Mercato Announces Launch of Thriving Communities Program, eCommerce Platform Increases Healthy Food Access and Grows Small Businesses in Low-Income Communities

Initial roll-out in New York City proves program increases sales for the independent grocer while providing residents with greater choice and convenience. Platform can accelerate online SNAP purchases and provide other healthy food incentives.

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Mercato, the nation’s leading eCommerce platform for independent grocers, has announced its new initiative to improve access to healthy foods and foster economic stability in low-income communities.

Thriving Communities works with local governments, private funders and non-profits to bring more grocers onto the eGrocery platform so they can digitize their inventory, offer delivery and enable enrollment and utilization of SNAP online.

It creates what founder and CEO Bobby Brannigan calls “The Mercato Effect” – whereby grocers going online provides residents access to healthy, culturally appropriate foods and the ability to redeem public/private food benefits which in turn creates more jobs, increases grocers’ sales and keeps dollars circulating within the community.

“As the son of an independent grocer in Brooklyn, I know first-hand how critical these independent, local grocers are to the economic and social well-being of their communities,” said Brannigan. “They are the lifeline for so many residents to get fresh, healthy, culturally relevant foods without having to travel far or wait weeks to go to the market. By giving local grocers the tools and technologies to operate online, they can increase their own revenue and fuel healthier ecosystems throughout the country.”

New York City was the first city to partner with Mercato, leveraging Thriving Communities to test a technological pilot that offered subsidized groceries to a cohort of New Yorkers.

“The pandemic challenged food security in unprecedented ways,” said Kate MacKenzie, executive director, New York City Mayor’s Office of Food Policy. “Mercato’s innovative work piloting online grocery benefits making healthy, affordable groceries accessible to all New Yorkers, no matter where they live. New York City is proud to innovate with technology and public benefits, and we are thrilled that Mercato recognizes this too.”

“Getting onto the Mercato platform was game-changing for our store and our shoppers,” said Gustavo Rodriguez of Key Food Stadium, located in the Bronx. “Our sales are increasing literally every day, especially fresh produce, and the technology and service Mercato provides enables us to fulfill orders seamlessly and with the same personal attention and care that our shoppers need and deserve. It feels incredible to be feeding and helping low-income residents in our community.”

Mercato is looking to expand Thriving Communities by finding and collaborating with partners in other cities including Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

For more about Mercato Thriving Communities, the impact it can have and how to get involved visit www.mercato.com/thrive

About Mercato

Mercato is an eCommerce and local delivery platform that provides thousands of independent grocers across the country with the tools and technologies they need to stay competitive in the marketplace. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, it was founded by Bobby Brannigan, the son of a neighborhood grocer in Brooklyn, who saw his father needed to modernize his inventory and delivery systems to stay in business and better serve his shoppers. Since launching in 2015 Mercato has brought more than 1,500 stores across the country onto the platform.

Press Contact:  Richard Shea, Shea Communications (917) 584-3542

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SOURCE Mercato

5 Healthy Eating Habits To Stick By

Shedding kilos whilst setting up muscle mass is no smaller feat. These popular health and fitness ambitions are difficult adequate on their possess, but seeking to execute them concurrently can be overpowering. Doing so involves discipline, perseverance, consistency, and really hard work. Nonetheless, you can physical exercise with monk-like self-control and clockwork regularity, do hours of cardio, and raise all the weights in the gym, but if your eating behavior and nutrition aren’t dialed in, you happen to be carrying out all that for nothing. The superior information is that producing wholesome feeding on behaviors to fuel your physical fitness and weight loss targets is not as difficult as you’d feel. Today, we are below to share some sound ingesting patterns to lose weight and gain muscle. If you are intrigued, preserve looking through.

Most importantly, creating excellent taking in routines will not indicate you have to obsessively rely energy, stress about every single bite of foods, or adjust your entire way of ingesting. Nor do they imply removing comfort foodstuff and sacrificing all your favored foods. Instead, they concentration more on learning to take in intuitively and tweaking your diet about time until finally you start out savoring and craving healthy full food items that aid you burn body fat and lose lbs when making lean muscle.

