Day 57 - Juice Fast and still organic

Gosh! Has it been really almost 3 weeks that I haven't written a post?!
Well, Tom watched the movie "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" and introduced the idea to me to start a juice fast. I was not too excited about it, because I know how I feel when I am hungry. It's sort of the resemblance of Jackyl & Hyde. I get shaky, irritated, weak, and lightheaded when I don't eat and thinking about fasting for 10 days sounded horrible to me. But I am not a person to generally say no, so we started our Juice Fast last Tuesday. It went well for 2 days and at the end of the second day I came home, shaky, super irritated, hungry and with a horrible headache. The headaches started from the first day and continued until we introduced some solid food.




A juice fast consists of juices from all kinds of vegetables and fruits. I like the fruit juices but am a little hesitant when it comes to vegetable juices. It's not that I don't like vegetables, quite the contrary. We eat vegetables every day. Well, since we are eating only organic food, naturally we only buy organic vegetables and fruits. We now adjusted our juice fast after that second day to the following:

Breakfast - fruit juice at 9 a.m.
Lunch - slice of organic bread with some hummus
Afternoon snack - vegetable or fruit juice
Dinner - huge salad (organic)
For cravings - juices

This system seems to work really well and I am able to continue with this until our 10 days are over. Luckily this Friday we are officially done with our fast. I know that the essential fast juice, according the movie that inspired Tom does not allow any solid foods, but since we are not really trying to detox but lose weight we think that this works best for us.

Around dinner time it is the hardest! This week taught me a lot about my still unhealthy diet patterns. Here is an interesting aspect I learned about myself.

The weekends to me are relaxing, fun-filled and merely make up for the entire work week. We start our Saturday morning with our famous chocolate chip raspberry pancakes or a egg/bacon breakfast. On the weekends we just really let ourselves go. I think I have to admit but I am a emotional over-eater. I love to spend the weekends eating crap! Compared to a lot other people, crap is not fast food or greasy unhealthy things, but "soul food". Last weekend was a real struggle. We woke up and had to change our routine of gathering around the breakfast table to devour our pancakes. Instead we made a juice and that was it! How fulfilling...NOT!!

I also noticed when we had our first dinner, while I walked with my plate to the living room I chomped down 3 tortellinis. But my intentions were to enjoy my dinner and eat it consciously and enjoy every single bite. After I caught myself, I started to cut my tortellinis in three pieces and eating them very slowly. I think I am an over-eater!! Also, on some days when I just felt down or discouraged, I craved really unhealthy things..things that I haven't eaten for years. 

Despite all this I lost 4 lbs and I feel great! In the beginning I was too weak to do anything! I couldn't even work out! After the second day I started working out at the gym again and I feel that I am getting more toned. I even fit into my old dresses! Yay! I hope by Friday I will lose some more weight.

The reason I was not writing more post on here, was mainly that we got so used to eating organic and it is not a challenge for us anymore. We really enjoy eating organic and have made it our regular diet. Yes, there are the occasional non-organic foods like bbq we attend or some dining-out but generally we make health-conscious decisions. I think this part helped us to get by with this juice fast as far as we did or still doing. I am not craving sweets and have not put any sugar in my body for the past week (besides fruit sugar).

We talked about doing a juice fast every month for one week. We both don't like the pure juice diet but it surely is beneficial and healthy. Well, this is just a short update and I will try to post more often, but I think I am going to minimize my posts.


After all a healthy adult should be eating 70-90% of fruits & vegetables a day! Crazy? Yes. Doable? Absolutely!

Day 38 - How to shop for organic produce

About a week ago when I was standing in line at the self-check at Fred Meyer, a middle-aged lady in line behind me asked me "Wow, where did you find those tomatoes?" "Just over there (I pointed in direction)..and added "..in the organic produce section." 

The lady took an unconscious tiny step away from me and said to me with a tone and manner that conveyed that buying organic tomatoes was above her needs. I quickly added "They are really affordable only $1.39 a pound!" She seemed intrigued but not convinced and brushed it off and said "Oh, well...I am already in line." I offered her to take the spot in front of me in line since she only had one tomato in her hand. When I was loading up my organic vegetables and fruits on the counter and scanned them over the scanner, I realized that I must be a minority at Fred Meyer and buying organic is still a very foreign concept to many people. The lady gave me an impression that she would not be able to afford the organic prices, but yet here I am with a below the average income loading up on organic produce. And I had it all - strawberries, oranges, zucchini, lettuce, cucumbers, apples, blackberries...you name it. Yes, I did spend about $20 but that included other things as well, not only organic produce. And let me tell you, they looked so delicious and good that I couldn't wait to get home to wash the apple and share it with our daughter. 

Going to the grocery store with a 2 year-old is always a battle and a stressful experience. Therefore I started to bring Amelie's plastic toy shopping cart to the grocery store with us. This way I can involve her in the shopping process. We pick the fruits together, she learns this way the name of fruits and vegetables. She is excited to put all the groceries in her tiny shopping cart - at times when I stand in front of the shelves and make tiny remarks about prices and ingredients with a certain body language, I look down at Amelie and see that she is watching every detail and copying what I am doing. I am using this to my advantage and set a good example on how to shop and what to buy. She is not getting it, but she can now differentiate which vegetables look good and which we rather pass on.

