processed. They are the entire food item. In our attempt to make things healthier to produce on a large scale we have left behind some very important nutritional values.

Here is the best advice I can give in regards to weight measurement. The focus and usually obsession on what the scale reads is the very reason most people fail at losing weight. The scale can be misleading and dangerous.

Focusing your weight against an‘ideal weight’ can be discouraging. It is not how much our body weighs that is important but our body composition. The amount of lean mass compared to body fat is more important in a weight management role.
It is imperative to understand how lean mass is directly related to metabolism.  As you begin an exercise program take an initial weight on the scale but also take girth measurements. Use a tape measure to find out the girth of your middle at the belly button, at your chest using the nipples as a guide, and at the biggest part of our bottom at our hips. Optional measurements are at the thickest point of our thigh and bicep. You can also just simply feel how your clothes fit after a few weeks.
After a month at GetFitNHBootcamp I didn’t lose any weight but I had lost a clothing size. This is the kind of measurement that shows your internal body composition has changed for the better. So throw away your scale as the only means of determining your goals in a healthy lifestyle.

by Ruth Apperson Rous

I am the flag of the United States of America.

I was born on June 14, 1777, in Philadelphia.
There the Continental Congress adopted my stars and stripes as the national flag.
My thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with a union of thirteen white stars in a field of blue, represented a new constellation, a new nation dedicated to the personal and religious liberty of mankind.
Today fifty stars signal from my union, one for each of the fifty sovereign states in the greatest constitutional republic the world has ever known.
My colors symbolize the patriotic ideals and spiritual qualities of the citizens of my country.
My red stripes proclaim the fearless courage and integrity of American men and boys and the self-sacrifice and devotion of American mothers and daughters.
My white stripes stand for liberty and equality for all.
My blue is the blue of heaven, loyalty, and faith.
I represent these eternal principles: liberty, justice, and humanity.
I embody American freedom: freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, and the sanctity of the home.
I typify that indomitable spirit of determination brought to my land by Christopher Columbus and by all my forefathers - the Pilgrims, Puritans, settlers at James town and Plymouth.
I am as old as my nation.
I am a living symbol of my nation’s law: the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.
I voice Abraham Lincoln’s philosophy: “A government of the people, by the people,for the people.”
I stand guard over my nation’s schools, the seedbed of good citizenship and true patriotism.
I am displayed in every schoolroom throughout my nation; every schoolyard has a flag pole for my display.
Daily thousands upon thousands of boys and girls pledge their allegiance to me and my country.
I have my own law—Public Law 829, “The Flag Code” - which definitely states my correct use and display for all occasions and situations.
I have my special day, Flag Day. June 14 is set aside to honor my birth.
Americans, I am the sacred emblem of your country. I symbolize your birthright, your heritage of liberty purchased with blood and sorrow.
I am your title deed of freedom, which is yours to enjoy and hold in trust for posterity.
If you fail to keep this sacred trust inviolate, if I am nullified and destroyed, you and your children will become slaves to dictators and despots.
Eternal vigilance is your price of freedom.
As you see me silhouetted against the peaceful skies of my country, remind yourself that I am the flag of your country, that I stand for what you are - no more, no less.
Guard me well, lest your freedom perish from the earth.
Dedicate your lives to those principles for which I stand: “One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
I was created in freedom. I made my first appearance in a battle for human liberty.
God grant that I may spend eternity in my “land of the free and the home of the brave” and that I shall ever be known as “Old Glory,” the flag of the United States of America.