ORGANIC FOODS

Eat Organic Foods and stay Healthy

The Importance of Real Food – Organically Farmed Foods

First and foremost, eating real food is a foundational basic for optimizing your health—and your physical performance. If it’s beneficial for the “regular Joe,” you can be sure it’s going to be beneficial for athletes as well.

Choosing organic, whole (meaning unprocessed) foods, grown without synthetic pesticides and fertilizers or genetically engineered organisms (GMO) is key, as avoiding toxins is just as important as getting a wide variety of nutrients.

While conventionally-grown and organic crops often contain about the same amount of nutrients, one key nutritional difference between them is their antioxidant content.

Research has shown organic fruits and vegetables can contain anywhere from 18-69 percent more antioxidants than conventionally-grown varieties. Many of these antioxidants have been linked to a reduced risk of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative diseases and certain cancers.

Nutritionally depleted foods means less nutrient density in foods

Mineral content in Organic vs conventional foods

Organic Foods are Nutrient Dense

Unfortunately, the nutrient content of foods has dramatically declined across the board since the introduction of mechanized farming in 1925. As a general rule, it’s the health of the soil that to a large degree dictates the quality of the food, 2,3 with healthy microbe-rich soil producing higher levels of nutrients in the crop.

Mechanical, chemical-based farming destroys the soil, thereby making it more challenging to grow healthy nutritious foods. Processing has further worsened the nutritional value of the standard American diet (SAD).

The sad fact is, most of the food consumed by Americans today is not real food—it’s genetically engineered (GE), saturated with pesticides and added chemicals, and processed in a number of different ways. Many are so used to pre-packaged foods, they struggle to understand what real food is.

Toxins not Calories should be your priority when selecting food

How to Identify Real Organic Food

If you fall into this category, here’s a quick summary of real food versus the processed “food products” that most people eat:

Appearance

Naturally and organically grown fruits and vegetables don’t look isame. Their colour, shape, structure will never be the same. If all the produce look identical, it could mean that the products have been chemically altered eg bleached the same colour.

Size Up

If the produce looks bigger in size than usually found on supermarket shelves, it could usually mean that the plants had been articificially altered with growth chemicals.

Difference between organic and non-organic.

Insect Activity

If your grains, veggies and fruits have signs of worms or insect activity, it means that they have been grown naturally. If the leaves look perfect with no holes, it means that the plants is sprayed with high doses of pesticides. No amount of washing can completely remove the chemicals on these foods. If you do buy them, give them a thorough washing followed by a final rinse of salt water for two-three minutes. This helps remove germs and residue.

Tasty

Today, many vegetables and fruits are harvested when they are still not matured. These plant foods are then spraying of acetylene gas to accelerate the ripening process. These products will not be as tasty as naturally ripened foods.

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Healthier

Organic feels healthier, is far lighter on the digestive system and also helps reduce acidity and gas related GI issues.

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The Smell Test

Naturally grown produce have a nicer aroma and texture due to the naturally ripening process. Unfortunately, some companies will try to fool us by spraying artificial scents to create the original fragrance. You end up with the product that is not only nutritionless but also worthless.

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Cook Faster

Organically grown food always cooks much faster. Food with pesticides needs to be cooked for much longer periods.

Read Labels

Read the label and check for any preservatives present in the product; most preservatives are petroleum based and have ingredients that don’t have natural names.

Certification

4 digit PLU — price look up code — the sticker basically means grown with pesticides;
5 digit PLU codes

• starting with 8 means GM grown,
• 5 digit codes starting with 9 means organically grown.

Know your organic PLU codes before buying food products

Shelf Life

It is a myth that organic fruits and vegetables spoil faster; stored in a refrigerator they last for a long time.

Nearly all diseases can be traced to nutritional deficiency. Nearly all diseases can be traced to nutritional deficiency.

Why Eating Organic should be your Priority – GMOs

GMOs (or “genetically modified organisms”) are organisms whose genetic material has been artificially manipulated in a laboratory through genetic engineering, or GE. This relatively new science creates unstable combinations of plant, animal, bacteria and viral genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional cross-breeding methods.

For consumers, it can be difficult to stay up-to-date on food ingredients that are at-risk of being genetically modified, as the list of at-risk agricultural ingredients is frequently changing. The Non-GMO Project website provides information about developments in the GE industry which can impact on your health.

Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with genetically modified (GM) food (AAEM 2009),” including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. The AAEM has asked physicians to advise all patients to avoid GM foods.

Top 5 Reasons to choose Organic

6 Potential Health Risks of Eating GMO Foods

1. Toxicity
2. Allergic Reactions
3. Antibiotic Resistance
4. Immuno-suppression
5. Cancer
6. Loss of Nutrition

You can get comprehensive information of risks of consuming GMO / GE Foods by checking the Institute of Responsible Technology website.

Seeds Of Death GMO’s EXPOSED – Full Documentary (1 hr 19 mins video)

Are Organic Foods Expensive? Consider the Real Costs

Mineral content in Organic vs conventional foods

Why are Organic Foods Expensive?

1. No chemicals = more labor
2. Demand overwhelms supply
3. Higher cost of fertilizer for organic crops
4. Crop rotation
5. Post-harvest handling cost
6. Organic certification
7. Cost of covering higher loss
8. Better living conditions for livestock
9. Organic food grows more slowly
10. Less Government Subsidies

Will the cost of organic food ever drop?
A Mint.com article stated that the price premium for organic food should decrease with the development of “more accurate pricing schemes, increased demand and improved production efficiencies. But still, chances are a premium will remain due to the costs built into the organic industry.”

You are what you eat. Every 35 days, your skin replaces itself and your body makes new cells from the food you eat. What you eat literally becomes you. Junk Food = Junk Body

What will your choice be? Organic or non-organic?

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https://teamrich.wordpress.com – Organic Food by Nancy Long

Toxins hidden in Vitamins Supplements Health Foods

The 10 worst toxins hidden in vitamins, supplements and health foods

– by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

The 10 worst toxins hidden in vitamins, supplements and health foods

– by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, the Health Ranger

(NaturalNews) I’m absolutely shocked at how many people don’t investigate what’s really in the products they swallow. When something is sold as an herb, vitamin, superfood or supplement, they think it’s automatically safe. And while the natural products industry has a truly remarkable safety record — especially in contrast to the massive number of deaths caused by pharmaceuticals — it still suffers from a lot of hidden toxins that are routinely used throughout the industry.

I know this because I’ve been an investigative journalist and activist in the natural health industry for over a decade. Natural News is arguably the most-read natural health news website in the world, reaching millions of readers a month. I’ve walked the floors of countless trade shows, conducted hundreds of interviews and spent tens of thousands of dollars on laboratory tests to determine what’s in these products. On top of that, I’m deep into organic product formulations and certified organic food production, serving as the supervisor of a USDA-certified organic food production and packing facility.

When I look around the natural products industry, I see examples of super honest, high-integrity companies like Nature’s Path and Dr. Bronner’s. I also see an alarming number of cheats, crooks and charlatans who are only involved in the industry to profit from the explosion of interest in health supplements. In truth, some nutritional products are downright dangerous to your health. My role as a journalist and activist is to help you tell the difference between products that are GOOD for you vs. products that might actually be toxic. Because ultimately, I want you to be healthy, vibrant, intelligent and active. I want you to enjoy life and improve the quality of your life.

Be prepared to be shocked in reading what follows. After reviewing this list, you will probably throw out quite a few products in your refrigerator and pantry. Very few people are willing to tell you the truth revealed here, so some of this may come as a complete shock (see #1 and #2, below).

#1) Maltodextrin (from GM corn)
Let’s start out with the big one first: If you pick up a natural product and the ingredients list says “maltodextrin,” chances are very high that the maltodextrin in the product is derived from Monsanto’s GM corn.

Virtually all the maltodextrin used throughout the natural products industry is genetically modified. Products that are certified USDA organic, however, are not using GMO maltodextrin.

