How to change the world by buying organic and supporting sustainable farming

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

You have the power in your hands to change the world. This change ripples out from you in concentric circles, and it all starts with decisions you make at the grocery store because what you choose to buy and consume impacts the world in many powerful ways that you may have never been aware of. Every purchasing decision you make changes the world, but that’s a sort of nebulous idea. It’s kind of big idea to grasp, so let’s start with something a little simpler. Let’s start with how changing your decision at the grocery store changes you and your life, and then we’ll move out from there.

How foods affect your physical existence

Let’s start with talking about how you exist as a human being. You exist at many different levels and one of them – of course, the most obvious one – is the physical level. In other words, you have physical matter, you have mass and you have substance. This makes up your body and your organs. For a moment, we’ll ignore the argument that all your physical matter is just energy, which it is, and stick with the Newtonian view of reality here and talk about the physical you.

This physical you has certain needs. You have to put a certain amount of food through your body. It has to physically move through your body in order to be digested and utilized, so you also have a physical need for certain types of food. These food decisions, the purchasing decisions you make at the grocery store, can alter your physical body. If you begin to avoid purchasing foods and products that contain poisons or dangerous ingredients that I call metabolic disruptors, you can avoid the chronic diseases that most people are experiencing because those diseases are caused by those ingredients.

For example, we know that hydrogenated oils cause heart disease and nervous system disorders. We know that monosodium glutamate and excitotoxins promote obesity and migraines. We know that sodium nitrate, a common preservative found in most meat products, causes pancreatic cancer and colon cancer. We know that artificial food color ingredients promote attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, learning disabilities and so on. There are many other ingredients that cause physical problems as well as problems that go beyond the physical you, but again, we’re just talking about the physical, so that’s the first level of impact.

Imagine there is an outline of your body which represents the physical impact of the foods that you choose to buy. So, if you’re at a grocery store and you’re trying to decide between two different crackers — one cracker product is made with hydrogenated oils and another cracker product beside it is made with zero trans fats, no hydrogenated oil and no MSG — then by changing your decision right there at the point of purchase, you’re changing the physical impact on your body. Now, that physical impact may not be experienced until a day or two later, and it may not really be obvious unless you make this decision thousands of times over and over again over a period of years, but it does make a difference. It is choosing a different path in your life.

How foods affect your chemical existence

Now, that’s just the first level, so what happens next? You also exist at a biochemical level, so you have all this physical matter, but what’s actually making this physical matter work is chemistry. Inside your body, you have chemistry that breaks down the amino acids found in foods. You have chemistry that moves water and sodium through the cells of your body. You have enzymes and various enzymatic reactions taking place throughout your body during every living moment. There is a lot of chemistry going on.

Today, most chronic diseases are described in terms of chemistry, even though that’s not necessarily the level at which they originate. Cardiovascular disease can be described as a chemical disorder, as something wrong with the lipids in your blood, for example. Poor digestion might be said to be chemically caused because you’re not making enough hydrochloric acid in your stomach, for example. Cancer is also often described in terms of its chemical nature, with the explanation that the chemical molecules in your body or your immune system aren’t functioning correctly.

You have all this chemistry that is taking place in your body, and what you choose to eat modifies your chemistry. If you choose to buy a grocery store product that contains a lot of white flour and refined sugars, that’s going to alter the chemistry of your body when you consume and digest it. It will make your body more acidic and deplete it of certain nutrients — like vitamins, minerals and other nutrients — that are necessary for enzymatic reactions. However, if you make good decisions at the grocery store and choose, for example, to purchase healthy oils — like macadamia nut oil, olive oil, flax seed oil or even unprocessed coconut oil — then your chemistry is going to be much healthier. Your blood chemistry profile will be positive rather than negative. It will indicate health rather than disease.

All these biochemical effects take place and, of course, affect your mental function because the brain is an organ that depends on chemistry for its function. When you have the right foods based on the right decisions you make at the grocery store, you end up with the right chemistry. I think my own health statistics demonstrate that if you make the right decisions, you can create outstanding chemistry that’s very easy to verify in a laboratory analysis. It’s a direct cause and effect relationship. If you stop eating the foods that are heavily advertised and ignore the advice of nutritionists, dietitians and doctors who are still pushing old-school nutrition, and instead start eating natural and organic foods, healthy oils and plant-based fats, while avoiding toxic ingredients – including red meat, dairy products and excitotoxins – then you, too, can create healthy blood chemistry that you can verify with simple laboratory analysis. It’s very straightforward.

To represent this chemical level around your body, Draw a larger circle around your body, a second outline; this is the biochemical layer of effect that you’re creating by making new decisions at the grocery store.

Bioenergetics: Homeopathic foods enhance your body’s energy

The third level is what I call bioenergetic. Just as you are a physical and chemical being, you are also an energetic being. In fact, everything that is chemistry is really just energy, and everything that is physical is really just energy, too. From a physics point of view, there’s nothing really there. There is no physical matter in your body; it’s all just energy vibrating at certain frequencies with certain interactions.

However, I’m not talking about that type of energy here. I’m talking about the energy of foods, because foods have a homeopathic quality. Every product you choose to consume has an energy; you could call it a feeling. A food that is grown in nature — that has been born in the soil and grows up under the sun with clean air, clean water, clean soils and under the care of small organic family farmers who used care and honesty — creates love, health and connection in your body. Just as homeopathic water has a scientifically proven effect in living systems (including humans and animals), the homeopathic quality of foods also has such an effect. This is not something that has been well studied. The information you’re getting here is probably 10 to 15 years ahead of science, but someday I have no doubt that the homeopathic qualities of foods will someday be recognized and measured and will ultimately be found to be very important to the health effects of those foods.

You can create positive energy in foods by praying over them or even chanting over them in a mantra, the way Tibetan monks would do, for example. You can create positive energies in food by giving them clean, pure water, such as unpolluted rainwater. You can use organic soils that have microorganisms in them, so that they’re living in balance with the natural ecosystem. You can create positive energy by having the foods harvested by people who are happy to be doing this work, who are not slave workers and who are making a fair wage, either by farming or wild harvesting these foods. This is how you create healthy foods, and when you purchase something at the grocery store, the closer you can get to that vibration of happiness, the healthier the energetic effect is going to be on your body. This is one reason to buy organic foods; not just because they don’t have pesticides, but also because they are literally happier foods. They’re healthier for your mind, your body and your entire energy system.

In contrast to that, most of the foods that are available in grocery stores (and certainly at restaurants) are really unhappy foods. They are foods that have been grown in unnatural environments. They’ve been bombarded with pesticides or herbicides. They have not been given clean water and, more importantly, have been planted and harvested under a system of greed, exploitation and corporate farming. Then, they’ve been processed and had their nutrients stripped away. They’ve been reformed and combined with various chemicals, such as preservatives and taste enhancers, and have been packaged in pretty boxes and put on the shelf in the grocery store.

That is a very unhappy food and, if it comes from unhappy animals, then it’s even less happy. If it’s from cows that have been fed the ground up parts of other animals, which are routinely fed to cows today, and if these cows have been slaughtered in an inhumane way — which is the way virtually all cows, pigs and chickens are slaughtered today, cooped up in tiny compartments and not being given access to fresh air, sunlight and fresh water — then they are not just unhappy animals; they are probably insane animals. They are what I call mad chickens or insane cows. Even though this makes it easier for animal ranchers to make money, it creates a problem with the final food product: The problem is that that beef, chicken or pork has been imprinted with emotions like anger, greed and terror because of the slaughtering process, and these traits of the food are passed on directly to the consumer.

