September 2009 HealthierYou Calendar

Fruits & Veggies-More Matters™

Key to the Matching Activity

• National 5 A Day Month
• Ovarian and Prostate Cancer Awareness Month
• National Cholesterol Education Month

Fact or Fiction

Being healthy and safe is very time consuming and it takes commitment.

Part Fiction, Part Fact: Being healthy and safe doesn’t have to be time consuming but it does take commitment.

Being healthy and safe require some simple measures that take little time. You won't necessarily see the rewards, such as the extra pounds you don't gain, the high blood pressure you won't get, or the emergency room visit you'll avoid!

Find out what you can do in five minutes or less to make a difference in your health and safety. Educate your family to these ideas and make them a family habit. Remember to Take a Family-Health Minute!

Taking just a few of the 1,440 minutes in a day is worth having a safer and healthier life. Here is a sample of things you can do to help protect yourself and your family:

• Wash hands
• Buckle up
• Test smoke alarms
• Take the stairs
• Make an appointment

For information please visit

• www.cdc.gov
• Finding Your Way to a Healthier You brochure
• The DASH Eating Plan (PDF-978k)
• www.MyPyramid.gov
• www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov

NASA in Your Life

Lifesaving Light

Special lighting technology developed for plant growth experiments on space shuttle missions is being studied to treat brain tumors in children. Doctors at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee are working with light emitting diodes in a treatment called photodynamic therapy, a form of chemotherapy, to kill cancerous tumors.

Please visit the www.sti.nasa.gov for more information.

Down-To-Earth

The Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a complex set of relationships among the living resources, habitats, and residents of an area. Everything that lives in an ecosystem is dependent on the other species and elements of that ecological community. When an ecosystem is healthy, it is called sustainable, whereby elements live in balance and are capable of reproducing themselves and maintaining biodiversity.

Many issues interfere with the delicate balance of the ecosystem. When one part is damaged or disappears, it has an impact on everything else. The following are two examples of this delicate balance:

1. A symbiotic relationship exists between coral and an alga called zooxanthellae. Coral reefs give the algae a safe home while the algae provide coral food and give them their beautiful color.
2. Coral and all shellfish need a certain level of calcium to make their hard shells. The increased CO2 in the atmosphere makes the oceans more acidic. The acidity reduces the amount of available calcium in the water affecting the coral and shellfish’s ability to build their protective skeletons.

For more information please visit forest.mtu.edu.

HealthierYou by Choice

The Romans and Egyptians introduced apples to Britain and finally to America. Today, Americans eat about 120 apples a piece each year.

In 1996, the National Apple Week was expanded to the National Apple Month with a three-month promotional window from September through November with the mission to increase apple sales by enhancing consumer awareness.

To learn more about the benefits of apples and to obtain recipes please visit:

• www.usapple.org
• www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov