Hey, foodies! Have you ever wanted to publish your favorite recipes or cooking tips? The Foodie Blogroll could be the place for you. They have contests and giveaways and every Friday it’s Finest Foodie Friday, where they feature the best blogs–it seems like so much fun!
The link to create your own blog is on the homepage–it’s called “foodbuzz”. There are 2500 blogs on the site. Have fun!
The Foodie Blogroll. (n.d.) Retrieved October 28, 2008, from www.foodieblogroll.com
Paul Newman was a good man. Newman’s Own® charitable contributions are listed on the website as over $250 million worldwide. That’s amazing! He started that “Hole in the Wall” camp for kids living with serious illnesses like cancer, hemophilia, sickle cell anemia and HIV. It’s a really cool place. There are affiliated camps around the world now.
Along with organic snacks and people food, the company is offering organic dog and cat food made with proteins, whole grains, vitamins and minerals.
I saw Robert Redford interview Paul Newman on Sundance Channel. You could tell Paul really cared about the quality that goes into Newman’s Own products. His kids have taken over the business and Paul said they are just as dedicated to it.
According to the Children’s Health Environmental Coalition, childhood cancers and other serious illness can be caused by the environmental toxins and chemicals that children are exposed to. Kids cannot tolerate the same amounts of toxins in their small bodies that adults can.
Kids today are exposed to many more pollutants and chemicals than in past generations. The CHEC is a great resource to find out how to protect your kids and yourself from toxins in things like plastics and treated wood products that are probably already in your house.
Children’s Health Environmental Coalition (n.d.) Retrieved October 26, 2008, from www.chec.org.master.com.
Newman’s Own Organics. (n.d.) Retrieved October 26, 2008, from http://www.newmansownorganics.com.
Hi, everybody. Happy “Make a Difference Day, “the official holiday for heroes” according to Wish Upon a Hero Foundation. That’s a cool site where people try to make each other’s wishes come true!
Candy has always been my drug of choice. With Halloween just around the corner, I think it’s cool to check out natural candy products for sale online. Naturalcandystore.com has all kinds of special occasion product, plus they have vegan, gluten-free, kosher, allergen-free, corn syrup-free, and more. I like their slogan “All the FUN, without the FUNNY stuff”™.
There is a link at NaturalCandyStore.com for Feingold Candy. I had never heard of that before. Feingold is the doctor who linked consumption of artificial colors, flavorings, preservatives (all made from petroleum products), and aspartame (Nutrasweet®) with children and adults experiencing ADHD and other behavioral problems, as well as asthma, skin allergies and depression.
Feingold ratings are Stage One and Stage Two, depending on which ingredients in foods are “safe” for a particular person. Stage 2 means you can consume anything from Stage One or Two; but Stage One’s should only consume Stage One “safe” ingredients. Feingold products on the natural candy site are classified F1 or F2.
Speaking of preservatives, I woke up this morning thinking about the barbecue flavor Fritos® I ate yesterday that contained MSG. What is MSG? I know it makes food taste good, but I also remembered that years ago it gave me migraine headaches when I ate Chinese food. Feingold says it’s an “undesirable chemical” preservative. The other preservatives that he identifies as harmful–BHA, BHT TBHT–are carcinogens.
I plan to contact Frito-Lay to ask them not to put MSG in my favorite snack foods anymore. Life without Fritos wouldn’t be as good, but I’m not ready to die for them.
Frito-Lay’s homepage looks like a farm and has a slogan, “We grow the best snacks on Earth™”. They have a link where they pat themselves on the back for reducing CO2 emissions, and a button to find out how they saved 5 million trees by reducing the number of cardboard cartons they use. How about making a healthier product? But then they wouldn’t taste as good. It’s a cruel irony.
Hey, I just visited treehugger.com and saw an ad for “green jeans”. That is something everybody in the world could get into. I’m going to buy some for my husband for Christmas just so I can call him Mr. Green Jeans.
Feingold® Association of the United States. (n.d.) Retrieved October 25, 2008, from www.feindgold.org/
Frito-Lay.com. (n.d.) Retrieved October 25, 2008, from www.fritolay.com
Natural Candy Store.com. (n.d.) Retrieved October 25, 2008, from http://www.naturalcandystore.com
Dunn, Collin. (September 11, 2007). Buy Green: Men’s Jeans. Retrieved October 25, 2008, from http://www.treehugger.com
Wish Upon a Hero Foundation. (n.d) Retrieved October 25, 2008, from www.wishuponahero.com
Good Morning healthy food lovers! As I sit here eating my Naturally More™ peanut butter right out of the jar with a spoon, and drinking my Chinese White Peony tea that I bought in Philadelphia’s Chinatown, I start to think about just how involved I am or am not in the organic food movement.
I buy organic milk, eggs, and whatever else that strikes my fancy on any given shopping trip; but I am not immersed in an organic or green lifestyle. I try to use cleaning products like Seventh Generation that say they are better for the environment, but why not just use vinegar and water or baking soda to clean?
Being raised in the 1970’s, the processed food and polyester clothing period, it will take a lot of unlearning for my husband and I to go against the conventional way we have lived so far. But we all have choices.
I thought this peanut butter was organic when I bought it–the grocery store displayed it that way–but I don’t see the word “organic” anywhere on the jar. It says “all-natural, contains no cholesterol, and has no trans fats”. Is that the same thing?
Naturally More is fortified with flax seed, flax oil and contains omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids. Well that sounds good, doesn’t it? The ingredients list is as follows: roasted peanuts, wheat germ, flax seed, cane sugar, egg whites, honey, flaxseed oil. Huh. Those are more ingredients than I was expecting, especially the egg whites and cane sugar. It tastes good though.
Anyway, breast cancer has made me more vigilant about what I bring into my home. The thing is, we’ve got to get the whole country to demand healthful water and food supplies, as well as eco-friendly products. If we don’t demand it, corporate America and the world will not provide it. Supply and demand. Cancer has become an epidemic in my generation. We are obviously intaking too many toxins.
Sorry China, but whenever I can, I choose goods made in America. At least I know there is some regulation here; and if I’m poisoned I can sue sombody (I say that facetiously). I do buy Chinese tea.
Researching organic food necessarily leads you to “green” websites like treehugger.com and planet green. discovery.com . These websites have a global vision. I wrote a poem last year after watching a documentary on HBO about a tiny Pacific island that is actually sinking due to the effects of global warming. My Creative Writing professor liked it. Here it is.
Tuvalu Sinking
You are my Tuvalu in an unconscious world.
Knowing that one day the bottom will fall out
We go about our business as if it didn’t matter.
I eat the bitter poi and sugar coated cereal.
I repair the broken asphalt that will break again tomorrow
So the children can ride their motorbikes to school
So my people can drive recklessly to the end
And seek the wisdom of blue-eyed strangers
Who chronicle our fate with impartiality.
Who keep their distance from our decaying reality.
Twilight settles in all around you, Tuvalu.
Eternally desperate, mostly invisible, unstoppable.
My brown eyes fill to the brim, spilling over
Sinking my beautiful Tuvalu, drowning you unmercifully.
By Maureen Habeck
Fall 2007
Poetry is my real passion, but ever since I was a child I have cared deeply about the environment. Now I want to “walk the walk”. I guess sometimes it takes a personal crisis…
Hey, I was trying to upload a picture of Tuvalu onto this post and I came across two blogs about Tuvalu! One was posted by Michael Ritter, titled Tuvalu: That Sinking Feeling, and the other by Stephen Leahy, titled Stephen Leahy Environmental Journalist. These are both really interesting blogs with beautiful pictures plus links to other “Earth” sites.
Have any of you seen the movie Michael Clayton? George Clooney is great in it and so is Tom Wilkinson. The theme of the movie is corporate corruption, but this case has to do with poisonous pesticides that give farmers cancer when they get into their water supply. It’s good to know that Hollywood is addressing some of the issues the planet is facing (along with blowing up cars and buildings-haha).