The non-GMO, non-corn replacement for maltodextrin derived from GM corn is tapioca maltodextrin, and you’ll find tapioca starch / maltodextrin in many certified organic, non-GMO products. Corn maltodextrin should be avoided unless it’s certified USDA organic. Look for tapioca maltodextrin instead (or no maltodextrin at all).

#2) Vitamin C / acorbic acid (from GM corn)
Here’s another whopper that’s sure to open some eyes: Nearly all the “vitamin C” sold in vitamins across America right now is derived from GMO corn.

This means that many of the supplements sold at Whole Foods, the vitamins sold on Amazon.com, the pills at your local pharmacy, and especially the products at the grocery store are (nearly) all routinely made with genetically modified vitamin C. It’s typically called “ascorbic acid,” and nearly 100% of the ascorbic acid used in the natural products industry is derived from GMOs.

Sourcing non-GMO vitamin C requires you to go outside the United States. There is no existing supply chain of certified organic, non-GMO ascorbic acid available anywhere in America (at least not to my knowledge). You can’t even run batches of non-GMO ascorbic acid production in the USA because all the facilities are contaminated with residues of GM corn.

Rest assured that all those cheap “vitamin C” pills sold at retail are derived from genetically modified corn.

#3) Hexane-extracted soy and rice proteins
Nearly 100% of the “natural” soy proteins and rice proteins sold in the USA are extracted in China using a hexane extraction method. This is true for brown rice protein superfoods as well as the soy protein used in nearly all so-called “protein bars.”

Here’s a list of many of the protein bar brands currently using soy protein:
http://www.naturalnews.com/032862_soy_protein_food_bars.html

Hexane is a highly explosive chemical. It is not only extremely hazardous to the environment, there may also be trace amounts of hexane left remaining in the resulting protein products. My understanding is that hexane extraction is not allowed in certified organic proteins, so if you have a choice, go for certified organic instead of just “natural” (which means nothing anyway).

Hexane extraction, by the way, is also used in the manufacture of textured vegetable protein (TVP). Read more about TVP here:
http://www.naturalnews.com/033728_TVP_textured_vegetable_protein.html

#4) High levels of Aluminum in detox products
Natural News helped expose high aluminum levels (over 1200ppm) in a popular detox liquid, causing the main U.S. distributor to issue a “recall” notice and provide over $1 million in refunds to customers.

The manufacturer of this product, Adya Clarity, intentionally and knowingly deceived consumers by mislabeling the product and not mentioning the 1200ppm of aluminum it contained. The FDA seized some of the products and ran its own lab tests, confirming the high aluminum level as well as identifying multiple labeling violations.

Adya Clarity is just one of many so-called “detox” products containing alarming levels of aluminum and other metals. Ingesting these in order to “detox” your body may be harmful to your health. This experience also proves you can’t always trust health products sold through online webinars, where manufacturers can ignore labeling laws and fabricate false claims. Buyer beware when it comes to metals in detox products that claim seemingly magical results.

#5) Lead and arsenic in herbs from China
China is the most polluted nation on the planet (by far), yet many fruits, vegetables and herbs are grown in China and exported to North America for use in natural products.

High levels of lead and arsenic are routinely found in various food, supplement and herbal products from China. I’m not concerned about 1ppm or lower, by the way, of heavy metals like lead and mercury. Even aluminum isn’t necessarily a problem when found organically grown inside foods that test at higher levels such as 150ppm. But when lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium get to high saturation levels (or are present in inorganic forms), it makes the products potentially a source of heavy metals poisoning for consumers.

Astonishingly, many of the small and medium-sized companies that import and retail products from China conduct no metals testing whatsoever. I know this as a fact because I’ve talked to people doing this.

For the record, everything packed under my own brand name (Health Ranger Select) and sold at the Natural News Store is independently tested by us to ensure full product safety and regulatory compliance.

#6) Inorganic minerals in cheap vitamins
Would you eat iron filings and call it nutrition? The majority of people don’t know that most of the cheap vitamins sold today are made with iron filings. “Scrap metal,” almost.

