Fruits & Vegetables Decoded

Shopping for fruits and vegetables has never been so confusing! From genetically modified to organic to conventional. The list goes on...

Here's a simple method for distinguising those pesky labels when they aren't so clear:

Look for the PLU codes on the labels stuck on your fruits and veggies.

* A four-digit number means it's conventionally grown.
* A five-digit number beginning with 9 means it's organic.
* A five-digit number beginning with 8 means it's genetically modified.

Voila, that should be easy enough. Print out and stick it in your wallet, easy enough.

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Don't Forget.....

Food Inc. Opens today in NY/LA/SF!!!

I blogged about this one weeks ago and it's finally here! I can't wait to see it. I've read so much about this topic and really changed my eating habits over the past few years and visually experiencing the impact of this knowledge will be amazing. Support this film, learn something and change your life forever!

Click here to learn more on the movie's website

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Just Say No: To High Fructose Corn Syrup: A Followup

The HFCS post generated a lot of discussion, and I couldn't be happier. I was cleaning through some old magazines and read the 1st edition of GOOD Magazine, which has a great 2 page chart detailing the "Corn-To-Cola" process, here's a recap:

Corn Chain

1. The government supports corn farmers with tax breaks and subsidies
2. The corn is grown from genetically modified seeds
3. The largest buyers of this corn are cattle & chicken feedlots (neither animal naturally eats corn by the way) thus infiltrating genetically modified corn into our meat supply
4. What isn't sold to the cattle and chicken feedlots is converted into High Fructose Corn Syrup, it is then sold to processing companies
5. Coca-Cola takes the HFCS and combines it with other additives (which are secret of course)
6. Americans go ahead and drink that Coca-Cola at an average of 411 servings per year
7. HFCS is also used as sweetener in cereals, fruit juice, salad dressing, snack foods, hot dogs, condiments, seafood, peanut butter, yogurt, bread, bacon and virtually all processed foods in this country

one word: whoa!

Keep the conversation going, tell me what you think about HFCS and how corn is in just about everything.

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Just Say No: To High Fructose Corn Syrup

Lately there's been a advertising push on TV for High Fructose Corn Syrup. This commercial makes my blood boil, as two mom's discuss how "natural" this product is and how crazy all those health nuts are for being down on it. Hopefully you haven't been swayed by the lure of HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup)

I been trying to avoid HFCS for a while now, it's tough, it's in almost everything. Serious, go to your cabinets and pull out 5 packaged foods, I bet you most if not all contain high fructose corn syrup! Why is it bad you say? Well there is a ton of information about this controversial ingredient. Here's some highlights

*Because Corn is almost always genetically modified, high fructose corn syrup, made from corn itself is almost always genetically modified. Ew! This means that roughly 80% of all we eat is genetically modified on account for the high levels of HFCS in our diets.

*When studied in rats, those who ingested fructose (compared to other sugars) did not reach adulthood, DID NOT REACH ADULTHOOD! In addition, they experienced anemia, high cholesterol and heart hypertrophy (meaning their hearts enlarged until they exploded!)

*Sugar (regular) can be broken down in the body in all cells, but fructose can only be digested in the liver, causing excess strain on one vital organ.

In addition to the hazardous health concerns, there are environmental ones too! Due to the fact that corn is grown as a monoculture (the land is used only to grow corn) the crops are never rotated which may be cheaper in the short term, but long term it depletes soil nutrients ending up requiring much more pesticides and fertilizers. Michael Pollan (author of the much loved Omnivore's Dilemma) writes,

"The environmental footprint of HFCS is deep and wide, look no farther than the dead zone in the Gulf [of Mexico], an area the size of New Jersey where virtually nothing will live because it has been starved of oxygen by the fertilizer runoff coming down the Mississippi from the Corn Belt. Then there is the atrazine in the water in farm country -- a nasty herbicide that, at concentrations as little as 0.1 part per billion, has been shown to turn male frogs into hermaphrodites." (Source)

I hope that begins to give you some ammo to step it up yourself, do your research, check out the ingredients, and know what you are ingesting. The more energy, fuel and chemicals used to make your meal, the less healthy it is, you can be sure of that. Green your diet!

