Showing posts with label together. Show all posts
Showing posts with label together. Show all posts
Veggie Might Lunch Buddies—Share Costs and Get Healthy Together
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Written by the fabulous Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about all things Vegetarian.
Freelance work is light this month, and I’m finding myself with more time to spend in the kitchen. My good pal JBF, however, is busier than ever.
As are most worker bees these days, she is doing the jobs of several, keeping late hours, and coming home exhausted. She manages to cook healthy dinners, but making lunch to take to work is a challenge.
She finds herself eating on the run, spending insane amounts of money for midtown Manhattan lunches, and making less than healthy choices that sabotage the good work she is doing in other areas.
Since my unceremonious kick to the curb (from the job where I was doing the work of several), I’ve been working from home. For the most part, I have time to cook healthy meals for myself every day. (These habits were already in place, so it wasn’t much of a shift.)
JBF’s struggle gave me an idea. What if I made lunch for both of us—kind of like a personal chef-lite?
The Proposal
- Share food costs, saving us both money (I’d make enough for both of us.)
- JBF: Kick me a little extra for my effort
- Leigh: Make 5 inexpensive, healthy lunches and snacks per week
- Leigh: Provide variety, but dishes can repeat (We both easily lock into dishes we love.)
- JBF: Report back with perences every couple of days
- Leigh: Call/email to arrange drop off/pick up
- Leigh: Submit an invoice with food and labor at the end of the week
- Everybody wins: I stay on a schedule and make a little extra scratch, and JBF gets healthy lunches and snacks for less than she was spending on take out.
Here’s how it’s been shaking out.
JBF’s Take-out Stats
(click on graph to enlarge)
Lunch Buddy Stats for Week One
(click on graph to enlarge)
That’s over 40%!
Week two demonstrated similar savings, though we operated on a four-day week. So far our little arrangement has been a success! I’m sticking to a meal plan, which is hard for me, as well as experimenting with new dishes. JBF is getting healthy, home-cooked meals delivered to her door (We live near one another; it’s no big.), and we’re both in the black.
We’ve even made time to eat together on occasion, and that’s the best part of the deal.
~~~
If this article had you dancing in the aisles, shimmy on over to
- Vegetarian Meal Planning for Meat Eaters
- The Brown Bag Brigade: Your One-Stop Shop for Work Lunch Ideas
- Meal Planning—An Experiment and A Conversion
Resveratrol and Vitamin D Team Together to Increase Metabolism and Prevent Obesity
Monday, January 27, 2014
Resveratrol has been on the nutritional radar of researchers because of its proven ability to mimic some of the life-extending characteristics provided by calorie restriction as seen in animals and humans alike. Scientists publishing in the journalMolecular Nutrition and Food Researchdraw a solid link between resveratrol, vitamin D and other phytonutrients as agents that may lend a helping hand in the life-threatening battle against overweight and obesity.
Researchers document the newly discovered effect of the nature-derived nutrient on lipid metabolism, and demonstrate that supplementation along with the sunshine vitamin and quercetin synergistically decreases the formation of new fat cells in the body. This finding is significant because it may provide a critical metabolic aid to children and adults that suffer the health-damaging effects of obesity every day. Further evidence exists to hail the trio in the genesis of osteoblasts in bone marrow that may offer a new therapy for osteoporosis that affects the mobility of millions of aging adults.
Resveratrol and Vitamin D Combine to Regulate Genes that Control Body Weight
Scientists studying metabolismin aging adults have found that stem cells differentiate in favor of adipocytes (fat cells) and to the exclusion of osteoblasts (cells necessary for the formation of new bone). This means that as we age, our body has evolved to store fat as an aid to our survival. As metabolism slows, we continue to eat the same number of calories that helps to fill the newly acquired adipocytes. While building and maintaining bone structure may sound like a good idea to us, it is not pre-programmed into our genetic matrix.
Development of new fat cells has evolved as a protective mechanism, although the vast majority of older adults really don`t need this genetic advantage. Researchers found that supplemented resveratrol, vitamin D and quercetin work together to regulate our genes and down regulate the production of fat cells while boosting the production of osteoblasts. Naturally it is important to practice caloric restriction as we age. Many aging adults will be able to utilize this phytonutrient trio to prevent excess weight gain and the debilitating effects of osteoporosis.
Natural Nutrients Help Weight Management Efforts Along with Healthy Diet
In addition to the well documented anti-cancer and longevity benefits previously ascribed to supplemented resveratrol, health-minded individuals will want to include resveratrol and other phytonutrients as an aid in the fight against abdominal fat accumulation. Researchers concluded“It should be noted that combining resveratrol with other phytochemicals may provide an extraordinary potential for preventing obesity and osteoporosis. These phytochemical synergies may make possible novel safe, potent and efficacious therapies.” Be sure to include resveratrol (25 to 50 mg per day) in your dietary arsenal to assist weight loss, boost metabolism and prevent bone loss.
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