January 2025 is one for the record books!
The peaceful silence after a snowfall lets us pause and see the world anew.
Stephanie Spencer captured these stunning photos of the Arkansas landscape, blanketed in over 10 inches of snow this month.
Old Man Winter’s Historic Sweep: From the Bayou to the Beach
Liz Fox from Lafayette, Louisiana, had me smiling with her photo of a crawfish snow crustacean—I was thinking Old Bay!
I spent some time during a snow day going through some old files to try and get a fresh or cleaner start this new year.
With a new president, change is in the air.
There are a lot of opinions. This is one of the things I love about America.
Food and Wine magazine shared this evolving food news following the election on November 16, 2024.
Fueling the Future: Nutrition Security and Healthier Youth
The health of the average American child has been a growing concern for years, from discussions in the 2023 Farm Bill to debates among major health institutions. Persistent childhood obesity has reached epidemic levels, driving a rare national consensus: we must change how we feed our children.
Supported by clinical evidence, whole soy foods—minimally processed and rich in protein, fiber, and omega-3s—have been included in this discussion.
The urgency is underscored by staggering data: 1 in 3 federal dollars goes to health care, with 85% tied to diet-related diseases. Change is overdue.
There is a growing agreement that we can do better!
It is both stunning and sad that we have had little success at reducing childhood obesity, especially when many US children eat 2/3's of their meals in cafeterias (Source: USDA).
The contradiction between our abundant food system, hunger, and pervasive diet-related disease is a problem that USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack stated, “impacts our economy and national security.” (March 2022)
Clinical studies on childhood obesity provide evidence of the importance of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and fiber for muscle health, healthy weight, and other long-term health indicators.
Whole soy is a leader in providing all three of these nutritional components.
Change is hard.
I remember years ago when American public policy finally changed due to irrefutable medical evidence that secondhand smoke caused lung cancer in a significant percentage of the US population.
I worked in a hospital then, and was cynical, agreeing with others that we could not tell patients not to smoke in their rooms or anywhere else in the hospital, much less family members. How insensitive. Even our clinical staff smoked in the hospital.
Chain smoking had become the norm in America. I lost two of my brothers, both at age 59, to lung cancer not many years ago. It was heartbreaking. I still miss them.
But as a society, we did better.
It was messy. There were some ugly scenes.
In the end, this generation of children didn’t grow up forced to breathe secondhand smoke everywhere they went. And not surprisingly, the death rate from lung cancer decreased.
It’s a new year and time for new beginnings!
The New Year’s tradition shared around the world is to commit to being a better version of ourselves.
I usually don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I don’t plan to cast stones either.
I will be working on something better for my new grandson and for the children in your family as well.
It will take all of us to make this happen.
I hope you will join me.
Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2025!
~Karen