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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, June 21, 2001

The Left Lane
Rearrange your plate for a healthier diet

The American Institute for Cancer Research recommends eating more vegetables, reducing consumption of meat and adding more whole grains to your daily diet.
It's being called "The New American Plate" and it calls for giving a makeover to the old standard of a dinner plate that's one-third meat, one-third starch and one-third vegetables. Change your thinking, say the folks at the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C.: Shrink the meat portion, double the vegetables and add a whole grain.

That old standard fails to qualify as a healthy meal, providing way too many calories overall and too many from fat in particular.

"We're talking about a subtle transition, not a sudden or radical change," said spokeswoman Melanie Polk from the institute. "Simply shift the traditional meal around a bit, so that at least two-thirds of the plate contains the kind of tasty, satisfying, plant-based foods that actively fight chronic disease, while one-third or less contains meat, poultry or fish."

— Beverly Creamer, Advertiser staff writer

Teen diabetics plead for research money

Hawai'i teens Emalia Pietsch, 16, of Honolulu, and Ricky Mead, 13, of Kailua-Kona, will join 200 young people with diabetes in Washington, D.C., June 24-27 with the hope of persuading Congress to spend more money on diabetes research.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International Children's Congress 2001 brings together young people with diabetes from every state in a unified effort to make a difference in research support. About $450 million is appropriated by Congress annually, while the foundation raises another $120 million from private giving.

While President Bush already has announced an increase in financing, the amounts fall short of expectations.

"If there's no research, there's no cure," Pietsch said. "It won't just pop up. Insulin helps me manage my blood sugar, but it doesn't fix my pancreas."

Said Ricky's mother, Debbie Lebo: "Being a mother of a diabetic child has made me realize how others take for granted the simple things of childhood . . . like having an ice cream with your son."

— Beverly Creamer

Actor to actor

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, an Anahola, Kaua'i, resident who has made it big in films (latest release: "Pearl Harbor"), will conduct two workshops for actors, from 9 a.m. to noon Sunday (for beginners) and from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday (for intermediate and advanced levels) at the O'ahu Club pavilion, 6800 Hawai'i Kai Drive.

Tagawa has starred in "Rising Sun," "Mortal Kombat," "Planet of the Apes," "The Last Emperor," "Snow Falling on Cedars," "Picture Bride" and "The Phantom" and, on TV, episodes of "Nash Bridges."

The beginners' seminar includes a Q&A session; the advanced version has some prerequisites and requires intensive readings. Cost: $125 and $60. Registration and information: Chanell Akamine at 847-0556.

— Wayne Harada, Advertiser entertainment editor