Friday, June 24, 2011
Green goodness
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Should you eat organic?
A friend of mine, who is aware of my veggie obsession, recently asked if we buy all organic produce. My simple answer to this is no. While I do buy organic some of the time, there is an equal amount of time when I don't. To be honest, there really is no rhyme or reason for when I buy organic. Partly, it depends on which store I happen to be shopping at. If I'm at Whole Foods, I have a greater tendency to buy organic simply because their organic selection is excellent. If I'm at Costco, I just buy the vat of strawberries that look the best. At the farmers market, I also just buy what looks best. I know there is information out there about which fruits and veggies hold the most pesticide residue on them and we should definitely take this into consideration. Here is the "Dirty Dozen" list from Crazy Sexy Diet that lists the foods grown with the most pesticides:
1. Peach
2. Apple
3. Bell pepper
4. Celery
5. Nectarine
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Kale
9. Lettuce
10. Grapes (imported)
11. Carrot
12. Pear
I think it is important to consider these foods and buy organic when possible. But here is the reality: 1) Organic food is expensive and 2) When I am running errands with my 2 year-old son and he's starting to get fussy, I'm not going to get fussy about organic versus conventional strawberries. I'm going to get my darn berries and get out of the store! This is my bottom line: I believe it is better to eat any fruit or vegetable (organic or otherwise) than not. At least you will be eating a strawberry and not a strawberry Pop Tart!
1. Peach
2. Apple
3. Bell pepper
4. Celery
5. Nectarine
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Kale
9. Lettuce
10. Grapes (imported)
11. Carrot
12. Pear
I think it is important to consider these foods and buy organic when possible. But here is the reality: 1) Organic food is expensive and 2) When I am running errands with my 2 year-old son and he's starting to get fussy, I'm not going to get fussy about organic versus conventional strawberries. I'm going to get my darn berries and get out of the store! This is my bottom line: I believe it is better to eat any fruit or vegetable (organic or otherwise) than not. At least you will be eating a strawberry and not a strawberry Pop Tart!
Monday, June 13, 2011
The Choice is Yours
So I went to see Forks Over Knives... again... with my hubby... on our date night! That's right, we saw something educational on our date night. No I did not drag him kicking and screaming. He went willingly. Anyway, after seeing the movie again and mentioning it to a couple friends, I started thinking about the way we eat on a deeper level. Some of the responses I got when telling people what the movie was about included the following:
"I don't want to see something that's going to make me want to change the way I eat."
and...
"It doesn't show animals getting hurt, does it?"
These two comments struck me as very interesting. The first response shows how ingrained our eating habits are in our own being. And believe me, I get this! Even after all the reading and self-education I've done, I still find myself falling back into those habits I've developed over years and years of eating. Let's be honest, it is NOT easy to change the way we eat. When you ask someone to see a movie or read a book about switching to a plant-based diet, it can force them to rethink everything they've ever known or loved about food and that can be a difficult thing to do. To me, however, I can think of no more important thing to do than improve our health through strong nutrition! This is why it is important to make small changes, a little at a time. It is not practical for most people to switch from omnivore to vegan overnight. That's fine! If you eat steak five nights a week, cut it down to 3 nights. If you are eating one serving of veggies a day, add a second, then a third (then a tenth! c'mon people, eat your veggies!). This is what we've done with going from vegetarian to vegan. First I cut out skim milk (which I used to drink like a fiend!), then I replaced cheddar cheese with daiya cheese, then started ordering sandwiches and wraps without cheese when we went out. Heck, I'm still working on giving up the eggs completely!
The second response I received asked about animals being hurt in the movie. I get it. Who wants to pay $12 to see a movie that shows the way a slaughterhouse works? (BTW, Forks Over Knives does not do this). I used to feel this way too but the more I read and studied, the more I realized how important it is to know the truth behind the bacon. Bottom line: animals have to die for us to eat them. There is nothing pretty about that fact. We shouldn't feel guilty though if we still eat animals in some form! Guilt gets us nowhere. What is important is that we think about how we eat and make the connection between what is on our plate and what is grazing in the pasture when we pass that farm down the road.
Ultimately, how we eat is our choice. With everything else going on in our lives, food choices may seem secondary. But remember that when your health is strong, everything else in your life will follow suit. Do the best you can, don't be too hard on yourself, and make one choice today about your food that is healthier than it was the day before!
"I don't want to see something that's going to make me want to change the way I eat."
and...
"It doesn't show animals getting hurt, does it?"
These two comments struck me as very interesting. The first response shows how ingrained our eating habits are in our own being. And believe me, I get this! Even after all the reading and self-education I've done, I still find myself falling back into those habits I've developed over years and years of eating. Let's be honest, it is NOT easy to change the way we eat. When you ask someone to see a movie or read a book about switching to a plant-based diet, it can force them to rethink everything they've ever known or loved about food and that can be a difficult thing to do. To me, however, I can think of no more important thing to do than improve our health through strong nutrition! This is why it is important to make small changes, a little at a time. It is not practical for most people to switch from omnivore to vegan overnight. That's fine! If you eat steak five nights a week, cut it down to 3 nights. If you are eating one serving of veggies a day, add a second, then a third (then a tenth! c'mon people, eat your veggies!). This is what we've done with going from vegetarian to vegan. First I cut out skim milk (which I used to drink like a fiend!), then I replaced cheddar cheese with daiya cheese, then started ordering sandwiches and wraps without cheese when we went out. Heck, I'm still working on giving up the eggs completely!
