Tag: organic

Six Ways to Make Your Diet Healthier (for the Planet)

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

Earth DayHappy Earth Day!

These days, we’re more conscious of how our dietary choices affect the health of our planet. But it gets complicated.  Sure, buying organic products helps reduce the amount of pesticides and artificial fertilizers that are applied to the ground.  But what about the environmental impact of transporting organic produce thousands of miles from its source to your table? How about all the energy it takes to process, package, and transport the organic convenience foods and all-natural junk food that fill the freezers and shelves of high-end whole-foods grocers? And to bring the conversation back to nutrition for a moment, how nutritious do you think those organic sugar-frosted corn flakes really are?

In honor of Earth Day, here are six ways to make your diet healthier for your body and the planet. Continue reading “Six Ways to Make Your Diet Healthier (for the Planet)” >

Are Your Nutrition Priorities in the Right Order?

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

I’ve been giving a lot of interviews surrounding the launch of my book this month and reviewers seem fascinated by the subtitle: What to Eat, What to Avoid, and What to Stop Worrying About.

As I wrote in the introduction to the book, “that last category may be the most important of all…In addition to helping you make the best choices at the grocery store and navigate the many decisions you make throughout the day, my ultimate goal is to help you prioritize the things that will make the biggest difference in your health.”

I can’t think of a better illustration for this than the e-mail I received this morning:  Continue reading “Are Your Nutrition Priorities in the Right Order?” >

Avoiding Pesticides: Beyond the Dirty Dozen

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

People buy organic foods for lots of reasons:  They are produced without chemical fertilizers and pesticides and  (in the case of animal products) without hormones and antibiotics.   But a 100% organic diet may not be possible.  So people often ask me which foods are  most important to buy organic. Here’s my short list, in order of priority:

Fruits and Vegetables

Of all food types, pesticide residues are most common in fruits and vegetables. According to the FDA’s most recent (2007) Pesticide Monitoring Program Report, pesticides were detected in slightly over a third of all fruits and vegetables (domestic and imported) tested.

You’re probably familiar with the Environmental Working Group’s  list of the Dirty Dozen–12 commonly eaten fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues. I talked about the Dirty Dozen in my podcast on getting the biggest bang for your organic dollar. Continue reading “Avoiding Pesticides: Beyond the Dirty Dozen” >

What’s the Deal with Ultra-Pasteurized Milk?

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

Q. I would like to hear more about ultra-pasteurization of milk. I have noticed that organic milk does not spoil as fast as non-organic milk. Is it the ultra-pasteurization? And why is organic milk ultra-pasteurized while regular milk is not?

A. Ultra-pasteurization, which heats milk to 260 degrees F. as opposed to the 160 degrees F. required for regular pasteurization, triples the shelf life of milk. Most big-brand organic milk is now ultra-pasteurized, so that’s probably why you’ve noticed that it doesn’t spoil as quickly as normal milk.

As to why the ultra-pasteurization process has been widely adopted by the organic market and not the conventional milk market, I can only speculate. Continue reading “What’s the Deal with Ultra-Pasteurized Milk?” >

Local vs. organic: the environmental debate

by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

Yesterday, I wrote about new research showing that organically-grown produce contains more disease-fighting nutrients than conventionally-grown vegetables.  Yet another reason to choose organic whenever circumstances and budget allow. After all, as any eco-conscious eater knows, organic farming is also better for the environment–or is it?

What if your organic produce is flown in from Chile? Do the fossil fuels burned transporting your organic food cancel out the environmental benefit of using fewer petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides?  Obviously, local and organic would be ideal. But if you can’t have both, which is the better choice?

Eating “right” has gotten a lot more complicated

With the local food movement gathering steam, I’ve heard many people argue that local, conventionally grown food is more environmentally friendly than organic food from far away.  But a recent post on the Terrablog cites new research from the University of Wales, finding that:

“In general, the food miles are actually a minor portion of the total ecological footprint of food. In the study of a basket of foods in Cardiff, transport amounted to only 2% of the total environmental cost. Growing conditions, packaging and processing made up the bulk of the impact. In fact, a separate article in the same journal shows that local food systems actually have slightly higher carbon emissions!”

What’s the “Ethicurian” to do? (I can’t take credit for that clever term, by the way. It’s the title of a great new blog devoted to helping people “chew the right thing.”)  For what it’s worth, the readers of the Terrablog pretty much dismissed this new research as bogus.  What do you think? What are your priorities in choosing the foods you buy?