Sorry I have been gone!

Hey everyone!

I am sorry that I have not been able to update the site in a while!

I am leaving on tour with a show for six months and won't be able to continue my Inwood adventures until I return in late May!

But keep exploring Inwood and don't forget to add Inwood Ink on myspace!!!

-Inwoodink

Nutrition On A Budget

Americans are fat. -We already know this. But the problem is compounded in times of economic depression. When there isn't a lot of money, making healthy meal choices is difficult. I speak from experience.We end up eating cheap fast food because we don't have a lot of time to spend at home cooking because we are working all the time. It is a vicious cycle that in the end leads us back to fast food and leaves us obese or suffering from debilitating diet related diseases such as diabetes.

And even if we do cook at home, the food we buy is often bought in bulk and is high in starch and our diets still end up consisting of over processed, sugary, fat-filled foods.

What can we do about it? We have to eat right? But we also have to stay within our budgets.

What we have to do is be smarter about the purchases we make day to day. The key to a healthy diet is educating ourselves on what foods are healthy to eat.

How can we find out what foods are going to be cheap enough to buy on a weekly or daily basis and where can we find them?

From helpguide.org :

What are the benefits of a healthy diet?

A healthy diet is one of the most important ways you can maintain an active lifestyle and protect against health problems. Healthy eating increases energy, improves the way your body functions, strengthens your immune system and thwarts weight gain.

A healthy diet helps you:
-Meet your nutritional needs. A varied, balanced diet provides the nutrients you need to avoid nutritional deficiencies. Non-nutrients, such as fiber, are also necessary to a healthy diet.

-Prevent and treat certain diseases. Healthful eating can prevent the risk of developing certain diseases such as cancer and heart disease. It is also helpful in treating diabetes and high blood pressure. Following a special diet can reduce symptoms, and may help you better manage an illness or condition.

-Enjoy life. Food is the mainstay of many social and cultural events. Not only does it provide nutrition, it helps facilitate connections between people. Cooking fresh, healthy meals can also be an enjoyable way to spend time, either on your own or with others.

-Feel energetic and manage your weight. A healthy diet can help you feel better, provide you with more energy, and help you fight stress.

What are some general guidelines for healthy eating?
Don't skip meals. Plan your daily meals and snacks. For healthy eating, if your weight is normal, enjoy three meals and two additional snacks if you're hungry in between mealtimes.

-Learn simple ways to prepare food. Healthy eating doesn't have to mean complicated eating. Keep meal preparation easy, eat more raw foods such as salads and vegetable juices, and focus on the pleasure of eating healthy food rather than the calories.

-Avoid eating more sugar. If you feel tired in the afternoon, reach for fruits, veggies or a high protein snack rather than sweets, which actually rob your body of energy.
Listen to your body. Stop eating when you feel full. This will help you remain alert, relaxed and feeling your best.

All these tips don't include ANY high priced 'must haves'. It is doable. But you MUST educate yourselves in order to maintain the health of yourself and your family.

It is great to try and eat foods that are not pumped full of steroids or antibiotics. The C-town on Broadway has a lot of organic food options. And while these are more expensive they are better for you in the long run. But they also have lots of fresh veggies and fruits! Not to mention the farmers market up here in Inwood in full of healthy affordable foods!

But mostly- I want to encourage my community to make better choices about what they eat and how much they eat. Heart disease is something that is preventable in most cases. But you have to start as soon as possible in order to thwart disease.

So spend your hard earned dollars on the foods that will give you more energy and help keep your body healthy. -It will save you money on medical bills in the long run.

