Green Options

The Mediterranean diet is not only good for its more well-known reasons — protecting against heart disease and cancer. According to a new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, the Mediterranean diet, rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, nuts, and fish, may decrease risk of depression.

Did you know that whole grain products, such as whole grain cereals and popcorn, are extremely healthy and not only for their high fiber content? These common breakfast and snack foods are rich in antioxidant substances, of which fruits and vegetables were generally considered to be our only really significant source until now. These antioxidants, called “polyphenols,” can also be found in wine, tea leaves, coffee, olive oil, walnuts, and chocolate. However, not to the same degree as in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. These polyphenols may be the leading way to reduce risk of cancer and heart disease.

As a parent, you’re probably concerned about pesticides on the foods your family eats. I know I am.

Since the Environmental Working Group came out with their list of the “Dirty Dozen“, I’m more selective about our produce purchases. We even grew a few rows of kale in our raised bed gardens because we eat copious amounts of greens.

But just because a favorite veggie didn’t end up on EWG’s list doesn’t mean that it’s free and clear. Certainly not organic, in most cases!

An average American child gets 5+ servings of pesticides in their food and water per day.

Yikes! That’s why this frightening educational new database is so helpful.

It’s an experience many of us relish– taking a weekend stroll through the colors, sounds, and smells of a local farmers market and then choosing fresh items to take back to our homes, as well crafts, or maybe a cd from a local band. We know that the food will eventually fill our stomachs contently, or that another item we found will be a perfect and unique gift for a special friend or family member.

This summer you can show your support for your favorite farmers market, by helping it win a $5000 reward. Care2.com and Localharvest.org are sponsoring this great online contest. The $5000 top prize will be awarded to the farmer’s market that is voted the most popular by internet users like you.

Every year more than 500,000 people die from cancer in the United States alone.

Many researchers and cancer specialists believe that up to 60% of those deaths can be prevented if Americans adopt healthier lifestyles.

According to Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute,

“The easiest and least expensive way to reduce your risk for cancer is just by eating a healthy diet.”

Here is an overview of ten important cancer fighting foods to include in your diet on a regular basis:

According to researchers at the University of Minnesota, eating together as a family during adolescence is associated with lasting positive effects on dietary quality in young adulthood.

Students surveyed as teenagers were surveyed again at twenty years old to determine the long term effects of eating family meals.  Researchers found that eating family meals together during childhood resulted in adults who ate more fruits and vegetables, and drank less soft drinks.

For me, eating ‘healthy’ used to mean one stick of butter instead of two.  But for the sake of my arteries (and wardrobe!), I decided to ditch fatty foods in favor of an all-natural diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and any other low calorie, high protein substance that typically had a distinct flavor, resembling cardboard.

Needless to say, it wasn’t long before I returned to the comforts of creamy comestibles, luxuriously languishing in lardaceous liquids, where I’ve been happily indulging ever since.  That is, until Behind the Burner nutrition expert and author of The Little Black Apron, Jodi Greebel, came along to open my eyes to a lifestyle of healthy — yet satisfying — morsels that don’t require me to go cold turkey on tempting treats.

So, when I had Jodi captive, I picked her brain about nutrition, dining out, being a vegetarian, and how to eat healthy and delicious. 

For a continent that has more than 22 million of its kids overweight or obese, fighting obesity may require concerted efforts of both parents and national governments within the European Union.

And the Europeans are ready to spend US$ 130 million annually to enliven the old adage - an apple a day keeps the doctor away - as well as improve their carbon footprint by promoting greener consumption.

But Europe is also grappling with weight as a serious health issue and now a strategy to fight obesity in kids is being pushed through European parliament to provide free fresh fruits and vegetables to school children.

If you’re looking for a challenge, try growing a productive vegetable garden in Florida’s superheated summers. I’ve worked toward that goal every day for the past three months and have only a few successes to show for it: six sturdy sunflowers, one infant pumpkin and a spreading mass of strawberries in which the slugs beat me to the fruits nine times out of ten. On the other hand, daily explorations of my wooded backyard have revealed wild foods galore that grow without an ounce of effort on my part: huckleberries, wild blackberries, even Southern crabapples.

So I was happy to discover that other Floridians have reached the same conclusion I have: that it makes sense, in as difficult a climate as ours, to emphasize foods from native plants, especially tree crops.

In the vegan cooking classes I teach and the outreach I do, I am often asked how to incorporate "organic" food into our diets without breaking the bank. Since I rarely have a simple answer, I usually start off by saying what I think is a really important thing to keep

Keep in mind that the typical consumer is NOT paying the true cost of food. The meat, dairy, and egg industries, in

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