The experience in the check-out line inspired me to write a post about the "how to shop for organic produce and still save money". I feel that a lot friends understand the importance of organic food and would like to buy it too, but I also hear a lot of valid concerns about their finances. One thing I can guarantee you, we consider ourselves at times pretty "poor" - most of my friends don't have children, and the ones that have children generally make a little more than our family. Of course we are not poor but we can't afford many luxurious things. Yet we decided that our diet consists mainly of organic food. And so far the past two months were def. doable. 

We buy organic produce at two stores only. One is the Coop the other is Fred Meyer. Coop is most of the time pretty overpriced but you can find great deals and at times you can find produce that is cheaper than Fred Meyer. Bananas at Walmart generally cost $.33/lb (we used to buy 5-6 bananas and half of them we threw away). Now we are buying bananas (most of the time red tag = some brown spots but generally no difference inside) at Coop for $.60/lb, which is twice as much as the Walmart bananas. Well, we just buy 3 bananas and spend the same amount. Apples either at Fred Meyer or Coop cost somewhere between $1.39 and $1.59 per pound - I don't even know what the average price of apples are at regular stores but we buy 4-5 apples and the prices don't kill us. 

We buy organic bulk spinach for $3.69/lb - spinach doesn't way much so a half pound is a huge bag full of spinach and costs about $1.80. We like to make salads, use it for Greek feta/spinach pastries, on sandwiches, on burgers, on the side. If you don't like spinach, organic lettuce is the same price as it is in the regular store. A small head of lettuce is only $1.99 and Fred Meyer and Coop have the same prices. Tomatoes are an exception, tomatoes can be pretty pricey. I think we buy the cheapest organic variety of tomatoes at Coop (again same prices at Fred Meyer) they run about $3.69/$3.99 a pound. Therefore we only buy 2-3, which is not a bad idea because in the past we bought about 5-6 and again we threw about 2-3 out because they get moldy after a while. 

I love to buy organic oranges, juicy, fresh and super tasty. In the past I hated buying oranges, because I generally ended up getting old, dry oranges that tasted so bad that I didn't even finished a quarter of it. I even tried buying really expensive ones (non-organic) and it was always a 50/50 chance to get a juicy one. Now that we are buying only organic oranges I know that each time I peel an orange I know it will be juicy. I can't remember the orange prices but again we don't buy many of them. The rule is that fruits and vegetables have to be bought every 3 days.

Zucchini, super great deals! Zucchini generally cost about $1.00/lb - they can be fried with garlic in a pan, zucchini can be added to any dish, even the famous zucchini bread is yummy. Peaches...peaches..peaches...let me tell you about peaches. Have you eaten a peach lately without a broken pit? I do..all the time now. In the past I ate gross, dry, flavorless peaches with a broken pit. What is it about the broken pit? The organic peaches are so juicy that the juice even runs down all the way to my elbow. Hahaha..I absolutely recommend organic peaches - they cost about $1.39/lb - you can get 2-3 peaches for few bucks. I recommend to weight all your fruits and vegetables and choose the smaller and not so heavy ones, to save some money. 

Bell peppers are really expensive, therefore this rule of weight applies particularly to bell peppers. In the past we used to buy bell peppers all the time, which I have to say that the red and orange peppers even the non-organic peppers are already pretty overpriced. Result of that - we don't buy organic bell peppers very often.

Fred Meyer has great strawberries. I honestly don't know the prices of non-organic strawberries but I don't feel that I am paying a lot more buying them organic. A regular plastic box of organic strawberries costs $3.00 or two for $5.00. They are so good. I don't know if I am officially allergic to strawberries, but each time I eat non-organic strawberries my throat starts to itch. It goes away after 30 - 60 min. (it feels like getting a cold). We have purchased about 3 boxes in the past 2 months and I am always waiting for the itch in the throat, but didn't get that with organic strawberries yet. I don't know if it is just a coincidence or if it has anything to do with the pesticides or other things. Still testing.

To sum it up - organic produce is def. a little bit more than non-organic but try to buy half of what you used to buy (unless you need a large quantity for a certain recipe) and you will end up not throwing so much out and will essentially spend the same amount of money. Look what is seasonal and always know your prices - the prices change frequently. The other tip on saving money is try to buy smaller sizes. If you buy broccoli get the ones with the smallest stem (they weigh a lot). Grow your own garden if you have the space, even if it is a small space or in pots. If you can't buy certain produce organic, that's o.k. too. But know your "dirty dozen".

List is ranked in order of the amount of pesticide used:

1. Apples – 98 percent of conventional apples had pesticides
2. Celery – tested positive for 57 different pesticides
3. Strawberries – some had as many as 13 different pesticides
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines (imported)
7. Grapes (imported)
8. Sweet bell peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries (domestic)
11. Lettuce
12. Kale/collard greens

Another recommendation is to focus on items from the “Clean 15” list – those with the least pesticide residue.