The second response I received asked about animals being hurt in the movie. I get it. Who wants to pay $12 to see a movie that shows the way a slaughterhouse works? (BTW, Forks Over Knives does not do this). I used to feel this way too but the more I read and studied, the more I realized how important it is to know the truth behind the bacon. Bottom line: animals have to die for us to eat them. There is nothing pretty about that fact. We shouldn't feel guilty though if we still eat animals in some form! Guilt gets us nowhere. What is important is that we think about how we eat and make the connection between what is on our plate and what is grazing in the pasture when we pass that farm down the road.
Ultimately, how we eat is our choice. With everything else going on in our lives, food choices may seem secondary. But remember that when your health is strong, everything else in your life will follow suit. Do the best you can, don't be too hard on yourself, and make one choice today about your food that is healthier than it was the day before!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
A Real Review
And now for a review of Forks Over Knives from a true film critic, Roger Ebert...
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110511/REVIEWS/110519995
His review does the movie a little more justice than mine. Check it out!
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110511/REVIEWS/110519995
His review does the movie a little more justice than mine. Check it out!
Forks Over Knives
"The answer is so simple, it's criminal." --Rip Esselstyn
If you could live a vibrant, healthy life with unlimited energy would you do it? If you could stop or even reverse heart disease and diabetes for yourself or a loved one would you do it? If you could dramatically decrease the chance of developing one of the many horrible forms of cancer so prevalent in our country would you take the steps to do it? And how?
The answer to "how" is waiting for you, right there, in your face, in the movie Forks Over Knives. I saw this film last night and although it simply reiterates what I believe about diet and health, I was amazed once again about how important a whole foods, plant-based diet is for living a health-filled life.
The movie mainly follows the work of Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, a former cardiac surgeon and current clinician and researcher at the Cleveland Clinic, and Dr. T. Colin Campbell, nutritional researcher at Cornell and author of The China Study (read it!). There are also many other doctors and researchers interviewed, studies cited, and nutritional facts presented, but perhaps the most compelling evidence of the power of a plant-based diet comes from the individual patients featured in the film. These are individuals who were suffering from heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, soaring triglyceride counts, and type-2 diabetes. Bottom line? They reversed their conditions and were able to come off their medications because they changed what they ate. This is the "it's-so-simple-it's-criminal" part! We look for answers in the endless drugs we take as a nation when what we really should be doing is looking in our grocery stores and refrigerators.
We are so brainwashed as a nation to believe that we need protein, protein, protein from animal sources and calcium found in dairy products for good health but when you look at the research that is out there now (out there, but not yet in the advertising that most Americans see) we are consuming these nutrients in excessive amounts and they are making us sicker than ever. When you suggest to people that they change the way they eat, they may say, "Oh, a plant-based diet, a vegan diet... that seems so extreme." You know what else is extreme? Open-heart surgery. But over 500,000 Americans receive bypass surgery every year and each one costs about $100,000. Last time I went to the grocery store to buy whole foods and plant-based products for my family of three for a week, I spent about $150. I don't know about you, but I prefer option B.
Please go see Forks Over Knives. As many of you know, I could go on and on about this nutrition stuff but the movie makes a more powerful argument than I ever could. Visit the website, watch the trailer, and look for showtimes near you!
If you could live a vibrant, healthy life with unlimited energy would you do it? If you could stop or even reverse heart disease and diabetes for yourself or a loved one would you do it? If you could dramatically decrease the chance of developing one of the many horrible forms of cancer so prevalent in our country would you take the steps to do it? And how?
The answer to "how" is waiting for you, right there, in your face, in the movie Forks Over Knives. I saw this film last night and although it simply reiterates what I believe about diet and health, I was amazed once again about how important a whole foods, plant-based diet is for living a health-filled life.
The movie mainly follows the work of Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, a former cardiac surgeon and current clinician and researcher at the Cleveland Clinic, and Dr. T. Colin Campbell, nutritional researcher at Cornell and author of The China Study (read it!). There are also many other doctors and researchers interviewed, studies cited, and nutritional facts presented, but perhaps the most compelling evidence of the power of a plant-based diet comes from the individual patients featured in the film. These are individuals who were suffering from heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, soaring triglyceride counts, and type-2 diabetes. Bottom line? They reversed their conditions and were able to come off their medications because they changed what they ate. This is the "it's-so-simple-it's-criminal" part! We look for answers in the endless drugs we take as a nation when what we really should be doing is looking in our grocery stores and refrigerators.
We are so brainwashed as a nation to believe that we need protein, protein, protein from animal sources and calcium found in dairy products for good health but when you look at the research that is out there now (out there, but not yet in the advertising that most Americans see) we are consuming these nutrients in excessive amounts and they are making us sicker than ever. When you suggest to people that they change the way they eat, they may say, "Oh, a plant-based diet, a vegan diet... that seems so extreme." You know what else is extreme? Open-heart surgery. But over 500,000 Americans receive bypass surgery every year and each one costs about $100,000. Last time I went to the grocery store to buy whole foods and plant-based products for my family of three for a week, I spent about $150. I don't know about you, but I prefer option B.
Please go see Forks Over Knives. As many of you know, I could go on and on about this nutrition stuff but the movie makes a more powerful argument than I ever could. Visit the website, watch the trailer, and look for showtimes near you!
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