A Small Tip of Dangers in Processed Foods
But before we start we must first give you this quote of the day to help aid us through the process of change:
“If you resist change, you will face challenges on a daily basis. If you consciously refocus your attitude to see the benefits of change, your outlook becomes positive and life becomes easier.” Catherine Pulsifier
For the past week a friend of ours, Willie, has been a little under the weather (more like in the middle of a 300 mile/hr super tornado). First started off with strep throat, dislocated left shoulder which ended up with torn ligaments (MRI then surgery doctor says), and at the end of the week finished off with an ear infection!! Not bad of a week huh? Oh did we forget to add that some of those days he had to work? Just wanted to give a little insight of how busy our lives can be on a daily basis with expected and unexpected events. That alone can and will cause a ripple effect on the rest of our lives like for example the choices of foods we consume.
For your information Americans spend a good portion of their food budget on processed foods or like we call them “plastic catch up” foods!! Why you ask? Convenience, convenience, convenience!!
Most of you know these scenarios; rushing out the door in the morning to beat traffic, dropping the kids off at school, stopping by Kinkos to make copies for company presentation, oh yeah can’t forget have to stop by and grab that coffee!! That’s the busy lifestyles that forces our health down this ever seemingly bottomless pit of a path. And we ask ourselves why is obesity at an all time high?
There are several reasons why you should avoid processed foods but for today we wanted to home in on only three. We do want to overload you with too much information.
1. Trans -Fats.
Trans fats are the real fat substitute in our modern diet and are in ALL fast food and processed foods. Trans fat has been linked to heart disease, cancer, digestive disorders and degeneration of joints and tendons. Consumption is also linked to skin issues, learning disabilities, stunted growth in children and auto immune disease.
2. High Fructose Corn Syrup.
This has become a controversial ingredient recently. The corn and processed food industry has begun an aggressive marketing campaign trying to undo the damage that has been done to this prevalent processed food ingredient.
Essentially, High Fructose Corn Syrup increase your triglyceride levels and your LDL (the bad cholesterol) within 60 minutes of ingestion. It’s also the cheapest and most prominent ingredient in the American food chain. The average person in the U.S. consumes 68 pounds of HFCS per year!!! In 2005, if one looks at the actuarial curve on cardiovascular disease, obesity, hypoglycemia and diabetes, they all parallel HFCS increase in the food chain. But the corn and processed food industry will continue to argue that there is no difference in HFCS and natural sugars.
3. Monosodium Glutamate or MSG. MSG is essentially concentrated salt and is an excito-toxin, which means that is overexcites your cells to the point of damage, acting as a poison.
MSG can also be hidden in food labels under names like broth, casein, hydrolyzed, autolyzed, gelatin, hyrdolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), yeast extract, malted barley, rice syrup or brown rice syrup. Monosodium Glutamate has also been linked to vision loss and causing nerve damage.
The next time your running through your busy, crazy, hectic, planned filled day remember to stop and ask yourself “Is this really good for me?” One of the hardest things to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn. Together let’s cross the bridge to a healthy lifestyle
The Principles of Holistic Medicine
- Optimal Health is the primary goal of holistic medical practice. It is the conscious pursuit of the highest level of functioning and balance of the physical, environmental, mental, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of human experience, resulting in a dynamic state of being fully alive. This creates a condition of well-being regardless of the presence or absence of disease.
- The Healing Power of Love. Holistic health care practitioners strive to meet the patient with grace, kindness, acceptance, and spirit without condition, as love is life’s most powerful healer.
- Whole Person. Holistic health care practitioners view people as the unity of body, mind, spirit and the systems in which they live.
- Prevention and Treatment. Holistic health care practitioners promote health, prevent illness and help raise awareness of dis-ease in our lives rather than merely managing symptoms. A holistic approach relieves symptoms, modifies contributing factors, and enhances the patient’s life system to optimize future well-being.
- Innate Healing Power. All people have innate powers of healing in their bodies, minds and spirits. Holistic health care practitioners evoke and help pati ents utilize these powers to affect the healing process.
- Integration of Healing Systems. Holistic health care practitioners embrace a lifetime of learning about all safe and effective options in diagnosis and treatment. These options come from a variety of traditions, and are selected in order to best meet the unique needs of the patient. The realm of choices may include lifestyle modification and complementary approaches as well as conventional drugs and surgery.