1. Onions – less than 1 percent had any pesticides
2. Sweet corn – 98 percent of all frozen and sweet corn samples had no detectable pesticide residue (I PERSONALLY DON'T EAT ANY NON-ORGANIC CORN DUE TO GMO - BUT THAT'S MY PERSONAL CHOICE - AS YOU MIGHT HAVE READ I AM ABSOLUTELY AGAINST GMO)
3. Pineapples – only 6 different pesticides were found
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet peas
7. Mangoes
8. Eggplant
9. Cantaloupe (domestic)
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet potatoes
14. Grapefruit 

15. Mushrooms 

I hope that gives you a better view on how to shop for organic produce, where to buy it and what the average prices are. I feel much better knowing I am not taking any risk, but an important aspect to us is that I have been very satisfied with the quality of organic produce. I prefer organic produce over non-organic due to that fact!

If you have any questions, feedback, ideas, suggestions - please let me know. You live and learn!

WISDOM OF THE DAY 

A four-year, $25 million European Union funded study found that with regards to organic food compared to "regular" food:  

There are 40% more antioxidants in organic food 

Milk that is taken from organic herds contains 90% more antioxidants 

There are higher levels of beneficial minerals like zinc (something almost everyone is deficient in) and iron in the organic produce. 

Day 37 - Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

I don't know if you heard about Jamie Oliver, you might have heard about his various cookbooks. Today I learned through a friend that he does actually more than that. Jamie Oliver is promoting awareness and a good diet. He uncovers all the myths and states the ugly facts that we struggle with here in the U.S. He is a good speaker, I watched his speech on youtube. Therefore I would like to share a video with you.The video is about 20 min. long so watch it if you get some spare time and are interested - watch this video. 

He is pretty serious about what he promotes. The facts make me sad and angry at the same time. Schools in the US provide continuously unhealthy food to our children and it is a real challenge to change these bad habits in our schools. I am getting anxiety when I think about that Amelie will going to school one day and eat all the crap they provide at lunch time.

SAD..SAD..SAD!! At the same time you don't want to send your child with lunch to school to ostracize them to become the focus of bullies. Growing up in Germany, we always had quality food and hot dogs, french fries, pizza, hamburgers WERE CONSIDERED FAST FOOD! Do I need to say it again?? FAST FOOD - no real cooking required. I think the U.S.  is far from being ready to change this, but Jamie Oliver makes a huge effort to change that.  Good for him! I googled him and found his FOOD REVOLUTION website. I am going to get involved and I will do anything possible to get involved. Please get involved, if you are not interested about your own health, maybe you should think about your young children. 

There is a US map on his website and IDAHO has only 3000 supporters...maybe we should all get involved. My blog focuses mainly on organic food, and if I am not mistaken Jamie battles unhealthy nutrition - I feel that organic food and a healthy diet go hand in hand. 

WISDOM OF THE DAY

Childhood Obesity Facts and Statistics   (these are facts collected in 2011)          

 
One out of every seven low income children in America is obese.
More than 70% of the obese youth are at higher risk of heart diseases.
The hospital costs for children were 35 million in the 1980s and these have increased to 127 million today.
Type 2 diabetes has reached to the levels of 8-9 %; a two-fold increase from the early 1980s.
Obese children are at a higher risk of developing liver diseases, asthma and Sleep Apnea (problems in breathing while sleeping).
Children with obesity have a low self-esteem and the chances of developing psychological problems like depression and anxiety are higher.
Obese children have lesser concentration levels and get tired easily, which can pose challenges in their education and their participation in other extra-curricular activities.
Obese children are subject to a lot of social discrimination and this may cause them to stay away from exercises and social interactions.
Most of the people who complain of arthritis are middle-aged, but obese children are at the risk of developing this disease early on in their lives.
Obesity also takes a toll on the financial health of a family as estimates suggest that a family with an obese child spends 30% more in health costs and 77% more in medication costs.

Day 36 - Another home-made soup

The holidays are over and we are both back to regular routine, which includes a better diet. I made an organic vegetable lentil soup I found in the book I blogged about few weeks ago.

The Veggie Kids book is not only for kids, we can benefit from this, too.

I am planning on making every single recipe from this book. With all the healthy cooking I am learning so many new things. For example, I have never heard about red lentils. We purchased some from the bulk section at Co-op - very inexpensive. The recipe asked for a 1/2 cup of red lentils. So, naturally everything in the book can be replaced with as many organic vegetables/fruits as possible. I am excited that we get Amelie to eat so many vegetables without even knowing she is eating them. She struggled with this one a little bit more than the orange-carrot soup, but ended up eating most of her soup. The soup recipes books I have ordered from the library finally came in but were a little disappointing - too hard, too many exotic ingredients and nothing really that I am seeing myself getting excited about.

This soup includes:

• Carrots
• Onions
• Parsley
• Coriander
• Vegetable stock
• Salt & pepper
• Red lentils

If you want the recipe email me, get the book from the library or simply buy it on Amazon. It's less than $4 with shipping.

WISDOM OF THE DAY 

red lentil    Notes:   The most common type of red lentil is the Red Chief.  It's a lovely salmon pink in its dried form, but it turns golden when cooked.  These lentils cook faster than others.  They're best in purées or soups.

Day 35 - Happy 4th!!

We are spending the holiday in Twin Falls with Tom's parents. I wanted to make some organic breakfast and lunch today for them. Since we still had tons of raspberries left, I made my famous chocolate chip raspberry pancakes. It was rich and filling.

