Archive for the 'Organic Food' Category
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
Organic Baby Food
You want the best for your babies. You don’t want anything that could injure them in anyway possible. And this is especially true when it comes to the foods your babies are eating.
Feeding your babies organic baby food could be one of the most important steps you take in keeping your baby healthy and safe.
Today, there are so many chemicals, pesticides and preservatives that are being pumped into much of your food that a lot of what we eat today looks nothing like it originally did. Nor does it have many of the same nutrients and health benefits that the food originally had.
Organic baby food is made with the freshest and best fruits, vegetables, and meats out there. The food that makes up organic baby food has been grown or raised without the use of toxic pesticides, insecticides, or fungicides. This means no chemicals have touched or have even been near this food.
These organic farming methods used ensure that the food grown is safe, healthy, fresh and delicious. Putting this kind of food in your babies’ bellies is one of the best things you can do for your happy, healthy baby
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008
Five Foods to Eat Organic
Going organic can be an expensive transition if you live in a small area where health food stores aren’t easily accessible. But going organic is really important if you value your and your family’s health.
Going organic completely would be one of the ultimate goals of a green citizen, but if you’re slowly getting there, then there are some organic foods that you should immediately switch to.
1. Apples: Bananas are the most commonly eaten fresh food in the United States, but apples come in a close second place. Apples are also the second most commonly used fruit in juices – right after oranges. Apples are something that many families reach for when looking for a healthy snack, yet they are one the most pesticide-infested fruits grown. Fortunately, this fruit can be found organic in many regular grocery stores.
2. Milk: Getting a sufficient amount of calcium into children and young adults has become very important in the past 10 years via the “Got Milk?” campaign. Therefore, if you’re a parent, you are always trying to get your kids to drink milk in anyway possible. Unfortunately, drinking milk typically means you’re drinking an entire chemical system of agriculture. Non-organic milk contains nasty antibiotics, artificial hormones and pesticides that have been used in the milk creating and producing process.
3. Potatoes: The unchallenged staple of the American diet are potatoes. Some surveys have shown that potatoes make up at least 30 percent of families’ vegetable intake. Switching to organic potatoes could potentially have a huge effect on your family’s health and on the nation. Potatoes are the most pesticide-contaminated vegetables in the country. And even after washing and peeling potatoes, many still have traceable amounts of pesticides.
4. Ketchup: In many American households, ketchup makes up the vast majority of their vegetable consumption. Yet ketchup is so processed that all the nutrients the tomatoes in the product originally had are now virtually gone. Thankfully, studies have shown that organic ketchup has approximately double the antioxidants that non-organic ketchup has.
5. Peanut Butter: Many kids love to snack on peanut butter, whether it’s straight from the jar or mixed with some other yummy food. More acres are used to grow peanuts in the United States than any other vegetable, nut or fruit. Sadly, nearly 99 percent of these acres have farming methods that include the use of pesticide and fungicides. Fortunately, some of the major peanut butter brands are now creating organic versions.
Scientists have found these five foods to contain some of the most pesticides of all foods. They also are some of the most used foods for families – even more reason to switch to their organic varieties.
Fruits and vegetables seem like a natural choice, but they’re actually much less pesticide-ridden than these other foods. Foods like broccoli, onions, bananas, oranges, avocados, and asparagus actually have relatively low pesticide levels. So get yourself to the nearest food store and pick up these organic foods.
Monday, December 3rd, 2007
Taking a Look at Organic Wine
The US Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program requires that organic wine be one that is made from organically grown grapes and without sulfites. Organic grapes are certified organic when they have been grown without the use of harsh chemicals or toxic pesticides, fungicides or insecticides.
But making sure that the wine is without sulfites is a bit more complicated. The organic standard requires that there be no more than 100ppm (parts per milligram) of sulfite in the wine. But sulfites are a natural by-product of the fermentation process. Fermenting yeasts create naturally occurring sulfites in small amounts (anywhere from 6 to 40ppm).
Yet, some winemakers like to add more sulfite to the wine as an anti-oxidant and preservative throughout the many, many stages wine goes through while aging. Many winemakers feel that adding sulfites to wine in a necessity: it helps to prevent oxidation and bacterial spoiling of the wine. And sulfites are not toxic to humans or the environment.
Despite the difficulty in finding organic wines, it is worth the look. More winemakers are at least trying out the organic variety, concentrating on not using the toxic chemicals or pesticides. Some wine aficionados argue that the flavor of organic wine is more fruitful and fuller with grapes that haven’t been treated with harsh chemicals.
Thursday, November 15th, 2007
10 Reasons to Eat Organic Food
Why should you pick organic food over non-organic? Is this organic rush just a fad? There are many reasons to go organic. The following are ten of those reasons to consider when thinking about eating organic food.
1. Taste
Many people think organic food tastes better than food that is not. Reasons for this vary, one is because organic fruit and vegetables usually grow at a slower pace and have a lower water content, which may contribute to a fuller flavor of organic foods.
2. Health
On average, organic food contains higher levels of vitamin C and essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron and chromium as well as cancer-fighting antioxidants. Organic milk is naturally higher in Omega 3 fatty acids, Vitamin E, Vitamin A (Beta Carotene) and certain other antioxidants than non-organic milk.
3. Less Additives
Only 32 of the 290 food additives approved for use across the European Union are permitted in organic food. Amongst the additives banned by the Soil Association are hydrogenated fat, aspartame (an artificial sweetener) and monosodium glutamate which have been linked to health problems.
4. No Pesticides
The best way of reducing exposure to potentially harmful pesticides is to eat organically grown food. Over 311 pesticides can be routinely used in non organic farming and residues are often present in non-organic food. Over 40 percent of all non-organic fruit, vegetables and bread tested in 2005 contained pesticides. The results for particular fruit and vegetables were much worse - percentages ranged from 72 to 100 percent.
5. GM-free
Genetically modified (GM) crops and ingredients are not allowed under organic standards. Over a million tons of GM crops are imported to feed non organic livestock that produce much, if not most, of the non organic pork, bacon, milk cheese and other dairy products in our supermarkets.
6. No Drug Reliance
Antibiotic additives routinely added to animal food to speed animal growth are linked with bacterial resistance in humans to the same or closely related antibiotics. Standards for organic food ban the routine use of antibiotics.
7. Transparent Costs
Tax payers fork out millions of money annually to pay for chemicals to be removed from drinking water, mainly as a result of the pesticides used in farming.
8. High Standards
Organic food comes from trusted sources. All organic farms and food companies are inspected at least once a year. Rules and regulations for organic foods are created and maintained by government departments, like the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
9. Animal Care
No system of farming has higher levels of animal welfare standards than organic farms working for organic standards.
10. Better for Environment
Overall organic farming supports more farmland wildlife than non-organic farming. International governments who have organic-standards programs say growing and raising organic food it is better for wildlife, causes lower pollution from sprays, produces less carbon dioxide - the main global warming gas - and less dangerous wastes.