How to avoid HFCS

1. Avoid fast food, come on, do I need to give you another reason?

2. Kick your soda habit, switch to natural soda sweetened by sugar cane and other less harmful sweeteners

3. Read those labels, avoid whenever possible

4. Eat fresh and non-processed food

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Quote of the Day: Real Food

" Organic is legally defined. It means the food was produced without synthetic fertilizer, antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, genetically engineered ingredients, and irradiation. Organic does not mean animals were grass-fed or pastured (raised on pasture). Organic beef, pork, and poultry eat organic grain, but most commercial versions are not raised on grass, or their access to pasture is minimal. Conversely, grass-fed and pastured don't mean animals were raised to organic standards, but the grass farmer who uses antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, or genetically engineered foods is rare. The label natural says nothing about the animal's diet. It means the product contains no artificial flavor or color, chemical preservative or any other artificial ingredient. This weasley term is widely used. According to the USDA, "all fresh meat" qualifies as "natural.""

-Nina Planck, Real Food

So, while it's wonderful to support the organic way of eating, remember it's our responsibility to know what we are buying, down to the label. Any questions, please feel free to leave your comments, I am happy to answer, look up and delve further into this topic. I will continue to bring you details to help your shopping experience go a bit more smoothly as well.

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Peaches, Strawberries and Spinach OH MY!

Real Food by Nina Planck is an amazing book. A look at what we really should be eating and how we should be eating it. Nina Planck believes eating real food is what our bodies are meant to eat and it's the chemicals, GMO's (genetically modified foods), pesticides among other things that messes up our health and in turn our planet.

In the book, there's a great "Most contaminated" with pesticide residue produce list (scored of 1 is least contaminated and 100 is the most contaminated). The list comes straight from the Environmental Working Group:

Most Contaminated
Peaches 100
Strawberries 89
Apples 88
Spinach 85
Nectarines 85
Celery 83
Pears 80
Cherries 76
Potatoes 67
Bell Peppers 66
Raspberries 66
Grapes (imported) 64

Least Contaminated
Sweet Corn 1
Avocado 4
Pineapples 6
Cauliflower 10
Mango 12
Sweet Peas 13
Asparagus 16
Onions 17
Broccoli 18
Bananas 19
Kiwi 23
Papaya 23

This is a great list to keep with you when you're shopping because if you can't afford the high price of organic produce, you should be choosing your organic and conventional produce wisely.

(Image: http://www.culinarygardens.com/)

Animal Factories

I'm currently reading Animal Factories by Jim Mason and Peter Singer. Together they also wrote The Ethics of What We Eat and Peter Singer wrote Animal Liberation. Peter Singer is a philosopher who as written extensively on the subject of animal ethics, Jim Mason is an environmentalist, lecturer, journalist and attorney who specializes in human/animal concerns.

I am enjoying the 3rd in this "series" of animal ethics based examinations into animal factory farms, science labs and everything in between. Animal Factories is an in depth look at the details of factory farming covering issues such as the environmental impact of all we do to these poor animals, the ethics of creating "biomachines" and the human health risks of consuming factory farmed meat/poultry/dairy have.

As always, I am going to be sharing interesting things as I read them...

Here's a great explanation of the downfalls of factory farmed eggs. If the environmental benefits of eating organic weren't enough, here's a health reason:

"Most commercial poultry operations therefore use feed additives containing xanthophyll or beta-carotene to enhance the yellow color of skin and egg yolks. The brighter color may be attractive to the shopper's eye, but there is evidence that color additives actually lower the quality of eggs. More important, eggs from caged layers may be lower in some nutrients-particularly vitamin b12 and folic acid-than eggs from free-ranging hens."

-Jim Mason & Peter Singer

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A Shocking Truth

With the rising concern of GM (Genetically Modified) animals and foods we can rest assure that certified organic products are not allowed to be genetically modified. That means if it scares you that cows have already been cloned and their offspring have somehow been "lost" among the cow population and are making their way into your diet, stick to organic meat and poultry. In addition, conventionally (conventionally grown means NOT ORGANIC) grown produce is allowed to have 500+ additives in it! Think about that for just a second. Most of these additives are highly controversial chemicals under investigation as we speak. Why tempt the devil, buy organic and be safer!

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