As part of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s signature “Let’s Move” initiative to end childhood obesity in America, on Tuesday, July 9, 2013 the second annual White House “Kids’ State Dinner” as a formal luncheon was scheduled to celebrate the winners of the 2013 Healthy Lunchtime Challenge.

(2017 UPDATE NOTICE: Unfortunately, the Let’s Move website is no longer active since Michelle Obama is no longer the current First Lady.

You may find that previous availability of recipes and information from the Let’s Move program may have been scrubbed from other government related websites as well.)

Selected healthy focus recipes were featured at the luncheon. (Image of Kids’ State Dinner graphic property of Let’s Move and shown for identification purposes only).

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Many people are considering the merits of a Whole Food focus basis for planning their upcoming Thanksgiving meal.

Of course, the most important aspect of Thanksgiving is truly the opportunity give thanks for the blessings in our lives and to share that sentiment while being able to spend time with family and friends, so any food choices should enhance that overall experience.

Memories of Thanksgivings past are connected to our emotional perceptions of those times, so there are sounds, sights, smells/aromas, tastes, textures that all contributed to the sensory perceptions we have locked in our memory banks of those special times. When we again hear similar sounds, perceive similar smells, etc., it brings back a rush of emotion that makes us feel connected to that past and to hopefully many cherished memories that we can enjoy re-experiencing in the present.

Adults often want to recreate and evoke those sensory memories for themselves, while at the same time helping younger members to create similar sorts of hopefully happy memories for children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, cousins, etc.

For many families, Thanksgiving conjures up memories of home and home is a safe haven most of us yearn for at holiday time.

To help insure those memories are as happy as they can be this year, it is important to take into account any particular dietary needs of family and/or other guests.

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Do you remember hearing or reading about the First Ever White House Kids State Dinner (actually a luncheon) served on August 20, 2012?

A blog post of that date focused on the event since we feel the entire Let’s Move campaign being supported by First Lady, Michelle Obama, is such a great idea!

The entire Healthy Lunchtime Challenge culminating in that White House Kids State Dinner event was a collaborative effort involving a number of partners.

It involved a wide range of staff, including from the Let’s Move campaign, the White House, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Education, and Epicurious Magazine.

(Image of organic curly kale courtesy of Ayla87 over at rgbstock.com)

The “appetizer” for the actual White House luncheon event was a super simple Kale Chips recipe originally submitted by one of the 54 winning junior chefs, Samuel Wohabe, age 9, from the state of New York.

Kale Chips could prove to be a great anytime snack, so since this is back-to-school time and cooler weather is either in your area or might be coming to it, we thought this would be a great time to mention about various kale chip recipes that can be found all over the world wide web.

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In the Northeast, August is the month where truly more localized produce variety increases and all sorts of marketplaces will start to feature a wider range of locally sourced product.

We’d like to share some tips below to help make shopping for August Abundance that much more enjoyable for you. We’ll include ideas for before you head out shopping, once you arrive at the market place destination and while you are there, and then after you get back home again.

In PA the weather has often been more temperate in the growing regions and they’ve had enough rain fall to enable farmers to send their harvest to stores that buy directly from them, including ones in NY.

(Photo of corn stalks growing in a farmer’s field courtesy of our webmaster in PA).

As the month progresses, here in the Northeast, we expect to see sweet corn (including the classic “butter and sugar” variety), along with some early apples showing up at farm stands, farmers markets, and in grocery stores that buy “locally” as well. (Usually some produce will come in from both NJ and PA as well as NY).

Do you remember what other fruits and vegetables are typically seasonally available in the Northeast right now?

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We’ve discussed the importance of eating food choices from the “rainbow of color” options out there, but some readers wrote in asking for even more specifics than we have previously listed in various blog posts.

Although within the US we have moved from using a model of a food guide pyramid to using a model of a plate to encourage healthful choices in dining, there are still some useful pyramid options out there.

(Fresh Produce on Display in Taormina, Sicily, Italy, graphic courtesy of Betty H)

The “Mediterranean Diet” (general Mediterranean style dietary intake as part of a total lifestyle) visualized as a food guide pyramid is one example; and an anti-inflammatory pyramid popularized by Dr. Andrew Weil is another example.

For infotainment purposes only, we’ll share some anti-inflammatory food item options in the following listing, which is by no means all-inclusive, but should give you the gist of the breadth and depth of wonderful food source options that have been reported to have some anti-inflammatory properties. A dietetic colleague, John S. Pasztor, MPH, RD, CDE, over at the The Regional Diabetes and Endocrine Center, Cape Fear Valley Health System, gladly shares another version of a list from 2009 with his patients and with members of a dietetic practice group one of us belongs to.

We have used for inspiration bits and pieces of various skeleton listings out there and then come up with our own fleshed out infotainment version, subject to change/further updating, which follows. Research is ongoing and some items will show up on one list, but not another, in various reviews of research, so realize the list* is always subject to modification/updating as newer research results are reported and older results further clarified.

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It’s summertime around the USA.

That means a plethora of fresh herbs, vegetables and also some fresh fruits for consumers to enjoy can be found in various Farmer Markets, State & local Fairs, road side stands, community & backyard & sideyard vegetable gardens, grocery stores, convenience stores including bodegas, as well as push carts, food trucks, etc.

In certain instances even area food banks and food pantries are lucky enough to receive some of nature’s abundance to be shared with others.

How can you find out what produce options will be available in your locale during any given month?

(Image source: University of MN Extension Farm to School Toolkit, Vermont Guide to Using Local Food, pg 85 of 116)

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Since this blog post is Part 2 of 4 in a series focusing on how food and nutrition consumption can potentially influence prostate cancer prevention, incidence & progression, treatment, and survivorship, let’s review how the intake of a rainbow of fruits and vegetables mentioned in part 1 of 4 can actually be part of the silver lining in the clouds surrounding this type of cancer diagnosis.

(Double rainbow photo courtesy of Stuart Bran, taken in Rousseau, Dominica)

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