Why all the hype about organic food?

As you browse your local store, looking for inspiration to feed the family, you may wonder whether organic is really any better than regular foods. After all, organic is the buzz word these days, so there must be something in it. And consumers are forcing the demand, while marketers are only too happy to find ways of getting us to part with our money

For a moment, let’s ignore those with financial interests driving their complicated claim that organic makes no difference and look at simple reasons why organic really is better for you.

Traditional farmers -

• Use insecticides to keep their crops insect- and disease-free
• Control weed infestation with synthetic herbicides

Organic farmers –

• Use natural predators and barriers to keep insects and disease under control
• Use crop rotation, mulches, cover crops and weeding by hand to control weeds

This leaves conventional foods contaminated with excess chemicals, which due to build-up can be harmful to humans. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers 60% of herbicides, 30% of insecticides and 90% of fungicides to be carcinogenic

Now those stats alone are enough alert any thinking person to the health dangers involved in supermarket foods. And for our future, as Dr Mercola says - You don't need to have a medical degree to know that anything that kills insects and other living creatures is not likely to be very good for developing babies. One of the most important things a pregnant woman can do is avoid these chemicals as if her baby's life depended on it.

Pesticides play havoc with the immune system, disturbing hormones, causing neurotoxicity and increasing the carcinogens and free radicals in the body. Exposure to pesticides have also been linked to the male reproductive function

Some foods likely to have high levels of pesticides:

Fruit	Vegetables
Peaches	Hot Peppers
Apples	Bell peppers
Strawberries	Celery
Nectarines	Potatoes
Pears
Cherries
Red raspberries
Imported grapes

Whilst the following might contain fewer pesticides:

Pineapples	Cauliflower
Mangoes	Brussels sprouts
Bananas	Asparagus
Watermelon	Radishes
Plums	Broccoli
Kiwi fruit	Onions
Blueberries	Papaya
Grapefruit

And more than the contamination of our food, regular produce has a propensity to carry fewer of the nutrients we depend on for good health. Studies find significantly higher levels of Vitamin C, phosphorous, magnesium and iron in organic products, while also finding appreciably lower levels of toxins such as nitrates.

So while different voices argue the point – stick with the basics – you don’t want to mess up your immune system and become susceptible to disease as a result. Keep using organic foods wherever you can, but be sensible at the same time – if you can’t afford organic, don’t stop eating Real Food all the same!


Further reading:

Environmental Protection Agency of Queensland, Australia

Environmental Protection Agency of Ireland

Dr Mercola on Organic produce

Image source=Hormel Foods
Keywords=r_f

Harvest from the Toddler Organic Vegetable Garden

Have you been ‘conditioned’ into believing organic vegetables can never look as good as regular ones in shops? Well if you have, then take a closer look at this picture. There’s a bit too much reflection coming off the packaging, but there’s no denying the cos and dark frilly oak-leafed lettuce is as good looking as any, anywhere! The only reason organic vegetables look so unappetizing is because they are not fresh. And the reason other vegetables keep their ‘fresh’ look is because of the harmful chemicals placed inside the plastic wrappers which give them a longer shelf live.

These vegetables were harvested from Squirrel’s Landing Organic Garden last Wednesday, and sold to a few lucky shoppers on Thursday. They were still crisp and beautiful and caused many ooh’s and aah’s from admirers. If you’ve been watching Cabbages and Cream since its inception, you’ll remember it all started at the beginning of March, and this is what has come out of the garden two and a half months later. You can track progress of the lettuce by clicking Organic Vegetable Garden Progress on April 22^nd.

Our beetroot doesn’t show up in this picture, but you can be sure it is utterly delicious, with strong, healthy leaves – nothing like the limp stuff in the supermarkets and big vegetable stores.

Read more on the topic: We want real food

Keyword=v_g

Sally-Ann Creed's newsletter

Sally-Ann Creed’s latest newsletter arrived on my digital desk this week, and she highlights the importance of Ester-C at this time of year in the southern hemisphere, especially if you have sensibly decided to avoid taking a flu jab.

