Showing posts with label organic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organic. Show all posts

Monday, November 9, 2015

Backyard farming vegetables and grazing animals




Look out your window, do you have property that is just wasted space for grass? Or do you have land for being more sustainable to have a small or even larger farming area?

As committed gluten free consumers in this world, we must stay in control without risks. Growing your own food is the primary way to regain the lost control and salvage your hard earned money from buying packaged food each week or even multiple times when you have to read labels and trust other brands for gluten risks. Having a small garden or a small farming space would be ideal for healthy living plan in 2016!

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

How Much Salad Did You Eat In 2014?







Don't laugh, this is a legitimate question I have for you. Salad according to my definition, is six or more cold raw vegetables and accompanying healthy counterparts from the land or sea served in a bowl as an appetizer or a meal. It's intent is to fulfill via healthy natural, and organic measures and you should not only enjoy your salad, but celebrate socially each meal. 

When looking back 
did you have a salad 
every day, multiple times per day?

Eat A Smart Salad
I love salad soooooo much. It's a love affair of mine. I talk about it with my brother curiously wondering how much cabbage he ate recently, with my parents who raised me on a salad for every dinner meal, and I'm curious about other people's salads, too. I'm baffled by what's in them, why they choose certain ingredients and dressings and what their motivations are behind each bite. There are dozens of vegetables, fish, meats, poultry, fruits, nuts, some grains and legumes that make there way into my dream salads.  The salad concept here is that the world's melting pot should keep you on edge, always learning about food's place of origin, seasonal freshness and tantalizing your taste buds in suspense. 

Is Salad Making You Fat?
If you think eating salad is your answer to good health you're not even half correct. You can be creative with your salad, eat good veggies, but if it turns into a towering monster that's a sign it's tipping the iceberg of nutrition. If you eat too much high fat marinated meats, bacon, fried/breaded chicken, shredded cheeses, pastas, noodles, nuts, dried fruit, and even avocados and don't portion control you're over indulging. The white iceberg lettuce and common lettuce mixes must have dark leafy greens in there, for optimal nutrition. If you opted out of the creamy dressings, thats' good, but even too much oil and vinegar isn't helping yourself, you're going to give yourself hips that don't lie! 

Looking Forward, Looking Back
Here is my top salad based reflections looking forward into 2015. I will be taking these changes into account myself. In the Winter I become lazier and less motivated to work out and need a few reminders to get back on track...

  1. Always shop organic and never GMO (genetically modified organisms).
  2. Every day should have a salad meal and each meal have veggies. 
  3. Be active on your feet with a sweat 30-45+ minutes per day. 
  4. Drink more water with lemon and ginger.
  5. Drink green tea daily or various teas during morning and day.
  6. Create fantastic high protein and low sugar smoothies for breakfast even if you're not a body builder. Lean protein is essential to being well and fit. 
  7. Walk more and focus on less sitting while moving around each and every day. 
  8. Stop eating by 8pm - nothing healthy happens late at night!
  9. Laugh at yourself, with others and be sure each day you had a good laugh. 
  10. Overall, you should only be eating in calories, fats, and proteins, etc for what you're body is capable of utilizing to be great ... you gain weight if the calories aren't being burned off. 

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Save Money on Gluten-Free Food

Find More Local Stores

Since gluten-free products tend to cost higher than traditional food (cheap mass produced food) you'll need to shop around to protect your wallet. This may be annoying at first, but you should first look for large grocery chains that may just be a few extra miles away, in addition to the many local health food stores that are in existence because they know something you don't! Get to know these people and ask them questions. Talk, learn, share and try new things.

Food Education The Mainstream Won't Teach

Now that you're avoiding gluten (amino acid/protein) that is found in wheat, barely, rye, malts, etc it's time to learn more about improving your health today and long term. A gluten education is the stepping stone to learning about the corrupted food supply domestically, worldwide and about nutrition. First, gluten is typically found in everything (because wheat is a mass produced cheap ingredient used to fill various types of products) or gluten-free food is contaminated in the manufacturing process (cheap and dirty) because chefs, line staff don't separate and clean equipment and now you need to be smarter. 

It's now important to avoid GMOs, genetically modified organisms, as they're found in more than 70% of the traditional grocery store fresh and packaged foods. GMOs are un-proven, un-tested and believed to be dangerous because they're not actual food, in fact, the seeds are labeled by the FDA first as toxins. How? The DNA of GMOs are entirely made in a laboratory to help them resist insects (a natural predator in the world) and yield more harvest, and that's unproven, while killing too many insects, like bees, and people along with damaging the eco-system because pesticides are over used since the GMO crop can resist the pesticides and prosper. And it's a business, Monsanto, a tech company has patented the seed (life) resulting in horrid business politics of big business and small - large farmers. Its' a mess and it's a heavy corrupted lobbying practice in rich America that you can personallly void with a food education... We 100% recommend that you avoid GMOs and avoid gluten to maximize a legitimate and credible natural and healthy life like our ancestors prospered just fine.


Don't Replace Comfort Foods

Your first step is to finding smarter and healthier real food is to avoid your comfort alternatives such as the pretzels, chips and easy microwavable alternatives.  That would be the opposite of what you should be doing. Focus on organic and nonGMO fruits, vegetables, wild fish, hormone and antibiotic-free meat and poultry, because the mass produced packaged food industry typically have less nutrients and is not healthy or sustainable and now you're in control of living longer and healthier, so minimize the easy alternatives and start cooking, slicing, dicing, baking and sauteing, real nonGMO and organic food. You are given a second chance so don't let what you thought you knew was good, safe, or comfortable get in your way of the new tasty and healthy options ahead to re-train yourself, that's what I did.


Donate Your Microwave

Get rid of it, seriously. There is nothing smart or healthy about putting your food or liquids in a box, pressing a few buttons and it comes out 'ready to eat' unless you have to! The would be fine for an astronaut, if the world ended and you had no choice, or if someone put a gun to your head and said to do it. Eat real, living, raw foods first and slice, dice, cook and bake them like real people have done for thousands of years. Using a microwave everyday is lazy and I highly recommend that you stop. If you can't stop, I'm mad at you, then at least commit to using it only 1x per month or less because planning ahead is part of real challenges in life. Easy to heat and cook foods typically lack nutrition, too.

Don't Pay More For Gluten-Free Products

Research food price, just like the smart shoppers! And don't pay for a crappy product marked up with a gluten-free label. Buy legit natural and credible products from brands you can trust and found in health food stores. They go on sale sometimes or just have legit quality ingredients that you can pronounce and have the certifications on the labels to feel good paying for. Healthier products are worth trying and then you can learn more about how to find them at the best price. Don't be enticed by some mainstream brand with a gluten-free label, that's the easy and dangerous solution, go with a brand that has proven to you their all about health alternatives, not just a band-aid gluten-free text on the bottle.

Plan Ahead, Not Just For Tomorrow

In order to be smarter and healthier, you'll need to plan for what you do today, tomorrow and the next day, just like everyone else. However, now you're not like common people, you have a second chance to gain health and make improvements long term in your life. Have ample fresh organic and nonGMO fruits and vegetables, nuts, etc that you can have handy for when you are on the go. Cook enough left overs for more than the same day and plan ahead to cook, and clean as you should be making food fresh, just like everyone else who is committed to being smarter and healthier. 


When Gluten-Free Doesn't = Gluten-Free Safe

In today's society, gluten is one of many ingredients that contaminate the food supply because it's a cheap filler. It's added to almost everything. Therefore, when you see a gluten-free label you can't trust it unless there is a certification label or they provide transparency into their verification process they do themselves regularly to ensure it's safe. The truth is food often has insects, urine, dead rats and traces of stuff in them and brands are not forced to label that unless someone catches them or if there is a high enough traces if they're tested and somebody catches them! I'm saying, mo money mo problems, in the food industry, got it? The food supply my friends, is a bit wild! FDA passed a gluten-free guidelines in August 2014 about testing <20 ppm for all labeled gluten-free products, but there still is no official policing, except the people :) 

http://glutenfreeg.blogspot.com/

Friday, October 3, 2014

Our True Roots Tiger Nuts Gluten-Free Product Review

PreBiotic   Resistant Starch 
No Grain   No Gluten   No Nuts 
Vegan   Organic   Non GMO

Introducing Tiger Nuts from Our True Roots

What the heck are tiger nuts? Well they're not a nut first of all. I met a brand, Our True Roots, at a gluten free and allergen free consumer show and fell in love with Tiger Nuts immediately. Tiger Nuts are a vegetable, in fact they're super nutrient dense tubers that grow under ground, like most awesome super foods. Traces of Tiger nuts are over 4,000 years old and some sources say 4 million years old when our Paleo ancestors consumed Tiger Nuts as most of their diet. In fact, Tiger Nuts are led to be one of the inspirations from foraging to modern day farming...

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Natural Products Expo East 2014 Expectations



It's one of two exciting times of the year for 2014, Natural Products Expo East comes to Baltimore (the other show, Expo West, is in the Spring in California). Even though this is a trade show, I attend to shed light on what's happening for my community who need to know where to go, what to trust, and what's trending.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Natural Products Trending From Expo East


 

Expo East 2013 natural food show was terrific! There were new products seeking distribution and existing products that were making heads turn. So when you walk down the aisle of your grocery store tomorrow, one that actually has innovative and natural products vs a traditional grocery who rarely has organic and/or gluten-free, there likely will continue to be even more trending ingredients on the shelf snagging your eye heading into next year...

FOOD TRENDS
  1. Ingredient Transparency: More than ever founders, marketers and their team are in tune with all of the raw ingredients, manufacturing protocol and food allergen information vs the past. Each chooses their own list of priority but it's good to see that they are more aware and open to share.
  2. Gluten-Free (GF): Albeit this phrase is almost everywhere and it's on many labels not everyone is getting GF certifications. Brands find it a real health issue, but as for consumer product labeling (A) brands believe it's still too expensive (B) claim the product already is "naturally gluten-free" despite it's possible contamination and don't need labeling (C) it's on their list of allergens to certify and/or self test
  3. Non GMO: It was the #1 buzz word this year and I was loving it! Look out for the documentary GMO OMG and go bring everyone you know to watch and support it. Very few vendors were from another planet not featuring this a selling point and/or knew nothing about this practice. 
  4. Chia: The miracle seed is found in everything from water, flavored drinks, milk, crackers, flours, chips, breads and tons more
  5. Raw: Everything and it's mother is raw including solo and combos of coconut water, tea, kombucha, maple syrup water, super veggies and energy bars
  6. Energy Bars: Look out for organic meat, jerkys, chia, raw fruits and veggies, veggie proteins and chocolates. Copy cat traditional brands are following yet look at how different the ingredients will be. 
  7. Kale: It's in and around everything. Perhaps the wise President Clinton's affinity for kale helped a bit ;) but it's better to have this on the market than a GMO corn chip that America still consumes. 
  8. Chips: I found the names of chips to be more creative yet also experienced they have less seasonings on the chip compared to the double sided coating that is out there! Even traditional brands have opened emerging divisions to offer a more natural chip product making them more competitive in this growing space.
  9. Popcorn: Smart, air popped, no oils or butter, flavored with truffle oil, half popped, non GMO, it was popping everywhere without the pooping!
  10. Water: Since we can't live without it, there continues to be innovation from different sources such as deep underground American resources, Korean, maple syrup trees, coconut, vitamin enriched this and that.


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Thursday, July 25, 2013

Organic, All-Natural, Free-Range Food Labeling Confusion



Are you confused by labels at the grocery store when shopping for meat, dairy, fruits, veggies and more? I sure am... because many manufacturers don't follow approved certifications because it's either expensive, a lot of work to undergo or they just don't care. Here is a large list of my understanding on many common approved food labels as well as non-approved labels (self-labeling) that you may think are safe, but may be risky to yourself, family and even the community.

Certified Labels: 
These are 3rd party verified by either USDA or non-profit groups that ensure protocol and ongoing practices are met to retain the approved and certified labeling. Often the labeling has a cost that could be expensive, too, so know that some farmers truly care.  These are to be trusted, but products could change over time. 


Fair Trade 
Often seen on coffee, bananas, tea, cocoa, sugar and is enforced by the non gov, Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International (FLO) and if in the US by Fair Trade USA. Further, this signifies employees received fair wages, shelter, health, safety, may be in trade unions and any forced labor is prohibited. Very cool if you ask me.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Nuwi Organic Gluten-Free Product Review Quinoa Banana Smoothie

Nuwi has introduced a new banana flavor to their portfolio of gluten-free organic quinoa vegan smoothies.  Let's welcome the banana flavor along with their blueberry flavored smoothie that I found to be once again, delicious, refreshing and filling as a gluten-free complete vegan protein beverage. You may have remembered that I conducted a review for Nuwi blueberry and you should read it here.

Nuwi Banana Gluten-Free Product Review

Friday, July 23, 2010

1,2,3,4 ... Two Moms In the Raw Gluten-Free Product Review

http://www.soulsprout.com/
A great name for a greater product, Two Moms In The Raw.

 Super duper tasting Gluten-Free granola is not easy to find and often you will see that that the oats are not GF or that you can't trust the manufacturing facilities to be sure the ingredients are indeed safe and secure. It's the continual saga of our era.