It’s my favorite time of year! Not just because the weather is finally warming up but because it is time for the Environmental Working Group’s annual release of the Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15 fruits and vegetables. As we turn the corner, (finally!) toward Spring, it’s a perfect time to talk about choosing the fruits and vegetables and the tradeoffs between your health and your finances. As a result of the diminished nutrient profiles in foods due to modern farming practices, we need to eat more fruits and vegetables than ever. You may remember a prior article in which [Read More]
Cholesterol Raisers #2 Fructose
In the second of three articles about the real foods that raise your cholesterol (animal products are not among them!), we are going to look at sugar and review a form of sugar known as fructose. (If you missed the first article on trans fats, you can read it here.) Studies have shown that it matters what form the sugar takes, what the sugar’s source is, and that not all sugars react the same way inside our bodies. Glucose and Fructose To help you understand the difference between glucose and fructose and more importantly, why it matters, I have to [Read More]
What Every Vegetarian (Or Someone Who Loves One) Needs to Know
We have all seen or heard horror stories around today’s “factory farms.” It is sometimes to hear or see it and go on eating business as usual. We want changes to be made and at the same time, we know we need to get back to eating more vegetables and less processed foods. As a result, some of us choose to forego meat completely and opt for a totally plant-based diet (though the plant horror stories pour in daily as well! Even organic plants are increasing grown from GMO or compromised seeds or in soil that has contaminants so the [Read More]
Why Vegetables in a Can (Especially Tomatoes) Are Less Healthy
This is the last of four articles in the fruits and vegetables series. Previously, I looked at picking the right fruits and vegetables, examined how pesticides affect produce, and why frozen fruits and vegetables are better than canned. One reason why frozen comes out the winner is that canned food contains Bisphenol A or BPA, which is a major concern when eating canned fruits and vegetables. BPA is an industrial compound that has been shown to be toxic even at low doses. It is an endocrine disruptor, which means that it acts as a hormone in the body, taking up [Read More]
Fruits and Vegetables: Frozen Versus Canned
In the two prior articles on fruits and vegetables we covered a lot of ground around making better fruit and vegetable choices, for your body and our planet. While we know fresh local organic fruits and vegetables are the best choice, most of us will need to call on canned or frozen vegetables on occasion because of time and convenience factors or seasonal availability. So before we leave the subject of fruits and vegetables, I’m going to discuss some important health implications to consider with frozen and canned vegetables and also look at how many servings you should really be [Read More]