Thursday, May 19

Food for Thought

Through my daily internet meandering (I should be reading for school . . .) I stumbled upon The Elephant Journal, a yoga/meditation/food/lifestyle arena that seems really interesting as I putter around the site. Most interesting, I think, is an interview with  Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma which, full disclosure, I have yet to read (but it's been on my radar for awhile). 


Walk the Talkshow: Michael Pollan from Alex King & Mito Media on Vimeo.

And check out The Elephant Journal here

Tuesday, May 10

Start it Young

At the risk of sounding preachy (again) the most important thing we can do is educate our kids on how important our environment is, and how important healthy eating is. If we instill these practices at an early age, simply through it being the only way we live (organic food is just what you eat, you just turn off the lights when you leave the room, etc) then kids are MUCH more likely to make it a habit through life. My cousin works at this awesome goal, going into classrooms to teach kids about the environment with fun activities.

Another way is just through movies, tv shows. Shows like David the Gnome when I was growing up, and my favorite environmental movie of all time, Ferngully. The original, not the sequel, is best in my opinion, and Avatar is great too, with the added bonus of teaching kids about respecting other people's cultures/appearance, etc. It just might not be quite as age appropriate as Ferngully.



This film might also be the reason why I secretly hope that someone will call me a "bodacious babe." But that's neither here nor there.

Thursday, May 5

If I had a goat, this would get it

A few weeks ago my mother told me about a segment in one of her morning news' shows (I don't remember which one), that basically said that organic food is expensive, so THESE are the ones you need to focus on. Good idea in theory, EXCEPT: they basically said that with eggs and milk, you can't taste or see any sort of difference, so go with the cheaper non-organic option.

Going organic is NOT really about taste. I mean, it's a fantastic off-shoot that is 100% true, organic food just tastes better, but the main thing is that organic food doesn't contain harmful pesticides, and isn't biologically tampered with (hormones, frog DNA, etc. I'm not a scientist, I don't know the facts, but what I know freaks me out).

FURTHERMORE, break a non-organic egg next to an organic egg and there IS a visible difference. The yolk is so much brighter, tastes SO much creamier. Switching to organic egg changed my life, in terms of consuming eggs.

Also, organic milk tastes better, lasts longer, is actually probably safer because it's ultra-pasturized, and doesn't have creepy chemicals in it (minus fortified vitamin D and DHA omega-3)

So, basically, whichever morning show this is is full of crap.

BUT, I do agree that organic food IS unfortunately, really expensive and going whole hog on the organic food thing is quite the financial commitment.

According to greenissexy.org, the Environmental Working Group has listed 12 food items that absolutely should be bought organic. These foods have no inedible peel (i.e. melons, bananas, etc) and therefore absorb the chemicals and pesticides right into the flesh. As they say on greenissexy, these chemicals are designed to stick no matter what, so no amount of scrubbing/peeling will get it off. Here is, as they say, the Dirty Dozen:

-Peaches
-Apples
-Bell Peppers
-Celery
-Nectarines
-Strawberries
-Cherries
-Kale
-Leafy Greens
-Grapes (imported)
-Pears

Just something to consider the next time you go grocery shopping (hopefully with reusable shopping bags in tow!)