Smarter Organic Produce Purchasing

Fruits and vegetables are a vital part of any healthy diet!  As consumers are becoming savvier about the benefits of a healthy diet, they are also becoming more aware that certain foods could contain pesticides, and so they hesitate.  People want to make smart and healthy eating choices, but with so much conflicting information out there, it can be challenging, but read on…

I hope to clear up any confusion that you might have about making smart choices when it comes to your produce.  When you’re shopping for produce, stores often will have two produce sections: one section is labeled as organic and the other is not.

The difference between a fruit or vegetable that’s labeled as organic and one that isn’t is that the organic produce is grown without the use of chemical pesticides or fertilizers. Chemical pesticides and fertilizers are full of toxic chemicals and even though you wash your produce before eating it, you cannot wash away all of the residue, meaning that when you eat produce, you end up eating pesticide residue.  You don’t need us to tell you that pesticides, even in trace amounts, are not good for the human body.

Produce to Buy Organic

The question is what produce has the least amount of pesticides present and when, due to high pesticide content, should only be purchased when labeled as organic?

Due to high pesticide content and residue always buy these fruits and vegetables organic:

• Apples
• Blueberries
• Celery
• Cucumbers
• Grapes
• Green Beans
• Kale and other Greens
• Lettuce
• Nectarines
• Peaches
• Potatoes
• Spinach
• Strawberries
• Sweet Bell Peppers

There are also a few new additions to the list here.

Now, these fruits and vegetables are generally okay to purchase and eat if not labeled as organic, because they have the lowest pesticide amounts either in or on them:

•  Asparagus
• Avocado
• Cabbage
• Cantaloupe
• Eggplant
• Grapefruit
• Kiwi
• Mangoes
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Pineapple
• Sweet Peas
• Sweet Corn
• Sweet Potatoes
• Watermelon

For those who are concerned about eating genetically modified (GMO) foods, GMO sweet corn is not required to be labeled as GMO in the United States. If you want to avoid the possibility of eating GMO corn, you should probably buy your sweet corn organic.

Whether you are raw, vegan, neither, or anything else, you can certainly benefit from including more fresh and raw vegetables into your diet. Please enjoy this guest post from Jade, the “no nonsense” raw food lady.  For more info visit her at Fresher Than Life

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For example, did you know that it is unlikely that your bloating is related to a food allergy or intolerance? Everyone prefers to self-diagnose, but they really shouldn’t attempt such a practice. The human body is a complex thing and just because your stomach cramps and growls after eating lots of bread and bagels, this doesn’t necessarily mean you have yeast intolerance. It is more likely that you shouldn’t eat yeasty foods in large quantities in the first place so make sure that your fruit delivery box contains an even and variety set of food produce.

You can still eat foods that cause bloating whilst managing the symptoms that they create to allow you to enjoy your food without it giving you any of the side effects.

Worst Offending Foods

Chocolate and coffee are the worst offenders but you’re probably not consuming them as much as you did when you were much younger. However, you may now consumer alcohol. Alongside caffeine, alcohol is one of the biggest gut ticklers. Your liver converts it into acetate which slows down your body’s ability to burn off fat. So rather than storing the fat away, the body is distracted with the rise in acetate, so your stomach swells up and forms the dreaded ‘beer belly’.

But it’s not just alcohol; you will want to cut down on carbonated water as well. People like to have bubbles with their water because they give that sensation of having a full stomach after drinking; however, this is actually an indication that your stomach is inflating which may cut off your sense of hunger, but the ingested gas will start to give you discomfort. If you want to keep eating your favourite food then at least do so while drinking still water, rather than sparkling water.

It’s also recommended you start eating soda bread rather than regular bread, since they used sodium bicarbonate, rather than yeast.

Everything in Moderation

Arguably, this is the answer to all of life’s problems. If you cut down on certain foods, then your stomach will feel better. Gorging down on any kind of food is bad for you, so the next time you fill up your fruit delivery box, remember that a fruit sugar called fructose produces a lot of gas when they ferment. You don’t want to give up your five-a-day, but if your fructose intake exceeds your glucose intake by an excessive amount, you risk diarrhea.

Moderation refers not only to how many quantities you choose to eat, but also to how you consume your food. Too many people today feel the need to be busy all day and so they eat and talk at the same time, if not while pacing around a room, chewing gum and slurping fizzy drinks at the same time. This kind of behaviour looks cool when Gordon Gekko does it, but it is not recommended at all because swallowing all that air makes the gas go wild in your stomach.

If the above sounds like you, then you have to remember to calm down and take it easy. Lunch is an essential break from work and shouldn’t be stressing you out more.

