One of my co-workers received a mushroom kit as a Christmas gift last winter. They are becoming very trendy as “the gift that keeps on giving” because you can harvest 2-3 crops from the kit and they are an alternative to the more traditional fruit bouquets or cookie food gifts. If you enjoy gourmet mushrooms such as Portobello, Shiitake or Enoki varieties, you can grow them at home for a much lower cost.
Gourmet Mushroom Kits
Most mushroom growing kits usually consist of a 12 by 12 inch square block of compressed sawdust “medium” that has been enriched and inoculated with spawn of the particular mushroom variety being cultivated. Mushrooms, being fungi, do not grow like regular garden vegetables. They are generated from spores, not seeds. The growing medium may vary, depending on the type of mushroom in the kit. Manure and compost may also be used to start mushrooms.
Mushroom growing kits are low-maintenance. All they really need is fresh air, water, a decent location, and a little patience.
Harvesting Time
Once you harvest the first crop of gourmet mushrooms, you will probably generate 1-2 more crops. Allow the spawn to rest for a couple of weeks and then you can repeat the entire process to produce additional harvests.
The subsequent crops of mushrooms will tend to grow smaller and produce fewer mushrooms as the nutrients contained in the growing medium become depleted. Once the crops have finished producing, discard the compost (you can throw it in your mulch or dig it into garden beds). If you decide to get serious about growing your own mushrooms, you may want to take the next step which is growing mushrooms on logs.
Nutrition Tips
Mushrooms are high in potassium, which helps regulate blood pressure and counteract the bad effects of sodium in the diet. Mushrooms are low calorie and low carb; one cup of mushrooms contains about 15 calories and three grams of carbohydrates. They are virtually fat-free.
If you like the big Portobello mushrooms, they can be used as a meatless entrée as well as a side dish. Portobellos have huge, flat, open caps that lend themselves extremely well to being grilled. Eat one in place of a hamburger or steak to reduce your saturated fat intake and lower your risk for heart disease.
Sources:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/278858.php
https://www.popsci.com/mushrooms-health-benefits/
Written by: Donna Green, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, Ohio State University Extension, Erie County, [email protected]
Reviewed by: Beth Stefura, Extension Educator, Family & Consumer Sciences, Ohio State University Extension, Mahoning County, [email protected]
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September 16, 2019
Exercise | Live Healthy Live Well | Page 3
maximios Blog
When you exercise, you generate heat. If the exercise is vigorous or sustained, you produce so much heat that you become hot and sweaty. How many calories did you burn? Check your METS.
What is a MET?
MET stands for Metabolic Equivalent Task. One MET is equal to the rate you burn calories while you are sitting. Obviously, as you begin to move or exercise, you will burn more calories and this will increase your METS. Some of you may have noticed that the exercise equipment you currently use measures METS. If the treadmill, for example, shows five METS, then that means that you are burning calories at a rate five times faster than if you were sitting.
However, the actual number of calories a person burns varies based on age, weight and fitness level. As an example, let’s say you meet a group of women at the mall every morning for a one mile walk. Every one of the women walks the full distance, but some walk faster than the others. Those that can walk faster will acquire more METS.
METS and Disease Risk
To get enough exercise to reduce your risk for disease, you need to acquire 15-20 MET/hours per week. How can you do that? We’ll use walking as an example.
“Lady A” walks two miles every day in 30 minutes (15 minutes/mile). She will accrue 2 METS, because a person who can walk a 15 minute mile (which is pretty fast walking), gets 1 MET for every 15 minutes walked. Assuming she walks every day of the week, “Lady A” would accumulate 14 METS (2 METS x 7 days = 14 METS). However, since 15-20 is the goal, she should walk a little longer every day (say 45 minutes instead of 30), or walk her two miles at an even faster pace.
There are charts available to help you determine how many METS you accrue per activity, but remember they are predicated on speed and intensity of the workout.
Want to learn more?
For more information on METS, refer to the following sources. Dr. Susan Love has an excellent fact sheet on the relationship between METS and breast cancer.
As well, The Cooper Institute and Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas website provides healthy information in an easy-to-read format.
Written by: Donna Green, Family & Consumer Sciences Educator, Ohio State University Extension, Erie County, Erie Basin EERA, [email protected]
Reviewed by: Beth Stefura, Family & Consumer Sciences Educator, Ohio State University Extension, Mahoning County, [email protected]
Sources:
http://www.dslrf.org/pdfs/Great_Reads_MarieMurphyBCRisk.pdf
http://todayiwill.com/2012/04/met-minutes-a-simple-common-value-to-track-exercise-progress/
http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/answered-questions/what-exactly-does-moderate-intensity-mean
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