If you might be on the lookout for specialist ideas and guidance to support get you started on your fat-reduction-muscle mass-building journey, we’ve received you protected. We spoke with registered dietitians who share some wonderful taking in routines backed by science to aid you reduce excess weight and attain muscle. Retain examining to master the most effective techniques to boost your taking in behaviors so you can quit chasing unattainable aims and make your physical fitness dreams a truth.

5 Healthy Eating Habits To Stick By
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It appears counterintuitive, but feeding on additional can basically aid your pounds decline ambitions. Oh, and really don’t skip foods like breakfast! “Feel it or not, commonly consuming in smaller portions can help with bodyweight reduction. This is because your human body is in equilibrium and continuously obtaining vitamins to stay in stability,” claims Bianca Garcia, RDN, registered dietitian nutritionist with Overall health Canal. “Skipping meals can bring about you to gain bodyweight. By the time you take in, you’re generally so hungry you could end up taking in additional than you should really.”

Feeding on smaller sized, more repeated meals through the working day can help you shed pounds and develop lean muscle mass by boosting your body’s fat-burning prospective. Purpose to consume tiny, nutritionally-balanced meals that contains nutritious carbs, proteins, and fat every single a few hrs or so. Protein in certain encourages bodyweight decline and is vital for muscle mass protein synthesis, in accordance to study. If you you should not try to eat sufficient, your body can enter starvation manner, which hinders pounds reduction and muscle obtain. Starvation method results in your overall body to preserve energy, retail store body fat, and melt away muscle for electrical power instead of body fat.

Related: Get rid of 10 Lbs . in a Thirty day period With This Bodyweight Exercise routine Trainers Really like

couple cooking healthy meal at home to lose weight and gain muscle
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Kimberly Gomer, MS, RD, LDN, Director of Nourishment at Pritikin Longevity Centre + Spa, tells Eat This, Not That!, “Cooking at home is a terrific way to decrease the range of foods you eat out or order in. That way, you have fewer temptation to get meals that are harmful. When you prepare dinner at residence, not only do you save revenue, but you control what’s in your meals and know accurately what you are feeding on.”

Several studies have observed that a “increased frequency of cooking and taking in at household is linked with much healthier eating plan excellent, less calories eaten, and better pounds decline,” according to an investigation released in the Diet Journal. Yet another pro suggestion for cooking at house is to make sauces from scratch. Rather of using retailer-acquired or speedy foods sauces loaded with additional sugars, sodium, and calorie-dense oils, make your sauces at home with a base produced from cashew, tahini, avocado, or any other healthy full food items.

fiber foods concept
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If you had been to decide on 1 nutrient for over-all health and fitness that was the king (or queen) of all other vitamins, you would be tough-pressed to come across a greater contender than fiber. Apart from creating you come to feel comprehensive and increasing digestion, fiber plays a very important job in pounds loss, according to investigate revealed in the Journal of Nourishment. In accordance to WebMD, fiber slows down digestion and boosts your blood sugar. This will help cut down cravings and avoid overeating.

When fiber won’t immediately have an effect on muscle advancement, feeding on fiber-abundant food items increases your all round wellbeing and functionality, allowing you to get the job done out longer and more durable to melt away body fat and attain muscle mass. “Fiber can be identified in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and entire grain meals. Superior fiber ingestion can assist restrict sugar and excess fat absorption into your overall body. This, in transform, can lower the calories the entire body absorbs,” claims Garcia.

Associated: Try to eat These Superior-Fiber Snacks Every single Working day for Pounds Decline, Dietitian States

junk food
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One particular of the most strong ingesting behavior you can develop for any overall health or fitness target is getting rid of or limiting ultra-processed foodstuff in your diet regime. In accordance to the Nationwide Institutes of Wellness (NIH), “extremely-processed meals” involve substances discovered predominantly in industrial food manufacturing, such as large-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, emulsifiers, and flavoring agents. These foods are significant contributors to excess weight gain and can spike your risk of long-term ailment.