The calcium found in cheap vitamins is often just ground-up seashells, and magnesium is often sold as cheap magnesium oxide which may be completely useless to your body’s cells. If you’re buying mineral supplements, you may be wasting your money unless the minerals are in the right form: Magnesium orotate or malate, for example.

When it comes to mineral supplements, you’ll often find trace levels of scary things like barium and lead in liquid supplements, but these are typically at such low levels (ppb) that they are no real concern. But the No. 1 best source for all minerals is, not surprisingly, fresh plants. If you really want to boost your minerals, feed ’em to sprouts or garden plants, then eat or juice those plants. Your body wants “organic” minerals from plants, not inorganic minerals from rocks.

#7) Carrageenan?
The Cornucopia Institute, a highly-effective food activism group that we’ve long supported, recently published a warning about carrageenan in foods. Cornucopia says carrageenan is linked to “gastrointestinal inflammation, including higher rates of colon cancer, in laboratory animals.”

It goes on to report:

Given its effect on gastrointestinal inflammation, Cornucopia urges anyone suffering from gastrointestinal symptoms (irritable bowel syndrome/IBS, spastic colon, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic diarrhea, etc.) to consider completely eliminating carrageenan from the diet to determine if carrageenan was a factor in causing the symptoms.

Personally, I have never had any problem with carrageenan, and given that it’s derived from seaweed, I also didn’t mind the source. I actually consume quite a lot of carrageenan in Blue Diamond almond milk, which I drink when I’m too busy to make my own raw almond milk. And I’ve never had a problem with it whatsoever. So from my personal experience, I don’t see carrageenan as a worrisome ingredient, but I do understand that some people experience it differently, and it may be troublesome for people whose digestive systems are more sensitive than my own.

For the record, I definitely don’t consider carrageenan to be anywhere near as worrisome as, say, aspartame, GMOs or MSG.

#8) Acrylamides
Acrylamides are cancer-causing chemicals produced during the cooking of carbohydrates. Fried snack chips, for example, contain acrylamides. They don’t have to be listed on labels because they are technically not “ingredients.” They are chemicals produced during cooking or frying. Consuming acrylamides increases kidney cancer risk by 59 percent.

The FDA has published an extensive reference guide on acrylamide levels in foods, revealing that french fries have the highest levels of all. But they are also present in prune juice and even breakfast cereals.

A bag of organic snack chips can have just as many acrylamides as a bag of conventional snack chips. This is why fried snack chips should be eaten only sparingly, or never at all. I’m guilty of eating some of these chips myself from time to time, but I limit the quantity and make sure I’m taking chlorella or other superfoods at the same time to counteract the acrylamides.

Interestingly, it turns out that vitamin C blocks acrylamides from causing damage to your body. But if your vitamin C is from a GMO source (see above), you may want to rethink that strategy. Natural citrus juice, rose hips or even camu camu berry powder is a much better choice of natural, full-spectrum vitamin C.

If you eat fried foods of any kind, make sure you ingest a lot of vitamin C, astaxanthin and chlorella before and after your meal or snack.

#9) Hidden MSG / yeast extract
Hidden MSG is a huge issue across the natural products industry. Pick up almost any veggie burger, and you’ll find it’s made with yeast extract, a hidden form of MSG (monosodium glutamate).

Yeast extract is unbelievably prevalent in the food industry because it looks nicer on the label than “MSG.” Most people are trained to avoid MSG, but yeast extract slips by, so food manufacturers put it into canned soups, dip mixes, snack chips, microwave dinners and especially in vegetarian products, many of which are so loaded with chemicals and additives that I won’t dare touch them. Just because a food says “vegetarian” doesn’t mean it’s healthy.

Hidden MSG is also labeled as “autolyzed yeast extract” or “torula yeast” or even “hydrolyzed vegetable protein.“

#10) Fluoride in green tea
Green tea is famous for being contaminated with high levels of fluoride. This is frustrating, because green tea is phenomenally good for your health. It has been proven to lower “bad” cholesterol levels, and it may even help prevent cancer and neurological disorders. It’s probably one of the healthiest beverages you can ever drink.