Leahy, Stephen. (July 30, 2007). Drowning Country: Tuvalu Symbol of Catastrophe and Hope. Retrieved October 24, 2008, from http://stephenleahy.wordpress.com
Ritter, Michael. (February 13, 2007). Tuvalu: That Sinking Feeling. Retrieved October 24, 2008, from http://tpeblog.wordpress.com
It’s time to go green for Halloween! Blythe Copeland from Great Neck, NY has a blog on planet green ‘s website that offers organic and ecofriendly Halloween candy for sale online, plus links to ecofriendly Halloween decorating ideas like using cotton balls as cobwebs, and using soy candles.
The blog has links to a lot of other good ideas for making our own Halloween costumes. Masks sold in stores can be made with very unhealthful polyvinylchorides (PVC’s).
One company that stands out is Endangered Species Chocolate. They have Halloween wrapped chocolate treats that sound really high quality for about $7 for 24 squares; and 10% of the proceeds goes to saving endangered species!
YummyEarth lollipops ($3.50 for a pack of 12) are made from natural fruit and veggie flavors and dyes and evaporated cane sugar.
Other organically made candies for sale online at this site are Betty Lou’s Organic Golden Smackers–chocolate and peanut butter–yum! A bit expensive, though–$31 for a box of 24.
Jelly Belly jelly beans has a Natural Flavor and Colors line, which I personally have been waiting for. The beans are made with things like banana puree, coconut flakes, and concentrated juices.
There’s also Glee Gum made from chicle from the Sapodilla tree that grows in rainforests in Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala, which helps those economies in an ecofriendly way.
Some of these products could be considered healthy alternatives. As a lover of sweets, this is what I’ve been waiting impatiently for. I think we need to make organic candy a really big trend.
Copeland, Blythe. (October 16, 2008). How To Go Green: Halloween. Retrieved October 23, 2008, from http://planetgreen.discovery.com/go-green/halloween/index.html
Image from www.organicauthority.com. (2008).
Organic foodies–here’s a great recipe from Horizon Organic, the dairy company. I serve this to my family about once a month cuz we’re Mexican food junkies:
HINT: If you cannot find organic chicken, or just for convenience’s sake, you can use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.
Cheese Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients:
2 ½ cups cooked and shredded chicken breast
3 green onions
1 cup picante sauce, divided
1 tsp. cumin
3 oz. Horizon Organic® cream cheese
2 cups Horizon Organic shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 cup shredded shredded Horizon Organic Mexican blend cheese
6 flour tortillas
2 Tbsp. Horizon Organic butter (melted)
Topping:
Horizon Organic sour cream, chopped lettuce and diced tomatoes
Preparation:
Brown chicken until juices run clear, drain, cool, and shred. In the same skillet, heat minced green onions over medium heat. Add shredded chicken, cumin, cream cheese and 2/3 cup of picante sauce. Mix well and cook over low heat until cream cheese is melted. Add 1 cup shredded cheddar and cook until bubbly.
Preheat over to 425 degrees. Warm tortillas in the microwave 45 seconds on high power. Working with one tortilla at a time, brush both sides of a tortilla with the melted butter. Spread ½ cup of the chicken mixture on one side of the tortilla. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of Mexican blend shredded cheese, roll the tortilla and place seam side down in a glass baking dish that been sprayed with cooking spray. Repeat procedure until chicken mixture is gone. Spread remaining picante sauce and cheeses on top of tortillas. Bake for 20 minutes until hot and bubbly.
Nutritional Information per serving:
Per enchilada
Calories 528; Protein 35g; Fat 30g; Saturated Fat 17g; Cholesterol 117mg; Dietary Fiber 2g; Sodium 1194mg; Vitamin A 5% DV; Vitamin C 16% DV; Calcium 45% DV; Iron 17% DV
**HOLY TOLEDO!** I did not realize that this recipe was so fattening! Good thing we use all the low-fat and non-fat dairy items that are available in our grocery store. Also, I use olive oil instead of butter in almost everything I cook. That sodium number looks high to me, too. But, I do love this recipe with a grande margarita without the salt! Enjoy!
Horizon Organic Dairy. (2007). The Organic Kitchen. Retrieved October 23, 2008, from www.horizonorganic.com
I’m the middle-aged mother of a teenaged daughter, and I think I’m representative of my generation as far as eating habits go. We grew up on processed food with God only knows what in it—maybe Clark Griswold knows—and don’t even get me started on the tap water (no one drank bottled water back then).
You guys might not know about a regional product called Tastycake® that we have in the Philadelphia area, but they could be considered their own food group around here. I recommend the individual size French apple pie or the Butterscotch Krimpets. Tandycakes, which are chocolate covered peanut butter cakelettes, are also very popular. Have you gleaned that I’m overweight from this yet? I’m trying to eat more cabbage like “the Cool Cook” says to.
But now, as degenerative diseases start to rear their ugly heads (my husband has acid reflux, arthritis, nerve damage), I realize that I have got to do better for my family. The problem is that, like many of you out there, I’m a junk food junkie whose idea of the perfect meal is a Volcano Taco and Triple Layer Nachos from Taco Bell®, with a Mountain Dew® chaser.
The good news is that I like healthy food as much as junk food, and I am open to change. We only eat brown rice and whole grain spaghetti in our house now. I’ve weaned the hubbie and kid down to 1% milk also—I already buy organic milk and eggs.
It is really hard to get my husband to admit that our traditional way of eating is downright unhealthy (because that’s what his mother fed them, and he turned out fine J), so I have to get kind of sneaky about getting whole grains and organic products into our meals.
Mostly, I worry about the kid. I’m an equal opportunity destroyer. We have never been big vitamin takers, so I don’t force the issue with my daughter. I don’t like broccoli, so I don’t serve it very often.
Recently the kid has taken a liking to salmon. My heart soared when she ordered it at a seafood restaurant recently. The next week I read an online article about the poisons that are in some fish, and, of course, Atlantic salmon was on that list. One step up and two steps back.
We try a lot of delicious sounding recipes downloaded from foodnetwork.com, but I make them once and then no one ever wants to have it again. Wait a minute. Hmmm…maybe it’s my cooking they don’t like. Never Mind. No just kidding. I would love to know how other people get their families to eat right and make healthy choices. Or don’t you worry about it at all?.
Recently I was on a website called treehugger.com, and I thought they had great links to organic food and products sites. Treehugger has a link to planet green where there is a picture of Emeril Lagasse that you can click on to get to Emeril’s Recipes, called “green recipes”. There’s everything under the sun listed alphabetically there. Check out the lobster risotto recipe at the link below. Yum.
I have been looking into organic mattresses and they have a link to them at the search engine lovetoknow; and seventhgeneration.com has green cleaning products advertised—I actually use their all-purpose cleaner, and it’s just as good as other name brands. They also have a nice blogsite.
My life, maybe like many of yours, has been about trying to find a balance between what scares the hell out of me and what I can comfortably live with. It’s sad that food and water have to be negotiated like that. Some people might chastise me about the millions of starving Chinese people who would love to have that food…
The Cool Cook (June 29, 2008). Retrieved October 23, 2008, from www.thecoolcook/typepad.com
Emeril green (October 23, 2008). Retrieved November 9, 2008, from http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/emerils-lobster-risotto.html
lovetoknow. (n.d.) Retrieved October 14, 2008, from http://www.lovetoknow.com/Organic
Seventh Generation. (n.d.) Retrieved October 14, 2008, from http://www.seventhgeneration.com/
treehugger. (July 14, 2008) Emeril’s Recipes. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/emeril-green/emerils-recipes.html
Julian Hall of Got-organic.com.uk says that organically grown food has less pathogens and E. Coli bacteria than with traditional farming. You can go to the USDA website ams.usda.gov and get info about the National Organic Program’s grading for safety and certification on dairy, poultry, fruits and veggies, but it’s a bit like reading a tech manual. *Update: As of 10/25/08, Julian Hall’s website is not available.*
After a frustrating trip to the local farm market, I realized that many food products say “all natural” or “natural ingredients” or “made with organic ingredients”. I wondered if those labels meant the products were “organic”.
On Shine, the yahoo! blogsite, there is a blog called thecradle.com (for expecting parents) with a Q&A article by EcoMom, aka Kimberly Danek Pinkson, titled Does “natural” and “organic” mean the same thing? As a weird but serendipitous co-inky- dinky, that was exactly the term that I googled to get to the site.
As I suspected “natural” and “organic” are not the same thing. EcoMom uses a new term to describe misleading labels: “greenwashing”. I think that’s clever. Non-food products do not have strict government labeling standards like food products do. We have to be careful not to pick household items with poisonous chemicals in them that are labeled as eco-friendly. Companies are using “green” as a marketing ploy.
Natural means a product is made from botanicals without the use of additives or preservatives. Organic means grown in a chemical-free environment. It’s a bit confusing.
EcoMom says to look for dependible labels like:
FSC Certified–by the Forest Stewardship Council pertaining to wood and wood products that are produced and harvested in a sustainable way.
Fair Trade–deals with social equity for workers around the world and strict sustainability standards. Especially relevant to the coffee trade.
USDA/Certified Organic–the little stickers on produce have numbers on them. If they number begins with “9” it’s a certified organic item.
Marine Stewardship Council–educates on sustainably harvested seafood, wild or farmed.
Thanks EcoMom!
Plant your own organic herb garden.
Image Retrieved October 22, 2008, from www.associatedcontent.com
Danek Pinkerson, Kimberly. (n.d.) Ask EcoMom. Retrieved October 22, 2008, from http://www.thecradle.com/eco-cradle/askecomom/naturalvsorganic
Hall, Julian. (n.d.) Retrieved October 22, 2008, from http://Got-organic.com.uk
While looking for new and healthy recipes to make for Sunday dinner, I found the website OrganicAuthority.com. I am making Laura Klein’s recipe “Oven Braised Organic Brisket With a Red Wine Wild Mushroom Cranberry Sauce”. The recipe calls for your choice of four different types of wild mushrooms: shiitakes, chanterelle, morel, or porcini. I’ll let you all know how it turns out. My family is very picky when it comes to trying new things.
Mushrooms have strong antioxidative properties that boost your immune system. Herbal Care Direct website offers organic herbal supplements for cleansing and detoxifying your system at http://www.herbalcaredirect.com.
There are recipes on this website for every course of a meal, plus the recipes for Main Courses include recommended wine pairings. Eating organic is not going to be as hard as I thought. The recommended organic wine for the beef brisket dish is Petit Sirah 2001 – Barra of Mendocino from a certified organic vineyard. The description sounds delicious–with an “essence of black cherry”. Laura Klein also includes how to make organic stock used in her recipes, as well as side dish recipes that go with the main dish. I love one-stop shopping!
OrganicAuthority.com. (October 19, 2008). Better Living with Laura Klein. Retrieved October 19, 2008, from www.organicauthority.com.
I just found an online grocery store at aulsuperstore.com that has Arrowhead Mills organic cereals, Amy’s organic soups, and Kettle Brand “organic” chips. Do any of you out there use those products? What do you think about shopping for organic food online?
I buy Horizon Organic milk at my local ShopRite grocery store, so I looked on their very thorough and informative website. There I found under the “Raising Organic Kids” link, Dr. Greene’s Corner, which contained Dr. Greene’s Organic Prescription, a “top ten list” of organic food that everyone should try to switch to for the health of their kids.
This list was compiled by Dr. Alan Greene, M.D., F.A.A.P., a pediatrician at Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University. Dr. Greene is the author of From First Kicks to First Steps, McGraw-Hill 2004, and Raising Baby Green, Wiley Books 2007. He is the founder of Dr.Greene.com (and a blogsite by that name) and he’s on the Board of Directors of The Organic Center. This man has credentials. Intel even named him “Children’s Health Hero of the Internet”.
Okay, here’s Dr. Greene’s “top ten” list in order of “impact” and “ease of choice”:
1. MILK–Organic milk is the “tip of the iceberg”, environmentally speaking, because the cows it comes from graze in pastures rich in nutrients during the growing season. The farmer has nurtured his soil responsibly, without pesticides and chemical fertilizers (or with minimal use of these) that would otherwise get into the water supply.
The milk cows eat organic feed that is free of artifical growth hormones, antibiotics, and feed that has been genetically modified. It’s not just the milk that is healthier, but the cows are healthier and well cared for. This also makes animal lovers happy. Organic milk’s growing popularity is convincing dairy farmer’s to raise cows without the use of artifical growth hormones.
Dr. Greene says that organic milk is healthier because it has more omega-3 fatty acids and the antioxidant beta-carotene.
2. ORGANIC POTATOES–Unfortunately, American children’s favorite food, the french fry, is made from our most pesticide-contaminated vegetable! The USDA tested potatoes that had been washed and peeled, but 81% still contained pesticides. Plus, potatoes had the highest amounts of pesticides of all 43 fruits and veggies they tested. American kids eat tons of french fries–so do American adults. A survey showed that white potatoes make up 30% of the vegetables we consume.
Production of organic potatoes has actually decreased over this decade.
Fast food chains and restaurants will change to organically grown potatoes if they think that we want them. We need to ask for organically grown food, and if it is not available, choose something else. That’s how business gets the message.
3. PEANUT BUTTER: There is more farmland devoted to peanuts than any other fruit, veggie, or nut; and most of the peanuts are used to make peanut butter. I love it, too. Unfortunately, more than 99% of peanut growing is done conventionally.
Peanuts contain so many good things: heart-healthy mono-unsaturated fats, protein, vitamin E, niacin, folate, antioxidants that are on par with blackberries (and roasting them increases the antioxidant levels), and even resveratrol, the anti-aging nutrient we associate with red wine.
Regular peanut butter contains high amounts of sugar, hydrogenated oil, and preservatives. Organic peanut butter has a very short list of ingredients.
Farmers are using a very toxic fungicide to kill the mold that grows on peanut plants. These fungicides can disrupt endocrine functions and stay in our bodies a long time. An organic way to handle the mold problem would be crop rotation, cover crops, and tillage (sounds so simple, doesn’t it), resulting in more bio-diverse soil. Dr. Greene suspects that organic growing and processing of peanuts would result in less allergies.
4. ORGANIC BABY FOOD–Babies are especially vulnerable to environmental toxins like pesticides and carcinogens. A pesticide called chlorpyrifos has been linked to lower intelligence, risk of developmental delay, and ADHD. An organic diet can almost eliminate this exposure. Only 0.5% of U.S. agriculture production is organic right now.
Babies grow the most from conception through age three. That is the most important time to eat organically grown food.
The bad news is in. We get less nutrients from the food we eat today than our grandparents did eating the same food 50 years ago. We get less protein, iron, calcium, phosphorus, riboflavin, vitamin C, and phytonutrients. Why? Our food is grown in depleted soil.
5. CATSUP–or “ketchup” if you were raised like me. Organic catsup is 57% higher in the anti-cancer and anti-heart disease nutrient, lycopene, than conventional catsup. Some organic brands have three times the amount of lycopene, and five times the amount of lycopene as a fresh tomato! Organic catsup also had double the amount of antioxidants as conventional.
Tomatoes and tomato products are the #1 source of lycopene in American diets, especially our kids’ diets. An easy switch to organic catsup (pizza sauce, marinara sauce, etc.), would significantly increase our nutrient intake, as well as decrease conventional tomato farming methods!
6. COTTON–Surprise! Cotton growing accounts for 10% of worldwide pesticide use, 25% of all insecticide use, and 2.5% of worldwide agricultural cropland use. Dr. Greene says that The World Health Organization estimates 25 million people are poisoned by pesticides each year worldwide, with 20,000 deaths resulting.
Cottonseed oil has become a common ingredient in salad dressings, peanut butter, snack food, crackers, cookies, etc. The meal from cottonseeds used to be fed primarily to dairy cows, but its use as a protein source for people is on the rise.
Only a tiny percentage of U.S. cotton fields are organic–most are genetically modified (GM). GM products have largely been eliminated in Europe and Japan.
Cotton may be the most important crop that we should try to change to organic. Buy organic cotton clothing, also!