“Steer clear of anything at all packaged with a extensive component checklist, including sugar, processed vegetable seed oils, processed grains, substances, and additives,” advises Gomer. “These food items induce inflammation and fat achieve. In addition, the food stuff industry purposely results in combinations of salt, sugar, and fats that turn into addictive, but can’t offer satiety.”

vegan bowl plant protein
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In buy to drop pounds and achieve muscle mass, take in foods packed with plant-primarily based protein. The most effective sources incorporate legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas), soy goods (tofu, tempeh, edamame, soy milk), quinoa, seitan, nuts, and seeds.

“When broken down into amino acids, protein becomes the building blocks of tissue advancement, like muscle tissues,” points out Garcia. “Most men and women assume meats and poultry are the best resources of protein, but unfortunately, these also occur with cholesterol which can result in cardiovascular difficulties. Plant-based proteins are organic, clean up, and are a wholesome source of nutritional vitamins and minerals.”

7 Day Healthy Meal Plan (Nov 21-27)

posted November 18, 2022 by Gina

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

A free 7-day, flexible weight loss meal plan including breakfast, lunch and dinner ideas and a shopping list. All recipes include macros and links to WW recipe builder to get your personal points.

7 Day Healthy Meal Plan (Nov 21-27)

7 Day Healthy Meal Plan

Thanksgiving! If you have been watching my Instagram stories you know I have been planning and prepping for the big day! Check out some of my favorite recipes for this holiday like my Dry Brine Turkey that I will start this Sunday (it’s a 4-day brine), Chicken Sausage and
Herb Stuffing, and for dessert my and for dessert my No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake! I hope you all have a day filled with love, family, friends and good food!

With grocery prices soaring, many of us are having to adjust, scale back and/or get more creative with our meals. One of the absolute BEST ways to stay within a budget and maintain healthy eating habits is to MEAL PLAN. You can get more 5-day Budget Friendly Meal Plans by signing up for Relish+ (get a 14-day free trial here!)

Ultimate Skinnytaste Meal Planner

Skinnytaste Ultimate Meal Planner

I’m also excited to share the Skinnytaste Ultimate Meal Planner is now available! The 52 week spiral bound meal planner has weekly meal planning grids you can tear out and put on your fridge if you wish, a 12-week meal plan, 30 (15 new) recipes, and tear-out grocery lists. I love starting my week with gratitude, affirmations and intentions, so I included a space for that as well. I hope you will love this as much as I do!

Skinnytaste Ultimate Meal Planner

Buy the meal planner here:

A note about WW Personal Points:

I no longer provide points since they vary on the new Weight Watchers plans but I do provide links to WW Personal points recipe builder for all recipes. Look for the orange button in the recipe card says my WW personal points. Click on that and it takes you to the Weight Watchers website where you can see the WW points and add it to your day (US only, you must be logged into your account). All cookbook recipes in the cookbook index are also updated!

About The Meal Plan

If you’re new to my meal plans, I’ve been sharing these free, 7-day flexible healthy meal plans (you can see my previous meal plans here) that are meant as a guide, with plenty of wiggle room for you to add more food, coffee, beverages, fruits, snacks, dessert, wine, etc. or swap recipes out for meals you prefer, you can search for recipes by course in the index. Depending on your goals, you should aim for at least 1500 calories* per day. There’s no one size fits all, this will range by your goals, your age, weight, etc.

There’s also a precise, organized grocery list that will make grocery shopping so much easier and much less stressful. Save you money and time. You’ll dine out less often, waste less food and you’ll have everything you need on hand to help keep you on track.

