The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Offers the Following Food Safety Tips for the Holiday.

• Wash hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds before and after handling any food. Wash food-contact surfaces (cutting boards, dishes, utensils, counter tops) with hot, soapy water after preparing each food item. Rinse fruits and vegetables thoroughly under cool running water and use a produce brush to remove surface dirt.
• Do not rinse raw meat and poultry before cooking in order to avoid spreading bacteria to areas around the sink and counter tops.
• When shopping in the store, storing food in the refrigerator at home, or preparing meals, keep foods that won’t be cooked separate from raw eggs, meat, poultry or seafood—and from kitchen utensils used for those products.
• Consider using one cutting board only for foods that will be cooked (such as raw meat, poultry, and seafood) and another one for those that will not (such as raw fruits and vegetables).
• Do not put cooked meat or other food that is ready to eat on an unwashed plate that has held any raw eggs, meat, poultry, seafood, or their juices.

• Use a food thermometer to make sure meat, poultry, and fish are cooked to a safe internal temperature. To check a turkey for safety, insert a food thermometer into the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast. The turkey is safe when the temperature reaches 165°F. If the turkey is stuffed, the temperature of the stuffing should be 165°F.

• Bring sauces, soups, and gravies to a rolling boil when reheating.
• Cook eggs until the yolk and white are firm. When making your own eggnog or other recipe calling for raw eggs, use pasteurized shell eggs, liquid or frozen pasteurized egg products, or powdered egg whites.
• Don’t eat uncooked cookie dough, which may contain raw eggs.
• Refrigerate leftovers and takeout foods—and any type of food that should be refrigerated, including pie—within two hours.
• Set your refrigerator at or below 40°F and the freezer at 0°F. Check both periodically with an appliance thermometer.
• Thaw frozen food safely in the refrigerator, under cold running water, or in the microwave—never at room temperature. Cook food thawed in cold water or in the microwave immediately.
• Allow enough time to properly thaw food. For example, a 20-pound turkey needs four to five days to thaw completely in the refrigerator.
• Don’t taste food that looks or smells questionable. When in doubt, throw it out.
• Leftovers should be used within three to four days, unless frozen.

 Keep Your Family Safe From Food Poisoning…Check your steps at FoodSafety.gov

The 100 calorie packs available in most major food markets can be a handy way to maintain snack portion control between meals for kids and adults.

The challenge… read the nutrition label and see what the salt, fat, and carbohydrate intake is in this low calorie snack. It may be 100 calories, but it is not necessarily a healthy snack.

The site, fruits & veggies, more matters, at www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/healthy-weight-management,  issued a 100 calorie list of foods that make for healthy and low calorie snacking. Here are their suggestions:

 100 Calorie Snacks

Tortilla Chips  – 3/4 c

Strawberries –  2 cups

Sliced Peppers –  2 cups

Pretzels –  1 ounce

Muffin  – 1 ounce (1 mini)

Lettuce, shredded -20 cups

Ice Cream (not premium) 3/8 cup

Fresh Blueberries  – 1 1/4 cup

Donut 3/8 –  whole

Cucumbers, sliced  – 7 cups

Chocolate Chip Cookies – 2-2inch cookies

Cherry Tomatoes –  4 cups

Cheese P-Nut Butter Snack Cracker  – 3

Cantaloupe Cubes – 2 cups

Canned Peaches (in juice) – 1 1/2 cup

Bagel –  1/4 of 5 oz. bagel

Baby Carrots – 2 cups

Apple Slices –  2 cups

American Cheese (thin slices) -2 slices

100% Vegetable Juice -2 cups (16 fluid ounces)

100% Orange Juice – 7 fluid oz.

Happy Snacking on 100 Calories!

The following article was written by Marcia Hall , was featured on Go Nannies.com http://www.gonannies.com/blog/2013/how-to-promote-healthy-eating-habits-in-young-children/

Whether it’s school starting early, having a hectic work schedule, trying to get the kids to afterschool activities or constantly being on the go on the weekends, it can be difficult to instill healthy eating habits in your children.  Because of this, drive-thru’s and convenience stores can end up being a mom’s best friend.  However, feeding your children meals and snacks from these places sends a strong, unhealthy and sometimes dangerous message.

Commit to three meals at home together a week.  The importance of eating meals together as a family cannot be underestimated.  Having dinner at the table together helps build bonds that are centered on the very essence of family.  Children naturally want to be with their family, and they will have positive memories of this experience. When you partner this family meal with healthy food choices, your child will be more likely to continue to make healthy choices because it subconsciously reminds her of the family connection.

