New effort targets low-income families
By Anne Stokes Press Tribune Correspondent
Gopal Kapur was frustrated with what he saw on TV.
The Roseville Rotarian, Family Green Survival president and long-time cook by hobby was infuriated by lawmakers’ publicized attempts to live on limited food budgets in the same manner as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients, purchasing overly-processed and nutrition-poor foods.
“I was trying to slap the TV at that time! That is not what you go buy. You go buy beans, you go buy eggs, you go buy things that are cheap and have high nutrition,” he said. “And so that’s how it started. This experimentation, putting together a solution — that’s how it all came about, just trying to serve.”
His solution was to create the nutritious and easy to cook “BagOfLife” meals.
With the help of the Rotary Club of Roseville and pro bono advice from the Sutter Health nutrition department, Kapur developed several recipes: “GrandHotCereal,” “SoupOf Life,” “NuttyQuinoaPilaf,” and “LeanMeanBeanProtein.”
These pre-packaged foods include four meals for a family of four that require little more than water and heat to prepare, but they also meet the FDA daily recommended allowance for protein, fiber, and complex carbohydrates, minus excessive sodium and saturated fats.
And at an average price of 75 cents per serving, they’re cheap.
“Our quest is that within a week of eating, we replace many of the meals people eat from high-calorie, low-nutrition into very high-nutrition meals,” Kapur said. “We are also hoping that as a result of this, they’ll discriminate what they eat a little more. So if they eat lentils and they like it, then we hope that they’ll buy lentils and cook them themselves.”
Taste was another important component to take into consideration.
“We said we should test with children,” Kapur said. “If the children won’t eat it, the (parents) won’t cook it, and this stuff will be thrown away in the garbage.”
Taste tests were conducted at the North Roseville REC Center and the Roseville Home Start facility.
“And the only thing we told people was ‘you are free to spit it out. But if you spit it out tell us what you didn’t like,’” he said. “And to my surprise, and to the parents’ delight, kids came back for seconds and thirds.”
This year, his goal was to create 50 “BagOfLife” meals to distribute to local families through the Home Start and REC Center programs.
Employees from the firm of Westlake, Grahl, and Glover in Granite Bay donated their office space and time to help package the meals on Saturday, Nov. 19.
The effort was coordinated by Megan Boespflug, manager and fellow member of the Rotary Club of Roseville.
“It’s a great program,” she said. “We’re glad that we can support it as a firm. He’s trying to get it launched and off the ground, so if a small firm like Westlake, Grahl, and Glover can assist in that effort, we love to step up and do that.”
Jessica Bergem, a receptionist with the firm, brought her two daughters to volunteer with her.
“I think it’s a great thing to be able to help people and I wanted my kids to experience something, too. We had talked about trying to volunteer this year and doing something good for other people and this was just a really good opportunity.”
Food for a healthy American diet
Roseville resident hosts program to promote a healthy-heart, low-calorie diet By Sena Christian, The Press Tribune
Gopal Kapur prepares an Italian fish dish, Indian chicken dish and Moroccan cauliflower dish at his Roseville home Thursday. Kapur will host a free discussion about nutrition and healthy eating Aug. 17 at Sun City. Photo by Cole Allen
A few days after moving to the United States in 1962, Gopal Kapur went to dinner at his college dormitory’s cafeteria.
Kapur, who grew up in India, couldn’t speak English well at the time, so he simply nodded his head when servers asked if he wanted an item. He ended up with a slice of white meat, white bread and gravy on his plate.
“In India, food is very colorful,” Kapur said. “This was all one gray color.”
He used to eat healthy and tasty dishes prepared by his mother, a religious vegetarian who could cook for 30 days and never repeat a meal. He wasn’t ready for the unhealthy, bland foods typical of the American diet.
“It was a surreal experience,” he said.
At that moment, Kapur decided to learn how to cook with the help of recipes sent by his mother back in India. What followed has been more than 40 years of cooking nutritious food as a hobby and, more importantly, a lifestyle.
The Roseville resident will share his knowledge during a “Stop Killing Yourself” discussion, which he designed to promote a healthy-heart, diabetes-appropriate and low-calorie diet. The program is part of FamilyGreenSurvival, Inc. an organization founded by Kapur and his wife. The Rotary of Roseville-sponsored event is free and open to the public.
The event comes at a critical time, as a report released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that almost three in every 10 adults — or 26.7 percent — are now statistically obese. That’s up from 25.6 percent in 2007. A recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey estimated the American obesity rate to be 33.9 percent.
Gopal Kapur prepares an Italian fish dish, Indian chicken dish and Moroccan cauliflower dish at his Roseville home Thursday. Kapur will host a free discussion about nutrition and healthy eating Aug. 17 at Sun City. Photo by Cole Allen
About 2.4 million more American adults have reported becoming obese since 2007, according to the report. African Americans and Hispanics are especially hard hit. Additionally, annual medical costs linked to obesity have skyrocketed to nearly $150 billion.
The current generation of children may be the first in the nation’s history to live shorter lives than their parents.
Kapur blames the obesity epidemic, in large part, on our eating habits. Americans increased their daily caloric consumption by 47 percent in the last three decades.
“We are (obese) from purely two reasons: added sugar and fast food,” Kapur said. “Why is it we are putting our children in that type of danger? Because we don’t want to cook and eat well?”
