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Better Choices

When people get into a debate about whether organic food is worth it or not, the first issue that always comes up is price.

While organic can cost a little more, there are numerous ways to make it less expensive, such as buying in the bulk bins or purchasing directly from local organic farmers.

Yet, what is often missing in this discussion is how organic is so much better for the planet.

And this is something that absolutely must be part of the narrative as to why organic is the superior choice, particularly because the global food system is responsible for 44-57% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Living Maxwell

Better Choices

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.

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Better Choices

As more and more people are moving toward a plant-based diet and migrating away from animal products, organic cannot be forgotten in this equation.

Unfortunately, I see far too many people who think that as long as it is plant-based, that is sufficient. It’s not.

Case in point: almonds.

In the early 2000s, there were a few outbreaks of salmonella traced to raw almonds from California, a state where nearly 100% of America’s almonds are grown. As a result, the USDA implemented a rule that required all almonds grown in California to be pasteurized. This holds true for both organic and non-organic varieties.

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Better Choices

Whenever I get asked the question of which are the best tasting organic foods, my response is always the same: the Biodynamic ones.

For quite some time, I have been wondering why exactly Biodynamic tastes so delicious, so I went digging for an answer.

THE BASICS

To understand why Biodynamic tastes so good and different from the rest, let’s first discuss its origins and then define it.

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Better Choices

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.

Living Maxwell

Better Choices

I got a comment from someone the other day who said “Why should we care about GMOs (genetically-modified organisms)? Let them grow what they want. It doesn’t impact the people who eat organic.”

Unfortunately, this individual could not have been more wrong.

GMOs impact everyone, including people who eat 100% organic, and a recent study from the Pesticide Action Network confirms this.

Water sampling results from communities across four Midwestern states — Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota — indicate Atrazine is present in drinking water at levels well above those linked to birth defects and low birth weight.

WHAT IS ATRAZINE AND WHY YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IT

Present in 94% of our water supply, Atrazine is a toxic weed killer and 76 million pounds of it is dumped onto our farms each year, mostly for corn.

And the health effects of Atrazine?

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Better Choices

Having recently returned from Natural Products Expo West, a very intense and long five days visiting hundreds of trade show booths and meeting with dozens and dozens of people, one thing is very clear — I felt incredibly fortunate to have stayed in a Pure Room.

Launched by a company called Pure Wellness, a Pure Room is an extremely unique hotel offering that is addressing the needs of wellness-minded travelers in a way that I have never seen before. For people who place a serious priority on health, such as myself and many Living Maxwell readers, it is reassuring to know that this lifestyle can be maintained when on the road.

And now that I have stayed in a Pure Room on three separate occasions — most recently at two different hotels in the Los Angeles area for Natural Products Expo West — these hotel rooms have completely changed the way that I think about travel and how I book my accommodations.