Food Group GUIDE
My Pyramid (USDA)
Healthy Eating Pyramid (Harvard Health)

(Personalized guidelines: recommendations below for 40-year-old moderately active female)
(General guidelines: for all ages, genders and activity levels)
Whole Grains: whole wheat, brown rice, oatmeal, whole grain barley, millet, and popcorn
6 oz grains: 3 oz should be whole grains
Eat at most meals

Refined Grains: white rice and bread, potatoes and pasta
Eat sparingly or avoid

Vegetables
2.5 cups
Eat in abundance

Fruits
2 cups
2-3 times a day

Milk and other dairy
3 cups of low or fat-free milk or equivalent in yogurt or low-fat cheese
Dairy or calcium supplement (1-2 times a day)

Red meats and butter
5.5 oz – no distinction between type
Eat sparingly or avoid

Fish, poultry, eggs
0- 2 times a day

Dry beans and peas, nuts and seeds
1-3 times a day

Oils: canola, soy, corn, sunflower, peanut, and other vegetable oils
Aim for 6 tsp of oils. Fats should be polyunsaturated (PUFA) or monounsaturated (MUFA) fats. Avoid trans fats.

Healthy unsaturated fats are good. Avoid saturated and trans fats.

Discretionary calories: fats, sweets, and alcohol
Limit extras to 265 calories. Choose food and beverages low in added sugars.
Avoid sweets, saturated and trans fats.

Alcohol
Health benefits not discussed
Alcohol in moderation has health benefits (1 drink for women, 1-2 for men).
Supplemental vitamins

Not discussed
Multiple vitamin recommended

Inwood; A lack of self respect

You see it everywhere. At it's best; overflowing from trashcans. At it's worst; simply thrown in the street with out a second thought. Litter. It is everywhere. Garbage is filling our streets and it isn't an accident. No- it is on purpose. Everyday Inwood residents with out any moral conflict, throw their garbage in the street.

The trash ranges from take out boxes, to beer bottles. Fast food soda cups, to half eaten fast food. It is disgusting and wreaks of a lack of self respect. Not to mention respect for the neighborhood, respect for your neighbors and respect for yourself.

It has become all too easy in a society that exists on an island like Manhattan, to forget about the impact our lifestyle has on the rest of the world. In a world where people go starving everyday and work endlessly to provide their families with the very basic necessities to simply keep living- New Yorkers and Inwood residents don't even have enough respect for their community to pitch in and throw away their trash properly-- not to mention even trying to recycle.

I think that it is time that we wake up as a community and as citizens in a country where we are free to choose how we live our lives- to make GOOD choices.

This "let someone else do it" attitude is awful. It is sickening and what is worse is the influence it has on young people. This problem will not solve itself. In fact it shouldn't even exist.

In Germany- for instance- the garbage problem got so bad, that they have now found a way to recycle almost everything on a daily basis. The also passed an ordinace to get rid of all redundant packaging. I.E.; Toothpaste doesn't need to come in a box when it is already in a tube. Their trash mostly consists of food waste- which is biodegradable. But it took their country an economic collapse to change their habits. What is it going to take us? Staten island is going to fill up sooner or later...

Already our country is facing some questions that will tell us whether or not we will continue to exist as a free nation- that is able to make its own choices. Currently we are demonstrating to our current government that we enjoy being sloths and pawns, and that we will gladly submit to their every whim if only they will baby us and run themselves and our lives for us. Are we really so lazy that we would rather live in squalor and filth than take charge of our communities and try to make our neighborhoods a better place to live for us and our children? We are telling our government with our apathy that we want our ability to choose how we live taken away from us.

In return our government tells us that it wants to keep us uneducated by cutting funding to schools- Our reply? Sure- as long as my taxes stay low.

In another answer to our apathy- we will clean up after your mess by hiring people with your tax dollars to do it.

Do you see where the problem is? This is only one example of the consequences of our apathy. It is in our own sick inability to throw away our trash properly that we have raised taxes on ourselves -which the city sees as necessary to keep us from burying ourselves in garbage. -Tax money which could be used for better things. I encourage you to take pride in your community! Love your neighborhood enough to walk the extra ten feet to that garbage container on the corner!

Quit twisting the screw on this community- throw away your trash, or better yet, RECYCLE! - it is disgusting and a detriment to the health, education and overall well being of your neighbors and children when you chuck your garbage in the street.

Have some self respect.