Exercise

Regular walks and yoga work helps gas pass through your intestinal tract. Often, the air gets trapped in there because you want to rest a little after eating. But as natural as ‘sit and digest’ feels and it certainly is a quicker way to digest than standing; therefore it is recommended that you get up and walk so you can burn off more calories. Releasing more endorphins in your body will also keep your stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol away from your muscles, so your digestive system is no longer being starved of energy. Climbing the stairs, cycling, jogging and swimming are other exercises which may help relieve your abdominal aches.

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An infographic by the team at CouponAudit

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If you have been feeling run down or overtired lately, it’s possible that your diet could be to blame. There are many different factors in your life that could lead to low levels of energy, including things such as depression, illness, lack of sleep, and a poor diet. A meeting with a nutritionist to evaluate your eating habits is one of the best ways to get your diet back on track. Once you start to eat a healthier and more well-balanced diet, you will definitely start to notice an increase in your energy levels. Here are some strategies that you can implement to help improve your eating habits.

Drink Water

Drinking enough water each day is not as easy as you may think. You should aim to drink a minimum of eight glasses of water a day to keep your body adequately hydrated. Your lack of energy could just simply be a result of dehydration. Making sure to drink enough water is a fairly easy fix to help keep your body healthy; and just as importantly it can help you feel full, which makes it much easier to eat less.

Watch Your Calorie Intake

It doesn’t necessarily take a nutritionist to tell you that you have to consume fewer calories than you burn if you want to lose weight. However, this does not mean that it’s easy to maintain a healthy weight. If you are overweight, all the extra pounds you’re carrying could potentially be the cause of your lack of energy. Cutting the extra calories out of your diet will help you get closer to a healthier weight. Soon you will start feeling the positive effects of a healthier diet, along with increased levels of energy.

Eat a Combination of Lean Protein and Complex Carbohydrates

Your nutritionist is the only one that can help you to provide an individualized diet plan that fits your energy requirements and your activity level. However, he or she will definitely suggest a diet that is well balanced with foods from all of the major food groups. Some diets are far too restrictive and only allow you to eat certain types of food. Take the Atkins diet for example, which strictly limits your intake of carbohydrates in favor of a diet consisting of mainly proteins. This diet is far from ideal because it lacks a well-balanced distribution of foods and nutrients. Most nutritionists would recommend a balanced diet that includes a combination of lean meats like chicken and complex carbohydrates like whole-wheat pasta.

Eat a Diet Rich in Fruits and Vegetables

When it comes to designing the ideal diet, fruits and vegetables are some of the best foods to include. Most fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, and low in calorie density. This unique combination means that there is no better type of food you can eat if you are looking for a healthier diet. Even just adding one extra serving of fruits or vegetables is enough to make a significant change to your overall diet and health. Your lack of energy could be caused by a deficiency in basic vitamins and nutrients, and scheduling an appointment with a nutritionist should help you put an end to that problem.

No one can eat a healthy diet every meal of everyday, but you should still strive to eat as well as possible with foods from each of the major food groups. You can still splurge with unhealthy foods in moderation, but you definitely should not make fatty and sugary foods a regular part of your diet. They will only weigh you down and leave you feeling sluggish and tired.

Dr. Michael Barakate is a pediatric and adult otolaryngologist located in Sydney, Australia offering health and wellness information at ENTWellbeing.com.au.

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What is a GMO?

GMOs, or “genetically modified organisms,” are plants or animals created through the gene splicing techniques of biotechnology (also called genetic engineering or GE). This experimental and very controversial technology merges DNA from different species, creating unstable blends of plant, animal, bacterial and viral genes that cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding.

Are GMOs safe?

Most developed nations do not consider GMOs to be safe. In nearly 50 countries around the world, including Australia, Japan, and all of the countries in the European Union, there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production and sale of GMOs. In the U.S., the government has approved GMOs based on studies conducted by the same large corporations that created them and profit from their sale. Increasingly, Americans are taking matters into their own hands and choosing to opt out of the GMO experiment.

GMO’s and their reaction in the body

The human body is designed to recognize and breakdown natural, real food. Once an organism has been modified the body does not assimilate it the same way and may not know how to process it.  Therefore it is very experimental and risky to be including these food things into our, in some cases, daily diet. Some advocates have stated that in this scenario “We are the guinea pigs” and the outcome is unknown.

What Countries have BANNED GMO’s?

These countries have banned the GROWING of Genetically Modified crops in their countries:

• Germany
• Ireland
• France
• Madeira
• Switzerland
• Japan
• Australia (provinces of South Australia and Tasmania)
• New Zealand

The following countries have banned the GROWING of Genetically Modified crops as well as the SALE of GMO foods in their countries:

• Austria
• Greece
• Hungary
• Luxembourg
• Bulgaria

What can you do to avoid GMO’s?

