A great soup for the weekend

Polish Sausage and Cabbage Soup Crock Pot "Kapusta"

2 cups potatoes, cubed and peeled
4 cups cabbage, shredded it fine
1 carrot, shredded it fine
1 large onion, chopped
2 teaspoons caraway seeds, crushed (optional)
1-1/4 lb Polish sausage, cooked, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch slices
4 cups fat free chicken broth or you can just use water
black pepper and salt to taste
Directions:Place potatoes, cabbage, carrot, onion, caraway seeds, sausage, pepper and salt in crock pot. Pour broth over all.Cover, cook on low for 10 - 12 hours or high for 5 - 6 hours.
www.food.com

Food is not the only source of weight gain

US obesity rates have risen most in older adults 

Published January 28, 2015 

Obesity rates have increased in most age groups in the United States in recent years, but the biggest rise has been in older adults, according to a new poll. Over the past five years, the obesity rate among people ages 65 and older has increased by 4 percentage points - from 23.4 percent in 2008 to 27.4 percent in 2014, according to the poll, from Gallup and Healthways. 

During that same time period, obesity rates among people ages 45 to 64 increased by 3.5 percentage points (from 29.5 percent to 33 percent), and obesity rates among people ages 30 to 44 increased by 2.3 percentage points (from 27.0 percent to 29.3 percent). Young adults ages 18 to 29 had the smallest increase, at just 0.3 percentage points (from 17.4 percent to 17.7 percent). Overall, 27.7 percent of American adults were obese in 2014, compared to 25.5 percent in 2008, the poll found. 

The results are based on interviews with more than 167,000 U.S. adults in 2014. The participants were asked to state their height and weight, which the researchers used to calculate the participants' body mass index (BMI) , a measure of body fatness. People are considered obese if their BMI is 30 or higher. The increase in obesity rates across nearly all demographic groups underscores the need for health officials, employers and individuals to take actions to decrease these rates, the researchers said. However, efforts to reduce obesity may need to focus on more than just diet and exercise - the poll also found that being obese was linked with lower overall well-being . 

People who were obese scored, on average, between 50.9 and 57.5 out of 100 on a survey of well-being, compared with 64.5 points for normal-weight people. The well-being score was based on people's answers to questions about their feelings toward their community, work and social lives, and their physical health. "To date, most efforts to curb obesity focus on driving weight loss through diet and exercise, without addressing other aspects of well-being that may contribute to obesity," Janna Lacatell, director of lifestyle solutions at Healthways. "To make a truly measurable impact on reducing obesity rates, interventions should also address other factors known to influence weight management, such as financial and social well-being.

The best article from last week!

Boy, 13, builds Braille printer with Legos, starts company 

Published January 21, 2015 Associated Press 

In Silicon Valley, it's never too early to become an entrepreneur. Just ask 13-year-old Shubham Banerjee. The California eighth-grader has launched a company to develop low-cost machines to print Braille, the tactile writing system for the visually impaired. Tech giant Intel Corp. recently invested in his startup, Braigo Labs. 

Shubham built a Braille printer with a Lego robotics kit as a school science fair project last year after he asked his parents a simple question: How do blind people read? "Google it," they told him. Shubham then did some online research and was shocked to learn that Braille printers, also called embossers, cost at least $2,000 - too expensive for most blind readers, especially in developing countries. "I just thought that price should not be there. I know that there is a simpler way to do this," said Shubham, who demonstrated how his printer works at the kitchen table where he spent many late nights building it with a Lego Mindstorms EV3 kit. 

Shubham wants to develop a desktop Braille printer that costs around $350 and weighs just a few pounds, compared with current models that can weigh more than 20 pounds. The machine could be used to print Braille reading materials on paper, using raised dots instead of ink, from a personal computer or electronic device. "My end goal would probably be having most of the blind people ... using my Braille printer," said Shubham, who lives in the Silicon Valley suburb of Santa Clara, just minutes away from Intel headquarters. After the "Braigo" - a name that combines Braille and Lego - won numerous awards and enthusiastic support from the blind community, Banerjee started Braigo Labs last summer with an initial $35,000 investment from his dad. "We as parents started to get involved more, thinking that he's on to something and this innovation process has to continue," said his father, Niloy Banerjee, an engineer who works for Intel. Shubham used the money to build a more sophisticated version of his Lego-based printer using an off-the-shelf desktop printer and a newly released Intel computer chip.

 The new model, Braigo 2.0, can translate electronic text into Braille before printing. Intel executives were so impressed with Shubham's printer that in November they invested an undisclosed sum in his startup. Intel officials believe he's the youngest entrepreneur to receive venture capital, money invested in exchange for a financial stake in the company. "He's solving a real problem, and he wants to go off and disrupt an existing industry. And that's really what it's all about," said Edward Ross, director of Inventor Platforms at Intel.

 Braigo Labs is using the money to hire professional engineers and advisers to help design and build Braille printers based on Shubham's ideas. The company aims to have a prototype ready for blind organizations to test this summer and have a Braigo printer on the market later this year, Niloy Banerjee said. "This Braille printer is a great way for people around the world who really don't have many resources at all to learn Braille and to use it practically," said Henry Wedler, who is blind and working on a doctorate in chemistry at the University of California, Davis. Wedler has become an adviser to Braigo Labs. 

An affordable printer would allow the visually impaired readers to print out letters, household labels, shopping lists and short reading materials on paper in Braille, said Lisamaria Martinez, community services director at the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind, a nonprofit center that serves the visually impaired and prints Braille materials for public agencies. "I love the fact that a young person is thinking about a community that is often not thought about," said Martinez, who is visually impaired.

