Surviving the Season of Sweets Cookies, cakes, and pies, oh my! The holiday season is brimming with sweet treats of all kinds. Sometimes it can feel like candy and sugary desserts are around every corner, and yet you still want to indulge. However, when you consider that over 50 percent of Americans are insulin-resistant, prediabetic, or diabetic, that piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream starts to look more dangerous than appetizing. During the holidays, how can you satisfy your sweet tooth without worrying about consuming excessive sugar and calories? How to Indulge Your Sweet ToothWith Less Sugar
Skip the candy and go for the fruits and nuts. Keeping a bowl of fruit and nuts nearby can help keep sugar cravings at bay. Dried fruits, such as cranberries, pineapple, or apricots, are both sweet and nutritious. Just be sure to check the packaging for added sugars. You can even make your own dried fruit with a food dehydrator. This way, you are completely in control of the ingredients. No matter what you do, just be mindful not to overindulge. Dried fruit is high in sugar and calories, but the fiber and vitamins make fruit much healthier than just about any other sugary treat. Another way to cut down on your sugar intake is to use dark chocolate in all your chocolate-based treats. Dark chocolate has about half as much sugar as milk chocolate, twice as much healthy fat, less cholesterol, 4–5 times more iron, twice as much potassium, fewer carbs, and more flavonoids and theobromine. The antioxidant properties of the theobromine and flavonoids Success Story Winning Over the Mayor
make dark chocolate as good for your heart as it is for your soul. If you have a recipe that calls for chocolate, reach for the dark stuff, whether it’s dark chocolate chips, cocoa powder, or baking chocolate. While it may seem as though everyone and their grandma is overindulging in sugar this season, know that you have the choice to opt for healthier sweets. And come New Year’s, you won’t have to spend the first few months of 2019 working off that extra cookie weight.
It’s no secret: Mobile home parks (MHPs) aren’t always appreciated by local municipalities. They are sometimes viewed as eyesores or, in the worst cases, havens for criminal activity. In our years of working with these communities, we’ve found that some simple changes in
purchased by Lovejoy MHP, LLC (i.e., Kevin Bupp) and renamed Country Oaks. Lovejoy MHP made dramatic façade changes to the community and put in place an effective management system. They were able to drastically reduce the number of vacant homes in the park fairly quickly. In a matter of months, we saw a decrease in crime and a complete turnaround for the neighborhood. This convinced me that mobile homes were not the problem; it’s essentially about the management. The city and owners have an open line of communication, which has made a world of difference in resolving issues that were left untouched during the previous owner’s tenure. This community is now widely sought out in our area and has become a great choice for potential homebuyers. The park is located just a few hundred feet from our Municipal Building, and I no longer have to worry about this being an eyesore to our visitors. Lovejoy MHP has truly done wonders in revamping that community and have proven that they are great at what they do.
management style and an increased dialogue with local officials can do wonders to change public opinion. Here’s an excerpt from a letter one mayor wrote about our efforts to improve an MHP in his town. “For many years, the City of Lovejoy had a mobile home park that was unsightly and always an issue for the city and our police department. We had code enforcement complaints, petty crimes, and an all-around distaste for the happenings in this community. In 2013, the park was
–Bobby Cartwright Mayor, City of Lovejoy
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