It’s not listed on the box and it hasn’t been scientifically proven yet — again, this is years ahead of the science — but it is very much true that if you eat angry red meat, you’re going to become an angry person. (You are what you eat, remember?) In fact, this part of it is not so difficult to confirm. You can go out and question a thousand people, find out who’s more peaceful versus who’s more angry about anything in the world or in their own lives, and you’ll find that the really angry people tend to eat a lot of red meat, while those who try to propose solutions, are all about helping people and who give more than they take, are people who don’t eat red meat. Vegetarians tend to be happier, more pleasant, less aggressive people than meat eaters, and for years, people have wondered why. Well, I think this is the answer: It’s because of the energetic quality of the foods.

The costs of buying non-organic go far beyond money

Again, when you’re making that purchasing decision at the grocery store, what you’re purchasing has an energetic effect. If you have two pieces of beef on the shelf in front of you, and one piece is $3 a pound and from a cow that has been raised in a terrible environment — that has been fed chicken litter, pumped up full of hormones, has had no access to the outside and has been abused in an inhumane way by corporate ranching operations — then that’s going to have a very destructive, negative effect on your energetic health. But if beside that package you have a piece of beef that is $6 a pound and from a free-range, organic cow that has been fed fresh grass, has been able to run freely in open fields and has been treated with a degree of respect by the rancher, then that piece of meat, even though it costs twice as much, delivers so much more in terms of its energetic qualities to you. Yes, you’re still eating red meat, and there are still negative health effects from the overconsumption of red meat, but at least you’re not poisoning your energetic system as you would be with the conventionally raised meat that’s only $3 a pound.

So, that’s the energetic effect of the foods you choose to purchase from the grocery store and consume. However, there’s a much bigger ripple effect from all of this. Think about it: When you purchase a piece of meat and you choose the organic, free-range cow over the conventionally raised cow, you actually create demand for organic free-range beef and reduce demand for pesticide-laden, conventionally raised, abused red meat. You see, every time you purchase a hamburger that has not been raised organically and ethically, you are in effect partly responsible for the raising, slaughtering and abuse of a living, breathing mammal — a cow.

That beef didn’t come out of the sky; it came from the flesh of a living animal. When you purchase that flesh, you create economic incentives for people to keep raising those animals — to give birth to another cow, raise it, slaughter it and put it on the shelf to replace the beef you just bought; whereas, if you buy organic beef, you create demand on the organic side. You reward the organic farmer for treating the cattle in a better way. So, you vote with your dollars; you create demand curves that are then met by supply. Everything you purchase has a ripple effect that goes way beyond your physical, chemical or energetic self and goes into the community and planet at large.

How your buying power influences your community

you haven’t done so already, draw a third circle around yourself; that’s the energetic level. Now, draw a fourth, much larger circle; this is the community level. This is where you’re affecting your local community and the demand curves for various foods and ingredients. By changing what you buy, you change what farmers will grow and how they will grow it. You change what ranchers do to their animals. You change it all, just by choosing what you buy. It can literally be a product right next to another product on the shelf. They can be two inches apart, but they can make a world of difference. If you move your hand six inches to the right and pick up that organic beef, you are making a huge difference in the lives of organic farmers, in saving the planet from pesticides and reducing the revenues for companies that manufacture bovine growth hormones. You’re also making the difference in the quality of life of the animal that has been sacrificed to provide you food. In my view, the only way to honor that animal is to choose the best possible existence for that animal. If you’re going to consume their flesh, you should at least honor them enough to grant them an organic, free-range existence.

Your choices affect the sources of those foods as well. If you buy from small, local organic growers, like you might find at a farmer’s market or local co-op, then you are supporting sustainable farming and local families who have the knowledge and the determination to work close to the earth in an honorable profession. When you purchase from these local organic farmers, you are supporting a way of life that is truly sacred; a way of life that, frankly, more of us would do well to emulate. That way of life includes farming organic produce from the earth in the local sustainable way that honors nature. That’s a miracle in action, and every time you purchase those foods, you support those local community miracles.

If you want your community to be made up of farmers who know the land, who can deliver fresh organic produce and who honor the earth, then that’s what you need to buy because you support whatever you buy. On the other hand, if you want an earth that is scorched with pesticides, with polluted rivers, increasingly unlivable oceans, polluted produce and heavy metals in your soils, and if you want a system of corporate greed and exploitation, then go ahead and buy the non-organic fruits, vegetables and processed foods because that’s what you’re going to create by making that decision.

Corporate farming isn’t sustainable farming

This brings us to one more level — the corporate level, or the business model level. Everything you choose at the grocery store is a vote for a certain type of business model. If you choose small organic family farms, then that’s what you create. If you choose mega-corporations who sell food only because it’s something that makes money, just the same as drugs make money or cigarettes make money, that’s what you choose to support, as well. In fact, Phillip Morris owns Kraft, a food company that makes thousands and thousands of processed food products. A cigarette company owns a food company that sells you all those processed foods, and I think that’s bad for the environment. I think it’s bad for the world, and it’s the bad corporate model for producing and delivering food products. I don’t think it’s a sustainable model.

You have so much influence by making these simple decisions at the grocery store. Just by choosing one box over another or one package over another, or picking apples from one bin instead of the bin next to that, you literally change the world because you shift the demand curve. You vote for a type of product. You vote for the way animals should be treated if there are animal products involved. You vote for a business model. You vote for the model of environmental protection that is practiced by these organizations. You affect each and every one of these things just by making a simple purchase decision.

You see, the world becomes what you consume. If you look at it collectively, the products that each of us purchases and consumes amount to the corporate world we have created. It’s as if the consumers have created all of this because they have been blind to the effects of what they are doing. The mistake consumers make is that most of them shop based on price. There’s no question that the mass-production, corporate-farming, pollution-creating system of producing food is very efficient in terms of retail economics; that is, if you only consider the direct costs. They can give you a slab of meat, a box of cookies or a bag of breakfast cereal more cheaply than organic farmers or small family farms can ever do, and they can probably have a prettier box and make it taste a little better with artificial flavors and more visually appealing with artificial colors. They have a bigger marketing budget because there’s so much profit in those nutritionally depleted foods that they can spend literally billions of dollars a year on advertising to convince people to buy these foods, making sure that those people never learn the true implications of what their purchasing decisions mean.

Now, I got to thinking, “What if products actually showed the effects of what they cause right there on the box, anytime you purchased them? What if every box of cereal, for example, had a little video screen on it, and when you purchased the box you would see a little video of what it causes?” You might see really angry farmers plowing in the field, or if you purchase some canned soup with some meat in it, you might hear the scream of a dying cow. You might see some dead fish floating through the surface of a polluted river, or you might see ocean life or coral reefs dying. You might see a dark, polluted earth with polluted sky and water; that’s what really should be on the fronts of these food boxes, because that’s the effect.

