Even the First Lady, Michelle Obama has a knack with the shovel,  ;-) .

And with that, I mean: having a home vegetable garden is a growing trend in America.

If you want to see it, below are the photos…

What she and some students planted, will be served in the kitchen at the White House, as well as delivered to the organization Miriam’s Kitchen, which feeds the poor in Washington.

Before that, consider the numbers of people in America, who are eating healthier without pesticides by harvesting their own gardens:

19% is the increase in the United States of homes, where residents are growing their own fruits, vegetables and herbs, in 2009.

54% of these homes, do it to save on grocery costs, since it is so expensive here, especially with the label: “ORGANIC”.

The other day, shopping at Walmart, I asked a store clerk where I could find some organic vegetables in the store… Following him through the section of fruits and vegetables, I heard him say: “Heavens!” This costs 4 times more! “Who could buy this?”

Ok, back to the subject….

By spending $70 in a vegetable garden, it will yield an estimated $530  each season of the year!

Below the First Lady, her children and local students.

Source: The national Gardening Association

Since it’s the desire of many to come live in America, to get a GREEN CARD (residence permit, which is renewed every 10 years), the site below is where you’ll be able get all the information you need.

With my Green Card, I have many advantages plus most of the rights that a citizen born here has… and there are many.

But the truth is, in practical life, it isn’t so simple… The people here work hard, very hard, to get their space in the market place and it’s very competitive!

Of course, the economy is strong and protects us enough, but lately the cost of living has increased, and that unfortunately, further complicates the life of the immigrant.

The first thing you should do (besides think a lot and do your research) is decide where you want to live here because everything is different from state to state, including laws… Many Brazilians complain about depression, where one sees very little sun, …Of course, you should consider Miami or California, where just in San Jose’ (CA) there are 300 sunny days per year! I have a gaucho friend, living in San Jose, that is super happy working at IBM in that city.

Also the people are much nicer and hospitable in places full days warmed by Mr. Sun,..

I have no complaints about Texans, they are very much like the gauchos in how nice they are, their hospitality and are super polite… Now the weather is Amazon-like for 8 months… Here in Houston, without air conditioning your car it’s worth almost nothing, and because it’s hard stand the heat without it, even with all the windows open.

They say the New York, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles labor markets are very good, but then again: the level of unemployment in Texas is very low compared to the rest of the country and the cost of living is also lower compared with Miami and many other cities.

Click here for information on immigration to this country: EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES IN BRAZIL

For you to ‘feel’ what the heat is like here, just look at me with the red jacket on my arm, refreshing this “Cool Zone’ here near home.

To enjoy life there is a super cool and turistic place in the town of Kemah, our neighbor. It’s necessary to create things like that, so we don’t melt… And why I carry a jacket then, you wonder… Because inside every place you enter it’s cold as ice!

I wish you the best of the best in your decisions!

If in America you got sick with a sore throat, or those with routine health problems, you would receive the same quality of care of a Physician’s Assistant or a Nurse Practitioner.

Physicians Assistants (P.A’s) or nurses (N.P’s) are health professionals who had to study from 4 to 6 years with intensive training and had to pass examinations to get their licenses.

Both can assess, diagnose and treat problems (I learned that in many states, they may even prescribe medication). In offices and clinics, a doctor oversees their work, so don’t worry

It seems to compensate for the diminishing number of doctors, health organizations have increased the number of NP’s and PA’s recently. When you need basic and primary attention, their decisions are made together with the doctor.

But if you have chronic problems, many different problems together, or taking several different drugs every day, seek medical attention. They have extensive training and are better able to handle complex situations than PA’s or NP’s.

Another thing is to not forget make appointments in advance for normal Checkups, (I put in a recent post where to do these for free).

Never forget that you are in charge of your life, don’t take your body to the doctor when it’s already all broken down, like you do with your car at the mechanic. ;-)

The face time making annual checkups, can be very useful if in the future it turns out that you have a problem.

If we have health, we’re probably happy. If we have health and happiness, we have ALL the world’s wealth, even if it is not all we want… Now, don’t take medications and neglect your diet, because then you end up wasting the doctor’s talents.

If you enter a restaurant, full of good intentions thinking about eating healthy, and suddenly, you start drooling for a cheeseburger with bacon… Don’t feel bad! It’s not your will power, that has suddenly done a disappearing act… Most likely, you are being fooled by a menu-design expert, who is paid to come up with sneaky ways to entice you to ask for food that is not so healthy, but that makes big profits for the restaurant owner.

The most recent psychological tricks and strategies for marketing, they use to try to fool you in restaurants are:

Healthy food alongside fattening food: It might seem that this would make us eat more healthy, but also the opposite is true. A study at Duke University found that people are more likely to choose food high in calories, when healthy food is offered next to it. It seems crazy, but listen to their explanation, …people with a doctorate in Psychology and Marketing, “just reading about salads, makes you feel as if you’ve already reached your nutritional goals and are ‘free’ to fall into indulgences”.

Lots of healthy products to view in the menu: the presence of vegetables, even if they are covered with carbohydrates, fried foods and cheese on top, …convinces you that you are making the right choice. Right? It happens with me… But really, these delicious greasy and high in carbohydrates vegetables with is on to top of it, could be even worse than the famous killer diets: pizza and hamburgers.

Not seeing the $ symbol on the menu, (which confused me the first time I saw it… or what I didn’t see) causes your brain to think that you are not spending money and you end up asking for more snacks, appetizers and dessert