 Shubham is too young to be CEO of his own company, so his mother has taken the job, though she admits she wasn't too supportive when he started the project. "I'm really proud of Shubham. What he has thought, I think most adults should have thought about it," Malini Banerjee said. "And coming out of my 13-year-old, I do feel very proud.

Pineapple Cream Cheese Cobbler

Pineapple Cream Cheese Cobbler

Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup of all Purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cans (20 oz cans) Pineapple chunks (drained)
8 oz cream cheese, cut into small pieces.

Directions:
Preheat oven 350 degrees.
melt butter and pour into 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish.
in a small bowl mix together the egg,milk,flour,sugar,baking powder, and salt. Pour directly over the butter in the baking dish, but do not stir.
Add the Pineapple chunks,arranging in a single layer as much as possible. Drop cream cheese pieces over pineapple chunks. Place in preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes or until top is golden brown and edges are bubbling. ( crust rises up and around the fruit, but fruit will still pop a little out of top)
~Enjoy!!~

Great veggie info

Easy guide to veggie portions 

By Tanya Zuckerbrot 

Published January 21, 2015 

An adult eating 2,000 calories a day should aim to eat about 2½ 'cup's of vegetables daily. How much is a serving of vegetables?

 Here's a quick guide to portions per serving: 

Salad greens 

A 1-'cup' serving of mesclun greens contains just 10 calories, and the same size serving of shredded romaine lettuce contains 8 calories. Mesclun greens are a better source of vitamin C (providing 5 percent of your daily value) while romaine lettuce is a better source of vitamin A (providing 81 percent of your daily value). 

Carrots 

A single serving of carrots is 1 'cup' or 12 baby carrots (about 50 calories), providing 408 percent of the daily value for vitamin A. Carrots also contain minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper and manganese that support healthy bones, teeth and muscle and promote energy metabolism, fluid balance and red blood cell formation. 

Green beans 

A 1-'cup' serving of cooked green beans has 44 calories and provides 17 percent of the daily value of vitamin A, 20 percent of the daily value of vitamin C, and 10 percent respectively of the daily value of folate and potassium. These nutrients are especially beneficial in protecting against cancers of the lung, gastrointestinal tract, breast, oral cavity, pancreas, uterine cervix, and ovary. 

Bell peppers 

One serving of bell peppers is 1 'cup' chopped, raw or ½ 'cup' cooked (about 30 calories). A 'cup' of chopped peppers in any color provides more than 100 percent of the daily value of the antioxidant vitamin C, which supports healthy tissue and immunity. Peppers also provide folate, which is especially important for pregnant women because it helps prevent certain types of birth defects, and vitamin K, which is essential to the clotting function of blood. 

Potatoes 

A serving of white or sweet potatoes is ½ medium potato or ½ 'cup' of mashed and has about 80 calories and 15 grams of carbs. Both sweet and white potatoes provide vitamin C, niacin, folate, thiamin and vitamin B-6. The B vitamins niacin, thiamin, folate and B-6 help the body metabolize energy and keep your skin, blood cells, brain and nervous system healthy. Sweet potatoes provide about 500 percent of the daily value of vitamin A whereas white potatoes have none. Sweet and white potatoes are comparable in the minerals iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, copper and manganese, which are more highly concentrated in the potato's skin than its flesh. The skin is also a great source of fiber. 

Tomatoes 

A 1 'cup' serving of chopped, sliced, raw, canned or cooked tomato has about 32 calories or 20 cherry tomatoes, which have about 61 calories. One 'cup' of grape tomatoes provides up to 33 percent of the daily requirement vitamin C and a medium tomato provides at least one-third of the daily value of vitamin A. Tomatoes and tomato products offer good sources of potassium with a half-'cup' serving of tomato sauce providing about 10 percent of an adult's daily requirement. Tomatoes are rich in vitamin K and manganese and a medium tomato offers up to 10 percent of an adult's daily requirements for these nutrients. 

Broccoli

 A serving of broccoli (½ 'cup' cooked, 1 'cup' raw or 10 florets) has 30 calories, 3 grams protein and 5.2 grams carbohydrates. Both the stems and florets are about the same nutritionally, providing about 150 percent of your daily value for vitamin C and about 10 percent of your daily dietary fiber needs. Broccoli florets contain significantly more vitamin A than the stalks do, however (florets provide 60 percent of the vitamin A you need each day versus broccoli stems that deliver only 8 percent of the daily value). 

For delicious high fiber meal plans, recipes and tips on healthy eating, drinking and losing weight, check out my latest book, The Miracle Carb Diet: Make Calories and Fat Disappear - with Fiber!

Super easy meatloaf...use a muffin tin

Stuffing meatloaf 

1 package Stove Top Stuffing mix, dry
1 c. warm water
1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 package onion soup mix

Preheat oven 350°. Coat inside of bundt pan with cooking spray.
Place warm water, onion soup mix and dry stuffing mix in a bowl. Mix well. Let sit for 5 minutes to allow bread time to absorb water.
Add eggs and ground beef. Mix well. Best to get it blended by using your hands and incorporating it all together.
Place evenly into bundt pan. You can also put into muffin tins to make individual loafs.
Bake 1 hour or until no longer pink inside.
Remove and allow to rest 5 minutes before cutting into.

Saturday event update

Good evening all,
What a great turn out today! We had a great time, overcame and survived all snafus but I have to admit--I came home and collapsed! Ms. Helen did her usual outstanding job. Everyone left full, happy and carrying a goodie bag. Thanks to Ms. Betty, Izzy, Mr. Earl and Carl Foreman for the great help.

Barbara and I couldn't have done it without you.
Until tomorrow,
Dr. Janet