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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.

Not only do you want to bring food for your travel to the destination but also bring food for your arrival. I like to pack organic oatmeal and palm sugar, so I always know that I am going to have a good breakfast the following day.

After all, you just don’t know what your host or your hotel will have for food, if anything, and you don’t want to be scrambling first thing in the morning. This is especially true if you arrive at night and don’t have time to go food shopping.

2) Bring a juicer or blender If you are driving to a vacation spot, bring your juicer or blender, if possible. There is nothing like having fresh juice and your host may not know much about juicing. So, you’ll be having a positive influence on them as well.

Or, bring a blender. If you have bananas, nuts and superfoods such as cacao, you can put together a smoothie in no time. See my video on how to make nut milk. It is super-easy.

You can also make a smoothie with tea. Read about that HERE.

3) Do research in advance Before I go anywhere, I like to know where the organic restaurants and organic supermarkets are located.

For example, when I go to Natural Products Expo West each year (the biggest organic food trade show), I always stay at a hotel very near to the Whole Foods. There are many other hotels closer to the Anaheim Convention Center but close proximity to organic food is more important than close proximity to the venue.

I am thinking days in advance about what I am going to be eating.

4) Have a conversation with your guests If you are staying with friends, have a conversation with them about your eating habits.

Tell them that while you don’t want to be difficult, eating organic is very important to you and is part of your new health routine. If they care about you and love you, they won’t mind and will try to accommodate you the best that they can.

5) Develop a new mindset Embracing an organic diet is all about developing a new mindset.

It isn’t about just showing up and eating whatever is available.

But it is about preparing, doing research and stepping outside of your comfort zone.  It is about doing the work in advance to make sure that you are able to constantly feed yourself the most nutritious food available — organic food

A message from Tradin Organic

Why Tradin Organic is Prioritizing Regenerative Organic Farming

At Tradin Organic, we believe that regenerative organic farming is key to growing healthy and nutritious food ingredients — for now and for future generations.

And in Sierra Leone, we have grown the world’s first Regenerative Organic Certified cacao.

Learn more.

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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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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.

Learn more.

Living Maxwell

Better Choices

Organic Milk – The Most Important Product a Family Can Buy

For people who are new to organic or have very limited financial means to buy organic, the one thing that I always say is the following:

The absolute number one priority in your household should be organic milk for your kids.

Even if a family thinks that organic food is out of their budget, organic milk cannot be compromised under any condition.

Organic milk is about the health of the kids, and that comes before everything else.

THE SERIOUS HEALTH RISKS OF HORMONAL MILK

Approximately 20% of the milk in the U.S. is hormonal milk. But what exactly is hormonal milk?

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Living Maxwell

Better Choices

5 Essential Ways to Avoid Genetically-Modified Food (GMOs)

Recently, I got an e-mail from a reader asking how she would know if she is eating genetically-modified soy or not.

Figuring that many other people may have that same question, I wanted to explain how to avoid eating genetically-modified food (GMOs) and the things that you need to look out for.

#1 – Buy USDA Certified Organic Products  GMOs are prohibited in organic food. Therefore, look for products that contain the USDA certified organic seal.

Even though GMOs are prohibited in organic, organic crops can be contaminated by GMOs through cross-pollination and drift. (That is why the proliferation of GMOs is a real threat to organic farming. The co-existence of GM-crops and organic crops is simply not possible, despite what our government would like us to believe.)

USDA rules require that organic certifiers test samples from at least 5% of the operations they certify on an annual basis.

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livingmaxwell: a guide to organic food & drink