Organic

I think that we often like to think that organic food comes from small, social conscious organizations. It's nice to think that we're supporting upcoming and responsible businesses, rather than big scary corporations.

Not so.

As a chart I just found clearly indicates, many of the brands that sell organic food are in fact backed by major food companies. Take 'Kashi', for example. Makers of mind-bendingly delicious organic cereals and snack-bars. A quick look at there website, and you'll likely think that they're a quaint little operation on the west coast. Not true though, because they're owned by Kellogg's.

See for yourself. You may be suprised:

http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/features/009/009buyingorganic.html

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I wasn't surprised at all by an article on thedailygreen.com. An excerpt:

In another cautionary tale about the potential danger of toxic pesticides, scientists have published a new study on further evidence of a possible link between Parkinson's disease and long-term chemical exposure. As the UK's Guardian reports, a study of more than 300 people with the neurological disease found that sufferers were more than twice as likely to report heavy exposure to pesticides over their lifetime as family members without the disease.

It reminds me of a similar study that I read about recently regarding a link between pesticides and Alzheimer's disease.

None of this should come as a surprise to any health conscious person. Pesticides and other chemicals are bad for you, end of story, and the best way to deal with this issue is to avoid them any way that you can.

A good place to start is right inside your own home. It's important to think about what sort of chemicals you are willingly introducing into your living space. Many cleaning products can be replaced by safe alternatives. Good ol' vinegar and water will clean your windows as well as any normal window cleaner, and it won't pollute your house in the process.

For the full article on the above mentioned study, head to:

http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/eco-friendly/parkinsons-disease...

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Without a doubt, we've all had to peel one of those annoying stickers off a piece of produce. You know the ones; they have 4 or 5 digits and seem almost meaningless. Have you ever wondered what those digits mean? I did, and so I found out.

As it turns out, the numbers on produce stickers (called Produce Look-Up codes, or PLU for short) can tell a lot about the particular produce item. A PLU not only identifies a type of produce, but also contains information about the size of the item and how it was grown.

Is this useful information? You bet!

There are 3 different general numbering patterns that PLUs follow. 4-digit numbers are for conventionally grown produce, meaning that they have likely been exposed to a certain chemical load due to modern growing techniques.

Items with 5-digit PLUs are special, and this is where you should really pay attention. If an item has a 5-digit code that begins with an 8, it means that the item is a genetically modified food. A 5-digit code beginning with a 9 means that the item was organically grown.

Now that's useful information.

I think that watching for that leading 8 is a very good idea. Organic food is usually easy to spot because grocers are so eager to advertise it as such. The same is not true of genetically modified produce. I've never seen a sign in a grocery store indicating that a produce item was genetically modified.

So there you have it. Look out for the 5 digit codes, avoid the 8 and go with the 9.

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If you're a health conscious student or parent, packing high quality lunches has probably been on your mind lately now that school has started back up again. Let's face it; making healthy decisions when you're brown-baggin' it isn't always easy. In a world where convenience is king, it can be really difficult to find quality items to stuff in the lunch sack. It can seem so much easier to reach for a bag of potato chips or a fruit roll-up rather than find healthier options. What to do?

Beauty Eats on Yahoo has recently compiled a short list of 5 foods to ban from your kid's lunch-box. Really though, the advice they give is good for anyone who packs a lunch. A brief synopsis: stay away from packing foods that are high in unhealthy fats or high in sugar. It's what we've always known; stick with foods that are wholesome, fresh and not overly processed.

Of course no discussion about bag lunches would be complete without mentioning Jamie Oliver, the British cooking sensation who has helped to revolutionize lunch programs in many U.K. schools. His publicity has led to the creation of organizations such as The School Food Trust which promote healthy lunch choices for school age children. They've put together a great menu set that might help you out if you're strapped for ideas.

The bottom line is all of this: skip the chips, take the apple.

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