New years resolutions, sharing the wealth of new possibilities

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Resolve to

• Eat consciously

• Eat Healthy

• Eat Local

The countdown to the New Year has begun.  Many people end one year with a  long list of regrets and even longer list of changes to make the coming one bigger and better than ever.  The best new year's resolutions are simple ones  that offer a wealth of new possibilities. 

Eat consciously; Try to keep in mind, for every unnecessary thing you eat there is a neighbor who can not afford the luxury.  Estimates are 1 in every 8 Americans are in jeopardy of not knowing where their next meal is coming from.  More startling is the statistic, 1 in every 6 children may not be given lunch today due to a family's  financial pressures.  1 in every 5 families are expected to look for food assistance this coming year.  Eating for comfort has another meaning when you can not afford essentials.  To learn more visit Feeding America and Share our Strength.

Eat healthy; Know what you are eating.  The USDA is in the process of revamping their web site.  Among the new features is an interactive tool to customize the recommended food pyramid to suit your body type and health profile.  Often a food is thought to be healthy due to misleading labeling, eating healthy requires constant research.  If you are not sure if your favorite granola bar is actually healthy, over 13,000 commonly enjoyed foods are profiled in a database linked through Nutrition.gov.

Always remember, if you have had a bad day - and you will have at least a couple in 2010, allow yourself potato chips and chocolate.  There is a reason it is called comfort food.  Just do not eat the whole bag or bar and follow it up with an easy to make meal that is healthy, satisfying and delicious so that you are less tempted to finish what you started on the junk food train.

Eat Local;  According to the Center for a New American Dream, each time you buy one pound of locally produced food, you help keep 13 pounds of carbon emissions out of the environment.  Another new program instituted by the USDA is; Know your Farmer, Know your Food.  The movie, Food Inc., Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma and Barbara Kingsolver's , Animal, Vegetable, Miracle all illustrate the disconnect in thinking you are eating healthy when not eating local.

It is hard to regret spreading your own good fortune with friends, family and the community at large.  Three food related resolutions, if kept can trickle good fortune through every aspect of your life.