I would highly recommend your reading the full article on how Ester-C boosts immune function, plus more on:

• Antioxidants for Chemo
• Trans fats still in the news
• Reduce depression
• Why buy organic

Sally-Ann has wonderfully relaxed but informative approach in her newsletters, and I really enjoy her no-nonsense, science-based articles. There are no fads or unproven theories on this site.

What is your skin eating?

It is a medically recognized fact that our bodies absorb significant amounts of what we put on our skin. And now with certified organic food rapidly becoming the nutrition of choice by the health conscious amongst us, why would you accept any less for your skin?

Did you know that:

- An average adult is exposed to 126 harmful chemicals per day, via the 9 or so cosmetic products they use
- There are no mandated safety studies of cosmetics in the world
- Only 11% of the known 10,500 known ingredients have been assessed for safety
- The lipstick or nail polish you may be wearing could be a danger to your health
- And so is could your deodorant, toothpaste, baby lotion and soap

Seemingly innocuous personal-care products contain a large amount of mostly unregulated chemicals and toxic ingredients. Some of them – phthalates, formaldehyde, petroleum, parabens, benzene and lead can be linked to:

- Breast cancer
- Endometriosis
- Reproductive disorders
- Birth defects
- Developmental disorders in children
- Nearly all lipsticks (including well known brand names) contain lead

Women should be particularly concerned as they have a greater percentage of body fat and fat soluble chemicals such as parabens and toluene tend to settle long term in these storage sites

Synthetic chemicals such as alkylphenols (detergents) and bisphenol A (hard plastics), can mimic the body’s natural oestrogens.

There is a very simple test you do to test if you are swallowing lead every day through your lipstick and there is at least one product available that is lead free, so it’s not all bad news

Don’t take your health for granted – learn about the products out there so you can find safer choices for yourself and your family. Find a health practitioner who specializes in organic products and use only healthy creams on your body.

Image source=http://www.nvperriconemd.com/index.cfm?action=home.about_doctor

keyword=h_l

Nutritious recipe book

Nutritious is a recipe book with a difference – it contains 100% healthy recipes which are both tasty and easy to make, and utilizes organic ingredients, healthy alternatives to sugar, dairy, wheat and bad fats whilst being fun and informative at the same time.

You will find health information and funny quotations peppered throughout the book, together with cooking and general health tips. Put together by Sally-Ann Creed and Jill Fraser Halkett for Leading Edge Nutrition Centres, Nutritious has done extraordinarily well for their first effort and is published by Storm Books.

To order your copy of Nutritious, please contact us via e-mail.

You will also find it at Leading Edge outlets.

Organic gardening sites that I find useful

Here are some great sites that I find useful for finding new ideas for my organic garden.

Dig my Plot - Growing vegetables & fruit organically on an allotment : a
natural approach. What to do guide is updated monthly. Interesting
ideas and tips for everybody including Getting Started, Companion Planting,
Identifying Weeds, Herbs, Crop Rotation.

Organic Gardening Magazine - loads of ideas and useful information and a great magazine to subscribe to

Kitchen Garden - unfortunately not organic, but you can get loads of useful stuff like when to plant tomatoes or how to get rid of snails without hefty poisons, and more

Dalewood Fromage – really nice organic cheeses – I especially love their Brie with fig – its utterly sublime

The Soil Association - the ultimate in ‘Saving the Planet’ – my all time favourite publication, utterly dedicated to helping farmers who care about the land

Keywords=v_g

Organic Vegetable Garden progress

April in the new garden at Squirrel’s Landing has been busy. We found a source for organic leaf salad seedlings (hooray!) and most of them have taken.

We had a very hot spell two days after transplanting, and had to find some quick protection so they didn’t frizzle up. We lost three in the process, but the rest are now close to harvest as you can see, which is something of a record – it will be four weeks from planting by the time we pick them next week!

A friend and colleague has opened up a brilliant new health store in the Redham Centre, called Creeds Super Natural Nutrition and customers have shown a huge interest in our organic garden, so we’re planning to take produce once a fortnight – as soon as they’re available. It would be wonderful if we could supply the whole demand, so we have our eye on renting an empty plot nearby to swell our supply.