- Relationship-centered Care. The ideal practitioner-patient relationship is a partnership which encourages patient autonomy, and values the needs and insights of both parties. The quality of this relationship is an essential contributor to the healing process.
- Individuality. Holistic health care practitioners focus patient care on the unique needs and nature of the person who has an illness rather than the illness that has the person.
- Teaching by Example. Holistic health care practitioners continually work toward the personal incorporation of the principles of holistic health, which then profoundly influence the quality of the healing relationship.
- Learning Opportunities. All life experiences including birth, joy, suffering and the dying process are profound learning opportunities for both patie nts and health care practitioners.
Please visit our official new website at www.beorganiccatering.com for all your catering needs and purchasing any of our organic line of products. We dare to be organic, do you?
Colorful, Meaningful, and Tasteful Plate!
Deep Red or Bright Pink
Choices like tomatoes, grapefruit, watermelon, papaya and guava are a great source of the powerful antioxidant lycopene, and may fight heart disease and some cancers.
Green
Spinach, collards, kale, and broccoli contain the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, which are known to have antioxidant properties. Cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and turnips are loaded with vitamins, minerals and fiber. The phytochemicals in these foods go a long way to keeping you in good health. Not only are these foods being studied for their role in fighting cancer, but for their ability to protect your eyes by keeping your retina strong.
Orange and Yellow
Sweet potatoes, mangos, carrots, apricots, pineapples, corn and pears are great sources of beta-carotene, as well as being another rich source of vitamins, minerals and fiber. It is believed these choices do much to enhance your immune system.
Blue and Purple
Grapes and blueberries add the health-enhancing benefits of flavonoids, phytochemicals, and antioxidants to your daily diet. The pigment anthocyanin is a phytochemical responsible for the blue color in vegetables and fruits, and is being studied for its role in your body’s defense against harmful carcinogens.
White
Onions, garlic, chives, scallions and leeks contain allicin, which may help to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, while increasing the body’s ability to fight infections.
Source: O Dream Board
What’s in Season? Your Fresh Fruit and Veggie Guide of Course.
Now we know how tough it can be to go grocery shopping let alone trying to read labels to decide whats good for you. But one thing we do like for you to keep in mind is; are you buying the freshest fruits and veggies that are is season? We wouldn’t want you to be buying quote unquote “fresh” green beans in the winter when they’re not even in season. Because that would mean that those green beans traveled far far away from where they are from to get to you, took a lot of energy to get it to you, and it isn’t fresh as it could be because of the time it took to get to you. Furthermore, the produces might even be from another county where the standards of growing produce aren’t as strong as the standards in the great U.S. of A.
Today we have a list of fruits and vegetables to look for when in season to make sure your getting the fresh and best tasting produce for your next meal. And remember what will a meal be without one of our great line of Finishing Sauces to finish it; it would be ludicrous of course! Don’t forget to order yours and remember to be organic and be local.
| Summer Fruits | Summer Vegetables |
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| Fall Fruits | Fall Vegetables |
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| Winter Fruits | Winter Vegetables |
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| Spring Fruits | Spring Vegetables |
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Power of the Kid or Parent: Appreciating Others
Top of the scorching hot summer day to you all!! Well this weekend was a great one for me personally. That’s Roosevelt “Cancer” talking. Did he just refer to himself in third person? Guess I did. In the T.V. show “Who’s Line Is This”; I’d like to ask you a question “Who’s blog is this?” Yes my blog…..at least for this post! Hopefully my third grade english teacher isn’t reading and critiquing my grammar…sorry Mrs Anchrome.
So the other day I was at foodie Andre “Diabetes” house and ran into a book that inspired kids to develop strong leadership character, working together in service to school and community, and foster and develop strong moral character. And it was at that time that I looked at foodie Andres” son and said to myself he is going to be a great leader for his community and wherever he travels in life.
For today I just wanted to get kids into the habit of working together and appreciating others around them. Here are 10 things not just only kids but parents as well can do to show others you care:
1. Treat everyone kindly.
2. Find ways you’re alike.
3. Include someone who is new.
4. Learn to give and receibe help.
5. Appreciate others the way they are.
6. Overlook small differences.
7. Listen and talk when differences causes a problem.
8. Try to understand how others feel.
9. Forgive when you feel hurt.
10. Value each person as part of the group.
Source: Accept and Value Each Person, part of the Learning to Get Along series from Free Spirit Publishing Inc.
