First Organics FoodsLiving A Healthy Life With Organic Foods

Here are five things that you should eat everyday that are also not expensive:

1.  Nuts.

Nuts like almonds, cashew and walnuts are high in fiber.  Fiber slows your digestive process, keeping hunger and unhealthy mid-afternoon snacks at bay.

2.  Greens

Greens like Swiss chard and kale are high in nutrients like folate and Vitanim C that can lower your risk of cancer.  They can also have prevent diabetes and high blood pressure.

3.  Yogurt.

Yogurt helps your digestive system.

4.  Onions.

Onions help reduce symptoms of asthma and the risk of stomach cancer.  The stronger the onion the greater the benefit.

5.  Whole Grains.

Whole grains like brown rice, quinoa and whole oats can help flatten your belly by reducing fat storage in your lower abdominal region.

First Organic Vitamins is a 100% organic Vitamin C Complex that provides the full complex of vitamin C from foods, and phytonutrients such as anthocyanins, sulforaphan, lutein, carotenoids and others.

Wheatgrass can offer you many benefits.  First it is an energizer.  Second it is nutritious.  Third, it is a body builder.   And lastly it helps cleanses the body and helps weight control.

Some believe that wheatgrass helps prevent cancer, lower blood pressure, is a natural energy stimulate equivalent to coffee or caffeine but without the crash.  Wheatgrass also gives better complexion and a healthy grow associate with physical fitness.  The slowing of graying hair is also to be a benefit of consuming wheatgrass.

The best way and cheapest way to take advantage of the benefit of wheatgrass is to get a home grown kit so that you can grow it at home with relative ease and put it in your blender and drink it on a daily basis.

It takes about 10 days to grow.  All you have to do is set up the kit and add water.  You can make the wheatgrass with other fruits to create exotic cocktails.  Whatever you eventually decide to do the benefits and results will be immediately felt and seen by others.

Wheatgrass provides chlorophyll, amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and enzymes.  Some people consumers grow and juice wheatgrass in their homes.

It is often found in popular juice bars, alone or in mixed fruits and/or vegetable drinks.

You need to read the labels carefully to make sure you get what you are looking for.  Its no secret that the healthiest foods are not what sells the most because they lack the proper marketing powers.

Its the job of the consumer to explain food labels to see if they are buying what they want.

For example,

Omega-3 fatty acids are an essential component of a healthy diet, but that doesn’t mean every product emblazoned with the word is a healthy source of it.

The FDA allows certain foods that are rich in two of the omega-3 fatty acids to advertise that they can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, but only if they’re also low in saturated fats or other risk factors.

Which is why many eggs and some walnuts use this bit of marketing misdirection: The packaging has the phrase “omega 3,” but nothing specifically about heart health, according to the CSPI.

The FDA specifically prohibited eggs from carrying the “qualified health claim” linking omega-3 fatty acids to heart health because eggs are high in cholesterol; it ruled out walnuts because the omega-3 fatty acid found in the nuts isn’t one of the two that has been linked to heart health.

These products, and others, dance around the truth and the law by simply stating that they contain omega 3s, which bathes the food in a healthy light they don’t necessarily deserve.

Another example is free range eggs.  The government does not regulate the use of the phrase “free range” or “cage free” on eggs.    So just because the label says free range does not mean that those eggs that you purchase were raised ethically, with room enough for hens to roam the yard.

And lastly, not all fiber is good fiber.  Unnatural fibers are unlikely to lower blood cholesterol or blood sugar.  Currently fiber is being added to all kinds of foods so that you the consumer think it might help you.

For the real thing in fiber, look for foods like whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans.

Foods labeled “100 percent organic” must contain only organic ingredients.

Products containing at least 70 (%) percent organic content can be labeled “made with organic ingredients.”

Those foods labeled simply “organic” must have at least 95-percent organic ingredients, by weight or fluid volume, excluding water and salt.

Anyone who knowingly sells or labels a product “organic” that is not produced and handled in accordance with these regulations can face a civil penalty of up to $10,000.

Foods grown and processed according to the federal standards will in most cases bear the seal “USDA Organic.” As its use is voluntary, companies may choose not to display the seal.

If you see a food that is labeled “transitional,” that means the farmer produced it during the three-year conversion period from conventional to organic.

Getting started and growing your own organic vegetables is getting easier all the time.  As a general whole, people are trying to live healthier.  As part of that quest, people are turning to eating organic vegetables.

Because organic vegetables are not always that cheap to buy at the local supermarket, Many American are turning to growing it themselves.  This has become easier if you visit your local hardware store.  Stores like Home Depot, OSH, and other retailers, now have their own organic food section where you can pick up all you need to get started with your very own organic gardens.

Its alot easier then you think.  It can also be fun as well.  So give it a try.  You might find it addicting and fun as well.

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 10 ounces pre-washed baby spinach
• 2 slices bacon, finely chopped
• 3 ounces Canadian bacon, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 red onion, sliced (about 1 cup)
• 1 pound button mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup apple cider
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Salt and pepper

Directions

Place spinach into a large bowl. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat for about 4 minutes, or until it is just crispy. Add Canadian bacon to the skillet and cook for 2 more minutes, stirring frequently. Remove meat from pan and place on a plate lined with paper towels. Drain any remaining fat from the skillet. Add olive oil and onions to the skillet and cook for about 2 minutes, or until onions soften slightly. Add mushrooms to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 more minutes. Put onions and mushrooms on top of the spinach. Add apple cider and vinegar to the skillet and turn the heat up to medium-high. Stir to scrape up any bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pan and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until cider is reduced to about 1/2 cup. Whisk in mustard, salt and pepper, to taste. Pour warm cider dressing over the mushrooms and spinach and toss until the vegetables are well coated. Sprinkle the bacon on top and serve.

You can grow organic vegetables in container pots.  This is a easy method.  It also allows you to avoid soil grown diseases.

To get started look for organic soil from your local store.  Then fill your pots with the soil.  Start with vegetables like carrots, lettuce, and tomatos.  You can also grow a number of fruit or herbs as well.  This will let you get into the swing of things before you more on to more complicated vegetables.

The best way to do this is to grow what you really enjoy eating the most.  Start with that and you will reap the most benefit from it.

Our healthy living food recipe series keeps off with a delicious Green Herb Hummus recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
• 6 fresh basil leaves
• 1 medium scallion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Options for dipping: carrot sticks, sliced cucumber and whole-wheat pita chips

Directions

Place ingredients in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until smooth.

Serve with dippers.

In the 6 1/2  years since the federal government began certifying food as “organic,” Americans have taken to the idea with considerable enthusiasm. Sales have at least doubled, and three-quarters of the nation’s grocery stores now carry at least some organic foods. A Harris poll in October 2007 found that about 30 percent of Americans buy organic food at least on occasion, and most think it is safer, better for the environment and healthier.

But eating “organic” offers no guarantee of any of that. And the truth is that most Americans eat so badly — we get 7 percent of our carolies from soft drinks, more than we do from vegetables; the top food group by caloric intake is “sweets”; and one-third of nation’s adults are now obese — that the organic question is a secondary one. It’s not unimportant, but it’s not the primary issue in the way Americans eat.

To eat well, means avoiding edible food like substances and sticking to real ingredients.  There is plenty of evidence that both a person’s health will improve with a simple shift in their eating habits away from animal products and highly processed foods to plant products.

People don’t understand that, nor do they realize “organic” doesn’t mean “local”.  It doesn’t matter if it’s from down the road or from Chile.  It just needs to met the standards set up by the Agriculture Department.  So you can have Salmon flown in from Chile or frozen vegetables grown and sold in the US.  Organic doesn’t necessarily mean that it was made down the street or locally.

Today, most farmers who practice truly sustainable farming, or what you might call “organic in spirit,” operate on small scale, some so small they can’t afford the requirements to be certified organic by the government. Others say that certification isn’t meaningful enough to bother. These farmers argue that, “When you buy organic you don’t just buy a product, you buy a way of life that is committed to not exploiting the planet,” says Ed Maltby, executive director of the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance.

But the organic food business is now big business, and getting bigger. Some estimates that major corporations now are responsible for at least 25 percent of all organic manufacturing and marketing (40 percent if you count only processed organic foods). Much of the nation’s organic food is as much a part of industrial food production as midwinter grapes, and becoming more so. In 2006, sales of organic foods and beverages totaled about $16.7 billion, according to the most recent figures from Organic Trade Association.

Still, those sales amounted to slightly less than 3 percent of overall food and beverage sales. For all the hoo-ha, organic food is not making much of an impact on the way Americans eat.   “There are generic benefits from doing organics. It protects the land from the ravages of conventional agriculture,” and safeguards farm workers from being exposed to pesticides.

But the questions remain over how we eat in general. It may feel better to eat an organic Oreo than a conventional Oreo, but, Organic junk food is still junk food.

Last week, the first lady of the United States began digging up a patch of the South Lawn of the White House to plant an organic vegetable garden to provide food for the first family and, more important, to educate children about healthy, locally grown fruits and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become national concerns.

But Mrs. Obama also emphasized that there were many changes Americans can make if they don’t have the time or space for an organic garden.

“You can begin in your own cupboard,” she said, “by eliminating processed food, trying to cook a meal a little more often, trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables.”

Popularizing such choices may not be as marketable as creating a logo that says “organic.” But when Americans have had their fill of “value-added” and overprocessed food, perhaps they can begin producing and consuming more food that treats animals and the land as if they mattered. Some of that food will be organic, and hooray for that. Meanwhile, they should remember that the word itself is not synonymous with “safe,” “healthy,” “fair” or even necessarily “good.”