How to Get the Enzymes Your Body Needs©

by Arlene Wright-Correll
Home Farm Herbery




March has been National Nutrition Month and eating healthy is part of that official proclamation. Make every month your own personal nutrition month and make eating healthy part of your life. You can start with an apple a day and as the saying goes keeps a doctor away.

Each of us knows yet seems to forget that the fresher the food, the more enzymatic Enzymes is the key to a healthy life. These enzymes provide your body with energy and longevity. They are also one of the main keys to slow down aging.

With that in mind remember that your local farmers markets will help you to get plenty through fresh, uncooked foods, daily you want. Smart healthy daily meals contain at least two servings of fresh fruit, and one big salad every day for everyone. Cooked foods are great also, but just remember we need the uncooked ones daily to get our daily dose of anti-aging enzymes. You can get yours through green-based juices, smoothies with veggies, salads and fresh fruit.



All of the local farmers markets vendors are required to wash their produce before they sell it to you and you probably re-wash it at home. However, that doesn’t eliminate toxins if the produce you buy or even grow are sprayed with pesticides because the pesticides go into the soil and up through the roots into the produce and no amount of washing will reduce them.

So shop organic and check with your vendor because more and more locally and sustainable chemical free produce is being distributed at reasonable prices through CSAs (community supported agriculture) and farmer’s markets. When you buy from a local Farmers Market food vendor who grows organically you are buying for freshness (more enzymes!) and reduction of carbon footprint, international fuel dependence and for other eco-earth benefits. Just ask the vendor or look for their signs that say Organic!

You may think by exercising and drinking lots of water you are reducing your toxic load but you aren’t unless you are eating toxin free produce and any other foods that have some kind of toxins in their growth chain.

Pesticide and chemical free food and drink should be part of you and your family’s every day life style or we will be growing a generation of children who will not live as long as today’s generation of adults have lived.

Tread the Earth Lightly


Arlene Wright-Correll
Home Farm Herbery

The USDA’s The New Dirty Dozen: 12 Foods to Eat Organic©

 

Recently I read a report or rather several reports that identified 12 foods you should eat provided they are organic because the 12 foods the USDA 2011 list highlighted were loaded with pesticides.

 

Here is the list.

 

1. At the top of the 2011 dirty dozen list are Apples. (Apples ranked No. 2 in 2009 and No. 4 in 2010.) More than 40 different pesticides have been detected on apples, because fungus and insect threats prompt farmers to spray various chemicals on their orchards. Not surprisingly, pesticide residue is also found in apple juice and apple sauce, making all apple products smart foods to buy organic.

I know you think that peeling apples will reduce exposure to pesticide residue, but be aware that you're peeling away many of the fruit's most beneficial nutrients when you do so!

When you can't find organic apples then try the safer alternatives which include watermelon, bananas and tangerines.

2. Celery again made it onto the dirty dozen list. It's a good one to commit to memory, since it doesn't fit the three main categories of foods with the highest pesticide residue (tree fruits, berries and leafy greens). USDA tests have found more than 60 different pesticides on celery. If you cannot find organic celery try safer alternatives such as broccoli, radishes and onions.

 

3. Strawberries (my favorite) are always on the list of dirty dozen foods, in part because fungus prompts farmers to spray, and pesticide residue remains on berries sold at market. Nearly 60 different pesticides have been found on strawberries, though fewer are found on frozen strawberries. When you cannot find organic strawberries try safer alternatives such as kiwi and pineapples.

 

4. Peaches, though we hate to see it on the dirty dozen list it is always there. More than 60 pesticides have been found on peaches and nearly as many in single-serving packs, but surprisingly far fewer in canned peaches. Try eating some safer alternatives which include watermelon, tangerines, oranges and grapefruit.

 

5. Popeye would be appalled to find Spinach on the list since it is loaded with nearly 50 different pesticides. While frozen spinach has nearly as many, canned has had fewer detected pesticides.

 

6. For those of us who love Nectarines, they too are on the deadly dozen list, at least imported ones, are among the most highly contaminated tree fruits. Domestic nectarines don't test with as much pesticide residue, but overall 33 pesticides have been detected on nectarines. So if you are having a hard time finding organic nectarines try pineapple, papaya or mango.

7. Grapes, especially imported grapes keep appearing on the dirty dozen list. Imported grapes can have more than 30 pesticides. Raisins, not surprisingly, also have high pesticide residue tests. So how does that affect the wine we drink since I have not discovered, to date, any watch groups checking on pesticides in wine. However, there are some wineries making organic wine.

 

8. It was with a sad heart to discover that Sweet Bell Peppers makes the dirty dozen list again because it tends to have high pesticide residue in all of its colorful varieties. Nearly 50 different pesticides have been detected on sweet bell peppers.

 

9. Alas, America's favorite vegetable is the potato; unfortunately, more than 35 pesticides have been detected on potatoes in USDA testing. Sweet potatoes offer a delicious alternative with less chance of pesticide residue.

 

10. The USDA did not exclude blueberries as it usually makes the dirty dozen list, since more than 50 pesticides have been detected as residue on them. Frozen blueberries have proved somewhat less contaminated. If you are wondering about cherries and cranberries as obvious alternatives they are often contaminated themselves. For breakfast cereal, if you can't find organic blueberries, consider topping your cereal with bananas.

 

11. Lettuce joins in the leafy greens category. Lettuce makes the list of dirty dozen foods with the most pesticides. More than 50 pesticides have been identified on lettuce. If you can't find organic lettuce a healthy alternative is asparagus.

 

12. Kale is a superfood and since kale is known as a hardier vegetable that rarely suffers from pests and disease, the USDA has found Kale to have high amounts of pesticide residue when tested in each of the past two years. Try to find organic Kale and if you have no luck consider safer alternatives such as organic cabbage, asparagus and broccoli. Dandelion greens also make a nutritious alternative. Put on par with kale for the 2011 dirty dozen list, collard greens tests have revealed more than 45 pesticides. It may be hard to find organic collard greens so look for organic Brussels sprouts, dandelion greens and cabbage.

 

At this point one needs to be seriously thinking about what one puts into one’s mouth if one is trying to eat healthy and while I am at it lets take a look at milk. One report I read stated, “Pesticides and other man-made chemicals have been found in human breast milk, so it should come as no surprise that they have been found in dairy products, too. Twelve different pesticides have been identified in milk, and milk is of special concern because it is a staple of a child's diets.” Years ago my family owned dairy farms and when a cow had mastitis we injected them with penicillin which does not break down in the milk processing so I wonder if that may be the reason so many kids or even grownups are allergic to penicillin.

 

I did find a list of vegetables and fruits called “The clean 15 green” and they include 1. Onions
2. Sweet Corn, 3. Pineapple, 4. Avocado , 5. Asparagus, 6. Sweet peas, 7. Mango
8. Eggplant, 9. Cantaloupe (domestic), 10. Kiwi, 11. Cabbage, 12. Watermelon,

13. Sweet Potatoes, 14. Grapefruit, 15. Mushrooms

 

Apparently these fruits and vegetables are so clean one does not have to buy organic.

Don’t think that you can load up on meat because one must remember that just because there are generally no pesticides found in beef muscle there are lots of them found in the fat. Fewer than a dozen pesticides have been detected in beef fat, but among them are long-lived chemicals that accumulate in human fats just as they do in beef cattle. The same pattern holds for other meats, with pork fat and chicken thighs tallying the most pesticide residue, while lean meat comes up clean. I guess Jack Sprat might have called it right!

 

For those of us who garden and use heirloom, organic seeds and practice organic gardening we are fairly safe as long as we do not indulge ourselves with a lot of packaged foods that contain mystery additives that change our own and our children’s moods and reproduction ability. The vast majority of consumers will just have to pay attention or risk cancer and other things that have come along on the ride with pesticides.

Tread the Earth Lightly,

Arlene Wright-Correll

Home Farm Herbery

 

Every minute of every part of the day we are awake we have choices to be made and most of us do not recognize them, want to recognize them or when we do recognize them even consider doing anything about them.

 

Life is hard enough with taking the time to consider everything I often tell myself.  Incomes are down, expenses are up and there really does not seem to be much relief in sight.

 

It is hard to take control of one’s life let along one’s destiny. I remember many years ago when our family owned 5 dairy farms in New York and how over the years it all changed because the boys did not want to be farmers or some of them died young or milking practices changed so drastically that it did not pay after awhile to stay in the dairy business in the largest dairy county in New York for my family by the end of the mid 60’s.

 

Today there seems that not a lot has changed for today’s 2 million farmers when 4 meat packers slaughter 85% of this nation’s beef supply and 1 dairy company processes 40% of this nation’s milk supply. The fact that five major food chains account for 50% of all the food consumed by the 310 million eaters in this nation boggles my mind.

 

With fewer processors and retailers bidding for our farmer’s products farmers are struggling to get a fair price for what they have to offer and their share of consumer food spending has plummeted. In 1995 the farmers share of each consumers dollar spent for beef was 59 cents and in 2005 it was 42 cents, in 1995 the farmers share of each consumers dollar spent for pork was 45 cents and in 2005 it was 25 cents, in 1995 the farmers share of each consumers dollar spent for milk was 44 cents and in 2005 it was 36 cents and in 1995 the farmers share of each consumers dollar spent for apples was 29 cents and in 2005 it was 19 cents.  Today it is much lower than that, yet since then we, the consumer, have paid 51% more for milk, 42% more for apples, 64% more for beef and 33% more for pork. 

 

Farmers and consumers all stand to lose unless we start making better choices in our meal planning, grocery shopping, food buying and food preparation. This year make your local Farmers Market part of these choices. Local, seasonal food will become available on April 1^st and many members have eggs, poultry, beef, pork, lamb and more right now and you can easily contact them to get these items. It may take a little more effort on the consumer’s part, but again those are choices that can easily be made.

 

Making a personal choice to buy locally and to support your local farmers market will help to keep their small industry growing in your county.

Our deal of the week is

Though it is cold right now spring will come quickly as it always does and for those who are interested in growing their own Medicinal herbs our Medicinal herb of the week is Amaranth Herb Seeds (Non-Hybrid/Non-GMO)

At Home Farm Herbery we only plant Heirloom Organic seeds and we save these seeds each year. Often we have some extra and when that happens we are pleased to offer them to other health conscious gardeners and we only have 3 pkgs of Amaranth Herb Seeds available so buy now. Here is the link to buy yours and get free shipping today.

http://www.localharvest.org/amaranth-herb-seeds-non-hybrid-non-gmo-C24898