1. Buy organic produce, meat and dairy!!! Organic must be grown in certified organic soil and have no GMO’s.
2. Speak with your local farmers and inquire about what kinds of seeds, fertilizer and products they use.  Remember when inquiring about meat and dairy products you will want to also know what kind of feed the animal is feeding on as corn and soy are two of the top GMO crops and many feeds contain them.
3. Purchase products that have the NON GMO PROJECT label on them
4. READ LABELS!!! If a product is GMO free it will most likely state it very clearly to make the concerned consumer aware that this is an approved product.
5. Avoid corn, canola and soy products (unless organic) and their derivatives such as high fructose corn syrup and vegetable oil as they are 3 of the most GM crops on the planet.
6. Remember practice makes perfect!!! Buy organic or local when possible, read labels, become informed and stay educated!! You only get one body, feed it right!!!!

Be Well,

Cory Tice

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There are many diet blogs, regimes, and bits of advice. Most will advocate eating more fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains. Many will advocate a reduction in saturated fats, refined sugars, caffeine, and alcohol. Complicated formulas of caloric intake and output, base metabolic rate, along with body mass index charts may all be part of the routine. This is fine and dandy, but confusing and hard to stick to. Below are three simple rules to eating healthier.

Healthy Eating Rule #1

Avoid refined foods. What does this mean? Stay away from foods with a long list of ingredients. An even easier way of thinking of this is what color is the food? Is it white? (think: sugar, flour, bread, most dairy). If white it isn’t right. Refining food tends to destroy nutrients. So instead of feeling full and getting what the body needs, you feel empty, craving more. Furthermore, by avoid them you are not introducing certain compounds called alloxan into the body. This is the same compound used in science to induce diabetes in lab rats.

Healthy Eating Rule #2

Don’t mix fruits and vegetables together. The body requires different digestive juices to handle fruits and the fructose contained within than it does for vegetables. Do not consume store bought fruit juice, it is often processed and loaded with sugars without half the beneficial flavonoids contained within the fruits. Try a ratio of three servings of vegetables to every serving of fruit.

Healthy Eating Rule #3

It’s ok and encouraged to have a cheat day. Make a list during the week of all the foods you craved and eat it on this one day. This creates a digestive overload in the body, forcing more digestive enzymes to be created. This helps you later in the week. It is also a psychological tool. By knowing you can still have junk food, just on a particular day, it makes all the other healthy eating days easier. Last, your cheat day will slowly teach you what healthy and energetic feels like versus slow and bogged down.

Lawrence Sylou-Creutz Ojermark is the founder and CEO of Plenary Fitness. He is the also the author of the internationally sold Plenary Fitness System of books, a former researcher, and a healer. For more please visit: www.plenary-fitness.com

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A native of India in use for hundreds of years, Caralluma fimbriata is a succulent plant of the Apocynaceae or dogbane family. Relatives include the flower garden favorite Vinca major and California’s ubiquitous landscape shrub, the oleander. Caralluma is found along roadsides and finds local use as a marker for garden borders due to its distinctive appearance.

Caralluma’s traditional culinary uses include cooking as a vegetable with spices, preserving as a chutney or pickle, and eating raw. Its reputation as “famine food” in South Asia stems from the fact that it serves as a useful food and water source for travelers and may actively suppress appetite. It is these characteristics that first brought it to the attention of researchers as a possible weight control aid.

Controlled human clinical trials of Caralluma extract were first conducted in India and published in 2006 in the journalAppetite. The 50 subjects were given either 1 gram of Caralluma fimbriata extract or placebo once a day for 2 months. Compared to controls, the treated group experienced decreased appetite and waist circumference, but no change in Body Mass Index (BMI), body weight, energy intake, or hip circumference. Researchers concluded that the beneficial effect was modest.

In a second controlled study, this time involving obesity-prone rats, scientists found that dosages of 25-100 mg/Kg body weight definitely had anti-obesogenic properties, and that it also interfered with deposition of atheroma plaque. The inhibition of weight gain was dose-dependent. An equivalent human dose would be 17-68 grams per day for a 150 lb person.

As a food long used in India, Caralluma has a lengthy track record of safety. This was confirmed by studies in rats which demonstrated an LD50 of greater than 5 g/Kg body weight. This translates to 340 grams of Caralluma fimbriata in a person weighing 150 lb.

Obesity and its health consequences such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and arthritis are serious problems in the industrialized world. While a simple, economical, and effective one-pill solution to the problem is still not available, Caralluma fimbriata extract may very well be an excellent product for assisting in weight management along with caloric restriction and increased exercise. The ability to suppress the appetite without causing any cardiovascular side effects is particularly attractive, as is the prospect of its use as a food, as has been done traditionally in India.

This has been a guest post from Australia’s online stockist of Caralluma. If you’d like to know more about the plants uses, check them out.

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