Meal

"Eat this. Don't eat that. " If only it were so simple.  Eating a variety of foods is recommended for health but trying to overhaul your or your family's eating habits can be a challenge. It's never too late to start eating a greater variety of foods that contribute to good health.  Aim for gradual changes, rather than making an issue of food. Strive to plan and provide regular meals and snacks for your family. Some tips to help parents aim for healthful family meals and snacks follow:  Children have small stomachs, so they need regular meals, supplemented by snacks to help fill the gap between meals.

For billions of Christians around the world, Lent and meatless meals go hand in hand. But if you're not exactly hooked on fish, there is an alternative. Give it up for soup. At St. Ann Catholic Church in the north end of Hagerstown, Lenten Soup Suppers have become a Friday night tradition. They not only provide people with an opportunity to observe their meat-free Fridays, they also bolster a sense of community, said Susan Seiler. A former coordinator of the weekly meals, Seiler said the tradition began more than a decade ago as an evening of fellowship, as well as an outreach project to raise money for area shelters.

A new session of BodyWorks, a program for parents and caregivers of boys and girls ages 9 to 14, begins March 27. The eight-week program focuses on helping families create healthier lifestyles. The BodyWorks Program emphasizes parents as role models and provides them with the tools and support they need to create healthy lifestyles with their children. It is being offered locally as a collaborative effort of West Virginia University Hospitals-East, the Berkeley County Health Department, WVU Extension and Shenandoah Community Health.

Good day class, today we have a continuation of my celebration to pasta with fresh ingredients. I'm looking at a blank document, but my mind is full of fresh ideas and a cleaned-out fridge filled with few ingredients.  So let me begin by saying that many need to realize that fresh pasta is one of the best ways to enjoy a meal and the freshest pasta I've ever had was made by my college girlfriend's mother.  Mary Scarpino's mother made...

If you have a goal of weight loss, you have to know some basic math. One pound of fat equates to about 3,500 calories, and to lose that 1 pound of fat, you've got to burn more calories than you consume. A common mistake is to try to starve off the weight, or overwork the body trying to burn it all off. But your success will come through a combination of the two methods. I've found that if you can create an energy deficit of around 500 calories a day, you can burn the 3,500 calories needed to lose a pound a week, and reach your goals steadily over time.

Seems as though we haven't even had winter yet, and planning is under way for the sport of summer: baseball.   Maryland District 1 Little League will hold a rules and umpire clinic beginning Tuesday, Feb. 7, and running each Tuesday in February. Coaches, umpires, team parents and others are encouraged to attend and hear about the rule changes going into effect this season. There are bat changes of which parents should be aware. The classes will run from 6 to 8:30 p.m. and will be held at the Church of Christ on Leitersburg Pike.  For more information, call Denny Hockensmith at 301-416-2841or Dave Grams at 301-791-1687.

Family meals are about much more than people eating at the same time. Eating more family meals is associated with the same smart food choices that promote a healthy weight: higher intake of fruits, vegetables, grains and calcium-rich foods, as well as lower soft drink intake. Teens who eat more family meals have higher intakes of key nutrients like calcium, iron, vitamins A, C, E, B6, and folate, as well as fiber.   Plan one more family mealtime in every week. Take a quick inventory of how many times your family usually eats together now. Then plan to add just one more family mealtime per week.

Maugansville residents Ron and Diana Meihls didn't take long to spring into action after they heard that American troops serving in parts of Afghanistan would go without a Christmas meal this year. Diana Meihls said they received the news around Halloween in an email from their daughter, U.S. Air Force Maj. Marie Meihls, who works on an Afghan Air Force base in Kabul during the day and lives on a NATO base at night.   “Our dining facility is not supporting us for Thanksgiving or Christmas so we must do fundraisers to purchase on our own or get companies from the States to send us stuff,” a portion of Marie Meihls' email said.

The Commission on Aging has a meals on wheels program in Washington County. There are many seniors in the county who are medically home bound and unable to fix their own meals. The meals on wheels program needs volunteers to deliver meals to these seniors. Anyone with the ability to volunteer for a few hours one day a week who has their own vehicle is eligible. For more information, call 301-790-0275.

The last several years have been sad ones for Howard Sprankle. He said his mother died nearly five years ago, and Thursday marked the first time in three years that he wasn't able to enjoy the free community Thanksgiving dinner with his father at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Waynesboro. “He had a (health) problem,” Sprankle said of his father. “I'll have to take him a meal. I don't like it. I wish he was here.” Sprankle, 54, of Waynesboro, was among roughly 200 people who gathered around tables covered with orange and yellow cloths to enjoy the meal in the church basement.