Participating in a healthy eating plan along with incorporating daily physical activity are essential components to living a healthy lifestyle.  Chronic Illness related to metabolic syndrome such as cardiovascular, high blood pressure and diabetes can be controlled if not eliminated with good nutrition and a sound exercise program.

Waist lines are expanding along with portion size, but how much is enough?  Choose my plate. gov provides science- based nutritional information from the United States Department of Agriculture(USDA).  http://www.choosemyplate.gov

You want to lose weight, but you know how to track it? The USDA also provides an area where you can log meals and track fitness and health goals.  This interactive website contains a "Food-a-pedia" which contain over 8,000 foods to compare nutritional values side by side https://www.supertracker.usda.gov
So you want more control over the foods that you feed your family, why not support a local farmer? Community Supported Agriculture(CSA) is a way for consumers to buy local seasonal food directly from an area farmer.  Purchasing a membership in a CSA benefits you in several ways:
1. Exposes your family to new ways of cooking
2. Provides you the freshest food available.
3. Develop a relationship with your farmer and learn about how YOUR food is grown.
http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

Slow Food Central New Jersey is a great organization providing information on CSA's, farm to table restaurants which provide healthy organic vegetables  and legislative issue effecting farming in New Jersey. www.slowfoodcentralnj.org/

Get Fit is a division within the Family Resource Network of New Jersey that provides education and training regarding nutrition and fitness to people with disabilities and their family caregivers. Excellent resource for nutritionist and trainer information for an undeserved population within our community. http://www.getfitnj.org/

An Inconvenient Truth is a documentary released in 2006, based on former Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens regarding global warming and the impact on our environment.  Global warming impacts the quality of our health as well as our food.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcLG-tcMvyg

Food Matters: A guide to Conscious Eating. A symposium presented by the Museum of Science,  Boston in 2011. This lecture presented by Mark Bittman, drives home the points regarding sustainability, and why the American Standard Diet is just not working. He speaks to small changes you can  make on a daily basis to change your diet, your life and the world. Please enjoy!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiEhFvysQGI