Healthy Food Makes You Feel Alive

Recently a good friend and I got to watch a different movie documentary on a Friday night. It was nice and relaxing during our long weekends to sip a glass of wine, or in my friend's case, bourbon and coke diets, and learn about something that affects our lives. Last year, we saw everything imaginable from food to religion. But for this article we're going to talk about the food we eat, or maybe we think we're eating.

The awful truth is, of course, that the more documentaries you watch, the more you become educated about what is and what is not in the food we eat. It really brings you joy to the unwanted truth of how few major food manufacturers have gone missing when it comes to the health and well-being of unsuspecting consumers.

Some of you may be very aware of what's going on with our food, and others may not be. I certainly learned a lot last year and hope that some of the information below will help give you some of the ability to make better choices.

Organic Foods - Better Choices

Sales of organic fruits and vegetables have doubled in the last five years and for good reason. Some of the benefits are as follows:

Your body can fight disease, bacteria and viruses better when it comes to organic foods.

Organic foods contain at least 50% more nutrients, vitamins, and minerals than inorganic foods.

Eating organically, you will prevent the growth of hormones from entering your body which is found in many foods we eat, such as chicken.

Organic foods are lower in fat, and that helps fight and prevent obesity.

Antibiotics found in inorganic foods are a direct cause of allergies.

Organic fruits and vegetables not only prevent pesticides, but also taste better.

Organic foods protect against toxic metals such as cadmium, lead and mercury.

Organic foods help prevent estrogen dominance, which, while more common in women, can also affect men, causing problems such as infertility, erectile dysfunction, prostate enlargement, and some types of cancer.

If you are ready to buy creative and cooking expenses, you can enjoy the freshness and goodness of organic food without breaking your budget. These days there are many places to buy organic food. In addition to supermarkets, you can find them at health food stores, specialty stores, co-ops, gourmet delis, farmers markets, community support agriculture programs, department stores, and even vending machines. Some helpful tips are:

Join a co-op that is an organic, family-owned business.

Join a shopping club with others and buy in bulk for discounts of up to 30 or 40 percent.

When organic is sold in bulk.

Buy organic fruits and vegetables in fresh season and supply them.

When you enter the discount brochure shop to see what organic food is sold.

Cut out any coupons you see on organic foods.

The secret to making sure you buy organic fruits and vegetables is to read the labels:

If it has a 4 digit number then it is conventionally produced and may have grown using fertilizers and pesticides.

If it has a 5-digit number that starts with "8" then it is genetically modified. This is really scary to me because we still don't know the full range of negative effects our body may have.

If it has a 5 digit number that starts with "9" then it is organic and is best for your body.

If you want to find organic food sources in your area just Google "organic & your city." I thought you'd be amazed at what came up.

Buy at Your Local Farmers Market

Farmer's markets are great local resources. The locally grown tomatoes are better than the tomatoes that were visited 1,500 miles before reaching the supermarket shelves. Plus the faster they are eaten the more nutritious it is for your body. Ask farmers if they grow organically if they are no longer posted.

Ask farmers a lot of questions and don't be afraid to trade with them for a better price (especially if you buy in bulk). Buying from your local Farmers Market also helps keep your community growing and growing.

Buy Stocks in the Community-Supported Agriculture Program (CSA)

Over the past decade, the Community Supported Community (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy seasonal local food directly from farmers. You can't get any fresher than that. You get it straight from the field, often choosing that morning. Most of them are organic and they usually have different drop-off places to take your food bag. Most cost about $ 300 to $ 400 upfront for a 24-26 week growth season. Not only do you support your local farmers, but you get the best taste, the most nutritious food.

Fed Beef Grass - Healthy and Feeling Better

Organically fed beef is healthier. Cows are not stored in many foods (human condition) full of bacteria (hello E. coli), and are not fed corn (higher in unhealthy saturated fats) and other foods they do not eat naturally. They have never been given growth hormones (human safety is being debated) to make them mature faster than they used to be.

It is a well-known fact that eating a cow's diet affects its taste. Organic ground beef tastes better then normal beef. The healthiest beef comes from cattle that eat only grass, as it is a natural food that a cow is meant to eat. If you haven't had a grilled burger lately, you will be amazed at the taste.

Healthy Free Hormone Chicken - Or Is It?

Chicken is a lean animal food, meaning it has a lower fat ratio and higher protein than other meat. The USDA prohibits poultry growers from giving hormones and steroids to chickens, but growers can still provide their hormones without hormones on a daily basis that serve the same purpose as hormones - to boost growth rates (Say What!). So when you go to a grocery store and see a chicken labeled as "hormone-free", it might be a good example of how misleading labels make us think it's safe (but it's not). If you are concerned about the amount of antibiotics given to chickens, buy chickens and eggs labeled with free labels and no antibiotics added.

Pop Soda Side Effects

I'm going to stick my neck out on this one and think that most of you already know how terrible pop soda is for us. It's sad that so many people enjoy it without realizing how bad pop really is. The following bullet explains how the substance of the pop soda pop substance:

Phosphorus Acid - Weak bone and ribs

Excessive artificial sweeteners make you crave more

Caramel Color - Made from chemical caramel, is cosmetic, it does not add flavor but is contaminated with carcinogens

Formaldehyde - Carcinogen, it is not added to soda but when you digest aspartame, it breaks down into 2 amino acids and methanol = formic acid + formaldehyde (diet sodas)

High Fructose Corn Syrup is a type of concentrated sugar, fructose derived from corn (and in 75% of grocery stores). It increases your body fat, cholesterol and triglycerides and makes you hungry. (OH GOD !!!)

Potassium Benzoate - a preservative that can be broken down into benzene in your body. Keep your soda under the sun and benzene = carcinogen

Food coloring - impaired brain function, hyperactive behaviors, difficulty focusing, impulse control.

Need I say more about pop soda? Just drink little by little for good health, ok.

Juicing: Your Key to Radiant Health

When we see Joe Cross's "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" documentary, I don't know how much of our body's nutrients are lacking. I also do not know that by using juice you can take the optimal amount of fruits and vegetables in an efficient way to give your body what it needs to recover and stay healthy.

Cooking and processing foods destroy their nutritional value by changing their chemical shape and composition. Almost every health authority recommends that we get 6-8 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Juicing is an easy way to guarantee that you will reach your target for vegetables. The only drawback is cleaning. There are lots of good online articles and great books on juice for you to educate yourself. I firmly believe that juice is the last key to giving you a truly radiant, energetic, and optimal health.

Healthy Food Makes You Feel Alive


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