Lastly, if you’re on Facebook join my Skinnytaste Facebook Community where everyone’s sharing photos of recipes they are making, you can join here. I’m loving all the ideas everyone’s sharing! If you wish to get on the email list, you can subscribe here so you never miss a meal plan!

Meal Plan:

Breakfast and lunch Monday-Friday, are designed to serve 1 while dinners and all meals on Saturday and Sunday are designed to serve a family of 4. Some recipes make enough leftovers for two nights or lunch the next day. The grocery list is comprehensive and includes everything you need to make all meals on the plan.

MONDAY (11/21)
B: 1 egg plus ½ cup egg white scrambled with 1 thin slice whole grain toast and ½ a grapefruit
L: Asian Chicken Chopped Salad
D: Creamy Roasted Acorn Squash Soup with Kale Salad with Quinoa and Cranberries

Total Calories: 984*

TUESDAY (11/22)
B: 1 egg plus ½ cup egg white scrambled with 1 thin slice whole grain toast and ½ a grapefruit
L: LEFTOVER Asian Chicken Chopped Salad
D: Cheesy Rotisserie Enchilada Skillet

Total Calories: 1,075*

WEDNESDAY (11/23)
B: High-Protein Enchilada Scrambled Eggs
L: LEFTOVER Asian Chicken Chopped Salad
D: One-Pot Spaghetti and Meat Sauce with 2 cups arugula, ½ ounce shaved parmesan and 1 tablespoon light
balsamic vinaigrette

Total Calories: 1,067*

THURSDAY (11/24)
B: Savory Cottage Cheese Bowl
L: Mini Greek Spinach Pies and Stuffed Mushrooms with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage
D: Herb and Salt-Rubbed Dry Brine Turkey, Roasted Green Beans with Caramelized Onions, Chicken Sausage and
Herb Stuffing, Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes, Cranberry Pear Sauce and Vanilla Sweet Potato Casserole with Praline
Topping

Total Calories: 1,325*

FRIDAY (11/25)
B: Savory Cottage Cheese Bowl
L: Leftover Turkey Harvest Cobb Salad (recipe x 2)
D: Turkey Pot Pie Soup with a whole grain roll

Total Calories: 969*

SATURDAY (11/26)
B: Leftover Turkey and Sweet Potato Frittata
L: Navel Orange Salad with Avocado with 3 ounces cooked shrimp
D: DINNER OUT

Total Calories: 533*

SUNDAY (11/27)
B: Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats
L: Open Faced Turkey Melts with 8 baby carrots
D: Seattle Asian Salmon Bowls

Total Calories: 921*

*This is just a guide, women should aim for around 1500 calories per day. Here’s a helpful calculator to estimate your calorie needs. I’ve left plenty of wiggle room for you to add more food such as coffee, beverages, fruits, snacks, dessert, wine, etc.

*Google doc

New YouTube Channel “Healthy Dinner Recipes and Ideas with Kelly” Helps Busy Families Plan Nutritious Meals

Kelly DePadro started her YouTube channel with the motivation of teaching people to make great, healthy recipes for dinner without spending too much time preparing and cooking the food.

ATLANTA, Nov. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — The “Healthy Dinner Recipes and Ideas with Kelly” YouTube channel hopes to inspire and equip home chefs with a more intentional, creative and enjoyable cooking experience. Kelly DePadro’s main goal is to help others serve meals that the entire family will enjoy and prepare food the way God intended it to be. As a devout Christian, Kelly believes that we need to be intentional with the food we consume to take care of our health. In the world today, it is not always easy with many temptations for fast, premade meals with preservatives and other unhealthy additives that offer a lack of nutrients. She believes that nuts, vegetables, fruits and grains that are organic in nature are what the body needs to stay in prime condition. Her helpful videos show how simple it is to follow her meal plans from start to finish. Some of her delicious, easy-to-prep dinner recipes she demonstrates include one pot creamy Italian chicken pasta, chicken tortilla soup, Italian meatballs and sauce, baked rice and sweet treats, such as homemade cinnamon swirl bread and coconut chia seed pudding. The recipes shared on the “Healthy Dinner Recipes and Ideas with Kelly” channel use only the healthiest of ingredients and her step-by-step demonstrations are simple for anyone to follow.

