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]

Each year, almost a billion pounds—or nearly three pounds per person—of pesticides are sprayed across the U.S. Before herbicides and pesticides were introduced 57 years ago, 37% of our crops were being lost to pest damage. Today, despite the pervasiveness of pesticide use, pests are destroying MORE than 37% of our crops. And it’s not just in the U.S. We import heavily sprayed foods from countries that use chemicals the United States banned long ago. While pesticides have not had any significant effect on crop loss, they have definitely had an effect on our health. I think pesticide exposure levels [Read More]

As a result of the diminishment of the 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 I shared research that to get the same level of nutrients from two peaches eaten back in the 1950′s, today you’d have to eat 53! We are all trying to make our money in this tough economy stretch as far as it can, so it’s good to know that there is some produce that you can buy conventionally grown; being able to purchase it at [Read More]

Eating well in today’s busy world can be hard, as it takes a little time to plan and prepare healthy meals. Once you get in a rhythm, though, it’s generally manageable and you feel so much better knowing what you are eating and how it was prepared. (Hopefully, with love in addition to some healthy ingredients!) Eating well on the go, however, is tougher: you either need to rely on what is there, which is often not the healthiest option, or you really need to plan in advance and bring food along. Many of you have asked for ideas for [Read More]