Newsletter February 2006

Inside this issue you'll find:


Your License to Practice Therapeutic Horticulture

You'll want to get out your hoe and bulb planter the moment you read this news: according to England's Positive Health magazine, gardening isn't just a pleasurable experience - it even helps you live longer - and they have history to prove it.

As early as the 19th century, asylums built to accommodate people with mental and physical disabilities began to incorporate gardens on their grounds after witnessing the amazing behavioral changes experienced by patients the moment they started working in the soil. Experts agree that gardens are peaceful escapes from problems and stress and aid in patient recovery from a variety of health problems.

What could an hour spent in the garden do for you? Plenty. Gardeners nearly always experience an increase in physical strength, mobility in the elderly is enhanced, one's heart rate climbs to a healthy tempo and a feeling of well being that may actually reach euphoria is often experienced. Here's how powerful gardening can be: when patients in a surgical ward saw a blooming garden from their hospital windows, they recovered faster.

Once a patient leaves the hospital, his or her health can be markedly improved by continuing to seek "garden therapy." Benefits are enhanced if the gardening is accomplished in a group setting, because social inclusion - sharing, laughing and chatting - always helps us mend fast.

Here in the U.S., many of our national park systems have taken the power of therapeutic gardening to new heights. They're planting "sensory gardens" designed exclusively for people with disabilities. Wheelchair ramps, tall planters and pre-determined patterns of flowers and foliage are carefully orchestrated to provide the ultimate sensory experience to people unable to walk, see or hear. Droves of special education classes and individuals visit these gardens daily and come away feeling joyful and happy.

There you have it. The remedy to life's stressors is as close as your yard. Is it any wonder something as simple as a bunch of seeds and a few tools can create a world of beauty and harmony that can elevate the most ordinary of our days to paradise?


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6 "Sweet" February Household Tips

  1. Love ice cream cones but dislike drips - particularly when kids' shirts become laundry nightmares? A jelly bean or marshmallow at the bottom of the cone fixes the problem.
  2. Make perfectly-shaped pancakes using a turkey baster to measure exactly the right amount of batter each time.
  3. Run you hands under cold water before pressing Rice KrispyT treats into a pan and the marshmallow won't stick.
  4. When a cake recipe calls for floured pans sprinkle dry cake mix into the pans instead. No white mess!
  5. To soften brown sugar that's hardened, put an apple slice into the sugar bag and you're good to go.
  6. Love kettle corn? Add sugar to boiling water for the sweetest corn-on-thecob you've ever tasted!

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Kid's Corner: Tackling the Obesity Epidemic

Did you know that only half of America's public schools offer physical education classes?

The fact is irrefutable and the figures are enough to strike fear in the heart of today's parent and health care giver: recent statistics set childhood obesity at six million kids with another five million "tottering at the edge," according to none other than our nation's surgeon general. To give you a figure that might be easier to get your head around, expect to find one child for every three in America who is already overweight or on the verge of becoming so.

Not only will parents bear the brunt of future costs associated with an overweight juvenile population, but also the toll on our national health care system once these kids grow up is expected to be astronomical. After all, many overweight kids become overweight adolescents and one's ability to fight off extra pounds is rarely reversed in adulthood.

Once-upon-a-time, school athletic programs, the absence of television and a society that valued family time over work kept numbers in check. Obesity was reserved for sedentary adults and was rarely seen in kids. That's all changed - beginning with huge cuts in physical education and recess programs at many schools around the nation. Video games that keep kids glued to hand-held controls add a final blow to our best efforts to promote physical activity to youngsters.

If your child has begun to show a predisposition for weight gain, there are steps you can take to reduce future health problems. The not-for-profit Cancer Resource Center makes these recommendations:

  1. Limit time in front of the TV. Kids restricted to an hour a day will stay thinner than those allowed to watch as much TV as they wish.
  2. Lobby local schools and do what you can to help them restore sports, fitness and other physical activities eliminated due to budget cuts.
  3. Encourage nutrition education in schools.
  4. Remind coaches, moms and dads that rewards of candy and other sweets following a sporting event compromise all the benefits the physical activity just provided.
  5. Of course, nothing beats being a great role model! If you eat sensibly, exercise and do simple things like take the stairs instead of the elevator, you set an example your kids can emulate and thank you for in the future.