Amelie waiving at the parade

Since I have never been at a 4th of July parade, we drove to a nearby town called Buhl and watched the small-town parade. Amelie scored a spot in the front and was even offered a seat in kid chair from some lady at the parade. A parade includes a lot of candy and sweet things. Amelie ate a Popsicle and grandpa collected all the candies thrown at her - and we saved them for her after a nap. Anything before that would have ended up in a disaster, you don't mess with kids when they are tired, nor do you fuel their "sugar" energy with candies..hahaha

Buhl parade

We used to buy the Cloverleaf milk from the Boise Co-op. It's the glass bottle with deposit. The dairy farm is located in Buhl and I heard they had a little store where they sell their ice-cream in Buhl so we stopped by there after the parade. Since the pancakes were so rich & chocolaty I didn't have an urge to eat any more sugar, but Tom purchased a scoop and shared  it with Amelie. I was surprised to see that their milk was $1 less than it costs in Boise. They also had local frozen trout, eggs and local honey. The honey was a little overpriced but everything else was very reasonable. 

 For lunch I made garden burgers and a salad from our homegrown lettuce. The last time I made the garden burgers they turned out a little bit to dry therefore I added onions and zucchini which I purchased at the Berry Ranch. Their zucchini was only $1/lb. I love the yellow zucchini they are a little sweeter and juicier in taste. Looks like everyone enjoyed the burgers, because all of the burgers were eaten. We topped the garden burger patties with cheese to add a little extra taste.

For the 4th of July BBQ Tom's parents prepared salmon, salad, yellow and a fruit salad. With filled bellies we walked to a nearby park to watch the firework. We also had Chicken-Feta-Spinach sausages for Amelie, but we never utilized them. One thinks that a typical holiday BBQ has to entail hot dogs but who says that this is the only way? It was very nice to enjoy a healthy 4th BBQ. 

Our BBQ dinner

Amelie eating salmon,potatoes & jello

I really liked the Twin Falls fireworks! We sat in the park on our lawn chairs and enjoyed the weather and fireworks, while Amelie kept trying to get everyone's attention.

 

Tom, Amelie and me at the park waiting for the fireworks

HAPPY FOURTH!!

Day 34 - Lazy family Sunday...so relaxing!!

Grandpa & Amelie on our family walk

Today was an uneventful day, mainly because we were on the road for about 2 hours to visit Tom's parents. It's always nice to spend time with them and this year we decided to spent 4th of July with them. Since Tom's parents are aware that we are trying to maintain an organic diet they really tried to accommodate us and provided a lot of healthy dinner options. Thanks guys!

As a lot of people might believe, we are not ONLY organic. Particularly not when we are visiting or attending other people's dinner or BBQs. We try our best to eat an organic diet, but are not going to sweat it if we don't eat organic outside the house. We surely can tell the difference, because the diet changes are messing with our bodies...if you know what I mean. I don't need to get into detail here, but you can figure it out...hint hint...

View from the Twin Falls Canyon Rim

Tom's parents have a vegetable garden and we had a delicious lettuce from a home grown garden. Tom's mom makes a really great organic fudge with organic coconut oil. It is to die for. I really appreciate the effort and support! The evening was spent taking a great walk after dinner around the Twin Falls Canyon rim.

WISDOM OF THE DAY 

Coconut oil is very useful in reducing weight. It contains short and medium-chain fatty acids that help in taking off excessive weight. It is also easy to digest and it helps in healthy functioning of the thyroid and enzymes systems. Further, it increases the body metabolism by removing stress on pancreases, thereby burning out more energy and helping obese and overweight people reduce their weight. Hence, people living in tropical coastal areas, who eat coconut oil daily as their primary cooking oil, are normally not fat, obese or overweight.

Immunity:

Coconut oil is also good for the immune system. It strengthens the immune system as it contains antimicrobial lipids, lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid which have antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties. The human body converts lauric acid into monolaurin which is claimed to help in dealing with viruses and bacteria causing diseases such as herpes, influenza, cytomegalovirus, and even HIV. It helps in fighting harmful bacteria such as listeria monocytogenes and heliobacter pylori, and harmful protozoa such as giardia lamblia.

Day 33 - Berry Ranch & Raspberry muffins

Today my friend Franzi, her husband, her kids, Amelie and I went to our local Berry Ranch. The Farm sells meat, veggies, eggs and has few animals like chickens, cows and sheep. The Berry Farm lets you pick your own berries during the summer time. In fall you can pick your own pumpkins. I never inquired about their use of pesticides but will give them a call next week. We picked raspberries fresh from the bushes. One in the basket, one for the mouth. After eating bunch of raspberries, I felt like I sucked on chalk. Either it was dirt or pesticides. I felt a little sick towards the evening but can't really tell what the source of my upset stomach was, followed by a loose bowel movement. 

You have to pay a flat fee of $5.77 for one adult, kids under 3 are free. A pound of raspberries costs $3.15 - essentially you need to pick about 1 1/2 lb to cover your cost. It was hard to estimate how much we picked because generally you buy a tiny plastic box of raspberries at the store. I filled a box (The Berry Ranch provides that) and ended up having 3 lbs of raspberries. What to do, what to do? Well, the next morning we had raspberry chocolate wheat pancakes and I made 12 raspberry chocolate whole-wheat buttermilk muffins from a recipe I found online. I used only unrefined organic sugar and a little sea salt and followed the recipe to a "T". And they turned out really good. You can find the recipe here. 

