ORGANIC EATING (I'm ready to switch!)

shop at costco. it is cheaper than whole foods and just about everything is organic.

Thanks for this tip. I did not know that carried alot of organic foods.

This gives a list of vegetables you should buy organic and those you can get away with buying conventional. It may help you make your shift as far as fruits and vegetables go:
http://www.prevention.com/dirtiestcleanest/

(edited to fix link)

http://www.localharvest.org/

That site will help you locate local farmers. If you are Northern CA, I can sell you free range/GMO free heritage pork or free range lamb.

It is true that organic food is expensive. But Americans actually allocate a very small percentage of their total budget for (conventionally grown) food; food is cheaper here than it is in most countries, because a lot of things here are subsidized. In fact, food prices in the U.S. were actually much higher in previous decades. When I get down about how much I'm spending on organic food, I try to think that really I'm just spending the "normal" amount that a person would normally spend on food if everything in this country wasn't made so dirt cheap by stores such as Wal-Mart. Besides, investing in nutrition is investing in health. It's also participating in a philosophy of how to treat the earth and the people living on it.

http://www.localharvest.org/

That site will help you locate local farmers. If you are Northern CA, I can sell you free range/GMO free heritage pork or free range lamb.

I don't live in California, but this sounds amazing! Thank you for providing good healthy food options for others!

Bump! On the hunt for organic grass fed meat...

I'm not a big milk drinker, so I tend to buy milk, and then it spoils before I finnish the carton. So I would waste so much money on the milk because I thew out to much of it. When I started buying organic I found that the expiration date on organic milk tends to be an entire month later than non organic milk. So, while the carton of organic milk is about a dollar more, I am really saving about 2 dollars by not having to thow out spoiled milk. So I'll never switch back to non organic milk.

Also, my husband would get an upset stomach in the mornings when he would drink a glass of milk, since switching to organic milk he has not had this issue again. Sooo, is lactose intolerance really more about the crap in the milk and less about the milk itself?

I noticed this also! I used to have to throw away milk because I would open the carton, drink a glass, go back a few days later and it was starting to spoil. The same thing with eggs. The organic tends to last so much longer so in the long run I was spending less money. Makes me wonder why the organic milk doesn't spoil so quickly. The expiration date is usually nearly a month out on the organic and only a week or so on the conventional.

IMO, organic (but particularly local) makes my veggies and fruits taste soooooooo much better. We pay more for our organics, but it's worth it to enjoy our food. We also get a box of local foods and veggies delivered biweekly (even now - just more eggs and butter, less fruit/veg in the winter) which I love. I highly recommend farmers markets and don't be afraid to ask those farmers about their farming processes. Sometimes they just can't afford the certification.

If you start getting into it, eating well becomes a hobby or even a religion. Enjoy.

Recommendations:
Food Rules
In Defense of Food
Forks Over Knives

I'm not a big milk drinker, so I tend to buy milk, and then it spoils before I finnish the carton. So I would waste so much money on the milk because I thew out to much of it. When I started buying organic I found that the expiration date on organic milk tends to be an entire month later than non organic milk. So, while the carton of organic milk is about a dollar more, I am really saving about 2 dollars by not having to thow out spoiled milk. So I'll never switch back to non organic milk.

Also, my husband would get an upset stomach in the mornings when he would drink a glass of milk, since switching to organic milk he has not had this issue again. Sooo, is lactose intolerance really more about the crap in the milk and less about the milk itself?

I noticed this also! I used to have to throw away milk because I would open the carton, drink a glass, go back a few days later and it was starting to spoil. The same thing with eggs. The organic tends to last so much longer so in the long run I was spending less money. Makes me wonder why the organic milk doesn't spoil so quickly. The expiration date is usually nearly a month out on the organic and only a week or so on the conventional.

Organic milk lasts longer because producers use a different process to preserve it. According to the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, the milk needs to stay fresh longer because organic products often have to travel farther to reach store shelves since it is not produced throughout the country.

The process that gives the milk a longer shelf life is called ultrahigh temperature (UHT) processing or treatment, in which milk is heated to 280 degrees Fahrenheit (138 degrees Celsius) for two to four seconds, killing any bacteria in it.

Compare that to pasteurization, the standard preservation process. There are two types of pasteurization: "low temperature, long time," in which milk is heated to 145 degrees F (63 degrees C) for at least 30 minutes*, or the more common "high temperature, short time," in which milk is heated to roughly 160 degrees F (71 degrees C) for at least 15 seconds.

The different temperatures hint at why UHT-treated milk lasts longer: Pasteurization doesn’t kill all bacteria in the milk, just enough so that you don't get a disease with your milk mustache. UHT, on the other hand, kills everything.

Retailers typically give pasteurized milk an expiration date of four to six days. Ahead of that, however, was up to six days of processing and shipping, so total shelf life after pasteurization is probably up to two weeks. Milk that undergoes UHT doesn’t need to be refrigerated and can sit on the shelf for up to six months.

Regular milk can undergo UHT, too. The process is used for the room-temperature Parmalat milk found outside the refrigerator case and for most milk sold in Europe.

So why isn’t all milk produced using UHT?

One reason is that UHT-treated milk tastes different. UHT sweetens the flavor of milk by burning some of its sugars (caramelization). A lot of Americans find this offensive—just as they are leery of buying nonrefrigerated milk. Europeans, however, don’t seem to mind.

UHT also destroys some of the milk’s vitamin content—not a significant amount—and affects some proteins, making it unusable for cheese.


:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

I personally prefer grass fed raw milk straight from the cow. I hate the preservation process that milk undergoes and there are many more instances of food bourne illnesses from milk going through the homogenization and pastuerization process than milk coming staight from the cow.

Regarding milk, look into almond milk. Lots of nutrients, great taste and only 35 calories/cup.