You might see exploited farmers in Mexico, Brazil or other countries who are essentially working under slave conditions to bring you these foods at prices that generate profits for these corporations. You might see an image of Mother Nature herself, screaming, horrified at how her gifts to humankind are being exploited and stripped away of all their healing powers and packaged into these pretty boxes so that you, the consumer, could buy them. If the product itself really told the truth about what it caused, people would be horrified.

Consumers are unaware of the consequences of buying non-organic

The only reason people continue to buy these things is because they don’t know the indirect consequences of what they’re doing. When they pick up a package of meat, they don’t hear the scream of the terrified cow that has been slaughtered in inhumane conditions — the cow who hardly ever saw the light of day, was separated from its mother at a young age, never given any sort of humane treatment and fed ground-up parts of other dead animals, including dead dogs and cats, road kill and chickens. All of these things are fed to cows today (in fact, they are USDA approved).

If you saw that on the package of meat, you’d throw it away in a hurry. You’d never buy that package. If you saw the greedy look in the eyes of the CEOs of corporations that were harvesting this meat and growing these cows for nothing but profit, with no sense of ethics and no sense of honor in these animals, and you could see pictures of them stuffing dollars in their pockets and laughing while you consume products with detrimental health effects, you’d never buy that product. You’d put it down in a hurry.

If the packages really told the truth, you’d change your grocery shopping habits in an instant because when you bought fresh fruits, like organic blueberries from a local, family-owned farm, you’d see an image of Mother Nature smiling. You’d see health sprouting out of this package and into your body, as blueberries help enhance your cardiovascular health, provide antioxidants, fight cancer, protect your eyes from vision loss and offer a whole host of other benefits. You’d see happy farmers working with their families, who have created a sustainable revenue model, who honor the earth, who love the soil and who are doing this because they feel passionate about farming and working close to Mother Nature.

That’s what you’d see on the package, and you’d say, “Yes, this is the kind of food I want to feed myself, my family, my children and my community. This is what we need.” You’d see images of clean running rivers and streams because there are no pesticide runoffs. You’d see oceans thriving with life because there are no poisons coming from the land being used to grow these blueberries.

If the packages really told the truth, you’d see the horrifying images of what the non-organic, corporate-created products do to you and the world, and in contrast to that, you’d see the beautiful, wondrous, creative, positive effects of organic foods and organically-raised animals and how these foods create a positive, healthy impact on you, your community and your world.

That’s what I mean when I say you can change the world by making a different decision at the grocery store. When they first hear that, a lot of people think it couldn’t possibly be true and that I’m just spending an extra $2 on an organic product. “Why would you do that?” They say. “Why would you spend twice as much money just because it says ‘organic’ on it?” Well, here’s the reason: It’s because of everything that it impacts. It’s all those concentric waves emanating out from your decision like ripples in a pond. What you do in that moment of decision in a grocery store affects the entire world. You have the power within you to change the world, to vote with your dollars for the kind of world that you want to create — the kind of world that treats animals ethically, that honors nature and its gifts to mankind and that has the kind of sustainable farming methods that don’t make the rivers, streams, soils, oceans and air toxic. You have the power to create the future based on what you consume right now.

Do you see why price is the least important of these factors? What’s the good of saving a dollar or two on the package of so-called ‘foods’ if you’re poisoning the planet and supporting a corporate empire of exploitation and destruction that would bring you this food a couple dollars cheaper at the expense of the very planet that brought you that gift in the first place? When you buy non-organic, you’re not really saving any money; you’re dooming the planet.

When you buy organic, on the other hand, you are saving everything that matters. You’re saving the small family farms, sustainable farming methods, your own health and the rivers, streams and oceans; you’re saving a whole system of honoring Mother Nature. So, the best savings at a grocery store can only be experienced if you’re buying organic because, if you buy non-organic, corporate food or processed foods, you’re not only getting ripped off yourself; you’re ripping off the community and the planet, and you’re ripping yourself off at every level — physical, chemical and energetic. However, when you buy organic, you’re saving yourself at every level, and you’re giving yourself these intangible benefits that are priceless.

Remember: You have the power to change the world inside you right now, and I urge you to exercise it the next time you are at a grocery store making a purchasing decision. The world and its oceans, animals and revenue models are all at stake. The responsibility for making the right decision rests on your shoulders, on my shoulders and on the shoulders of all consumers everywhere, because the only way we are going to change this modern food system is to shift the demand curves. We must force companies to stop poisoning our planet by making it unprofitable for them to do so, and the only way we can do that is by changing our purchasing habits at the grocery store. Change what you buy, and you will change the world.

Organic Milk Linked to Lower Rates of Allergies, Asthma and Eczema

by David Gutierrez, staff writer (NaturalNews)

Young children who consume exclusively organic dairy products are significantly less likely to develop allergies, asthma or eczema by the age of two, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Louis Bolk Institute in the Netherlands and published in the British Journal of Nutrition.

“This is the first example of a definite health impact of organic food consumption being published in a peer-reviewed journal,” said Carlo Leifert of Newcastle University, who is leading a study into the connection between organic food consumption and health.

Researchers followed 2,500 pregnant women until their children were two years old, recording information on their health and their lifestyle and dietary habits. They found that the rate of allergies was 36 percent lower among children who drank or ate organic milk, cheese and yogurt and whose mothers had consumed these products while breastfeeding than among children and mothers who had eaten either only non-organic dairy products or a mix of organic and non-organic products.

“There was a clear relationship between organic dairy use and less eczema,” said researcher Machteld Huber. “The difference was significant but only for children exclusively eating organic dairy products.”

“We didn’t find a relationship if they had [both] organic and conventional dairy products.”

Researchers do not know whether the increased allergy risk from non-organic dairy is caused by extra toxic ingredients, such as antibiotics, by lower levels of key nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids, by some combination of the two, or by some other factor.

“Organic milk doesn’t contain any pesticides, added hormones or antibiotics,” said Stuart Martin of the Scottish Organic Milk Producers Association. “When an organic cow becomes sick our farmers are encouraged to treat it homeopathically first and only use antibiotics as a last resort. Meanwhile, the milk from that cow is removed from the milk stream and is not used at all.”

Sources for this story include: ecochildsplay.com; www.dailyrecord.co.uk.

Organic Gardening Offers Many Health Benefits and Helps Plants and Animals

by Heather Havey, citizen journalist
Many scientific studies have begun to conclude that organic gardening is beneficial for every level of life: soil, plants and animals, insects, water and air quality, as well as our own mental and physical health. Certain conventional farming practices have led to increases of pollutants in our air, water, soil, and our own bodies. More and more, people around the country are beginning to grow their own organic food or to buy locally grown organic food. Growing food at home and supporting local farms can be easy ways to help support a healthy earth and also to take better care of our own bodies.

What is organic gardening?

Organic gardening refers to growing fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, or grains using only natural means. In other words, no pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, or other poisonous chemicals or fertilizers are used in the process of growing food. Instead, the soil is tilled and prepared using gathered mulch, composted manure or food and leaf remains. Also, the plants are sprouted and grown with the aid of sun, water, minerals from compost, companion planting, and your own loving touch. Organically-raised produce is harvested and eaten with the confidence that it is grown naturally and poison-free.

Organic gardeners grow plants according to a holistic and sustainable perspective. Conventional methods, on the other hand, tend to emphasize maximum profit and growth. Consequently, these methods reduce human, soil, and plant/animal health to lower priorities.

Organic farmers consider the health and mineral content of the soil. They use techniques such as crop rotation, avoidance of poisons or pollutants, and renewal of soil nutrient content through addition of composted organic matter (leaves, papers, coffee grounds, food remains, manure, and so on). Also, an organic approach considers the welfare of animals, worms, companion plants, and humans in its decision-making.

How does modern agriculture affect life?

Many studies have concluded that conventional farming practices (e.g., heavy use of pesticides and herbicides, over-farming and erosion of mineral quality of soil, mass deforestation, and so on) have led to a vast decline in the health of soil, air, water, plants, as well as birds and animals. These practices even affect our own health and well-being. “The intensification and expansion of modern agriculture is amongst the greatest current threats to worldwide biodiversity”.

Recent studies have found that massive declines in populations of bees, birds, and other wildlife have been directly linked to peoples` use of poisons on their lawns and farms. We are wiping out animals` habitats (shrubs, trees, tall grasses, ponds, etc) and replacing them with chemically-maintained “lawns.”

Research studies have also concluded that ingestion of pesticides and herbicides from conventional produce can dramatically decrease nutritional contents of foods and can increase rates of cancers and other disorders.

How does this affect me?

A March 2001 study released by the Center for Disease Control revealed that accumulations of toxic chemicals in our bodies likely have deleterious health effects. The greatest challenge to this is that because cancers or diseases arise over the course of years or decades, we do not even consider them as potential causes. Because cancers and diseases are so widespread in older populations, we tend to view them as “to be expected” or “typical” of older age. In reality, however, diseases could be the body`s response to living in and ingesting toxic chemicals for many years of our lives without questioning the safety or danger of these choices.

Also, as bees and birds die by the millions (from the use of plastic bags, herbicides, pesticides etc), we will have far less wildlife to enjoy and to coexist with. Try to imagine a world devoid of birds, bees, honey, and so on. The repercussions of wildlife extinctions also affect all of our world`s ecosystem balances, and the effects of these extinctions can be more far-reaching and deleterious than we can imagine (not to mention the sheer loss of life).

What are the benefits of organic gardening?

The benefits span many aspects of our lives: social, physical, and mental health.

Socially, growing gardens brings people together, connects people with nature, encourages healthy social interaction, and gives people a shared sense of purpose and fulfillment. Making dinner for friends from food that you grow and harvest yourself is a very rewarding, enjoyable experience.

Physically, growing gardens gives you opportunity for being outdoors, surrounded by living things. People benefit from fresh air and water, beautiful surroundings, open space, and so on. In addition, the physical work of tilling soil and growing plants increases our blood flow, uses our muscles, and improves our health. Because it is organic, there is lessened risk of contamination from toxic chemicals.

Mentally, organic gardening offers a deep satisfaction in knowing that one is helping to turn the tides back in favor of a healthy earth, healthy plants and animals, and healthy people. Also, working outdoors with hands in soil – touching earth – brings calm, joy, and peace of mind.

What can I do?

Do you enjoy plants? You can grow a few pots of tomatoes or peppers in your living room. Peppers, for example, grow very well indoors. You can grow peace lilies, palms, or pothos plants, which will clean the air in your house.

If you enjoy gardening, grow some or all of your own food naturally right in your yard. The experience of harvesting your own fruits and vegetables and feeding friends and family can be one of the most deeply rewarding experiences of life. Choose to grow food rather than grass.

If you would rather not grow plants, then buy your food from local organic farmers or local CSA`s (community supported farms). Make a non-negotiable decision to only eat organic food and use organic products.

Supporting an organic lifestyle can be as simple as eating organic herbs and foods, or planting a few pots of tomato or pepper plants. It can also be as vast as converting your entire yard and home into a space for wildlife conservation and propagation.

You can make simple sustainable choices in day-to-day life: canvas rather than plastic bags, glass rather than plastic, bulk rather than packaged, home-filtered water rather than purchased bottles, raw and natural rather than processed, organic rather than conventional, and so on. Your choices make a difference in the world.

Resources

“Bayer Pesticides Cause Mass Death of Bees.” Organic Consumers Association. August 25, 2008. http://www.organicconsumers.org/art…

Cornell University`s Pesticide Management Education Program. http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/facts-s…

“Does Organic Farming Benefit Biodiversity?” Biological Conservation. Volume 122, Issue 1, March 2005

Gard, N. and M. Hooper, An Assessment of Potential Hazards of Pesticides and Environmental Contaminants, pp 294-310, in Martin, T. And D. Finch (eds), Ecology and Management of Neotropical Migratory Birds, 1995. Oxford Univ. Press.

Pimentel, D. et al, Environmental and Economic Costs of Pesticide Use, Bioscience Vol 42, No.10, November 1992.

Stinson, E. and P. Bromely, Pesticides and Wildlife: A Guide to Reducing Impacts on Animals and Their Habitat, Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries, Publication # 420-004, 1991.

“When it Comes to Pesticides, Birds are Sitting Ducks” Smithsonian National Zoological Park. http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Conservat…

Williams, T., Silent Scourge, pp 28-35, Audubon, Jan-Feb 1997.

Welcome to “The pH Nutrition Guide to Acid / Alkaline Balance” by Jack Challem, the Nutrition Reporter. In this exclusive report, you’ll learn one of the most important health secrets found in nutritional science: the pH secret to good health! Here’s what’s covered:
* How acidic foods strip your body of minerals.

• Why osteoporosis is actually promoted by the consumption of acidic foods.

• How eating lots of potassium-rich fruits creates a chemical buffer against the ravages of acidic foods.

• The important of your potassium-to-sodium ratio, and how the American diet radically imbalances this all-important nutrient ratio.

• Chloride warning: The average American diet has way too much chloride. Here’s how it harms your health.

• Why muscle cramps are actually caused primarily by mineral deficiencies (and how to solve the problem without using dangerous prescription medications).

• How the mass consumption of meat and grains causes the body to become overly acidic.

• Which four foods in the average American diet are the most acidic and lead to the greatest loss of bone mineral density and lean muscle mass.

• Why consuming large amounts of dairy products does nothing to prevent osteoporosis.

• The real cause of osteoporosis, and how to reverse the condition through dietary changes.

• Why your diet is far more important to overall pH level than supplements alone.

• What the Hunter-Gatherer diet can teach us about health in the modern world.

• How to accurately test your own pH levels.

• A list of which foods are the most acidic vs. most alkaline.

• Scientific references supporting the information presented here

The basic chemistry of pH balance

Back in high school chemistry, we learned about pH: acids had low numbers, alkalines had high numbers, and a pH of 7.0 was neutral. And it all meant absolutely nothing in terms of day-to-day life.

It now turns out that we have a better shot at long-term health if our body’s pH is neutral or slightly alkaline. When we tilt toward greater acidity, which can be measured easily, we have a greater risk of developing osteoporosis, weak muscles, heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, and a host of other health problems.

The solution, according to scientists who have researched “chronic low-grade metabolic acidosis,” is eating a diet that yields more alkaline and less acid. Just what kind of diet is that? One that’s high in fruits and vegetables. That might not seem like a big surprise, except for a few unexpected twists and turns.

Acid-yielding foods deplete minerals

If the idea of balancing acid and alkaline foods seems a bit off the wall, it does have a somewhat checkered past. Most people, including physicians, aren’t familiar with the dangers of acidosis, except in the most extreme situations. Those include lactic acidosis, from overexercise; ketoacidosis, when diabetes start burning their own fat; and renal acidosis, which can be a sign of kidney failure.

The original scientific research on acid-yielding and alkaline-yielding foods dates back to 1914 and was remarkably accurate, according to Loren Cordain, Ph.D., a professor and researcher in the department of health and exercise science at Colorado State University, Fort Collins. Then, in the 1930s and 1940s, the acid-alkaline concept was hijacked by early health food “nuts.” Among them, William Hay, M.D., proposed an almost ritualistic eating habit based on food acidity or alkalinity. Since then, most doctors have viewed any discussion of acid and alkaline diets with a skeptical eye.

But the problem with acid-producing eating habits is very real, contends Cordain, a leading expert on the Paleolithic, or Stone Age diet. “After digestion, all foods report to the kidneys as being either acidic or alkaline,” he says. “The kidneys are responsible for fluid balance and maintaining a relatively neutral pH in the body.”

That’s where things get interesting. When acid-yielding foods lower the body’s pH, the kidneys coordinate efforts to buffer that acidity. Bones release calcium and magnesium to reestablish alkalinity, and muscles are broken down to produce ammonia, which is strongly alkaline. By the time the response is all over, your bone minerals and broken down muscle get excreted in urine.

Long term, excess acidity leads to thinner bones and lower muscle mass, points out Anthony Sebastian, M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco. These problems are compounded by normal aging, which increases acidosis, bone loss, and muscle wasting. Along the way, calcium and magnesium losses can equate to deficiencies, with many ramifications. Both minerals play essential roles in bone formation and normal heart rhythm. Low magnesium levels can cause muscle cramps, arrhythmias, and anxiety.

The four cases of dietary acidosis

Sebastian, regarded at the top researcher in the field of diet-related acidosis, admits that some of the science, at first glance, appears counter-intuitive. For example, acidic and alkaline foods don’t usually translate into acid- and alkaline-yielding foods. The distinction is subtle but significant. An acid-yielding food is one that creates a lower, or more acidic, pH. Citrus fruits and tomatoes are acidic, but they have a net alkaline yield once their constituents get to the kidneys.

So if acid foods don’t necessarily make for an acid pH, what then happens? Sebastian points to four big issues.

• First, fruits and vegetables are rich in potassium salts, a natural buffer. Eating few of these foods deprives us of potassium, a mineral that protects against hypertension and stroke. According to Cordain’s research, humans evolved eating a 10:1 ratio of potassium to sodium, and he regards this ratio as our biological baseline. Today, because of heavily salted processed and fast foods, combined with a low intake of fruits and vegetables, the ratio is now 3:1 in favor of sodium. That reversal, he says, wreaks havoc with pH and our dependency on potassium.

• Second, there has also been a similar reversal in the consumption of naturally occurring bicarbonate (such as potassium bicarbonate) in foods and added chloride (mostly in the form of sodium chloride, or table salt). Bicarbonate is alkaline, where as chloride is acid-yielding. Chloride also constricts blood vessels, and narrows blood vessels reduce circulation, Sebastian says. Because the whole body depends on healthy circulation, vasoconstriction contributes to heart disease, stroke, dementia, and probably every other degenerative disease.

• Third, eating large amounts of animal protein (including meat, fowl, and seafood) releases sulfuric acid though the metabolism of sulfur-containing amino acids, also contributing to greater acidity. This acidic shift can be offset with greater consumption of fruits and vegetables (rich in potassium bicarbonate), but again, most Americans eat these foods sparingly.

• Fourth, grains, such as wheat, rye, and corn, have a net acid-yielding effect, regardless of whether they are in the form of white bread, breakfast cereal, pasta or whole grains. “Grains are the most frequently consumed plant food in the United States,” says Sebastian, and account for 65 percent of the plant foods eaten by Americans. “In addition to their acid yield, grains displace more nutritious fruits and vegetables,” he adds.

“The real problem is one of alkaline deficiency, more than one of too much acid,” says Sebastian. People eat plenty of acid-yielding animal protein, dairy products, and grains. The missing piece is an appreciate amount of fruits and vegetables, to produce an alkaline yield. Study after study has shown that most Americans — 68 to 91 percent — don’t eat the five recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables.

pH, acidosis and osteoporosis

The strongest evidence in support of maintaining an acid-alkaline balance relates to osteoporosis. “Consider that Americans consume more calcium-rich dairy foods than almost every other nation, and we have one of the highest rates of osteoporosis,” says Cordain. “There’s a disconnect here. Dairy may be rich in calcium, but most dairy foods also produce an acid yield.”

Susan Brown, Ph.D., who heads the nonprofit Osteoporosis Education Project in East Syracuse, N.Y., frames the acid-alkaline issue as one of mineral adequacy and depletion. “It’s a little like over-farming and depleting mineral levels in soil,” she says. “If we eat foods that create an acidic pH in the body, we will deplete our bones of minerals and our muscles of protein.

Brown described a client named Janet whose doctor diagnosed her at age 52 with osteopenia, a demineralizing of bone that often foreshadows osteoporosis. At 55, Janet began following Brown’s recommendations for eating more fruits and vegetables, taking supplements, and exercising. Three years later, Janet was clearly building bone mass in her spine and hip, even while going through menopause.

Meanwhile, Sebastian acknowledges that he may have only scratched the surface when it comes to the health problems related to mild life-long acidosis. He says low-grade acidosis increases insulin resistance, the hallmark of both prediabetes and full-blown type-2 diabetes. It increases the risk of kidney stones and kidney failure. And one study suggests that it might even alter gene activity and raise the risk of breast cancer. He admits that no one yet knows all the consequences of a fundamental shift in the body’s acid-alkaline balance, but he suspects it’s far reaching.

Can supplements help?

Millions of women dutifully take calcium supplements to help maintain their bone mass and reduce their chances of developing severe osteoporosis with age. But do supplements have any real benefit in alkalizing the body?

Brown does see a benefit from supplements, but she says it’s important to stem calcium and magnesium losses from acid-yielding eating habits. “Acid-alkaline balance is overwhelmingly a food issue,” she emphasizes. “Your pH is really a sign of how your body is managing your mineral reserves.”

Potassium has turned out to be a crucial mineral for maintaining bone. High-potassium diets — that is, those rich in fruits and vegetables — slow bone loss, mainly by promoting alkalinity. So do supplements, such as potassium citrate and bicarbonate. While potassium citrate is commonly sold, the bicarbonate form is available only on prescription. Still, it’s hard for supplements to compete with the potassium in foods. A handful of raisins, two dates, or a small banana each provide more than 300 mg of potassium.

If you take supplements, opt for the citrate form, such as calcium citrate and magnesium citrate. (Potassium supplements must by law be under 99 mg because of a risk of arrhythmias at high doses.) Fumarate, aspartate, and succinate forms of minerals also have an alkalizing effect, and all get Brown’s blessing. In one study, Sebastian found that potassium citrate supplements protected against calcium losses, even when people ate a high salt diet. Buffered vitamin C, which is ascorbic acid formulated with the carbonate forms of calcium, magnesium, and potassium, might also have a slight alkalizing effect.

Some supplements, such as coral calcium, have been promoted as a way to restore an alkaline pH. But coral calcium is largely calcium carbonate, which is far less expensive as a generic supplement. It’s also not as well absorbed as the citrate form.

What should you eat for proper pH levels?

Nutritional recommendations are as varied as political and religious beliefs and, sometimes, held to just as stridently. Cordain tries to rise about the controversies by looking to our biological and genetic heritage.

He points out that people, until relatively recently, were hunter-gatherers whose diets consisted of a combination of lean animal foods (including fish) and uncultivated vegetables and fruits. Based on his analyses of the diets of 229 pre-modern cultures, Cordain has calculated that the “average” ancient diet consisted of 55 percent animal foods and 45 percent plant foods. The animal foods included healthy fats as well as protein, and the plant foods consisted of leaves, stalks, fruit, seeds, tubers, and roots. Grains and cow’s milk didn’t enter the picture until about 7,000 to 10,000 years ago, too short a time for genetic adaptation.

Cordain’s recommendations, found in The Paleo Diet and The Paleo Diet for Athletes include too many veggies to be a knockoff of the Atkins’ high-protein diet. (Eating very lean meats, he adds, reduces saturated fats amount to only 10 percent of calories.) Nor do you have to be a vegetarian to gain the alkalizing benefits of fruits and vegetables. “It takes about 35 percent of total calories as fruits and veggies to produce a net alkaline load,” he explains. “What’s so hard about one-third of your plate being veggies?”

Still, if you have visions of veggies coming out of your ears, the answer is really simple. Cordain, Sebastian, and Brown suggest cutting back on breads, pastas, and other grain-based foods, as well as “high-glycemic” foods such as potatoes. They’re all nutrient-poor foods, compared with protein and veggies.

“It’s all another scientific justification for what your mother always told you,” notes Brown. “Eat your fruits and veggies.”

How to test your own pH

You can test your own pH simply and inexpensively. All you need are some pH test strips. Tear off two three-inch strips. As you as you awaken, before you drink or eat anything, put some saliva on the test strip. Compare the color to a pH color chart that comes with the test strips. Next, measure the pH of your second urination of the morning. To do this, urinate on the strip or collect the urine in a plastic or glass (not paper) cup and dip the test strip. Again, compare the color to the pH color chart.

Decker Weiss, N.M.D., of Scottsdale, Arizona, recommends doing the saliva and urine tests for 10 mornings in a row. “Ignore the top three and bottom three tests because they’re extremes. Average the remaining four to determine your pH,” he says. Weiss aims for a pH of 6.8 to 7 in his heart patients, and 7.2 to 7.4 in his osteoporosis patients. You can retest a few weeks after changing your eating habits.

Let’s take a moment to cover that myth here. Let’s say you’re a woman and you have more body fat than you want. You’re trying to decide, “Should I engage in strength training as part of my weight loss program?” Some women say, “No, because I’ll bulk up and it’ll make me look fatter.” That’s a complete myth; it’s totally false.

How do you lose bone mass? Easy: you stop engaging in exercise, stop walking, stop running. If you do all that (which I’m not recommending, by the way), then you would start to lose bone mass and you’d still look like you were having lots of progress on the bathroom scale, bone mineral density, and that would be reflected as weight loss. When you say you want to lose weight, be careful what you ask for. Your body has a number of ways to lose weight that have nothing whatsoever to do with losing body fat or enhancing your overall state of health.

Engage in Weight Training when losing Body Fat

The other benefit to doing this is that strength training will greatly increase the speed of your weight loss effort. It will double the effectiveness of any weight loss program you’re on. Losing weight by calorie restriction alone is very, very difficult. In fact, personally, I’ve never been able to do that. The only way I’ve been able to lose body fat (I lost over 50 lbs of body fat, and I’ve kept it off for several years now) is to engage in exercise that includes both a strength training component and a cardiovascular component. My belief is that you cannot keep weight off just by modifying your diet alone, unless you happen to be extremely gifted with just the right genes that don’t ever turn on the hunger signal for you. If you’re in that situation, good for you. But you should probably think about exercising anyway, because of the other cardiovascular health and brain chemistry benefits that are derived from frequent exercise.

Benefit from Aerobic Exercise

by Kim Evans, citizen journalist

(NaturalNews) A recent study just found that exercise, particularly aerobic exercise, is connected with having a higher IQ. For the participants that were eighteen, being physically fit was also connected with an increased chance of obtaining a University level education. It was a large study based on over 1.2 million people. Interestingly, over 3,000 of the participants were twins and from the twin data; it was concluded that environmental factors, like being physically fit, were a far greater determinant of intelligence than even genetics. In fact, environmental factors were determined to be more than 80 percent of the equation, while genetics was less than 15 percent.

Study after study confirms the benefits of aerobic exercise and a chief physician at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital attributed the intelligence benefit to having an increased flow of oxygen to the brain. Because aerobic exercise increases the amount of oxygen in the body, it also contributes to having an oxygen-rich internal environment, which is called an alkaline environment. The foods we eat play a large role in determining if we’re acidic or alkaline, but so does the amount of oxygen we take in. And within reason, the more oxygen and oxygen-rich foods we take in regularly, the fewer problems we’ll see.

There are a couple of other benefits of aerobic exercise that don’t get the face time they deserve.

Exercise helps detoxify our bodies – and just as pollutants gather in stagnant water, stagnant blood and lymph also gather toxins. Exercise helps improve circulation which means that environmental and metabolic toxins are less likely to become concentrated in areas of the body. And when toxins flow, they’re more apt to be eliminated via the liver and colon.

Exercise benefits our lymphatic system and one of that system’s primary functions is to eliminate toxins, especially metabolic toxins, from the body. But, unlike the blood that has the heart as a subconscious pump, the primary way to stimulate the lymphatic system to do this job is through body movement. When the lymphatic system becomes impure with waste, toxicity throughout the body is the result. Bernard Jensen, Ph.D. tells us, “If the lymph is not kept moving, toxic-laden areas can become sources of infection and inflammation.”

Aerobic exercise also increases the movement of the bowels which helps filth leave the body in a more timely manner. Of course, aerobic exercise encourages sweating and sweating is a primary way that toxins leave the body – through the skin. Bernard Jensen also tells us that our bodies should be releasing two pounds of toxins every day – just through the skin. And it generally takes aerobic exercise to make that happen.

There are quite a few benefits to aerobic exercise, but not many realize that helping the body remove stored toxins is one of them. It’s well documented that environmental toxins have often extreme and adverse effects on the brain, body and intelligence. So perhaps helping to remove many of these poisons is another reason that people who exercise aerobically regularly are found to have higher IQ’s.

Top Six Reasons to Eat Only Organic Fruits and Vegetables

by Heather Havey, citizen journalist

(NaturalNews) When you eat organic foods, you provide your body with vitamins, minerals, filtered water, and much more. These provide us with vital foundations for health. Most food sold in stores is grown with pesticides or other toxins. These chemicals have been proven to adversely affect health. In some cases they cause death. They also pollute the Earth and have been associated with mass animal deaths [1-4]. Your choices make a huge difference in the quality of your life. What you eat builds and maintains your body. Also, supporting organics supports a healthy Earth. You help to improve the quality of water, soil, and air. Animals, plants, birds, worms, and other living beings also benefit when you choose organic foods.