Whole-wheat raspberry buttermilk muffins

 Now that we still have a lot of raspberries left, I will make more muffins, more pancakes and some other delicious snacks/desserts until we are out of raspberries. I bet raspberries would also taste great in a salad. 

Me and Amelie at the Berry Ranch

WISDOM OF THE DAY 

Freezing is recommended for long-term storage.  All berries can be prepared with or without sugar or syrup; For freezing they should be packed in an airtight container, leaving 1-inch of head space. Without sugar: Frozen berries should be used within 3 months.

Day 31 - Must be good to be a GMO apple part 2

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away." unless it is an GMO apple.

If you read my post Day 9- Must be good to be a GMO apple you know about the experiment I am doing. Today it is the 22nd after I took the first picture (equals another 3 weeks). The apples have been already 4 weeks old when I posted the first picture. Too bad I don't have an organic apple to prove that apples generally don't last this long. So, to sum it up the apple as of today is 7 weeks old (almost 2 months!!) Is that a little concerning or what? 

I hear from people that GMO is not concerning, it is not harmful, there is no evidence that organic produce is better than GMO. I hear that the FDA would never approve anything that is harmful, I hear that all studies on GMO are safe...blah..blah..blah...Then WHY in the world wouldn't companies/government allow the labeling of GMO produce/food in the US? Germany for example is requiring labeling. I found a German article that states that in Germany there has been a mandatory labeling regulation in place since April 18, 2004!!! It includes all products that have been genetically modified even if the modifications are no longer traceable in the end product. This excludes the mandatory labeling for meat, eggs, and milk products of animals that were fed with genetic modified foods....I admire that! Why wouldn't it work for our country? Why would we automatically assume people would stop buying GMO foods since the majority is buying GMO foods already. I feel it is important to have a choice. GMO foods have been linked to allergies and cancer. I know that all is unsure, but why take the chance? I personally take a pretty firm stand when it comes to labeling. You might think I am a radical - but I rather take appropriate actions now and admit that I was wrong later instead of taking the chances - I am waiting for solid evidence/solid studies!!

 

German article from Wikipedia.de

"Seit dem 18. April 2004 besteht innerhalb der EU eine Kennzeichnungspflicht für gentechnisch veränderte Produkte. Sie schließt ein, dass alle Produkte, die eine genetische Veränderung besitzen, gekennzeichnet werden müssen, auch dann, wenn die Veränderung im Endprodukt nicht mehr nachweisbar ist. Ausgenommen von der Kennzeichnungspflicht sind Fleisch, Eier und Milchprodukte von Tieren, die mit gentechnisch veränderten Pflanzen gefüttert wurden sowie Produktzusätze, die mithilfe genetisch veränderter Bakterien hergestellt wurden. Ebenso Enzyme, Zusatzstoffe und Aromen, da sie im rechtlichen Sinne nicht als Lebensmittel gelten."

 

 

"Die Regulierung der Gentechnik ist außerhalb der deutschsprachigen Länder und der EU allgemein häufig weniger strikt. In den USA und Kanada ist Kennzeichnung z.B. freiwillig."

The above statement says that the regulation of genetic engineering outside German-speaking countries and the European Union is generally less strict. In the US and Canada the labeling is voluntary.

I have been reading up on GMO foods and it is truly hard to find some unbiased internet resources, because everything is backed up by high paying companies, just like Monsanto.  Just like "Marketplace, a program of American Public Media, has provided a soapbox to opponents of organics with a recent report titled "The Non-Organic Future." This poisoning of public radio programming -- and news that's assumed to be unbiased and fair -- aired on a program that has received substantial sponsorship from Monsanto, the corporation responsible for producing roughly 90% of genetically modified seeds around the globe."

But I do frequently check on Institute for Responsible Technology - Most Comprehensive Source of GMO Health Risk Information on the Web. 

"Our website has become one of the most respected resources for online videos, podcasts, blogs, and reports for accurate and up to date information on GMOs"

 

I came across this very interesting article on that website, that I would like to share with everyone. It's titled GM Toxic Chemicals found in pregnant women and fetuses.

"When U.S. regulators approved Monsanto’s genetically modified “Bt” corn, they knew it would add a deadly poison into our food supply. That’s what it was designed to do. The corn’s DNA is equipped with a gene from soil bacteria called Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) that produces the Bt-toxin. It’s a pesticide; it breaks open the stomach of certain insects and kills them.
But Monsanto and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) swore up and down that it was only insects that would be hurt. The Bt-toxin, they claimed, would be completely destroyed in the human digestive system and not have any impact on all of us trusting corn-eating consumers.Oops. A study just proved them wrong. Doctors at Sherbrooke University Hospital in Quebec found the corn’s Bt-toxin in the blood of pregnant women and their babies, as well as in non-pregnant women. (i)(Specifically, the toxin was identified in 93% of 30 pregnant women, 80% of umbilical blood in their babies, and 67% of 39 non-pregnant women.) The study has been accepted for publication in the peer reviewed journal Reproductive Toxicology."

Don't want to bore you with details, but if you would like to read more click on the title and it will get you to the website and the article. I find it interesting and I don't feel this is some sort of conspiracy. It's just someone asking the questions that we never dare to ask or receive vague answers.

