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Better Choices

Local vs. Organic: I Choose Organic – Here’s Why

For several years, the local food movement has been gaining some serious momentum. Supermarkets are pushing locally-grown food and restaurants insert “local” into their menus as often as possible.

I have a good friend of mine who proudly and constantly tells me that he is eating local food all of the time. When I hear this, I just kind of shake my head. Why do I have this reaction?

While this issue is very complicated and the circumstances of every single piece food is vastly different, there is a lot more to this than many people realize and “local” isn’t necessarily better.

Yes, local food means that it has traveled a lot less (within 150 miles seems to be the accepted range) than something that has been shipped across the country.

Local also “supposedly” means that the food has been produced in a sustainable manner rather than from some industrial food operation.

But how do we know this? We don’t. There are no standards for local and there is no certification for local. There are, however, strict standards for organic and USDA organic certification.

Unless I am at a farmer’s market where I can look the farmer in the eye and ask him about his production methods, I just don’t know how local food has been produced.

How do I know that the farmer 20 miles away isn’t spraying his kale with toxic pesticides and polluting our water?  I don’t.  And this matters to me as I am gravely concerned about the abysmal quality of our water supply.

Furthermore, a New York Times op-ed piece by James McWilliams pointed out that lamb shipped from New Zealand to England caused much less impact to global warming than British-produced lamb.

Does this mean we should abandon “local”? Not at all.

This was simply one example and other examples may prove “local” to be much better for the environment.

MY TAKE

If I can buy local and organic, that is what I do and it is the best of both worlds.

I want to support local food as much as I can and will buy food at farmer’s markets where I have an incredibly high degree of confidence that the food is grown “cleanly”, even if it is not certified as organic.

However…..

1) Local food doesn’t necessarily mean better for the environment. In fact, it could be worse.

2) Local food doesn’t mean organic.

3) Supporting organic production and organic farmers is very important to me.

It goes without saying that local vs. organic is not a cut and dry argument, but I prefer organic over local because there are standards and I know what organic means.

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

Food & Water Watch Unveils its New Smart Seafood Guide and “Dirty Dozen of Fish”

If you are looking for organic fish in the U.S., you will not find it. Why?

Because there is no such a thing as USDA certified organic fish, as national organic standards for fish have not yet been approved.

That being said, some fish are certainly better to eat than others, and Food & Water Watch recently released its Smart Seafood Guide.

The Smart Seafood Guide gives an excellent analysis of over 100 different fish, provides regional guides, and offers helpful suggestions so that consumers can make the healthiest and most sustainable choices possible.

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A message from E3Live

"My Everyday, Must-Have Green Organic Aquabotanical"

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.

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Living Maxwell

Better Choices

Organic Strawberries are Found to be More Nutritious, Says Washington State University

I just love reading announcements like this. Researchers at Washington State University just released the results of their study of strawberries and concluded that organic is superior to conventional in several different categories.

Not that this is any great surprise to me but having empirical evidence is always beneficial.

The study, which was published in PLoS One, came to the following conclusions about organic strawberries:

– Longer shelf life and greater dry matter.

– Higher antioxidant activity and concentrations of ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds.

– Sweeter taste, better flavor and appearance.

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Living Maxwell

Better Choices

5 Strategies for Keeping an Organic Diet While Traveling During the Summer

Now that we are in the midst of summer, many people are going away for weekends or for an extended period of time.

For me and many other individuals, a vacation does not mean a vacation from organic.

I have been working with several clients on this very issue and thought that I would share my tips and strategies for eating organic while traveling.

1) Bring your own food If you are traveling by air, car, bus or train, always take food to eat. This could be nuts, fruit, salad, energy bars. Anything. You never want to be stranded and hungry when the only option available is fast food or junk food.

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livingmaxwell: a guide to organic food & drink