Fitness Activities
Calling all couch potatoes!!! This is foodie “Roo” and I am here to give you an outline of how much exercising your doing or lack of doing. Now I know it could get frustrating trying to get into a workout routine, but think of your future health without it. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that adults participate in the following most days of the week:
*Minimum of 30 minutes of moderate activity to prevent chronic disease.
*60 minutes of moderate-to-hard activity to manage body weight and prevent gradual weight gain in adulthood,
*Sixty to 90 minutes to keep from regaining lost weight.
*Some people may need to consult with a healthcare provider before participating in this level of activity.
Here are some examples of different levels of physical activities.
Light physical activity means being active but not breathing hard or working up a sweat such as yoga or light housecleaning.
Moderate physical activities include:
Walking briskly (about 3 ½ miles per hour)
Dancing
Golf (walking and carrying clubs)
Bicycling (less than 10 miles per hour)
Weight training (general light workout)
Coaching children’s sports
Gardening and yard work
Housework requiring significant effort
Tennis (doubles match)
Vigorous physical activities include:
Running/jogging (5 miles per hour)
Bicycling (more than 10 miles per hour)
Swimming (freestyle laps)
Walking very fast (4 ½ miles per hour)
Basketball (competitive)
Tennis (singles match)
Would you like further help? We can support you in reaching your physical activity goals by emailing you more fitness and activity tips. Please email any questions or concerns to beorganic4@gmail.com. We dare to take care of our bodies, do you?
Don’t forget to order Be Organic Finishing Sauces for the Holiday Days to compliment your dishes.
Which Is Worst Red Meat or Processed Meat?
As we all know it Memorial Weekend is quickly approaching and most of you plan on doing some grilling. A friend of mine asked me a really good question; “Which is worst red meat or processed meat?” Hate to ruin it but the fact is that they are both bad. Now before you fire up that gas grill and throw those thick juicy Ball Park Franks or T-bone steak on; let’s take a look at which one of these is the less of the two evil.
First, I would like to tell you that there’s some pretty nasty stuff in your hot dogs and bologna. You will find all the parts of the animal that usually would get thrown away (depending on your cultural background) like the facial muscle, tongue, and lips! But besides containing a lot of fat, the really ghastly stuff doesn’t get put in until the meat is processed. What could be so awful that it is processed with you may ask? The main ingredient you will find in processed meat is sodium nitrate, another word for Chile saltpeter or Peru saltpeter (due to the large deposits found in each country) to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate.
The salt peter primary function is to prevent bacterial growth and preserve the meat so it can be stored for a long time. This is the same ingredient that they use in smoke bombs, solid rocket propellant, in glass and in cigarettes to make them burn longer. Now I’m no rocket chemist but that sounds like a time bomb ready to go off in my stomach! Studies have shown that eating a limited (keyword “limited” my foodies) amount of fresh meat, beef included, doesn’t pose a major health risk.
However, processed foods on the other hand can pose a really large risk. Sausages, hot dogs, bacon, and processed lunch meats are the worst things you can find behind your local meat counter. According to CNN, “Eating unprocessed beef, pork, or lamb appeared not to raise risks of heart attacks and diabetes, they said, suggesting that salt and chemical preservatives may be the real cause of these two health problems associated with eating meat. The study, an analysis of other research called a meta-analysis, did not look at high blood pressure or cancer, which are also linked with high meat consumption.”
For my entire carnivore foodies try to stay with the meats like minimally processed chicken, roast chicken, and roast turkey. Not only do the processed meats pose a great risk of cardiovascular problems because of the salt and fat, they increase the risk of colon cancer as well. And surprisingly there was no evidence showing increased risk of heart disease in people who ate unprocessed red meats…hmmm. Don’t take my word for it. If you feel the urge to indulge in red meat just keep in mind to eat it sparingly. (Just a little FYI it takes 14 days to digest beef and 4 hours for it to begin rotting!!) Your foodie “Roo” signing off.