Try new foods together as a family.  Young children are notoriously picky eaters.  They tend to find a food they enjoy and want nothing else.  They frequently refuse to eat foods that look, smell or feel different than what they are used to.  Even mac and cheese made from a different box can cause a child to run screaming. To help curtail this pickiness, it is important to experiment with new foods as a family.  Remember that it can take a child several months to get used to a new food.  If it is a particularly offensive food, start with just putting a portion on his plate every day for a week.  Next, you can encourage her to feel it with her fingers and even with her tongue when she is comfortable.  This does not mean she has to swallow it, she just needs to put it in her mouth every day for a week so she can get used to the texture.  Slowly she will begin to get more comfortable with it, and eventually you can ask her to swallow one bite.  Children with high sensitivities to new foods may take up to a month before they’re comfortable trying the food, but other children will learn to eat it after a few days.  The important thing is that you eat that new food right alongside your child.

All family members eat the same thing.  Avoid making special meals for your child if she does not like what she has.  You can offer some extra of what she likes after she has tried the disliked food, but don’t make her mac and cheese just because you know she does not like meatloaf.

Prepare ahead of time for the whole week.   It is pretty easy to pre-make a lot of foods, from sandwiches and scrambled eggs to cut up veggies and baggies of grapes.  If you have time on the weekend, assemble sandwiches that your child can take for lunch for the whole week and keep them in the fridge so you can just grab them in the morning and go.  You can portion out some cut up veggies and fruit in bags too so they’re easily accessible in the mornings.  You can even bake scrambled eggs ahead of time; this way your children can have a healthy breakfast, even on school days when time is limited.  Bake them in muffin tins for the whole week and then freeze them.  In the morning, microwave them for a minute or two, add a banana and you have a healthy school morning breakfast!

Invest in on-the-go containers and foods. There is nothing wrong with needing to eat on the go. The extra 10 minutes it might save you in the morning or after school can make a huge difference.  The problem is that “on-the-go” usually means fast food.  This can be avoided by investing in containers and healthy foods that travel well.

Do not neglect eating a healthy breakfast.  For many adults and children, breakfast is an afterthought.  Most of the time, people aren’t really that hungry when they have to wake up early in the morning.  However, neglecting this meal has effects that last throughout the day.  A child’s breakfast often consists of high carbohydrate cereals or sugary toaster meals with little to no protein.  This causes a spike of energy to get out the door, but also causes blood sugar to drop quickly 30 minutes into the school day.  Even young children do not have snack time until about an hour and half into class, so they are likely attempting to learn while their body and brain are hungry for more nourishment.  This will often cause your child to be sluggish, easily distracted and unable to listen well.  It might also cause her to reach for higher carb, sugary foods to satisfy her until lunch.  Then at lunch she is more likely to start with the carbohydrate in the meal, and the cycle goes on and one.  Do your children a favor and make a healthy protein filled breakfast a priority.  You will be amazed at the difference in her behavior and her focus, all from eating a healthy meal at the beginning of the day.

Children will always gravitate toward sweet and salty treats.  However, the more their parents model what healthy eating looks like, the more likely they will only crave those treats once in a while.

In a press release issued yesterday, HealthDay News reported that a leading consumer advocacy group, along with nutrition experts and health agencies from a number of U.S. cities, are calling for lowering the amount of sugars added to soft drinks.

The press release reads as follows:

Led by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the group  sent a petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asking the agency to determine safe levels of high-fructose corn syrup and other sugars in sodas and assorted soft drinks.

Currently, the average 20-ounce bottle of soda contains about 16 teaspoons of sugars made from high-fructose corn syrup, the CSPI said. The American Heart Association currently recommends that men consume no more than 9 teaspoons of added sugars daily, and women no more than 6 teaspoons’ worth.

Some 14 million Americans of all ages now get more than one-third of their calories from added sugars, the petition stated.

“The consumption of such high amounts of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup [in sodas] are causing serious health problems, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, among others,” said CSPI Executive Director Michael Jacobson.

There’s been a great deal of scientific evidence gathered over the past decade to support that link to health problems, he said, and “we’re contending that much of the evidence centers around beverages.” The CSPI believes most sugary sodas could be safely replaced by those made with low-calorie sweeteners.

The group said its petition has the support of public health departments in Baltimore; Boston; Los Angeles; Philadelphia; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and other cities, as well as leading academics at Harvard and Yale universities and other institutions around the country.