The tea plant that produces green tea just happens to uptake a huge amount of fluoride from the soils. So when there’s fluoride present in those soils, the green tea will have a surprisingly high concentration, sometimes as much as 25ppm.

An interesting article on this issue is found at Toxipedia.org:
http://toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Fluoride+Content+in+Tea

While this fluoride in green tea might not be a health hazard all by itself, the governments of the world seem insistent on pumping even more synthetic, chemical fluoride into the water supplies, thereby creating a high risk for fluorosis. Adding green tea to the fluoride consumption you might experience from tap water is a recipe for disaster: brittle bones, discoloration of teeth and even cancer.

The final “dirty little secret” of the natural products industry
Finally, there’s one more secret you need to know about. Most importers, packers, vendors and retailers of natural products foolishly trust the lab results provided by the manufacturers and exporters!

So a typical U.S. company that sells, for example, pomegranate powder on the internet may never conduct their own tests for lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and aluminum. They will simply take the lab tests provided by the manufacturer and consider those to be absolute fact!

This is extraordinarily foolish. Growers and exporters routinely lie about their lab tests in order to pull the wool over the eyes of importers, formulators and retailers. The lab tests are easily faked or simply bought off in their home country. Contaminated products can be easily sold and exported because the FDA doesn’t routinely check imported raw materials for heavy metals contamination.

On the good news side, I do know for a fact that all the higher-end retailers such as Natural News, Mercola, Gary Null, etc., all routinely test their raw materials for contaminants. I’m pretty sure Gaia herbs (www.GaiaHerbs.com) routinely tests all their batches, and I know that VitaCost, before it changed hands a few years ago, was running their own lab to test raw materials on-site (for their in-house formulations). But I also know of smaller retailers who absolutely do not test anything and are far more interested in moving boxes than knowing what’s really in them. I also know that some operations are claiming to sell “organic” products even though they do not have any kind of organic certification, and that’s an irresponsible practice that should be rectified. (Look for the USDA organic logo when you buy “organic” products. If they don’t have the logo, they aren’t really organic.)

So once again, buyer beware. You need to be asking for lab test results on anything from China, and it’s good to ask for them on just about everything else as well. For our part, Natural News Store is already in the process of building a mechanism where we can post lab results for all the batches we import, pack and retail. We reject anything with high levels of metals, which is why it took us so many months to secure a really clean source of chlorella.
http://www.chlorellafactor.com/

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/039638_toxins_ingredients_nutritional_supplements.html#ixzz2OdLmxwvN

How to Stay Healthy & Live Longer

How to Stay Healthy and Live Longer

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Here are the 30 Practical Tips on How to Stay Healthy and Live Longer

1. Drink Pure Water; water purified to remove chemicals, microorganisms, lead, copper and other metals
2. Eat the Appropriate Fats; Omega-3 fats, chickens (cage free chickens that eat green plants or algae), and eggs; small fish (achovies, herring, and sardines), oily fish (tuna, shark, swordfish, mackerel, and salmon – are good but may contain mercury), olive oil (for salads and marinades (monunsaturated fat) and coconut oil (for cooking – contains health-promoting lauric acid)
3. Eat Right for your Nutritional Type (according to your Blood Type Group):
   1. Type A types – should basically stick to fruits and vegetables (high carbs / low fat). They have thicker blood than other blood types, a sensitive immune system,and should not consume dairy products, animal fats and meats. They are at a heightened risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.
      Type B types – should consume a balanced diet (fruits and vegetables, grains, fish, dairy, meat, but avoid chicken). They have the best chance of bypassing or overcoming everyday types of diseases, including heart disease and cancer.
      Type AB types – should consume a mostly vegetarian diet, and only on rare occasions some fish, meat (no chicken), and dairy.
      Type O types – should basically stick to a high protein diet (including red meat), low carbs, and enriched with fruits and vegetables. They should limit the intake of wheat germ, whole wheat products, corn, and avoid dairy products and most nuts.
      Type O types are commonly affected with hypothyroidism, high stomach acid (leading to ulcers), and thinner blood with greater resistance to blood clotting.
4. Eat lots of Dietary Fiber
5. Eat Raw foods especially Brocolli, Cranberries, Lemons, Onions, Tomatoes, and other Fruits
6. Eat Organic Fruits, Vegetables and Meats; they have more anti-oxidants
   
