At Country Choice Organic, we work hard to minimize our operational “footprint”, constantly reviewing our packaging materials, transportation, and warehousing to make sure we only use what is necessary to deliver the freshest, best tasting organic products.
Our parent company, Grain Millers, the largest miller of organic grain in North America, shares this concern and has developed a novel way to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and help the local community. In partnership with the local school district and private enterprise, Grain Millers donates oat hulls to heat a middle school in St. Ansgar, IA., home of one of Grain Millers largest oat mills.
This is the first school in Iowa to be heated with biomass energy, which replaces the natural gas previously used to fuel the school’s boilers. “We use biomass in our facilities to replace fossil fuel consumption with renewable energy sources,” says Steve Eilertson, Grain Miller president. “Extending the opportunity to our local community partners lets us broaden our impact.”
So next time you sit down to a hot bowl of Country Choice Organic oatmeal, your breakfast might be fueling more than you. It might be sustainably heating a classroom in Iowa, which is a warm thought to start the day.
Read more about heating St. Ansgar Middle School here.
Health magazine recently named oats one of the healthiest super foods for women. This should come as no surprise since we’ve known for a long time that oats can help lower cholesterol. Now scientists say oats, rich in soluble and insoluble fiber, are also good for helping you feel full so you can control your weight. This may explain why January is National Oatmeal Month.
Whether eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner or as a snack, oatmeal provides a warming, nutritious meal for everyone…male or female, children and adults alike. Everyday, millions of Americans start their day with some variety of oats: creamy instant oatmeal, traditional old fashioned oats, nutty steel cut oats. There are even “on the run” options for those who prefer their oats to go.
You can check out other super foods at Health magazine. Then download a money saving coupon for Country Choice Organic Oats to help you keep your New Year resolutions.
January is the time of year when everybody’s thinking about food. While some savor December’s holiday feasts, others lament their yuletide excess. And for many, the New Year brings with it a steely resolve to “eat better”.
It is thought that over 100 million Americans set New Year’s resolutions. Sadly, most are abandoned by February, victims of weighty aspirations. Too many resolutions focus on improbable dreams of “losing this” or “quitting that”, instead of smaller, easier-to-keep lifestyle changes that might actually survive Ground Hogs Day.
Recent research into longevity has uncovered simple things everyone can do to live longer, better:
Switch to 10” plates and skinny glasses
Put healthy options in plain view and hide the junk food…even in the refrigerator
Stop eating when you are 80% full
Avoid mindless munching by turning off the TV when eating
Take a short walk after dinner
These incremental changes are relatively painless and can have a profound effect on our wellbeing. However, they won’t become habit overnight. It actually takes five weeks of practice to make a new behavior a habit. So resolve today to eat better in 2010. Just make you’re still practicing until the next national food holiday…Super Bowl Sunday!
My daughters made Christmas cookies last night. Not the “heat and eat” frozen dough variety, but the kind that leaves a light dusting of flour on the counters and the crunch of sugar sprinkles under foot. This was significant because:
it was their idea,
they planned far enough ahead to allow for the dough to chill,
they cleaned up everything (almost).
Achieving this milestone was appreciated almost as much as the first time we left them without a sitter.
Food experiences abound during the holidays. In my family, Christmas brought a mix of old world Italian traditions and Midwest sensibilities…tortellini and broth chased with Tom & Jerry’s. The actual menu was less important than reserving a place at the table for traditional holiday fare: JoAnn’s trifle, Ginny’s caramel corn, Norma’s turtles. I once carried a marzipan fish across eight time zones to deliver a holiday tradition from my Italian aunts to their brother in Minnesota. It was worth the Interpol APB to see my father’s face when that “fish” showed up on Christmas Eve.
Today, however, too many of our food traditions have gone the way of the Tofurky (really…tofu “turkey”), pushed aside by a new tradition of acquiring “must have” toys from China. These new traditions are available at big box stores that lure shoppers to the glow of $400 flat screen TVs and then offer a complete holiday meal as a $20 impulse item.
I submit that we should not allow retailers’ deference for high-margin electronics to interfere with our ability to bake real memories for our friends and family. My wish this year is for everyone to spill some flour making a holiday food tradition. Nothing fancy or expensive. In fact, the best traditions are made from scratch. Bake some tonight.
Merry Christmas!
Nana’s Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Directions
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.
While much of the social media world is sharing the latest Tiger tale or LOL joke, there are places where your connectedness can do some good. Country Choice Organic wants Facebook fans (ideally who love our stuff, but we’ll worry about that later). To entice your “fan-ship”, we’re donating 5 bowls of oatmeal to area food banks for every new fan we get through January 15. The offer is limited to 5000 fans, but that’s 25,000 bowls of oatmeal for people who may otherwise go without breakfast. Get connected with the link below. And while you’re at it, bring along a friend. Your actions will speak louder than (cyber) words.