According to Jacobson, the FDA is legally bound to examine the health effects of the amount of sugars being consumed and take corrective action.

The center is first asking the FDA to determine the safe level of sugar in drinks. Also, it wants the FDA to issue targets for the sugar content of other sugary foods and urge industry to voluntarily reduce sugar levels in those foods, Jacobson said.

“The third thing is to educate consumers to choose healthier foods and beverages,” he said.

The FDA classifies high-fructose corn syrup, sucrose and other sugars as “generally recognized as safe,” Jacobson said.

“What we’re asking the FDA to do is to modify those regulations and set some limits in beverages,” he said.

In the 1980s, the FDA twice committed to looking at limiting the level of sugars in foods if new scientific evidence found sugar levels were harmful to the public, or if sugar consumption rose, Jacobson said.

“We are reminding the FDA of that and saying you have an obligation to revisit this and protect the public’s health,” he said.

It will take years before any action is taken, but that gives industry time to adjust to using less sugar in drinks, Jacobson said.

Jacobson said economic issues shouldn’t be part of the FDA’s consideration. “There are winners and losers for any kind of a regulation. The sugar industry and the corn industry [which supplies ingredients for high-fructose corn syrup] would be losers, but the soft drink industry might be winners,” he said.

The makers of no-calorie sweeteners “would probably make out like bandits,” Jacobson said.

The CSPI hopes new sweeteners — such as rebiana, made from the stevia plant — will replace high-calorie sugar, making drinks healthier.

Although some people are concerned that these sweeteners may be harmful, Jacobson said they are still a better option than sugar.

“The FDA considers all these sweeteners perfectly safe,” Jacobson said. “We think the certain harm that’s coming from the 16 teaspoons of sugar in a 20-ounce bottle of soda greatly outweighs the speculative risk from artificial sweeteners,” he added.

“We have an obesity epidemic on our hands, with two-thirds of Americans obese or overweight, and that should take precedence over smaller concerns,” Jacobson said.

One industry representative took issue with the new petition.

“As we continue to debate the root causes of our nation’s obesity issue, we need to rely on science and facts, not look for quick fixes that draw focus away from developing real solutions to a complex problem,” said J. Patrick Mohan, the interim president of the Corn Refiners Association, which represents high-fructose corn syrup manufacturers.

And the American Beverage Association, which represents soft drink makers, said its industry is already making changes.

“Today about 45 percent of all non-alcoholic beverages purchased have zero calories and the overall average number of calories per beverage serving is down 23 percent since 1998,” the ABA said in a statement issued Wednesday. And according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Americans are consuming 37 percent fewer calories from sugars in soft drinks and other sweetened beverages than in 2000,” the group added.

“Everyone has a role to play in reducing obesity levels — a fact completely ignored in this petition,” the ABA said. “This is why the beverage industry has worked to increase options and information for consumers.”

Dr. David Katz, director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, said he joined the CSPI effort and is “proud to have signed the petition.”

“The evidence that an excess of added dietary sugars, in any of its many guises, is a major contributor to the prevailing public health ills of our time is now essentially incontrovertible,” he said. “It stands to reason that lowering those levels will help in efforts to reduce the levels of obesity, diabetes and other chronic disease.”

Soda and other sugary drinks are the single biggest source of calories in the U.S. diet, with Americans, on average, consuming between 18 and 23 teaspoons — about 300 to 400 calories — of added sugars each day, according to the petition.

Many teens and young adults consume even more sugar than the average. Some get at least 25 percent of their calories from added sugars, according to the 2007-2008 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The CSPI petition notes that cities around the country have taken note of the problem and have acted. In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is capping restaurant soda serving sizes at 16 ounces — a move that has met with considerable resistance from some who believe it tramples individuals’ rights.

Note: A judge blocked the enforcing of the NYC law, that was to go into effect earlier this week, just a day before it was to become law.

The Partnership for Food Safety Education sends the following message about a favorite Christmas tradition…cookie making.

Resist Temptation: Don’t Eat Raw Cookie Dough!

As gooey and delicious as it might look, eating raw cookie dough could make you very sick. When handling raw cookie dough, keep these safety tips in mind:

• Do not eat raw cookie dough or any other raw batter that contains raw eggs.
• Follow directions on packaged dough for cooking temperatures and times.
• Wash hands, work surfaces, and utensils thoroughly after contact with raw dough and batter products.
• Always keep raw foods separate from other foods to prevent cross contamination.
• Chill batter and dough if you are not using it right away.