WISDOM OF THE DAY

The Idaho Farm to School Program works towards having Idaho-grown food served to students in Idaho Child Nutrition Programs. Child Nutrition Programs are buying fresh food directly from local farmers as a way of improving the quality and taste of their meals. These Farm to School Programs have a dual mission: they motivate students to improve their eating habits and health through improving the quality of the food served in schools, and they support local farmers.

Farm to School program come in many shapes and sizes unique to the communities that build them. After exploring the resources and existing programs, contact your state Farm to School lead for additional information and assistance specific to Idaho.

Leah Clark
208-332-8684
lclark@agri.idaho.gov

 

Day 30 - Quality of dining & tracing your food

Dinner

I just love organic food. I get excited every day when I think about what possibilities we have for dinner. When we started eating organic food, I was terrified and wondered how long we can come up with ideas on what to cook and what to buy. Now that we got the hang of it, we come up with the greatest recipes. I always have a tasty lunch for me at work (which consists of leftovers form dinner with a variation) and in the evening we get together for fine dining.

Home grown Aruguala

I have always been a big fan of Arugula lettuce. When I used to live in Germany, I spend few months in Italy and had many Italian friends. We always ate Arugula sometimes simply with olive oil and good balsamic vinegar and some fresh mozzarella cheese. Arugula has this spicy hint to it and tastes so crisp and fresh. I was worried that our garden Arugula might taste as bitter as my last year's lettuce. I cut it as suggested, took the outside leaves, washed it good and added it to regular lettuce (organic) from the store.

We made some spaghetti (Winco bulk $1.60/lb), fried the spaghetti with some garlic and olive oil in the pan, added Veggie Patties - Bocca Bruschetta Tomato Basil Parmesan ($2.69 at Walmart) and added our delicious Arugula salad (Tomatoes, Onions, Balsamic Vinegar/Olive Oil dressing). It felt like dining at a fine restaurant. Had some jazz playing in the background - one can easily forget we sat on our porch in Boise, ID.

Today I got back from the grocery store and purchased a bag of little golden potatoes and I noticed a little label on the package. It stated you can trace your food back. It is called Harvest Mark. I have never heard of anything like this and sat down after dinner to inspect the little label. They promise you can type in your label code and trace back your produce. Somewhat the same idea as a tracking number for UPS, just backwards. Unfortunately my tracking number did not bring up the farm it came from, it merely stated that it is a Kroger product. I heard good things about Kroger, but was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to see what farm it came from and other valuable information. They stated that if I don't see any info on there, I should just email them - that's what I did! I am looking forward to hearing back from them, because if it turns out that it actually work, I would love to buy more products that support the Harvest Mark. 

 WISDOM OF THE DAY

Tracking produce?

Less than 5 percent of US growers have advanced bar code traceability systems. Canadian growers have almost 100 percent traceability. That is being remedied with The Produce Traceability Initiative, an industry-backed drive that has the backing of the FDA.

The goal over the next three years is to introduce a standardized approach to the tracking of produce, and to achieve supply chain-wide adoption of electronic traceability of every case of produce by 2012. 

- This article is from 2009 http://www.am-fe.ift.org/cms/?pid=1000857

 

Day 29 - Conscious, creative eating and updates on our garden

Since we didn't go grocery shopping on Sunday, just like we do every week - we now need to be creative with the food we have at home. Skipping our weekly grocery shopping will not bring us through the week, therefore we will have to run to the store at least once or twice to get some food, but essentially we are saving at least $60 for this week. We are out of bread, vegetables and fruits and some snacks. 

Last evening I had to come up with some dinner ideas. Here is what we ate:

Salmon patties, black beans, wine leaves (filled with rice) and orzo. We don't buy organic fish but everything else was organic. This was the first time for me making and eating orzo. I think I overcooked it but it was soo delicious. I think orzo is one of the best food options for children. They are tiny, it's pasta, little sticky, kids think it's rice, and the colors are fun. We only had two more salmon patties left and figured Amelie will probably enjoy a natural chicken/veggie hot dog instead. And she did. Here is a picture of Amelie eating dinner. 

I always talk about how well she is eating now (with some exceptions) but I am now providing the proof. 

 

 

 

 Yesterday evening I finally got to work on my weed-overgrown garden. The weeds are just too persistent and too happy to grow next to our veggies. Why not? We take good care of the garden and once they get settled and are not removed, they will invite all their other weed friends and hang out until they get kicked out for vegetating.

We spend about 2 hours pulling weeds. The garden looks nice and well-arranged now. Looks like we will be eating Agricola salad tonight. Currently it is a race which vegetable will be edible first. It's the vegetable countdown. I assume they will all be edible at the same time. I have used cilantro and parsley in the past weeks. It is sort of cool, you look at the recipe and realize "Oh, I need cilantro.." So, I grab the scissors, walk outside and cut some cilantro from the garden. Convenient.

 

Arugula lettuce (left) - regular lettuce (right)

Amelie understands that the garden will bring us fruits and vegetables. Yesterday evening when she hung out with us in the garden, she spotted a strawberry and got so excited: "Mommy, mommy, I found a strawberry. Can I please have it?" It made me so happy. She always offers her help in the garden and I do view this as a educational family activity.