For years the conventional wisdom on organic food was, “If it’s good for you it must taste bad.” Obviously, this can’t be all true, given the plethora of new organic products in the marketplace. However, some stereotypes die hard. That’s why we’re capturing Country Choice Organic “a-ha” moments and sharing them here. An “a-ha” moment happens whenever reality is at odds with a preconceived notion…like finding an organic cookie that tastes great. They can happen anywhere, but to increase the odds when it comes to our products, we’re forcing the issue. So watch out…you might be the next to have your Country Choice Organic “a-ha” moment captured for posterity.
Travel far enough away from the influence of American fast food and you’ll find populations with an abundance of nonagenarians (i.e., 90-year olds). Coincidence? I think not. Instead, I submit that these pockets of longevity, so-called Blue Zones (I guess because of the abundant grey hair), exist precisely because they avoid our dysfunctional approach to food and exercise.
Blue Zones were identified by a team of researchers funded by National Geographic and AARP. To date, five geographically disperse zones have been identified (with more expeditions planned). The common building blocks for longevity include: having the right outlook, moving naturally, being part of a tribe and eating wisely. If these seem obvious, it’s because they are. And except for, “wear clean drawers in case you get hit by a bus”, it’s the same advice you likely heard from your mom.
More interesting is how the “Blue Zoners” are applying their learning closer to home. They recently conducted a Vitality Project in Albert Lea, MN, where local residents were encouraged to make small, manageable changes to their lives…kids walked to school, people planted gardens, neighbors volunteered, side salads appeared on fast food menus. The net result? Increased longevity, reduced health care costs, increased productivity, and more bliss (although work continues on modeling the relationship between reduced happy meal consumption and bliss).
Obviously, we don’t need to relocate to be “in the zone”. There are small changes we can make that will have a big impact on our quality of life…now and in the future. It starts with being more deliberate about what we eat, how we move and with who we connect. If the research is correct, the changes will help us live better, longer and we can look forward to the day when “zones” exist only where living a long, rich life is not the norm.
You can get more information on living better, longer at www.bluezones.com.
One of our more rewarding endeavors is a partnership with a company trying to transform school breakfast. Obviously this is no easy task, but with reams of data pointing to the importance of breakfast and reports exposing the empty calories masquerading as breakfast in many schools it’s a fight worth fighting. (Read about breakfast in Chicago Public Schools http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-cps-breakfast-nov05,0,209332.story?obref=obnetwork).
Notables® by Mission Nutrition, creates a grab ‘n go breakfast that kids eat at their desk. There are NO TABLES involved (get it?). Each Notables breakfast, when paired with milk, exceeds the minimum federal School Breakfast Program nutrition requirements by pairing shelf-stable whole grain foods and fruit products in a fun bag.
They are committed to offering only the highest quality foods in a convenient, kid-friendly manner…which is where we come in. Notables is currently using specially formulated Oatmeal on the Run bars in two of their bags, meaning kids get all the nutrition of a bowl of instant oatmeal right at their desks.
Our teams are busy looking for other healthy ways for kids to eat and will update you with our progress. In the meantime, make sure your kids start their day with a notable breakfast…no matter where they eat.
For some time Oprah has called out Steel Cut Oats as her “favorite whole grain”. And who can argue…100% whole grain…helps reduce cholesterol…nutty texture…30 minute cook time…30 MINUTE COOK TIME?!? Okay, maybe it’s not so perfect (unless you have a chef).
All that changed on November 2 when we introduced Quick Cook Steel Cut Oats. Same whole grain goodness; same nutty, chewy texture, but with a 5-minute cook time puts Steel Cut Oats on your daily breakfast menu.
Look for Country Choice Organic Quick Cook Steel Cut Oats in your favorite store. The name’s a mouthful, but worth remembering. After all, you’ll get to enjoy a steaming bowl of steel cut oats everyday…just like Oprah!
Why is anyone surprised that products carrying the “Smart Choices” seal may not be too smart? After all, the manufacturers doing the choosing are in business to sell calories, not health. And in a country that produces more calories than we could possibly consume (by last count, around 3900 per person per day), manufacturers seek every advantage – from plastic toys in the carton to nutrition claims on the carton – to make the sale.
The problem is too many of us choose to not think about the food we eat, abdicating our decision-making to people who may not have our best interests at heart. Instead, we approach most meals like a NASCAR pit stop, stopping just long enough to slam down some “fuel”, while mostly ignoring the health impact (or benefit) of our choice. So if Jeff Gordon burns high octane super-premium, why do so many of us run on low-test and expect it to not affect performance?
Instead of relying on industry-supported health standards, shoppers need to take responsibility for making their own smart choices. The good news is, with very little effort, you can find places with more to offer than empty calories. The outer ring of most grocery stores is a good place to start. Likewise, farmer markets and natural food co-ops offer healthy, sustainable food plus have knowledgeable staff to help you understand the difference between whole grains and donut holes.
So next time you need to refuel, take a second to think about what you’re doing. After all, your smartest choice might be to ignore the nutrition claims on the carton and instead focus on the secret spy decoder ring inside the box.
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