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Living Maxwell

Better Choices

The 3 Most Important Foods to Eat Organic

For many people, switching to an all-organic diet is simply not practical or possible. And I completely understand this.

So, if a person can’t keep an entirely organic household, what organic foods should they buy?

My Top 3 Most Important Foods to Eat Organic

1) MILK If you have kids, organic milk should be the absolute number one priority for the entire household. Do whatever you need to do to make sure that the children are drinking organic milk.

Artificial bovine growth hormones (rBST) are injected into approximately 20% of all U.S. dairy cows in order to increase milk production, and industry studies by consultants report that this hormone is safe for both the cows and consumers.

Yet, Dr. Samuel Epstein, Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition and an international leading authority on the causes and prevention of cancer, says these studies were not only paid for by Monsanto and others but that that these claims are “blatantly false.”

Dr. Epstein, an author of several books including “What’s In Your Milk”, warns that:

– rBST makes cows sick. Monsanto has been forced to admit to about 20 toxic effects, including mastitis, on the label of Posilac, the rBST product that when administered to cows makes them produce more milk. Monsanto’s Posilac product was acquired by Eli Lilly in 2008.

– rBST milk is contaminated by pus, due to mastitis, an infection of the udder commonly induced by the hormone, and also by antibiotics used to treat the mastitis.

– rBST milk is chemically and nutritionally different than natural milk.

– Milk from cows injected with rBST is contaminated with the hormone, traces of which are absorbed through the gut into the blood of people who consume this milk or products made from it.

The bodies of young children are still developing and they need to have the safest, most nutritious milk available — organic milk.

Growth hormones, or rBST, are forbidden in organic milk.

If I were a parent, I would want to know if the milk that is served in my child’s school contains growth hormones or not.

2) MEAT If you haven’t seen Food, Inc yet, please do so and then you’ll understand why it is #2 on my list.

One of the major agricultural atrocities in this country is the existence of Concentrated Animal Feedlot Operations (CAFOs). Animals are raised in the most inhumane, despicable way possible and are given antibiotics in order to ward off illnesses that the housing conditions are sure to cause.

Organic meat comes from animals who are not given growth hormones or antibiotics, and in my view, is the best meat you can buy.

3) FRUITS AND VEGETABLES WITH PEEL/SKIN Non-organic fruits and vegetables are allowed to be sprayed with synthetic chemicals such as pesticides, insecticides and herbicides.

Fruits and vegetables where you eat the skin, such as grapes, strawberries and spinach, are the foods that should be purchased organic.

The rind or peel on organic oranges, bananas and avocados does provide some protection from chemicals. However, by no means does it provide 100% protection or anything close.

Also, do not be fooled into thinking that you can buy a fruit and vegetable wash, even the best one on the market by Vermont Soap Organics, and think that you can simply wash off pesticides from conventionally-grown produce. It absolutely won’t happen.

Pesticides have penetrated the exterior and are deep inside of the food.

A message from Tradin Organic

How Tradin Organic is Helping Coconut Farmers in The Philippines

For more than a decade, Tradin Organic has been working with local partners in The Philippines to bring a diversified range of organic products to the market, such as coconut oil, tropical fruits and even cocoa.

The company is helping to support local farmers by assisting them with technical support and organic certification, in addition to paying Fairtrade premium on top of the organic premium.

Learn more.

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Living Maxwell

Better Choices

Organic Restaurants – A Very Important Question To Ask

I get asked all of the time by people “how do I know that the food that I am eating is organic?”

Well, when we buy food in the supermarket, there is an organic certification process managed by the USDA. Those organic food products have the organic seal.

Yet, what do we do when we go to restaurants?

While there are very few restaurants that have actually been certified organic (there used to be one in NYC called Gustorganics), most of them are not.

In this video, I share with you the one question that I always ask when I go to a new organic restaurant. The answer gives me a good idea about how serious they are about organic.

A message from E3Live

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The best testimonial that I can give is that I drink this every single day, as it impacts my mood in an incredibly positive way.

E3Live + BrainON is certified organic, fresh-frozen AFA (Aphanizomenon flos-aquae) with a concentrated, aqueous, organic extract of Phenylethylamine and Phycocyanin.

Learn more.

Living Maxwell

Better Choices

Organic Black Sesame Seeds — Something You’ll Always See in My Kitchen

When it comes to eating, I like clean and light food.

My body seems to reject heavy sauces, fried foods, and sautées, even if they are 100% organic.

I like simplicity in a meal and as a result, I tend to cook a decent amount for myself. Why?

Not only is cooking at home the most inexpensive way to eat organic but I can have exactly what I want.

Whenever I make quinoa, millet or a big salad, one of my favorite things to put on these dishes are black sesame seeds.

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Living Maxwell

Better Choices

5 Reasons to Eat Organic Apples

In a previous post, I wrote that milk is the most important organic product that a family can buy.

But milk is by no means the only item that people should be concerned about.

The worst offender on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list are apples.

Forbes magazine recently did an excellent piece talking about five reasons to eat organic apples, and I wanted to share the highlights with you and provide commentary. To read the full article, click here.

Reason #1 – The average conventionally grown apple has more pesticide residue on it than any other fruit or vegetable.

Data from the Environmental Working Group showed that 98% of 700 apples tested had pesticides on them and that 48 different pesticides appeared. WOW!!!!

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livingmaxwell: a guide to organic food & drink