Link to YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@healthy-dinner-recipes-ideas/videos

“The purpose of the “Healthy Dinner Recipes and Ideas with Kelly” channel is to help families achieve physical, mental and spiritual health, through wholesome, fast and low prep meals,” says Kelly DePadro.

More about Kelly DePadro:
As a busy mother of three, Kelly DePadro, discovered a way to make dishes that all of her family members love by developing easy, quick and healthy recipes. Friends and family kept asking for her culinary secrets, so she started her “Healthy Dinner Recipes and Ideas with Kelly” YouTube channel. She hopes to help others dine on tasty, nourishing meals with little effort involved and just a few ingredients.

Media Contact

Kelly DePadro, Healthy Dinner Recipes and Ideas with Kelly, 678-595-2877, kellydepadro@gmail.com

SOURCE Healthy Dinner Recipes and Ideas with Kelly

Does bread have cholesterol? White bread, rye and more

Bread does not generally contain cholesterol, but varieties that include animal products, such as milk and butter, do contain cholesterol. White bread and other types made from refined grains may raise a person’s cholesterol levels.

Bread is a staple food for many different cultures, and there are hundreds of unique types.

Some varieties of bread contain dietary cholesterol, while others may raise LDL, or “bad”, cholesterol levels in the blood. However, studies suggest dietary cholesterol has little effect on blood cholesterol levels.

This article further explains bread and cholesterol, the role of whole grains in managing cholesterol, and how people can follow a healthy diet to lower the risk of heart disease.

The cholesterol content of bread depends on certain factors.

There are two types of cholesterol: one in the blood and another in food, known as dietary cholesterol.

Most bread is made with flour, water, and yeast and contains no cholesterol. But some types are made using animal products with high levels of saturated fats, which often contain cholesterol.

Additionally, bread made from white or refined grains can raise LDL cholesterol levels. We explore this in further detail below.

Saturated and trans fats

Some varieties of bread contain animal products such as milk, butter, or eggs, which contain saturated fat.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), foods higher in saturated fats usually contain lots of cholesterol.

However, dietary cholesterol has little effect on a person’s blood cholesterol. Saturated and trans fats in foods have a greater effect on increasing a person’s cholesterol levels.

Learn more about types of fat.

Below is a table of the approximate cholesterol and saturated fat content of various types of bread.

White bread

White bread contains refined bread flour — a process that removes the bran and germ to give the flour a finer texture.

However, the process also removes essential nutrients such as:

Therefore, manufacturers add in vitamins by “enriching” refined flour but do not replace the fiber.

This lack of fiber means that white bread is less likely to make a person feel full and more likely to overeat. Refined grains, also known as refined carbohydrates, are also digested more quickly by the body, which can raise blood sugar levels.

A person with high blood sugar levels is more likely to have higher LDL cholesterol levels and lower HDL, or good, cholesterol.

Learn more about the difference between LDL and HDL cholesterol.

Types of white bread include:

  • ciabatta
  • white pitta bread
  • white baguettes
  • focaccia
  • white sourdough
  • white wheat tortillas
  • flatbread
  • white sandwich loaf

Whole grain bread contains all the nutrients and fiber from grains, making it a good dietary fiber source.

The CDC states that fiber prevents the body from taking in some fat and cholesterol. This can lower triglyceride levels — another type of fat in the blood — and cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease.

A 2019 study also found that replacing white bread, which has a high glycemic index (GI) with wholemeal bread, which has a low GI, for breakfast slowed the body’s glycemic response. Research links higher blood sugar levels with high levels of LDL cholesterol.