Our beetroot have also grown very fast as the conditions have been good in the past month. Another row of seeds has gone in and as soon as the little bulbs form on the first row we’ll be thinning them and enjoying a delicious meal of infant beetroot and their leaves. Quite delicious with a splash of extra virgin and some Wineland Brie™ from Dalewood Fromage.

keyword=v_g

Top 20 recommendations for a healthy nutrition plan

Here are my top 20 recommendations for a healthy nutrition plan:

1. Cut out the following: Sugar; White flour (it's stripped of nutrients), Animal and vegetable fats and ALL margarines


2. Avoid excess soy and consider having none at all


3. Keep consumption of dairy products LOW


4. Don’t rely on ONE source of fibre, (i.e. wheat bran) include beans, pulses, fruits, vegetables, brown rice, oats, rye, barley, corn


5. Wheat bran is not a good choice - it inhibits mineral absorption


6. Keep alcohol consumption down


7. Limit salt – try not to add any to your food and never cook with it


8. Don't eat excessive amounts of animal protein


9. Protein is also found in nuts, seeds, peas, beans, lentils, sprouts and whole grains. All are rich in vitamins, minerals and protein


10. Avoiding carrying too much weight – it will reduce your life expectancy, and brings many diseases with it


11. Don't smoke or take recreational drugs


12. Ensure a HIGH intake of vegetables, especially green, leafy ones and preferably raw or steamed


13. Plenty of good quality fibre – many people need supplemental help here


14. Eat organic and free range where possible


15. Take regular MENTAL exercise - hobbies, reading etc


16. Prayer enhances immunity


17. Enjoyment of life also enhances immunity


18. If you are a vegetarian (but be aware of the long term dangers here) ensure sufficient protein and include the following: Rice with legumes or sesame seeds, Wheat with legumes/sesame seeds, Corn with legumes, Sesame seeds with either beans or wheatQuinoa is a good source of protein


19. Regular exercise - even if it is just a 15 minute walk


20. Have a goal in life - raises your immunity!

Image source

Keywords=d_n

What about a low-fat diet?

For those of you who still think you’re going to lose weight on a low-fat diet, think again.

Our bodies crave fat and we cannot survive without it. As soon as we deprive ourselves of good fats and oils (in fish, pharmaceutical grade fish oil supplementation and extra virgin cold pressed olive oil) our bodies panic and send messages to our brains for a quick fix in the way of sugar, sending us into diabetes contenders and susceptible to other degenerative diseases.

It is clear from the ever-present chronic diseases, skyrocketing overweight and obesity rates and widespread degenerative illnesses facing developed and developing countries that something has gone wrong with our diets. The biggest fad diet in the world has encouraged food from machines and sickly animals instead of whole foods from organically grown sources and this is a major issue that contributes to the failure of our health.

Identifying and eating low-fat foods provide many with reassurance, but fat is often substituted with increased levels of sugar. Many people believe a low-fat alternative has up to 40 percent fewer calories than regular brands, when the true figure is more likely to be only around 11 percent, say researchers.

A person's perception of what amounted to a regular portion of food was often slanted when faced with low-fat alternatives. People believe they will feel less guilty eating the low-fat foods, so they tend to overindulge.

Unbeknownst to the general public, the theory that bad health follows high intake of fats in general or saturated fats in particular has long had its detractors--and the list of detractors has been growing noticeably in recent years.

Have a read of what DrSears.com has to say on this topic - you'll need to register, but worth reading!

Image source

Keywords=d_n

What’s happened to our food?

Do you ever look in people’s shopping trolleys to see what they’ve bought for dinner?

If you have, what’s the bet:

• You’ll see boxes of ready-made meals taking up loads of space


• But what real value are they getting for their money?


• Do those beautifully labeled boxes of processed food warrant the prices we pay for them


• They’re labeled with pictures of delicious looking food


• But what’s inside is always a disappointment

If you’ve always bought ready-made meals, check out the difference in cost between them and what you’d pay to make that meal yourself. Over a month this could be as much as the cost of a meal out for four Local Food Suppliers

Years ago, before I knew much about how our food is manufactured, and long before I came to realize that we’ve in fact had our food stolen from us by the food manufacturing industry; Food Standards Agency I can remember longing to earn enough to buy all my family’s food requirements from Marks & Spencers or Waitrose.

But now I know better:

• Not only do I have more money to spend on our food because fresh and organic food is cheaper than processed meals


• But we are also healthier


• Finding new recipes is loads of fun


• And I really enjoy cooking for friends and families on Sundays


• It’s great to have lots of people around our dining room table


• Enjoying good food and wine, with some controversial banter to spice things up

Nowadays I never buy ready-made meals and have reduced my kitchen waste so re-cycling is a lot simpler too Planet Ark

Visit us again soon for more on Real Food and how to make it!

Image source

Keyword=r_f

Birth of an Organic Vegetable Garden

A brand new organic vegetable garden was born recently at Squirrel’s Landing. There’ll be frequent postings to keep you up to date on how it progresses, so make sure you visit us again soon. This is how the early preparation went in order to put minerals back in the sand and soil:

Our topsoil was thick with invasive grass roots, making it impossible to dig over, and we had to bring in a Bobcat to chop off the matted and dead topsoil which has been hijacked by invading alien grass for three generations

• Then we cleared out bits of stone and some deep sunken roots which would have sent up more grass shoots within days


• A thin layer of loose soil was exposed, under which hardened clay has made it impossible to fork over. We tried sinking a stake in to hold up a fence but it was useless, the prongs of the fork just bent! This was when we realized just how much work is ahead of us.


• We have to manufacture top soil from scratch in order to make it arable!


• A layer of well rotted manure went down first followed by some dried grass clippings taken from the plot next door where a team of workmen recently spent the morning mowing. It will help make a base for our new topsoil and the remains have been set aside to feed our new compost heap


• After that a layer of good topsoil was salvaged from the boundary which is where a natural stream runs, and the soil looks quite healthy


• Then another spreading of manure and some of the so-called 'compost' from the local nursery came next, and a hefty dose of organic chicken manure in pellet form to add concentrated nitrogen into the mix


• Lots of watering followed, after which there was much digging and forking over and leveling of the whole area


• This new topsoil will lie quietly for two weeks, with a little tilling and lots of watering in between, when we will be ready to set the paths and plant some seeds

We’d love to hear from you so visit us soon for further news of our brand new organic garden, and we’d love to hear from you about your ideas on growing organic vegetables.

Don't forget my Organic gardening DOs & DON'Ts

Keyword=v_g

Organic gardening DOs & DON'Ts

Everyone’s going organic these days, which is very good news indeed. But there are varying degrees of ‘organic’ and if we want to achieve the results we envisage we’d better do everything we can to get it right from the start.

One aspect of the organic growing of vegetables we don’t hear enough about is soil management, and this is pivotal if we want good nutrition from the food we grow. People who instinctively know that the food they eat builds good or bad metabolisms will be sure that their soil contains as many of the trace elements and minerals which are needed for the plant to synthesize inorganic minerals in organic nutrients that our bodies can process.

So when you begin work on your allotment or just a small area of your back garden in order to grow real food*, have the soil tested for its mineral content, and if necessary, check with your nurseryman as to how to feed your soil before you begin planting.

Here are a few tips to get you going:

• Read as many articles you can find on feeding the soil first
• Make soil care a priority
• Make compost and leaf mould to feed the soil
• Make local sources your first choice
• Manage the whole garden organically - not just the fruit and vegetables
• Use organically grown seeds
• Control weeds without herbicides
• Consider the environmental implications when choosing materials for hard landscaping, fencing, soil improvement and so forth
• Say 'NO' to genetically modified varieties
• Make the garden 'wildlife friendly', encouraging natural creatures to control pests.
• Learn to distinguish pests from predators
• Collect rain water, and reduce the need for watering by improving the soil and growing appropriate plants
• Reuse and recycle, to cut down the use of finite resources and reduce disposal problems
• Play to your garden's strengths, capitalising on its particular characteristics
• Stop using slug pellets!
• Avoid the use of preservative treated wood

Keyword=v_g