10 Ways to “Be Organic” on a Budget
During the tour we were asked a lot of questions. Questions like “what is organic”, “why are we doing this”, “how do you incorporate organic into a lifestyle”, “where can we find organic food”, “why aren’t you charging people for this information” are just a few that we were asked to us. When it was time for us to ask the number one question “why don’t you eat organic?” You can probably guess what their answer was…..yes you guest it. For the most part of the tour the number one reason why people didn’t eat organic was because “it’s too expensive!”
Now we are not going to sit here and act as if organic isn’t expensive. Well actually we are because there are ways to offset the costs so that your overall expenses in going organic won’t be much more than what you’re paying now, and maybe even a little bit less!! So today we have 10 ways to “Be Organic” on a budget:
Here’s how:
1. Buy directly from local farms.
Farmers’ markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) are typically less expensive than organic markets or the organic section of your local grocery store. You can always expect the freshest and greatest flavors of the season
2. Buy in bulk.
Buying in large quantities is always cheaper than buying smaller, prepared portions.
3. Coupons, coupons, coupons!!
You might not see many coupons for organic products in the weekly food section of the newspaper, but you’ll definitely see them in other places. You can look for them in health and fitness magazines and in lifestyle magazines. Here’s a website for organic coupons: www.organiccoupons.org. We would also recommend you go directly to company websites that offer organic products. A few to start with: Organic Valley, Stonyfield, Seventh Generation, Eden Organic and Knudsen Juices.
4. Buy store brand.
Supermarkets, large discounters, and wholesalers like Costco have realized good success in offering their own organic products. Private-label offerings are expanding, and they’re cheaper than name brands.
5. Learn to read your labels.
We know it can get a confusing over the terminology and lingo in the organic world, especially when you’re first starting to make the change. When you’re watching your pennies, don’t buy something that’s labeled “natural” when you’re looking for “organic.” For tips on reading labels please read our recent blog.
6. Grow your own garden.
Even the smallest balcony can usually support a pot or two. Fill those pots with a tomato plant, cilantro, garlic, or maybe a pepper and you’ve got yourself an organic garden. You can also grow wonderful herd such as thyme indoors on a sunny windowsill.
7. Make your own cleaning products.
Have you ever stopped to wonder what ingredients are in most of those cleaning products in your cabinet? Well you’ll be surprise to see that most of those ingredients can be found in your house to make your own natural cleaning products. Ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, and borax are as cheap as you can find them. The cost associated with making products from them is about one-tenth that of their commercial equivalents.
8. Know what to buy organic and what not to worry about buying organic.
There are certain organic foods and food products that are worth spending the money on, and some that you can skip and save the money. Check out our previous blog on what to buy organic.
9. Prepare your own food.
Want to make sure your family is the healthiest it can be? When you prepare it yourself, you can ensure the quality of the ingredients your adding to your food and the processing as well. Nowadays people are doing more cooking at home; why not make it using organic foods? You can turn almost all of the food you eat right now into an organic recipe just by using organic ingredients.
10. Start a community garden.
Growing a community garden will need to be a major focus. We will soon experience limited access to healthy food and limited selection of whatever food is available. Growing wonderful fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs and supplying to locals in the community at a low cost year round.
Environmental Working Group “Dirty Dozen” List of Top Fruits and Veggies to Buy Organic
This Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit environmental research organization based in Washington, DC, “Dirty Dozen” list, in order of most-to-least contaminated, offers a helpful way to prioritize which fruits and veggies to buy organic. EWG reports that you can lower your pesticide exposure by almost 90 percent by avoiding conventional versions of the top 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables. Keep this list handy when you plan on going on your next shopping trip to the grocery store or farmers market.
The EWG reports that these 12 fruits and vegetables tested highest in pesticide residue:
1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Sweet Bell Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Lettuce
9. Grapes (imported)
10. Pears
11. Spinach
12. Potatoes
The EWG reports that these 12 fruits and vegetables tested lowest in pesticide residue:
1. Onions
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn (frozen)
4. Pineapples
5. Mango
6. Sweet Peas (frozen)
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
9. Bananas
10. Cabbage
11. Broccoli
12. Eggplant
High-Fructose Corn Syrup: Name change to the simpler, less-chemical-y “corn syrup”
Are we missing something here? Now lets see….you mean to tell us that “high”-fructose corn syrup isn’t linked to making more money?!? Get out of here!!!! Read more on this http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/business/02syrup.html?pagewanted=2&src=busln
