Living WellMuskogee Phoenix • Sunday, July 22, 2012

Inside

Story on Page 2

Farmers’ Marketoffers locallygrown food

Story on Page 4

Supplements canhelp maintain

proper nutritionStory on Page 3

Programpushes healthy

habits

Muskogee Phoenix Sunday, July 22, 2012

By Alex EwaldPhoenix Staff Writer

Bixby farmer RandallGibson can easily tell thedifference between histomatoes and those foundin the produce section atsome local stores.

“Ours tastes like an ac-tual tomato,” Gibson said,unlike fruits and vegetablesgrown on corporate farms.

Gibson specializes ingrowing tomatoes and sellsthem with other fruit andvegetables Wednesdays andSaturdays at the MuskogeeFarmers’ Market at theCivic Center MarketSquare.

The market’s vendors allcome from northeastern

Oklahoma, including FortGibson, Stilwell, Checotahand Muskogee.

Aside from his more com-mercial hybrid reds, Gibsonsells heirloom tomatoes ofdifferent shapes and sizes,as well as zucchini andonions.

“This hasn’t been shippeda couple thousand miles,”said Gibson, who farms us-

ing organic methods to addboth more flavor and morehealth benefits.

Organic farmers and har-vesters avoid using pesti-cides and synthetic plantfertilizers, as well as anyprocessing aids or food addi-tives, according to the U.S.Department of Agriculture;they prefer natural soil fer-tilizer such as compost ormanure.

Those who raise livestockorganically don’t use antibi-otics or growth hormoneson their animals. They alsoallow animals more accessto outdoors than non-organ-ic farmers, according to theUSDA.

The department has cer-tified products of more than17,000 farms and process-ing facilities as “organic”since 2002.

These products are la-beled in grocery stores as“100 percent organic” or “or-ganic” (more than 95 per-cent organic content), ac-cording to the USDA.

However, none of theMuskogee market vendors’produce actually is “organ-ic”-certified, market man-ager Doug Walton said.Ven-dors sell their produce us-ing phrases such as“pesticide-free” and “natu-rally grown,” Walton said.

The National Organicprogram’s extensive docu-mentation process simplyisn’t worth the trouble,Wal-ton said.

The farmers with “organ-ic”-certified food mainly sell

their product at grocerystores — but at a farmers’market, they sell directly tothe people.

“It’s a good arrangementfor the farmers, and it’s agood arrangement for thecustomers,” Walton said.

The biggest drawback forconsumers buying organicfood is the cost, he said.

However, Walton empha-sized that local farming ingeneral is best for theMuskogee community.

Farming and harvestingis an industry that has de-clined despite populationgrowth and increased pro-duction, he said.

“It’s important that wekeep farmers farming,whether they’re organic ornot,” Walton said.

Muskogee residentBrooke Hall and her youngsons, Joel and Zack, took aride to the market Wednes-day after biking on the Cen-tennial Trail, so the boyscould get some fresh-squeezed lemonade andchips.

“We’ve had our veggiesfor the day,” Hall said as theboys tried opening theirCheetos and Lays bags bythemselves.

It’s their first summerwith a private garden,where Joel and Zack helptheir mother grow zucchi-ni, cucumbers and water-melon. Hall, who teaches ahealthy living class for sen-iors, said people have lovedher zucchini bread madefrom her garden.

“People really appreciatethat and like when theirfood is locally grown,” Hallsaid.

Reach Alex Ewald at(918) 684-2923 or aewald@muskogeephoenix.com.

Muskogee Phoenix Sunday, July 22, 2012 Page 2Living well

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Staff photo by Alex Ewald

Bixby farmer Randall Gibson hands over a zucchini to Rose Hutton after she returned to buy another for herhusband at the Muskogee Farmers’ Market at the Civic Center pavilion. The market, open Wednesday and Satur-day mornings at Fifth Street and Okmulgee Avenue, sells locally grown food, said to be tastier and healthier forconsumers.

Farmers’ Marketoffers locallygrown food

By Wendy BurtonPhoenix Staff Writer

Muskogee County is oneof the worst in the state forcases of diabetes and hy-pertension — in 20 to 30year olds, according tohealth department statis-tics.

And the cause of thatstanding is childhood obesi-ty, said pediatrician Dr.Tracy Hoos.

“That means the problemreally started in adoles-cence or childhood,” he said.“Obesity is a problem thatreally starts in childhood.”

Lisa Wade Raasch, coor-dinator for the MuskogeeWellness Initiative, said theproblem must not go on.

“That is something we

must change. We cannotdoom our children to thehealth effects that go alongwith childhood obesity,” shesaid.

Billboards popping uparound town featuring “5-2-1-0” are part of a push bythe Muskogee Wellness Ini-tiative to make an impacton childhood obesity ratesin Muskogee.

The program, called “5-2-1-0 Every Day,” touts sim-ple changes parents andchildren can make in theirlives to improve healthoverall.

Five servings of fruitsand vegetables a day arerecommended. But manyparents find it difficult toget children to eat vegeta-bles. Raasch said the bestway to get children tryingnew foods and changingtheir food habits is to in-troduce the same new veg-etable or fruit over andover again.

“We encourage parentsnot to give up too quick,”Raasch said. “Research hasshown sometimes you haveto put the same food infront of a child eight to tentimes before they start eat-ing it.”

