Major Recycling Idea & Nutrition Program

Major Recycling Idea & Nutrition Program plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The Obama Administration has charged the departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services with finding efficient means to connecting children and families with nutrition and health services. HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius says they are looking for every opportunity.

SEBELIUS: We want states and local governments, faith based partners, great centers like this one, health centers, any partnership opportunity across the country to work with us to find and enroll eligible children.

The city of Portland estimates it could reduce about 30 percent of what's trucked to area landfills by having people recycle table scraps at the curb. The scraps are considered a missed opportunity because they can be converted into compost. That's something farms can use. Mayor Sam Adams said he wants to try to the plan in just a few neighborhoods at first and then they will "play around" with twice-a-month garbage pick-ups to be able to afford the cost of the weekly food scrap experiment. Seattle is already doing it successfully and Adams is convinced Portland will embrace the idea.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

If you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it. That’s the basis behind the Paleo or Caveman Diet, the newest diet on the block that may actually be the oldest. And it probably isn’t so much a “diet” as a way of life. We’ve all had the experience of looking at the ingredients on food labels at the store and finding only a few listed that we actually recognize and know what they are, let alone are able to pronounce without sounding like a toddler. The Paleo Diet focuses on eating fresh, but not just fresh that pertains only to plants, it includes fresh meat and fish as well as fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts. With no pun intended, the Paleo Diet is a refreshing change to the “all vegetarian or nothing” mantra that we have been hearing from the “insistent fringe” for so long.  But it too has it’s own “fly in the ointment” in as far as the contemporary Paleolithic Diet  excludes grains, legumes and dairy products. Bottom line, there is no “magic” diet. Eating healthy begins with food choices based on the nutritional recommended daily requirement from all five basic food groups, the ultimate key to that long  and healthy lifestyle we all desire.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.