One of the components of my fitness regime is trying to eat healthy - and baking bread is part of that program.  I started several years ago after my daughter took a class at King Arthur Flour and was enthused and proselytizing others.  I got hooked and when our kids gave me a big Kitchen Aid mixer, I really started getting serious.  Now I bake about once a week.

Today is bread making day -- a rather long process. Set aside about 4-5 hours to make this recipe. However, I can write,  pack book orders, go for a run, and do other activities as the bread rises, in this case three times.  I’ve settled into an oatmeal-honey bread out of one of the King Arthur bread books (they’re all great). 

It’s a good thing to weigh out the ingredients.  Start with 5.3 oz of rolled oats -- the old-fashioned kind and add 1 lb, 8 oz of lukewarm water.  Put in about 2.4 oz of honey and 1.5 teaspoons of yeast and a few tablespoons of dried milk.   Let it set for about 20 minutes so the oatmeal can soften.

The recipe then calls for 1 lb, 8 oz of high-gluten flour (I use King Arthur white) and 8 oz of whole wheat flour.  I’ll often jack up the whole wheat component, dropping back the amount of white flour, realizing my loaves will be a little more dense.  Fiddle with it, it’s not rocket science.  Add 2.4 oz of vegetable oil and 3 1/2 teaspoons of salt.  Mix for about 3 minutes on low, then about 3 on high.  Keep the dough wet and loose. 

The mixer is doing its thing as I write.  Time to check the consistency, making sure it’s not too dry, and then knead it a bit on the counter and let it start its first rise. 

These warm humid days are perfect -- in the Vermont winters it’s hard to find a place warm enough to get a good rise going.  Cover the dough with plastic and set it aside, set the timer, and let it rise for about 60 minutes.

After about an hour, fold the dough and put it back in the bowl and let it rise another hour.  Usually the second rise is a little more pronounced than the first.

Working on packing items for Thursday’s trip. First rise doesn’t look to great -- folded the dough and we’ll see what happens on the second.  So-so.

Turn out the dough and cut it into two pieces, forming two logs.  Let them rest a bit and then load them into bread pans.  I like to wet the top of the loafs and coat with oatmeal or cornmeal -- it helps keep the plastic wrap from sticking.  Cover and let set for about an hour.

Took dog on nice 40 minute run in woods will loaves were rising -- warm but breezy.  Trails drying out a bit.

After the third rise, in the pans, is 45-60 minutes underway, start oven at 460 degrees  F.  When oven is ready, heat up a cup of water in the microwave for steaming. (I use an old cast iron fry pan in the bottom of the oven.)  Carefully load the pans, and then dump the cup of water in the fry pan, trying not to scald yourself.  Close door and set timer for 15 minutes.

We’re hoping for some spring from the steam in the oven.  After fifteen minutes, reduce the temperature by about 30 degrees and bake fifteen minutes more.  Should be dark (from the honey) and the internal temperature 190 degrees or more.

Turn out on to cooling racks and leave them alone until they are cool.  Good luck with that!

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"It’s no secret that many parents and their children are overweight. These 10 simple ‘secrets’ can help you change your family’s lifestyle so that you can all become fit and healthy."  Read more at Curb That Fat 

1) Eat Whole Grain Foods

Processed and refined grains, such as white bread, white rice, cereal, pasta, and other foods made with white flour have a high glycemic index, low amounts of fiber, and less vitamins and minerals as foods made with whole grains. Making the switch to whole grain foods, including whole wheat bread, whole grain pasta, brown rice, and cereals made with whole grains, are an easy and healthy way to make your family’s diet more nutritious.

2) Limit Soda and Fruit Drinks

Soda and fruit drinks have low nutritional value and a lot of calories. At about 150 calories per 12 ounce serving, your kids will gain an extra pound about every 3 weeks if they drink just one can of soda each day.
Cutting back or eliminating soda, fruit drinks, and even fruit juice, can be a good way to get rid of a lot of extra calories and leave room for your kids to eat more nutritious foods.  Read whole article

photo by Essential Eating   

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Nutrition, like politics or religion, is a subject that inspires passionate convictions. Though many of these convictions are valid, I recommend that you be conservative in your choice of diet, and practice a common-sense approach.

Research suggests that the athlete’s diet should be composed of at least 60% carbohydrates, 20-25% fats, and the rest proteins.  This is quite a change from the 50-30-30 ratio widely recommended in the past.

Kids should be taught to eat a variety of foods from an early age.  Children who are exposed to various foods during childhood are more likely to learn to enjoy those foods in adulthood, even if they don’t like them while they are young.

The mistake parents often make is giving up on a new food after just one trial.  It typically takes at least six to eight exposures of a new food before children will accept it.  Sometimes it can even take ten to fifteen trials before children develop a liking for a new food.  Eating a variety of different foods ensures your children are getting all the nutrients they need to grow.

Tips to Introducing New Foods:   (read the whole blog post from Dr. Dolgoff)

 photo by faeryboots  

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Since the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of rebaudioside A (Reb A) as a general purpose sweetener in December, major beverage marketers have been rushing new stevia-infused drinks into stores. Coca-Cola is using the stevia-derived sweetener Truvia in two of its Odwalla juice drinks and in the new Sprite Green. PepsiCo added its version of stevia to Sobe Lifewater drinks and has launched a new Tropicana orange juice, Trop50, containing 50 percent less sugar and calories.

The sweetener, which manufacturers claim is natural because it’s derived from the leaf of a South American shrub, has been used for years as a commercial sweetener in Japan and other Asian countries. It’s too soon to know whether American consumers will lap up its slightly licorice-y flavor, but nutritionists are already weighing in with their own verdict: Stevia is no risk-free holy grail for dieters..."  (Read complete MSNBC article)

photo by aarontait

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"A striking new study says almost 1 in 5 American 4-year-olds is obese, and the rate is alarmingly higher among American Indian children, with nearly a third of them obese. Researchers were surprised to see differences by race at so early an age.  (as noted in Yahoo News by Lindsey Tanner)

Overall, more than half a million 4-year-olds are obese, the study suggests. Obesity is more common in Hispanic and black youngsters, too, but the disparity is most startling in American Indians, whose rate is almost double that of whites.

The lead author said that rate is worrisome among children so young, even in a population at higher risk for obesity because of other health problems and economic disadvantages.

"The magnitude of these differences was larger than we expected, and it is surprising to see differences by racial groups present so early in childhood," said Sarah Anderson, an Ohio State University public health researcher. She conducted the research with Temple University's Dr. Robert Whitaker." Read whole article

photo by nick j webb

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