WISDOM OF THE DAY

To harvest Arugula, pick off the outside leaves at the base of the plant. Leave the center growing point intact for the future harvesting. To use Arugula in cooking, add fresh leaves to salads, it goes great with Parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegar. It can also be put on pizzas or added to soups.

Day 28 - People ask me why...

I have been writing this block for 4 weeks! Every day! And I will continue for another 337 days! I am pretty proud of our family to make the change. 

People have started asking me why we are doing what we are doing....

I guess I didn't clarify, therefore I will take the opportunity to write about it today. Here are 10 reasons why we switched to organic food and why I am writing this blog.

1. This blog has been created to share OUR experience switching to an organic diet. What we learn, how we cope, how we feel and what difference it makes.
2. It is NOT intended to persuade nor convince my readers. I DO NOT view people differently who eat non-organic food. I don't really care what you eat!!
3. This blog is intended to keep a diary for our own purpose
4. It is for people who always wondered what organic food is about
5. It NOT intended as a diet
6. And it is an "trial and error" approach - trying to eat better
7. We are not mainstream and therefore we take a drastic approach and ask where our food comes from and what we put on our plates
8. We enjoy quality food - and it just tastes BETTER
9. We intend to EAT healthier
10. We want our daughter to grow up healthy  and since researches and studies are uncertain and vague we will try to provide the best food possible.

 

I don't know what my readers think when they read my blog, because I don't get very much feedback/comments on here. All I  see is that people are reading...

I think a lot of people view us as fanatics, but we are only trying to be responsible parents. If you watched Food Inc. and various other movies, if you learned a bit about the "secret" world of food and food production - you JUST CAN'T CLOSE YOUR EYES AND PRETEND EVERYTHING IS GOOD!

WISDOM OF THE DAY

The growing consensus among scientists is that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can cause lasting damage to human health, especially during fetal development and early childhood. Scientists now know enough about the long-term consequences of ingesting these powerful chemicals to advise that we minimize our consumption of pesticides.

Read more here

Day 27 - BBQs, stomach and back to organics

This weekend we attended two bbqs. Needless to say none of them were organic, and that's ok. The first bbq we attended was catered and had bbqed chicken, pulled chicken/pork, potato salads..pretty much your everyday bbq food. It was really good and I am not sure if I overate, or am not used to non-organic food anymore or a mix of both. The first one was on Friday and the second one was on Sunday. After each of them I had a acid reflux , the food traveled back towards my throat and for more than 8 hours it felt like I had a rock in my stomach. My stomach didn't process the food and was just resting in my stomach, I felt really heavy, uncomfortable and very bloated. I felt throwing up. ( I never did) Don't misunderstand me, the food at both bbqs was great, but I am not reacting well to it anymore. And at both bbqs, after I finished eating I had the crazy urge to eat more sugar or junk food. It took me the entire weekend to readjust. I felt really crabby all Sunday afternoon. 

 

I made some healthy & tasty snacks for Amelie on the weekend that I wanted to share with you. We all love strawberries and I wanted to make a good use of all of them before they go bad. And yes organic fruits and vegetables are going bad real fast. I guess that's the natural way, that I forgot over the years. You just can't have an apple for months looking fine, or can you? :)

Well, I bought these Popsicle containers at the dollar store to make organic fruitsicles. I don't know if the popsicle are doing their job, because it didn't really stick to the fruit mixture, it might have been too early. I pureed organic strawberries,  and mixed it with organic milk and added the no-hormone whipping cream and a teaspoon of unrefined raw organic sugar. I ate one and they were very good. I am surprised how easy they were to make.

fruitsicles

 Amelie is being potty trained and we are rewarding her with treats. In the past we gave her Dora/Curious George candies, now that we don't give it to her anymore, we found organic fruit sticks. She really likes those. I always try to come up with healthy rewards . Next time she will successfully go to the potty, she will be rewarded with fruitsicles! She doesn't even know she is being rewarded with fruits...healthy stuff..harharhar...evil parents...:)

Natural Burgers, black beans, Mac & Cheese

This Sunday we didn't go grocery shopping, because we still have plenty of food and I really like to push ourselves to save even more money than we already did by switching to organic food. I discovered the bulk cookery. I love the bulk sections and love making up my own recipes. I stumbled upon natural burgers and purchased them. I made them for one of our lunches on the weekend. They are wheat/grain burgers with no meat at all. I was worried about Amelie, but she discovered dipping them into ketchup and finished the whole thing. Tom didn't care for them too much, but didn't mind it. I liked them but if I make them again, I will add more vegetable or additional ingredients to them. They were a little plain, but super handy and not bad considering the easy preparation. Add water to the mix, stir, form patties and fry! Done. :)

Day 26 - Whole Wheat-chocolate chip-blackberry pancakes

 

I love weekends with the family and I love experimenting with food. We started the morning with whole wheat chocolate-chip-blackberry pancakes for breakfast.The recipes is super easy. It's a bulk pancake mix (organic), I add milk to make it a nice dough and add the chocolate-chips and in this case the blackberries. One can add any fruits but blackberries and chocolate..hmm..(raspberries are great too). Fry them in the pan on both sides about 3-5 min. and done!

