| New Report Rates Healthy and Unhealthy School Fundraisers
WASHINGTON - February 14 - Schools often rely on fundraisers to bridge budget gaps and help pay for athletic equipment, field trips, and supplies. But even though rates of childhood obesity have tripled in recent years, those fundraisers all too often rely on the sale of calorie-dense, low-nutrient junk food, according to a new report from the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). Fortunately, says the group, schools have a wide range of non-food and healthy-food fundraising options to choose from, and experience shows that these options can raise as much or even more money than junk-food sales. "Health-conscious parents have a hard enough time without schools pressuring their children to buy even more junk food to help pay for their own education," said CSPI nutrition policy director Margo G.
Recipes: Low-fat chocolate layer cake
For sweeties riding the low-fat train, create a low-fat layer cake made with egg whites, fat-free sour cream and cocoa powder (the least-fatty fraction of the cacao bean) and frosted with Seven Minute Frosting (which is fat-free until we add a little more cocoa powder). Adapted slightly from "1,001 Low-Fat Desserts," by Sue Spitler. • 1 c. hot water•2/3c. unsweetened cocoa powder• 13/4c. sugar• 5 tbsp. butter, fully softened• 2 tsp. vanilla• 3 egg whites•1/2c. fat-free sour cream• 13/4c. cake flour• 1 tsp. baking powder•1/2tsp. baking soda•1/2tsp. saltSeven-Minute Frosting:• 2 egg whites• 11/2c. sugar• 5 tbsp. cold water•1/4tsp. cream of tartar • 11/2tsp. light corn syrup• 1 tsp. vanilla•1/3c. unsweetened cocoa powderDirectionsPreheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Feeders' appetites go on a diet to minimize material wastage
As resin and additives prices increase, processors are looking hard at ways to cut costs, improve efficiencies, and literally make every pellet count. rime among the avenues considered for modernization is in the area of feeders that provide controlled flow of pellets to the throat of the processing machinery. Traditionally, feeders have been volumetric units that were substantially less expensive than more accurate gravimetric feeders, says John G. Fleischer, VP sales/marketing at Universal Dynamics (Una-Dyn, Woodbridge, VA). However, many processors are able to be highly successful with volumetric feeders so there is still a place in the market for them, Fleischer says. Yet he says his company is seeing a trend toward gravimetric feeders, such as his companys augerless OS type, which are self-calibrating and require less maintenance than volumetric feeders.
Eric Harr: How to keep from falling off the fitness wagon
Falling off the fitness wagon can happen so easily, often without realizing it. We just sort of slide off imperceptibly over time until we're back to where we were 43 days into 2006. Sometimes life gets in the way. Mostly though, our thoughts are the secret saboteurs of our diet and exercise program. It's one of the fundamental tenets of human physiology: How well you eat and exercise directly impacts how good you look, feel and think. Most of us accept that truth, yet still find ourselves struggling to make the best diet and workout choices. Sugar cravings, lack of time and exercise ennui are well-known barriers to better fitness, but your biggest nemesis may be your own mind. "When you make a poor diet or exercise choice, it's much more mental than physical," says Jim Taylor, a sports psychologist with a consulting practice in San Francisco.
Weight-loss supplement company TrimSpa mourns death of Smith
WHIPPANY, N.J. -- Weight-loss supplement company TrimSpa has devoted its Web site to it's late spokeswoman, Anna Nicole Smith, with photos and a message from TrimSpa CEO and founder Alex Goen. The company had no immediate comment on the death of its celebrity spokeswoman. Smith, 39, was found dead in a Miami hotel room Thursday. "Anna Nicole Smith's grief stricken and tumultuous personal life came to an end," said the message on the Web site, dated Thursday. "Anna came to our company as a customer, but she departs it as a friend. While life for Anna Nicole was not easy these past few months, she held dear her husband, Howard K. Stern, her daughter, Dannielynn Hope, her most cherished friends, beloved dogs, and finally, her work with TrimSpa." "... We pray that she is granted the peace that eluded her more recent days on earth," the message said.
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