Whether it’s a backlash of too much fast food, lack of variety or just a growing awareness of health issues, more and more Americans are beginning to become aware that a change of diet is in order. Of course, change happens slowly and this dietary change won’t happen overnight, but then we didn’t get where we are overnight either. A look back at the history of the United States since World War II shows a correlation between the rise in consumption of food prepared outside the home and the issue of weight gain.
There are several reasons for this rise in consumption of pre-prepared food items such as more families where both parents work, more single parent families, more disposable income, more pressure from time schedules where every member of the family has to be at some different destination at the same time, and let’s face it, just laziness when it comes to taking time to plan and prepare a meal. But whatever the reason might be, most folks are getting “fed up” with fast food. There is a resurgence in interest in spending time in the kitchen and in the art and science of cooking.
A quick look at the TV guide will show a preponderance of television shows about cooking. Cookbooks are accounting for a growing number of sales in bookstores. Sales of organically grown foodstuffs are also growing despite the extra costs, and magazines and books dealing with health issues continue to roll off the presses. The big plus for pecans is that nuts are being touted more and more as marvels of nature in their nutritional complexity.
The March 2007 issue of Men’s Health magazine has a graph on page 45 showing pecans to be at the top of the tree in antioxidants. The graph is taken from a USDA study of the antioxidant properties of nuts and pecans are far and away greater than any other nut in that respect. Pecans average 5.095 micrograms of antioxidants, far more than the next closest nut, which was the walnut at 3.846, and nearly twice as much at the third place hazelnut at 2.739. In fact, you could take the bottom six nuts listed on the graph and add them all together and still equal just a little over half of the micrograms of antioxidants that pecans have. That makes pecans a sort of super nut.
Nutritionists and health care professionals continue to discover more amazing properties of antioxidants and how they help increase health, prevent disease, even slow down the aging process. Last year, Cheryl Forberg, author of several books on aging and the dietitian for NBC’s television show The Biggest Looser, contacted the Texas Pecan Board for help and information for her latest book on anti-aging. Larry Don Womack, the newest member of the Texas Pecan Board said, “This is exactly why we need to continue to provide research and information for the media.”
Larry was appointed to the Texas Pecan Board in the fall of 2006 to fill the un-expired term of Kinley Sorrells. Larry said “My family has been in agricultural related business for generations and that is one thing that as producers we need to do a better job of marketing our products. That’s one reason why I wanted to serve on the Texas Pecan Board, to help get the word out about how good our product is.” He went on to say, “when we see articles like the one in Men’s Health or have opportunities to provide information to nutritional writers like Cheryl Forburg, we need to be right there with research data in hand, and the only way we can do that is by continuing to fund this type of research through programs like the Texas Pecan Check-off.”
He went on to say, “No serious business venture ever made any great strides without marketing and research, and the Ag business is no exception to that rule. We have to let consumers know that we have what they need to live a long and healthy life. The only way we can do that is by letting folks know we as agricultural producers have just what they have been looking for. It’s about being business smart.”
Larry should know about being business smart; he is a third generation nurseryman, from DeLeon, Texas. Larry Don and his dad, Larry Jim, own and operate Womack Nursery Co., a mail order business started in 1937 by James H. Womack. Larry D. is a member of the Texas Fruit Growers, Texas Pecan Growers, and the Oklahoma Pecan Growers Assns. In past years, Larry Don has served as director of Texas Fruit Growers, Member of Comanche County Horticulture Field and Drop and Peanut Committees. Besides serving on the Texas Pecan Board, Larry Don is currently Vice President of the Texas Peanut Producers Board. He can be contacted at larry@texaspecans.org.