Two hours or less of“recreational screen time”is recommended and onehour or more of physical ex-cercise each day.

Finally, zero sugar drinksare called for in the 5-2-1-0program.

“We really push drinkingplenty of water and more

low-fat milk instead,”Raasch said. “Fruit juiceneeds to be limited.”

Raasch said the WellnessInitiative is working onways the concept can be im-plemented in local schools.

At least one small dis-trict in the area has begunallowing students to keep abottle of water at theirdesks, for example. “Re-search has now shown thata hydrated brain is a well-operated brain,” she said.

And Raasch also recom-mends participation in anafterschool program put onby the Muskogee CountyHealth Department.

The 32-week programcalled CATCH, whichstands for Consolidated Ap-proach to Childrens’Health, is a program thehealth department bringsto after-school programswho commit to participate.

“I am amazed at the dif-ference that that particu-lar program can make in achild’s life looks at nutri-tion,” Raasch said. “Mydaughter paritcipatedthree years and now we goout to eat and she asks toreplace fries with broccoli.Last Easter she said, ‘I re-ally hope the Easter bunnydoesn’t bother with choco-late this year. I’d ratherhave those little tiny or-anges.”

MCHD Health EducatorMartha Alford said CATCH

teaches children all theyneed to know about nutri-tious food in 32 sessionsover as many weeks. Theprogram also requires theafter-school programproviders to give childrenat least 20 minutes of mod-erate to rigourus physicalactivity four times a week.Participants prepare eighthealthy snacks themselvesduring the 32-week pro-gram.

The program is currentlyworking with 150 kids at aprogram in Porum, shesaid, but there is an open-ing for the Muskogee areaat this time. The programwould have to be able tocommit the same 25 stu-dents or more to participa-

tion, Alford said.“Childhood obesity is im-

pacted through learningabout nutrition,” Alfordsaid. “We want it to be a

habit in their lives and beenjoyable.”

Reach Wendy Burton at(918) 684-2926 or wburton@muskogeephoenix.com.

Muskogee Phoenix Sunday, July 22, 2012

Living wellPage 3

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Two hours or lessrecreational screen time.

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Building healthy eating and living habits for your fam-ily will help prevent childhood obesity. The MuskogeeWellness Initiative offers the “5-2-1-0 Every Day” progamto help parents shape healthy living habits for them-selves and their children.

Program pushes healthy habits‘5-2-1-0 EveryDay’ programoffers simplechanges forhealthy living

By Dylan GoforthPhoenix Staff Writer

With the busy-bee atti-tude of many adults today, itcan be hard to get propernutrition.

But, if you’re too busy toadd the missing nutrientsto your cooking, there areways around that.

Ellen Haney managesOasis Healthfood in Tahle-quah. Haney said more andmore people are looking tosupplement their diets withnutrients they aren’t other-wise getting.

“There are plenty of waysto take supplements for dif-ferent things that may bebothering you,” Haney said.

Haney the first thingmost people look for is agood multivitamin.

“If you want to get health-ier, start with a multivita-min,” Haney said. “Mostpeople don’t get the rightamount of vitamins in theirsystems, and a good multivi-tamin will fix that.”

The U.S. National Libraryof Medicine says there are13 vitamins the body needs— A, C, D, E, K and the B vi-tamins thiamine, riboflavin,niacin, pantothenic acid, bi-otin, vitamin B-6, vitaminB-12 and folate).

A deficiency of certain vi-tamins can cause disease,such as rickets.

Haney said her advice isto get a food-based multivi-tamin.

“You’ll notice a huge dif-ference if you get a food-based vitamin,” Haney said.“If it’s not food based, it

won’t make as much of adifference. The food-basedmultivitamin will assimi-late in your body much bet-ter.”

Another “all-everything”supplement Haney saidwas popular is fish oil.

“It’s good for your hairand it’s good for your skin,”Haney said. “It’s an all-around good nutrient foryour body.”

The U.S. National Li-brary of Medicine said fishthat are rich in omega-3 fat-ty acids include “mackerel,tuna, salmon, sturgeon,mullet, bluefish, anchovy,sardines, herring, trout, andmenhaden.”

But fish oil supplementsare available at most healthstores, Haney said. Evi-dence shows fish oil lowers

triglycerides which are as-sociated with heart diseaseand untreated diabetes.Fish oil may also help withhigh blood pressure, arthri-tis and a variety of other is-sues.

One side effect of fish oilis the “nasty taste,” Haneysaid. That can be remediedby taking a pill that in-

cludes lemon.“You can get a fish oil pill

with lemon in it,” Haneysaid. “And that lemon takesaway the fish taste.”

There are other supple-ments Haney recommendsfor things such as high cho-lesterol level.

“Red yeast rice is a goodway to lower cholesterol,”

Haney said.The Mayo Clinic says red

yeast rice contains mona-colins, which slow choles-terol synthesis.

Haney also said garlic ex-tract can help with choles-terol.

Reach Dylan Goforth at(918) 684-2903 or dgoforth@muskogeephoenix.com.

Muskogee Phoenix Sunday, July 22, 2012 Page 4Living well

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Drug and health stores carry a variety of supplements available to help with a num-ber of ailments. Ellen Haney, manager of Oasis Healthfood in Tahlequah, said a goodplace to start getting healthier is to get a good food-based multivitamin and to starttaking fish-oil pills.

Supplements can help maintain proper nutrition