1. You Are What You Eat

In 1826, Anthelme Brillat-Savarin originated the ever-famous “You are what you eat” in his book Meditations on Transcendent Gastronomy. We have heard this truism throughout our lives. Have you considered the depths of its wisdom? Eat an apple, and you eat life: vitamins, minerals, water, and more. Eat pesticide residue, and you fill your body with poisons [5, 6]. These toxins accumulate in your muscle and fat tissues. Some of them are nearly impossible to ever remove from your body. Mothers who breast-feed children illustrate an example of these danger potentials, because poisons are passed to the baby. The Journal for Pesticide Reform reports that “pesticides such as chlordane, heptachlor, DDT, DDE and other organohalogen compounds do not biodegrade in the environment. Instead they bioconcentrate and are stored in the fat of human beings, who feed at the top of the food chain.” Also, a 1999 Consumers Union report determined that “pesticide residues found in foods children eat every day often exceed safe levels” [7].

Organic foods are grown with no poisons. They are natural foods that have been grown with more conscious care for the health of the soil, the plants, and the people who will eat them. Over 100 studies have found that the nutritional quality of organic foods far surpasses that of conventional produce [8-10]. Why take a chance and risk exposing yourself, your children, or your friends to chemicals that could destroy their health? Why make this even a negotiable point for yourself? Choose organic, choose natural, and you choose health.

2. Food is your best medicine.

In the 5th century BC, Hippocrates taught that “let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.” He was highly respected during his lifetime, and he has been famous ever since. His words have stood the test of time and remain deep wisdoms that we can live by. All medical doctors to this day recite the Hippocratic Oath. In this vow, doctors promise to try never to harm their patient and also to work for their patient’s highest good.

We can all make similar choices. We can all seek to bring about our highest good. We can all seek not to harm ourselves. We can live by that oath and also by Hippocrates’ other famous teaching: Food is your Best Medicine. If this is true, then it makes sense that we should choose foods that are known to bring us health, energy, and peace of mind. Scientists have proven in many studies that organic food choices have far superior nutritional quality than conventional food choices [8-10]. Also, they have proven that foods grown with pesticides are definitely linked with diseases and deaths for humans and animals [11-13].

With all that in mind, the choice seems clear: Choose Organic.

3. Pay now or pay later.

Cost is the number one reason that people choose for not buying or eating organic foods. When you eat food that may contain poisons, however, the cost is far higher than simply the price tag. This cost also includes the impact that this food choice has upon your body and the world. Studies have proven that pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, and other poisons accumulate in the body and lead to illness, disease, and death [11-13].

Next time you feel hesitant to pay a couple of extra dollars for an organic item, simply remember: Pay now for delicious, healing food or pay later for medical bills, illness, and suffering. When you pay for organic food, you pay for energy, health, and the wellbeing of the Earth.

4. We prefer life over death.

Humans innately desire life. We desire health, energy, well-being, happiness, and wellness. Thus, we should choose that which will bring us greatest energy, happiness, and health. Conversely, we should not choose that which will bring us fatigue, depression or anxiety, ailments, illnesses, diseases, or death.

Pesticide is designed to kill, and it does not know when to stop killing. This is all that it does. Organic, naturally-prepared foods, on the other hand, provide beneficial nutritional and healing qualities for us.

With all this in mind, again, the choice seems clear: Choose Organic.

5. Earth needs your help.

We live amidst the newest mass extinction on our planet. Typically in a mass extinction, more than 50% of species on Earth die off, and over 70% diminish greatly [14]. A recent study published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution (TREE) states that “most species [on Earth] are declining as a result of human activities and…the result will be a more homogenized biosphere with lower diversity at regional and global scales” [14]. The study also reports that “humans have not yet fully impacted some remaining ecosystems (and their endemic species) so that the total number of declining species will probably grow.” We are hurting animals and plants worldwide. We are also harming the quality of our air, our water, and our soil. The result of this is that we hurt ourselves, also. Every level of life is being affected by our lifestyle and our choices.

Every choice we make has an impact on environment. When we buy food (or anything), we support every level of production that has gone into this product. We support the farmer or rancher or logger who grew our primary resources. We support whatever pesticides or natural methods that they choose. We support also the manufacturing processes that produce our goods. This means that we also support any use of chemicals or packaging that manufacturers choose to use. At the next level, we also support the distribution of these foods or goods to our stores. We support the stores at which we purchase items. Finally, we support the gasoline, bicycle, and shoe companies that provide our means of reaching the store to buy food.

Every time we make a choice we have a large impact. We affect ourselves, multiple other people, resources, surrounding lands and animals, the carbon footprint (air, water, soil) of distribution and production, and the gasoline/automobile/bicycle companies that give us movement.

Your choices make a difference. The Earth needs your help. Therefore, choose organic.

6. Healthy plants mean healthier soil, water, birds, worms, animals, plants, air, and you.

Since the 5th century BC, people have been telling us a healthy way to live. The way is natural. The way is organic. The natural path honors nature and works in harmony with Earth. As a result, we achieve harmonious health. We feel energy, peace of mind, wellness, and health. Also, the plants and animals benefit. The air, water, and soil benefit. Organic food is a choice that makes a lot of sense. Again, you pay now or pay later. Make organic food a non-negotiable choice.

Choose life:  http://www.livewholefoodhealth.com

Resources
1. “Colony Collapse Disorder Debunked: Pesticides Cause Bee Deaths.” http://www.naturalnews.com/023679.html.

2. Pimentel, D. et al, “Environmental and Economic Costs of Pesticide Use,” Bioscience Vol 42, No.10, November 1992.

3. Mary Deinlein, “When it Comes to Pesticides, Birds are Sitting Ducks,” Smithsonian National Zoological Park. http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Conservat…

4. Williams, T., Silent Scourge, pp 28-35, Audubon, Jan-Feb 1997.

5. “Pesticide Residues in Urine of Adults Living in the United States: Reference Range Concentrations.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Environmental Research Volume 71, Issue 2, November 1995, Pages 99-10.

6. “Acute occupational pesticide-related illness in the US, 1998-1999: Surveillance findings from the SENSOR-pesticides program.” American Journal of Industrial Medicine Volume 45, Issue 1, Dec 2003, Pages 14-23.

7. Consumers Union. 2000. Pesticides Residues Still Too High in Children’s Foods. http://www.consumersunion.org/food/….

8. “New Evidence Confirms the Nutritional Superiority of Plant-Based Organic Foods,” State of Science Review, March 2008 [This is a 56-page downloadable review of many research studies that have been done in recent years regarding the nutritional quality of organic plant foods.] http://www.organic-center.org/scien…

9. ” Fruit Quality, Antioxidant Capacity, and Flavonoid Content of Organically and Conventionally Grown Blueberries.” Journal for Agricultural and Food Chemistry Volume 56, Issue 14, 2008, Pages 5788-5794.

10. “Effects of agricultural practices on instrumental colour, mineral content, carotenoid composition, and sensory quality of mandarin orange juice.” Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture Volume 88, Number 10, 15 August 2008 , Pages 1731-1738(8).

11. Waldrum, Joseph D. and Pamela L Brady and J. Ples Spradley. 1996. Pesticide Residue in Food: The Safety Issue. AK: Southern Extension and Research Activity Information Exchange Group.