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Be Your Own Pet Vet

Having a pet is like having a child: it's a job that goes 24/7. One of the most critical aspects of pet parenthood is knowing when to act fast in the event of illness or injury, so here's a quick primer on what you need to know to treat your dog or cat:

  1. Car accident: Car accidents turn even gentle pets into primal beasts because pain causes them to act aggressively. Move the animal as little as possible, easing a blanket under your pet for comfort and possible transport. Stem bleeding by tying a clean cloth above the wound site. Call the vet and get the animal to his office as quickly as possible.
  2. Burns: Gently clean burned area of debris and immerse pet in cold running water before seeking professional help.
  3. Heat stroke: If it's hot and your pet is panting, vomiting or frothing at the mouth, place him in (or douse him with) cold water to stabilize him before getting him to the vet.
  4. Poisoning: Dogs or cats that collapse, twitch, vomit, bleed or convulse may have ingested poison. If you suspect it, try forcing salt or mustard, diluted in water, down the animal's throat to induce vomiting, before transporting the pet to the vet's.
  5. Drowning: Like humans, getting water out of the lungs of a drowning pet is critical. To empty his lungs, position the pet's head lower than the body, open its mouth and pump the chest by pressing on the ribs and releasing at five-second intervals.
  6. Choking: Use the pumping method as described above to dislodge objects in the animal's throat. If unsuccessful, get the pet to an emergency site fast so it can be removed under anesthetic.

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Avoid Kitchen Design Mistakes

If you've ever bought or sold a house, you know that a dynamic kitchen and updated bathrooms add more to its value than any other room. In particular, kitchen upgrades are of prime importance because that's usually the place families choose to gather for festive occasions - where we bake cookies with our kids and often settle family business as we prepare meals! Given the fact that this area is so pivot-al to a family's social interaction, the design of the kitchen is serious business.

When planning a renovation, if finances allow, choose a kitchen design professsional to prepare detailed drawings of your dream kitchen. Be sure you let your contractor in on location preferences for the appliances, cabinets and drawers you use most often. If you're doing the remodeling yourself, follow this advice:

  1. Allow plenty of clearance for cabinet doors, pullout drawers, dishwasher doors and other room.
  2. Pay particular attention to junctures where trim and molding meet cabinets; experts say this is the biggest single mistake home renovators make.
  3. Adding under-cabinet lighting isn't something you can do on a whim! If you plan to install it, you must recess the bottom of your cabinets so the lighting doesn't show.
  4. Double check locations of electrical outlets and be certain they are appropriately placed for the new kitchen design. This may seem like a no brainer, but ask homemakers whose prime electric supply wound up behind the refrigerator if they intended to leave it there!
  5. Professional kitchen designers' caution remodelers to be cautious of counter overhang. Too many Do-it-yourselfers do a super job of topping off lower cabinets only to find doors and drawers beneath the overhang can't be pulled open. Ouch.

As a last cautionary note, pay attention to the weight of the new appliances you're buying. Today's fancy refrigerators (we just saw one with a flat screen TV set into the door opposite the ice and water dispenser!) have so many bells and whistles, they may weigh more than older models, so if you've got a vintage house with old floors, extra weight could prove problematic. Avoid heartache and frustration by describing your floors to your salesperson at the get-go.


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Banana Crème Cake For Your Sweethearts

Cake:
3 large bananas (1-1/3 cups)
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1 box of yellow cake mix
3 large eggs
1/3 cup of oil
1 cup of pecans

Glaze:
1/2 cup plus 2 tsp. heavy whipping cream
3.5 oz. bar of bittersweet chocolate (break into small pieces)

Filling:
2 large ripe bananas
22 oz. tub of refrigerated vanilla pudding

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Coat three, 9" round baking pans with cooking spray; line bottoms with wax paper.
  3. Put mashed bananas, sour cream and brown sugar into a large bowl and beat with a mixer on low speed until sugar dissolves. Add cake mix, eggs and oil. Beat 2 minutes on medium speed. Stir in pecans and divide evenly between 3 cake pans. Bake 20 minutes. Cool before removing layers from pans.
  4. Prepare glaze by heating just to steaming 1/3 cup of the cream over stove burner or microwave. Remove mixture from heat and add chocolate. Let stand 4 minutes. Stir until blended and smooth.
  5. Mix 1 tablespoon pudding with 2 teaspoons of cream in small zip lock bag. Seal and set aside.
  6. Filling: Place the first cake layer on a plate and top with a thinly sliced banana. Gently spread half of the pudding mix over the banana slices. Add a second cake layer, a sliced banana and the rest of the pudding mixture. Place the third layer on top.
  7. Pour glaze into the middle of the top layer and spread it to cover just the top of the cake (don't go over the edges - you should be able to see the banana/pudding mix peeking out between the layers). Cut the tip of the zip lock to create an icing bag and pipe white lines across the cake. Cut, serve, and gather up the compliments!

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