7. APPLES: Our second most commonly eaten fruit (after bananas), and second most juiced (after oranges) is also one of the most pesticide-contaminated fruits and vegetables. Organic orchards make up 3.33% of U.S. apple production. When we choose organic, we are not only lowering our pesticide exposure, but we are using our consumer buying power to change agriculture.
Apples have been tested for vitamin C and antioxidant content, and high levels of both were found. Organic apples have higher levels of healthful polyphenols and other phytonutrients. They taste better, too.
8. BEEF: Cattle need seven pounds of corn to put on one pound of weight. It takes about 1600 calories of fossil fuels to produce 100 calories of conventional beef. This is bad for the environment.
Corn-fed or grain-fed cattle are actually designed to graze. They get upset stomachs from the acid and have to be fed antacids and antibiotics with conventional production. It’s cruel.
Organic beef production is less than a quarter of a percent in America. Organic beef that comes from sustainable grass-fed cattle is leaner and contains five times the amount of omega-3 fats as conventionally (cruelly) raised cattle.
We need to replace beef in our diets with other proteins like: organic eggs, garbanzo beans, quinoa, or soy.
9. SOY: Almost the entire soy crop in the U.S. is used to make soybean oil and meal. Soybean oil accounts for two-thirds of all vegetable oils or animal fats consumed by us. Trans fats are usually partially hydrogenated soybean oil.
A huge amount of soybean meal is used to feed livestock. With 72 million acres planted in the U.S., soy ranks second only to corn for pesticide use. 62 million of those acres are genetically modified.
Soy is an ingredient in most processed foods. The government does not require labeling of genetically modified foods, so choosing organic is the only way to know you are not eating genetically modified food products. Relatively speaking, we only produce a tiny crop of organic soy right now. Buying organic soy milk, soy yogurt, and veggie burgers will help the agricultural system.
10. CORN: Almost no corn is produced organically.
80 million acres of our land is used for the corn crop; more land than for any other crop. This means more chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used for corn than any other crop. Corn is used as 90% of feed grains for cattle. 50 million acres is genetically modified.
Fertilizer runoff from corn production ended up in the Mississippi river, creating a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico where no aquatic life can live.
High fructose corn syrup (you know, the stuff that makes us fat) is made from corn. More than 4000 products on our grocery store shelves are made with corn products, including most baked goods and sodas. When reading labels, some terms to look out for are: dextrose, glucose, corn starch, modified cornstarch, vegetable starch, corn solids, corn sweetener, corn oil.
The extremely challenging switch of corn production to organic would have the single most profound impact on the health of cropland in America; and, therefore, on the health of our families.
BONUS: WINE–Dr. Greene calls the nutrient found in the skin of red grapes, resveratrol, the Fountain of Youth nutrient; and there is enough of it in red wine to have an effect. Some studies have shown resveratrol to have antiviral, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, and neuroprotective effects. Organic wines have an average of 32% higher levels of resveratrol than conventionally produced wines, but the numbers can be much higher. I plan to put this assertion to the test.
So, enjoy the fruits of the earth organically!
P.S. I like the website Farmandfood.com for organic food, organic agriculture, and even a link to Kangen Water that explains the acid/alkaline pH balance and how important it is to your health.
The website also links to just about every kind of food you can think of–if you click on Chinese food it takes you to Acme market’s website. I heard on the radio that Acme has Wild Harvest organic products now.
AUL Superstore. (n.d.) Retrieved October 15, 2008, from www.aulsuperstore.com
Farmandfood.com. (n.d.) Retrieved October 28, 2008, from www.farmandfood.com.
Greene, A., M.D. (n.d.) Dr. Greene’s Organic Prescription. Retrieved October 15, 2008, from www.drgreene.com.
Horizon Organic Dairy. (2007). Dr. Greene’s Corner. Retrieved October 15, 2008, from
United States Department of Agriculture. (October 15, 2008). Welcome to the Agricultural Marketing Service. Retrieved October 15, 2008, from www.ams.usda.gov.
Organic Food: Going Against the Grain 