12. “Pesticide-related health problems and farmworkers.” American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Journal Volume 37, Issue 3, March 1989, Pages 115-30.

13. The Organic Trade Association lists many excellent research study results that prove the nutritional superiority of organic foods. http://www.ota.com/organic/benefits…

14. Michael L. McKinney & Julie L. Lockwood, “Biotic homogenization: a few winners replacing many losers in the next mass extinction” Trends in Ecology & Evolution Volume 14, Issue 11, 1 November 1999, Pages 450-453.

Organic Foods Provide More than Health Benefits

by Sheryl Walters, citizen journalist

(NaturalNews) Organic foods can be considered to be better and healthier not only for the consumer but also for the environment. Organic foods are considered to be more nutrient dense than their counterparts produced via modern farming practices.

Dr. David Thomas, a physician and researcher, has studied and compared the United States government guidelines and tables for the nutritional content of various foods. These tables have been published by the government first in 1940 and again in 2002. Dr. Thomas has noticed a trend that supports the decline in the nutritional quality of fruits and vegetables produced via modern farming practices in recent decades. Because of his research Dr. Thomas has posed the following question, “Why is it that you have to eat four carrots to get the same amount of magnesium as you would have done in 1940?”

A study published in the Journal of Applied Nutrition lists many nutrients that appear to be altered based on how they are farmed. The study looked at organic apples, pear, potatoes, wheat, and sweet corn and compared the levels of certain nutrients in relation to the commercially available counterparts produced via modern farming practices. The study lists the macronutrient chromium as being found at levels 78% higher in organic foods. The study also showed that Calcium is found at a level 63% higher in organic foods and Magnesium is found at a level 138% higher in organic foods. Other studies have shown that the use of pesticides can also alter the levels of certain vitamins including B vitamins, vitamin C, and beta-carotene in fruits and vegetables.

In 2003 a study was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry which found that organic corn had 52% more vitamin C than the commercially available counterpart which was grown utilizing modern farming practices. This study also found that polyphenol levels were significantly higher in the organic corn.

While many studies have been done looking into the benefits of organic produce there still is much to be learned. Dr. Marion Nestle the chair of New York University’s department of nutrition, food studies and public health has said, “I don’t think there is any question that as more research is done, it is going to become increasingly apparent that organic food is healthier.”

Many studies including a study recently published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) have done much to reinforce the perception of many American consumers that organic foods are both better for the consumer and the environment.

Choose Life: http://www.livewholefoodhealth.com

http://www.foodnavigator.com/Scienc…
http://lookwayup.com/free/organic.htm
http://www.organicconsumers.org/org…

Article from Prevention:

You may eat your fruits and veggies. You may even pop a multi every day. Yet your skin care routine is still missing out on the value of vitamins. Research shows that these nutrients are essential for preventing and reversing many signs of aging. A well-balanced diet is important, of course — eating a variety of healthy foods helps keep skin supple and glowing. But the fact is, “the body delivers only a certain percentage of vitamins to your skin, no matter how much you ingest,” says Mary Lupo, MD, clinical professor of dermatology at Tulane University School of Medicine. Plus, there’s no way to send them straight to your crow’s feet or brown spots. The solution: Applying vitamins topically to deliver maximum anti-aging benefits — everything from improving texture and tone to fading under-eye circles. Follow this user’s guide to the letter, and soon your skin will look better than ever.

Vitamin A: Best Overall Age Fighter

Find it in OTC lotions, night creams (vitamin A derivatives are known as retinoids), and prescription products.

Proven to reduce wrinkles, fade brown spots, and smooth roughness. “There are more than 700 published studies on retinoids — they’re tried-and-true ingredients. Anyone who wants younger-looking skin should use one,” says Doris Day, MD, assistant clinical professor of dermatology at New York University Langone Medical Center.

How to use: Apply your retinoid at night — sunlight inactivates most forms of vitamin A. Prescription retinoids work fastest, within four to eight weeks. The downside: They’re irritating, causing redness, scaling, and flaking that last for weeks or longer. OTC products are best for beginners; you’ll experience fewer skin care side effects because the retinol they contain is slowly converted to retinoic acid, the active ingredient in Rx creams. To avoid irritation, apply an OTC or prescription retinoid every second or third night, at least for the first 2 weeks, and build up to nightly use. Apply sparingly; a pea-size amount is enough to cover your entire face.

If your skin is sensitive, two new retinoids are particularly gentle. Clinical studies show that retinyl propionatesignificantly improves skin after 12 weeks without being as drying as the more potent retinol.

Vitamin B3: Boosts Hydration to Reduce Redness

Find it in lotions, creams, and serums. It’s often called niacinamide on the label.

Proven to increase production of ceramides and fatty acids, two key components of your skin’s outer protective barrier. “As that barrier is strengthened, skin is better able to keep moisture in and irritants out — making B3 a great ingredient if your complexion is dry or sensitive,” says Leslie S. Baumann, MD, director of the University of Miami Cosmetic Medicine and Research Institute. In one study, a moisturizer with niacinamide improved the flushing and blushing of rosacea, a common condition that can worsen with age. Another B3 skin care benefit: It inhibits the transfer of pigment to skin cells, minimizing dark spots.

How to use For maximum results, apply B3 vitamins in the morning and evening. To reduce irritation from your retinoid, use it in conjunction with niacinamide. “Mix them together in the palm of your hand before applying–they won’t inactivate each other,” says Baumann. Besides decreasing side effects, the combo produces superior anti-aging benefits.

Vitamin C: All-Around Anti-Ager

Find it in moisturizers formulated to keep vitamin C stable (opaque, airtight containers are ideal). Look for C near the middle of the ingredients panel to help ensure the five percent or higher concentration needed to see skin care benefits, advises Hema Sundaram, MD, a dermatologist in the Washington, DC, area.

Proven to mop up the free radicals that trigger wrinkling, sagging, and other aging changes. Vitamin C also helps smooth and firm skin and fade brown spots. In one study, women who treated sun-damaged skin with a C cream for six months saw significant improvement in fine lines and discoloration. Though the benefits of retinoids (see vitamin A) and vitamin C sound similar, using both delivers more complexion perfection. “Skin aging occurs in various ways, so you need multiple forms of defense and repair,” says Lupo.

Vitamin E: Eases Dryness and Bolsters Skin’s UV Defense

Find it in sunscreens and after-sun products. The best anti-aging products contain at least 1 percent vitamin E, so it will be listed near the middle of the ingredients panel.

Proven to quell dryness by helping skin retain its natural moisturizers. Also, vitamin E’s potent ability to neutralize damaging free radicals has earned it the moniker “the protector.” A slew of skin care studies document its superstar status. In one, E significantly reduced the number of these unstable molecules created after exposure to cigarette smoke. Others show that when it’s used before UV exposure, skin is less red, swollen, and dry.

How to use Apply before and after serious sun exposure. A single strong blast of UV light can destroy half the skin’s natural supply of E, so shore up defenses by slathering on a sunscreen supplemented with E and C before going into the sun — the C helps ensure effectiveness. An after-sun salve with E helps, too, says Oceanside, CA, dermatologist Jens Thiele, MD, PhD, a vitamin E expert; some studies show that the anti-inflammatory action kicks in to reduce damage even after you’ve been in the sun.