As part of a new program to increase fresh fruit and vegetable consumption, health care providers in Massachusetts and Maine are now offering vouchers worth $1 per day to members of low income families.  Read more.

You may be used to the traditional way of eating Lima beans as a side or over rice, but this nutritious legume can stand on its own and serve as a complement to many delicious recipes.  While Lima beans can be bought fresh during the summer and fall, they are are always available canned, dried or frozen. However you can get them, they make for a great addition to a any menu of healthy food options. Check out these 5 delicious recipes that cast Lima beans in a new light.

Fiber - plant material that your body is not able to completely digest - is an important part of a healthy diet. Fiber helps lower blood cholesterol and sugar levels, may help prevent hemerrhoids, and can even aid in weight loss. The National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine recommends that men eat between 30-40 grams of fiber per day and women eat 20-25 grams per day. Many everyday fresh fruits, vegetables, and beans are high in fiber and make it easy to increase the amount of fiber in your diet. Read more.

A new 5 year study of 370,000 Europeans has shown that meat eaters are more likely to gain weight than non-meat eaters, even when they consume the same number of calories per day. After controlling for other factors that could affect weight gain, such as smoking habits and physical activity, the study found that eating an extra 250 grams of meater per day would result in gaining an extra 4.4 pounds over 5 years on average. Read more.

Urban farming is starting to catch on in neighborhoods across the Greater New Orleans area. These farms, located in the middle of city neighborhoods, are a valubale source of fresh and healthy produce, an important role because many vegetables and other healthy foods can be difficult to find in some neighborhoods. Click here to read more about some of New Orleans’ urban farmers. Click here for tips and resources on starting your own urban farm. For more information on urban farms in New Orleans, visit the New Orleans Food and Farm Network at www.noffn.org

Elsewhere in New Orleans, Liberty’s Kitchen was selected to be the provider of school lunch for New Orleans College Prep in Central City. Liberty’s Kitchen is an organization that trains at-risk teenagers for careers in the food-service industry and provides them with educational and job placement services. Liberty’s Kitchen will focus on providing New Orleans College Prep students with nutritious meals with a local flavor that will be freshly cooked daily in the school’s cafeteria, focusing on using whole grains, low fat dairy products and fresh fruits and vegetables. Read more.

Summer is a great time to enjoy fresh salads. By venturing beyond traditional spinach and lettuce-based salads, your taste buds can reach new heights. These summer salad recipes include healthy and flavorful vegetable and bean mixtures that include whole grains like edamame, fresh corn, and quinoa. And remember, if you plan to make a pasta salad, make sure to use whole wheat pasta! Click here to get all 5 recipes.

In this video, “Food Addictions, Toxic Hunger, and Weight Loss,” Dr. Joel Fuhrman explains a simple truth: fad and portion control diets don’t work in the long run. The best way to achieve optimal health (and weight loss) is to minimize intake of foods like animal protein, sugar, processed foods, and caffeine - all of which feed toxic food addictions. Instead, aim for a largely plant-based diet that provides important micronutrients and fewer calories (even when you eat a lot of them!) while helping you feel full and satisfied. Click here to watch the lecture.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has passed new egg safety rules designed to reduce the number of salmonella cases nationally. Under the new rules, large egg producers - who account for 80% of all eggs sold - can only buy chickens from suppliers who test for salmonella, must test the animals’ living spaces regularly for the bacteria, and must refrigerate eggs at 45 degrees Fahrenheit during storage and transportation. The FDA expects these regulations to prevent 79,000 cases of food-borne illness and 30 salmonella related deaths per year. Read more.

According to a new report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), a 4% national tax on sugary beverages would help Americans lose weight by forcing them to buy fewer unhealthy drinks. The report said that such a tax would cause American adults to reduce their daily consumption of calories from sugary drinks by 37 per day, and that children would save 43 calories daily. This may not seem like a lot of calories, but over a year they could add up to almost 4 pounds saved, enough to reduce the national obesity rate by 3% and the overweight rate by 4.5%. These data show how much of an impact sugary drinks like soda and fruit juice can have on health. Read more.

Hosting a big cookout this weekend? Remember to be cautious when preparing and serving your food. Large gatherings, especially when food is served outdoors in the summer, are a common source of outbreaks of food-borne illness. Warm days can bring food to ideal temperatures for bacteria to grow, and contamination of utensils can occur when many people prepare food at the same time. Remember to always wash your hands before and after preparing food, separate different foods on different serving plates, and keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Learn more.