Cooked wild rice, barley, brown rice or other whole grains make wonderful salads when combined with fruits, vegetables and seasonings. Here are four recipes to get you started. Experiment with your own combinations and favorite flavors; it’s hard to go wrong!

Wild Rice Fruit Salad
2 cups cooked wild rice
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
1 cup seedless grapes
1 bunch green onions, sliced

1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
2 T. lemon juice
1 t. curry powder
1/2 cup no-fat mayonnaise, or enough to moisten grains

Combine all ingredients and chill.

4 servings

Introduction to Slow Food
By Aazdak Alisimo

It would seem self evident that slow food is the opposite of fast food. This is part of the truth. Slow food is actually a bit more than just an opposite though.

The word slow food is taken from the Slow Food Movement, which is an international organization that opposes fast food and advocates a return to more traditional foods and methods for feeding ourselves. The Slow Food Movement actually goes a bit deeper into the idea that the frenzied speed of modern living is totally destroying the quality of human life and may even be leading to worse consequences for our future. In many ways, a return to the slow food traditions of the past are but the cutting end of the Slow Food Movement’s attack on the pace of modern life.

Yes! IF it’s whole grain pasta cooked al dente (firm, not soft).

Whole grain al dente pasta causes a lower glycemic response than soft cooked refined white pasta. Lower glycemic foods are more slowly absorbed into the bloodstream and don’t create a quick blood sugar rise. This slower absorption helps protect against insulin resistance (a precursor of type 2 diabetes) and metabolic syndrome (a predictor of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease).

In one recent study, published in Diabetes Care, people who ate more whole grains had 37% less prevalence of metabolic syndrome than those who ate processed refined grains. They also had lower levels of protective HDL cholesterol, lower triglycerides, lower blood pressure and less risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

A strong immune system is your first line of defense against allergies, colds, flu and other illnesses. There are many disease causing viruses and bacteria that invade our systems each day. Having a strong immune system can reduce your chances of becoming ill. There are many ways that you can reduce your risk of catching diseases, including washing your hands well and often, eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly. There are also many herbal infusions and foods that can also help to boost your immune system.

With so much advice and research out there on nutrition and dieting, how do you know what to listen to and how to eat healthy? This article will give you some general tips about eating healthier.

If you’re like most people you don’t want to eat bland foods that taste like cardboard. If those are your only options then dieting and eating better are likely not to be your top priorities. You want flavor and taste. There are not too many people who can go eating the same things for the rest of their lives that have no flavor.

When you travel to the grocery store, shopping for things like eggs, meat, fish, milk, and produce can be very tricky. Signs are posted everywhere labeling food as natural, organic, and a number of other things—but what is the difference, really? Learning what these specific names mean can help you decide if you should spend the extra dough on a product if they are just using “natural” as a marketing ploy.

Have you made a pot of lentil soup lately? It’s healthful cooking at its best: easy, hearty, tasty and loved by young and old. Lentils come in one-pound bags in the dry beans section of your supermarket. Usually you will find two kinds: ordinary greenish-brown lentils, and orange lentils which are actually just the ordinary lentils with their skins removed. You may also find tiny dark green lentils, called French lentils, but these are usually more expensive and may be in the gourmet or international section of the store. All cook quickly and make wonderful soups.

The Salad

Today Thanksgiving is celebrated in the United States.
I wish everyone, every where, a great day.
We should always be grateful for our life and our blessings, everyday of the year.

I believe we should be grateful everyday for Mother Nature bountiful gifts.
She provides our food, our drinks, our health and the happiness to enjoy nature everyday.

This is why I choose today to celebrate with a salad.
It can be refreshing, it can be spicy, or it can be sweet.
It can be very nutritious, a whole meal in a plate.
And it helps manage our weight easily.