7. Avoid Toxins; wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly as they may be have high levels of pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals
8. Control Insulin and Leptin; Reduce carbohydrate intake and have a balanced diet.
9. Reduce Poisons to your body eg. Alcohol and Other Drugs, Nicotine etc
10. Reduce Sugar and Salt intake in foods and Coffee
11. Avoid Medication unless absolutely necessary
12. Take quality Health Supplements; Good health supplements show some results even after taking half bottle and offer a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied)
    
13. Skip a Meal or take just a salad for a meal
    
14. Get Outdoors, take in Sunlight; Sunlight protects you from cancer, is a source of Vitamin D, cheers you up. Avoid strong sunlight.
15. Exercise; Stay Active, Go for Daily Walks
16. Stay the Weight you were at 18, Stay Trim, Reduce Calorie Intake
17. Have Restful Sleep of 6-8 hours per night.  Do not oversleep.
    
18. Make Love the most important thing in your life; Spend Time with Loved Ones
19. Be Positive, Be Happy, Laugh, Smile
    
20. Make a List of things you should be Grateful of.
21. Resolve Emotional traumas; Don’t hold grudges: cultivate a sense of forgiveness, of your enemies, your family, your parents.
22. Get and stay involved – Be of Service to Others; Do Good Deeds
23. Prevent Injury; Injury induces trauma and stress to the body resulting in the weakening of the body’s immunity system.
24. Relax, Reduce Stress. Stress is the leading cause of diseases.
25. Religion and Faith adds 2-3 years of your Life
26. Lower your Body Temperature – even a small reduction in Body Temperature can increase lifespan by 12-29%
27. Stay happily married
28. Take a Deep Breath, enjoy life’s wonders
    
29. Make your Home a Sanctuary and Refuge.
30. Change your Perception of Time

When comedians take a dig at big pharmaceutical companies who are promoting their drugs and other products aggressively in the media, we know that the public are becoming generally aware of health risks and want better and natural ways to stay healthy and live longer.

In his TV program, Bill Maher quipped: “But none of these plans address the real problem. We won’t stop being sick until we stop making ourselves sick. Even the most universal government health program can’t help y0u. They cannot outlaw unhealthy foods, or alcohol or cigarettes. The government isn’t your nanny. They subsidized illness because they have to – there is too much money in it. There is no money in healthy people. There is no money in dead people. The money is in the middle; people who are alive, sort off.. but with one or more chronic conditions which puts them in need of …(medication). Fifty years ago, children didn’t even get Type 2 Diabetes. Now it is an emerging epidemic. As are a long list of aliments which used to be rare and have now been mainstream.”

Food companies and pharmaceutical companies are always trying to convince us that we need their products to stay healthy and live longer so much so that many of us are confused and lose sight of the common sense way to stay healthy and live longer. Why do they do this? Because it is big business and big bucks for food companies and pharmaceutical companies. The more products we consume, the more new products they will put into the market. Products that are not for our health but which we consume because they “make us feel good”. There is little money to be made from eating natural, healthy foods packed with nutrients. Foods that our forefathers consumed. When I say “natural and healthy” foods, I don’t mean the claims these companies make on their product packaging or in their advertising campaigns. Processed foods can hardly be called “natural and healthy” when is is processed by unsaturated oils, flavored by sugar, salt and other less than desirable ingredients like MSG. “Natural” means food as found in nature and not modified with chemicals or substances to preserve, enhance growth or flavor, or boost their marketability.

Are you prepared for a long life?

One last thing about longevity. More people are living beyond 100 years years as a result of better health and medical intervention. If you intend to live beyond 100 years, you will need to ensure that your finances is sufficient to see you through your golden years. One way is to get into a business that provides an passive income long after you have “retired”. Are you prepared for a long and happy life?

Here is the Bill Maher video about “The Pharmers’ Market” on YouTube as mentioned earlier in this article: