Win a $15,000 Kitchen Makeover from Stonyfield

Written by Max Goldberg on May 15, 2012. Follow Max on Twitter: @livingmaxwell.

As part of its year-long “Know Your Food” campaign, Stonyfield has launched The Great Food Find, an interactive online scavenger hunt that takes food lovers on a journey to find organic foods around the web.

For each action that a person takes on The Great Food Find (capped at 50 actions – an action would be answering questions, finding a product and adding it to the virtual tote bag, Tweeting something, Liking something on Facebook, etc), he or she will be added to the drawing to win a $15,000 kitchen makeover.

Also, the first 50,000 people who finish the entire online scavenger hunt, which ends May 21st, will receive coupons from Stonyfield and partner companies such as Annie’s Homegrown, Nature’s Path, Sambazon, Woodstock Farms, Organic Valley, Applegate Farms, Honest Tea and more. Read More »

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5 Reasons to Eat Organic Apples

Written by Max Goldberg on May 1, 2012. Follow Max on Twitter: @livingmaxwell.

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!!!! Read More »

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Another Reason to Eat Organic – Arsenic, Caffeine, Antidepressants and Banned Antibiotics are Fed to Chicken

Written by Max Goldberg on April 6, 2012. Follow Max on Twitter: @livingmaxwell.

Last year, I put up a post about how arsenic was temporarily banned for use in conventional chickens.

Whether conventional chicken growers actually paid attention to the ban is anyone’s guess, but a column I read yesterday in the New York Times just made me shake my head even further.

In his column, Nicholas Kristof talked about recently released studies that suggest that poultry on factory farms are routinely fed caffeine, active ingredients of Tylenol and Benadryl, banned antibiotics and arsenic.

He went on to say that chicken from China showed that it contained an antidepressant whose active ingredient is in Prozac. Yes, chickens are getting antidepressants. Can you imagine? Read More »

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Insecticides are Officially Linked to the Disappearance of Bees. Am I Surprised? Not at All.

Written by Max Goldberg on March 18, 2012. Follow Max on Twitter: @livingmaxwell.

The very serious issue we face with colony collapse disorder (CCD) is something that should be on everyone’s radar screen.

Basically, the bees are disappearing. And why should we care exactly that the bees are disappearing?

Well, bees pollinate our plants and without bees, we have four years to live.

While many people believe that CCD is a result of GMOs and the toxic chemicals that we spray on them, there is incredible denial from the chemical industry.

In an article published the other day in Environmental Science & Technology titled “Assessment of the Environmental Exposure of Honeybees to Particulate Matter Containing Neonicotinoid Insecticides Coming from Corn Coated Seeds,” new research identifies a direct link between the bees dying and insecticides used on corn. Read More »

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Organic Brown Rice Syrup and Arsenic, My Take on the Matter

Written by Max Goldberg on February 18, 2012. Follow Max on Twitter: @livingmaxwell.

There is a new arsenic controversy in the news. Instead of apple juice, this time it is organic brown rice syrup.

Researchers from Dartmouth College announced in Environmental Health Perspectives that they discovered very high levels of inorganic (not naturally occurring) arsenic in organic baby products, whose top ingredient was brown rice syrup.

While the EPA regulates the amount of arsenic in water, no more than 10 parts per billion is allowed, there are no such standards for arsenic in food, except for fruit juice.

So, when the researchers did their testing, they found that the arsenic levels in the organic baby food were 6 times higher than the allowable limits for water.

Even though other products, such as energy shots and cereal bars failed this arsenic test as well, the organic baby formula raised more of a red flag because this is the primary source of nutrition for babies. Read More »

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