Types of whole grain bread include those made with the following:

  • whole wheat
  • whole barley
  • brown rice
  • whole grain oats
  • rolled oats
  • sprouted grains
  • whole rye
  • multi whole grains

Learn more about what makes whole grains so healthy.

Here are some answers to common questions about bread and cholesterol.

Does rye bread have cholesterol?

Rye bread does not have dietary cholesterol, as it does not contain butter or other animal products.

Does gluten-free bread have cholesterol?

Gluten-free bread made with animal products, such as milk, butter, or eggs, may contain some cholesterol.

Learn more about the best gluten-free bread.

Bread is a staple of many people’s diets worldwide. While most types of bread do not contain dietary cholesterol, some may include animal products high in saturated fats. Foods that are high in saturated fats are usually high in dietary cholesterol.

However, studies have shown that dietary cholesterol has little effect on blood cholesterol levels. Saturated fat is more likely to increase LDL cholesterol levels in our blood, along with refined carbohydrates such as white bread.

People should try to increase their fiber intake, including eating more whole grain bread types, which can help to lower cholesterol levels. This can reduce a person’s risk of stroke and heart attack.

Steel Magnolia takes on farming, creates healthy food haven for community

LORAIN, Ohio — According to the USDA, there are currently millions of independent farmers across the nation, and the majority of them are white men. Yet, Steel Magnolia chef and owner, Shontae Jackson, is beating the odds by becoming a small independent farm owner in Lorain.

“I had thought about this way before like before the food truck, before our restaurant and catering event space,” Jackson said. “I couldn’t do this by myself; it’s a collaboration of building relationships to better build our nutritional standpoint and our health.”

Across the nation, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) counted about 3.2 million farmers in its 2019 census report. However, less than 2{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} were Black. The odds are even more staggering for Jackson, owner of Steel Magnolia food truck, restaurant and catering space. The Black woman owner with Mississippi roots is now joining the one percent of Black female farm operators and producers In America, according to a 2017 USDA census.

Jackson says her inspiration and encouragement to make her childhood dream a reality came from her father who is a U.S. Army veteran. Her father’s veteran status is what allowed her to become eligible for a Rid All Green Partnership program to learn more about farming, nutrition, and how to heal the community.

“I grew up like this, being on my dad‘s silver little tractor you know picking berries and eating fresh cucumbers,” she said. “I want to implement everything my father has taught me, everything that I’m passionate about, and everything that Rid All has added onto me and take it to a whole ‘nother level.”

As a gift from the Lorain County Port Authority five months ago, Jackson was given a vacant plot of land on Clifton Avenue, which she has now transformed into “Steel Farm and Garden.” Jackson says the actual farm, where fresh and organic foods are grown, is about .25 acres.

Community Food Haven

Jackson says creating Steel Farm and Garden is her way of helping remedy food deserts, food costs, and lack of nutrition awareness, especially in Black and brown households.

“Not everybody can reach organic, healthy growing food,” she said. “Things that help us reduce our glue close levels, our blood pressure, now we’re implementing that and we’re growing things to reflect that.”

Jackson says all of the food grown on the farm is free to the community.

“In regenerating ourselves and becoming one with everything, we regenerate our community,” she explained…changing the way we think about our food and combat disease, combat COVID, combat anything else that may come and regenerate ourselves,” she said. “When they see the food truck up and we’re giving out food and things like that, it’s somewhere they can feel like they’re a part of a bigger collective and something that is for them.”

Steel Farm and Garden: The Non-Profit

Jackson has already implemented community outreach through the farm’s “Socks and Soups” initiative, which provides free soup and new socks to veterans. However, she says she wants to do more by establishing the farm as a non-profit.

“We are looking at that sector to help us build more, do more and be more present in the community.”

Jackson says community support and demand at the farm will help reach this next goal. She hopes more people will visit and take home fresh foods.

Steel Farm and Garden is located at 3618 Clifton Avenue in Lorain, Ohio. To donate or to learn more, email chefshontae@gmail.com or call 440-222-6047.