Basically, Kapur said, Americans eat junk food laden with tons of calories, sugar, sodium and free radicals, but about zero nutritional value. He said 21 percent of our daily calories come from added sugar and that a person consumes about 150 pounds of sugar a year, which equates to 6.6 ounces a day.
“It’s just a human killer — the amount of sugar we eat,” he said.
Americans also don’t scrimp on meat, he said, scarfing down 220 pounds per person a year, which is an increase of 76 pounds from 1950.
“We eat meat as if it’s going out of style,” Kapur said.
Gopal Kapur uses olive oil, lemon juice and Moroccan spices to make this steamed-cauliflower dish, which takes five minutes to prepare. He also made an Indian chicken dish and Italian fish dish Thursday. Photo by Cole Allen
A poor diet compromises a person’s immune system and opens the body up to chronic illness and disease, he said. During his research, Kapur learned that an estimated 300,000 deaths in the United States a year are associated with poor nutrition, obesity and resulting high rates of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer. He also happened upon the Central Intelligence Agency’s life-expectancy fact sheet.
“I thought the U.S. would be in the first 10, but it wasn’t there,” Kapur said. “I looked at the next 10 and it wasn’t there.”
The United States ranks 49th on the list of worldwide life-expectancy rates, below Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Puerto Rico and Jordan.
“I was wondering what the difference is,” Kapur said. “We have more education, more money, but we don’t have more nutrition. They have more nutrition.”
The Stop Killing Yourself program is designed to help change the nation’s food habits. Kapur developed breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack recipes based on high-quality, low-fat proteins, whole grains, healthy oils, immune system boosting herbs and spices, and fresh fruits and vegetables.
During his presentation, he will discuss topics centered on health awareness, nutritional knowledge and our obsession with super-sized fast food among other topics. He’ll offer 10 pieces of advice on how to eat better, which includes consuming more fruits and vegetables rich in antioxidants and less processed foods.
“That’s my quest for people to become more nutritionally aware and question what they eat,” Kapur said. “If I educate people about nutrition, I will accomplish my goal.”
Sena Christian can be reached at senac@goldcountrymedia.com.
Americans’ eating habits:
· 45 percent of our daily calories come from fat
· 21 percent of our daily calories come from added sugar
· A person consumes about 150 pounds of sugar a year (6.6 ounces a day)
· Almost one out of every two adults has high blood pressure
· 33 percent of children born in 2000 are likely to develop diabetes
· A person consumes 220 pounds of meat a year
· Fewer than one in 10 Americans meet their recommended fruit, vegetable and legume consumption
· Average daily trans fat intake is 5.8 grams a day (maximum recommended is 2 grams)
· Americans eat two to three times the daily-recommended salt intake
Source: Gopal Kapur, Stop Killing Yourself program
Recipe for Gopal Kapur’s Tilapia and Red Bell Pepper, Italian Style
(Serves 4)
1-pound tilapia fillet, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon dry Italian seasoning, no salt
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, adjust to taste
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper, adjust to taste
2 tablespoons fresh herbs of choice, minced
Cooking spray
Heat a skillet over medium heat, add 1 teaspoon oil and swirl the pan to coat evenly and then coat the pan surface lightly with cooking spray. Add bell pepper and stir-fry about 4 minutes. Remove to a plate.
Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil in the same pan over medium heat; add tilapia, Italian seasoning, salt, paprika, red pepper flakes and cook, turning gently, for 3 minutes. Add the cooked bell pepper to the pan, turn to mix and cook for 3 to 4 minutes depending on the desired doneness of tilapia. Drizzle balsamic vinegar to coat evenly, garnish with black pepper and minced herbs.
From: SacBee Appetizers
May 20, 2010
Eating Right When the Budget is Tight
Talk to Gopal Kapur of Roseville (pictured above) and you'll hear him preach about healthy meal plans that promote social and environmental awareness - while keeping it tasty at the same time. I wrote a profile of Kapur and his "Family Green Survival" food program, an approach to eating that combined raw and natural foods and occasional days of "survival eating" (consuming between 800 to 1,000 calories, which reflects the intake of poor people around the world). Kapur's recently kicked off a new program called "EatingRightWhenTheBudget'sTight," which provides daily menus and recipes that amount to about $6 a day. Here's a sample:
Breakfast
French Toast, Fruit Syrup ($.75)
1% Milk, 1 Cup ($.18)
Orange Juice, 1 Cup ($.25)
Kapur's concocted more recipes for eating on $6 a day. To download them and learn about his other suggested food programs, visit www.familygreensurvival.com (Free membership required for recipe downloads).
Gopal Kapur was frustrated with what he saw on TV.
“Our quest is that within a week of eating, we replace many of the meals people eat from high-calorie, low-nutrition into very high-nutrition meals,” Kapur said. “We are also hoping that as a result of this, they’ll discriminate what they eat a little more. So if they eat lentils and they like it, then we hope that they’ll buy lentils and cook them themselves.”
The effort was coordinated by Megan Boespflug, manager and fellow member of the Rotary Club of Roseville.
Gopal Kapur prepares an Italian fish dish, Indian chicken dish and Moroccan cauliflower dish at his Roseville home Thursday. Kapur will host a free discussion about nutrition and healthy eating Aug. 17 at Sun City. Photo by Cole Allen