Here is the final product

I generally add peanut butter on top of it. Tom puts honey on his. I purchased a really great pumpkin/peanut butter which is super expensive, but I like is so much that I eat it on almost everything. It's called Naturally Nutty and cost $10.25 in our local bakery. I was able to afford only one. On their website you can get it for a lot less but then they add on the shipping charge, if I can get enough people to buy some with me and spend $80 total the shipping is waived. Here is the website for the wonderful pepita sun seed butter . I am considering making this myself - I looked at the ingredients, bought them and am now trying to figure out how I can put them all together and make them taste as good. I know it is a secret recipe  and most likely can't reproduce it but I will try my best. 

Franzi and me

Today was the day, I had my friend Franzi coming over to show me how to bake cookies. She is a great baker and makes great cakes and pastries. We followed a recipe but modified it with the organic agave syrup and instead of regular flour we used whole wheat flour. This was our first time making cookies with agave syrup. We tried really hard, and I wanted to thank Franzi for taking the time to teach me how to make organic whole wheat chocolate-chip cookies.

Here is the outcome! A giant cookie! hahahaha

 Well, people liked it despite the flat appearance. You can def. taste the syrup and to me it is not a pleasant taste. I can live with it but would probably prefer organic unrefined sugar in the future. I am back to zero on the cookie baking..and maybe there is a spell on me and my oven..hahaha..

I think the first time I have to do, is find a recipe that included whole wheat and then I will be able to follow the recipe 100%. I will keep you posted.

 WISDOM OF THE DAY

Unrefined sugar

When it comes to choosing sugar, there is no doubt that unrefined raw sugar is the best choice. It contains minerals and nutrients that are stripped from refined white sugar and regular brown sugar. Raw sugar contains roughly eleven calories per teaspoon and has the same vitamin and mineral consistency that is found in the juice from the sugarcane plant. These minerals include Phosphorus, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, and Potassium.

Day 25 - Young children and organic food

Hello friends! The weekend is coming and it looks like it is going to be a beautiful one. 

I love how people are sharing all sorts of things/ideas with me, from the time they started reading my blog. For example, our friend Jeni. She just posted the cutest video on my facebook page. I am doing some organic/non-organic (GMO) testing myself with apples (if you read my GMO apple post). Watch out for my upcoming post on June 30th - you will be shocked!!!

  

What a cute little girl! I hope Amelie will be interested in doing  a project like this is if we still have an access to organic food in the future. We always tell Amelie when she is eats something: "Wow, these organic strawberries taste good, huh?" Not for the reason of being snobby or judging  organic or non-organic food - I feel she needs to know that we prefer organic and she will learn to differentiate between the two, one of these days. I think having a garden and harvesting our vegetables (once the time comes) she will understand the importance of quality food. I personally don't want to judge or tell people they need to switch, I  am merely trying to observe the things I am learning while adapting to an organic lifestyle. And no - it is NOT A DIET - if the weight loss comes with it...great..but it's not the reason. (This is a clarification for my dear friend Bella :) )

Lately we have been pushing it and expect her to eat the exact food we are eating without any modifications. Well, she does better and I try to make it fun for her by making chocolate chip pancakes (wheat)  or any other fun food ideas and she doesn't complain, but when it comes to eating quinoa or couscous she really is not falling for it. And the fights at the dinner table are heated, well not really heated fights but  there is a lot of bartering....it can get tiring. But I think it's also a kids thing...at times I give her yogurt that she asked for two minutes before I give it to her and she just looks at it and says...NO! I don't waaant it! At the same time she is eating a lot better than expected. We have dinner EVERY NIGHT as a family. We rotate who makes dinner or how it fits in our schedule, but dinner together is a must. In the past Amelie used to sit in her high chair and threw the food around or didn't eat much anyway, now that she adapted to our routine, she has become more conscious about eating what mommy and daddy are eating - hence we are saving a lot of time and money because she is eating the SAME stuff as we are. We don't give her some food we know she won't even touch, (more for us) but otherwise she eats what we eat. 

Yesterday I found this book at the library and I absolutely love it. Therefore I ordered it on Amazon today for next to nothing! This book contains really healthy and super fun recipes that not only kids will love. I am excited to get started this weekend.

I think the main reason we started this organic lifestyle is due to our daughter. She is our number ONE and I know it benefits her and I can only hope that we are setting a good example for her. I would also wish that she understands the difference when growing up and makes a good choice in the future.

Today we are going to a big BBQ and provided will be non-organic meat. We are doing really well adhering to a balanced and organic diet in our personal life and sometimes it is  unavoidable to always eat organic and since we are carnivores we will def. enjoy it!

WISDOM OF THE DAY

Organic food and children

Why are children at greater risk? First, they ingest more food and water per pound of body weight than adults, so any exposure is greater in proportion to their size. Second, these chemicals may be more harmful to developing organs and bodily systems, including neurological and reproductive systems, than they are to mature bodies, as most pesticides work by disturbing reproduction in pests – and unfortunately, these chemicals also disrupt hormones and reproduction in wildlife and human beings. Children may be much more at risk than adults for pesticide exposure, and may suffer greater harm to health and development from exposure research and analysis has shown in the past 3 decades. Yet standards for safety and tolerance limits for these chemicals rarely include adequate consideration of the risks to children.   Until very recently,  the established food safety standards for food chemicals were for healthy adults. 

- http://www.intmedsolutions.com/blog/organic-foods-and-children-why-organic-matters-the-most-for-kids/