Most of our readers have a pretty good idea what they’re looking for when they go into their grocery store to buy organic foods. But what does organic really mean?

Webster defines organic (in reference to organic food) as follows:
“Of, relating to, yielding, or involving the use of food produced with the use of feed or fertilizer of plant or animal origin without employment of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, or pesticides.”

Organic is better for the environment and better for us. When we purchase organic foods, we are buying foods that have not been genetically modified or poisoned with manmade chemicals. The organic label stands for a commitment to agriculture that achieves balance with our ecosystem. The soil is healthy. It retains a higher concentration of minerals. Animals are treated humanely (at least in comparison to non-organic methods). The groundwater runoff doesn’t poison our streams. The plants are able to naturally reproduce.

If you’ve never noticed the difference between organic and conventional foods, buy two organic apples and two conventional apples.

On day one, do a taste test. Which apple tastes better? Does one taste more alive? More full of energy?

On day two, eat an organic apple for breakfast (and nothing else) and notice how you feel. How long does it take for you to feel hungry again? What do you crave for lunch? How is your energy level?

On day three, repeat this process with the conventional apple and ask yourself the same questions.

Now the bad news. Organic standards as defined by the USDA are under attack and have been since their inception. Large companies and big agriculture want to make organic foods less expensive to produce, because they know the organic market is growing. They don’t care if the label is meaningless.

The phrase “all natural” now means little to health-minded, educated consumers. If big business has their way, you can expect the same erosion of the organic label.

Various organizations like the OCA wish to protect standards and keep the word organic synonymous with health and environmentally sound practices. Please visit their website to learn more about this issue and to help protect organic standards.

When I go grocery shopping, I feel guilty, especially in the produce section. When I see a bruised apple, I know it’s likely to be thrown away. Those ripe bananas, riper than all of the others, won’t find a home outside a landfill if I don’t adopt them.

Fresh foods are very important to my diet but I, like most of you, want a selection. We want to see a pile of apples, lettuce, grapefruit, and potatoes, and we want to select the best looking ones of the bunch, even though the slightly bruised, more ripened, or discolored could nourish us significantly, not to mention the starving people in Africa. I swear, if I could just figure out a way to do it, I would purchase all the rejected but perfectly good fruit and vegetables and take them to Africa each week.

Our grocery shopping system gives us tremendous selection within a select few varieties, but the system is incredibly inefficient. We waste so much food in this nation. And the produce we throw away, often the perfectly good or slightly imperfect, gets put into a locked-up container awaiting transport to the dump while the homeless get our stale donuts and day old white bread that shouldn’t be called food. It’s the nourishing food that really could feed the hungry that is tossed aside and deemed worthless.

How do we fix this problem? How do we quit wasting food? Or if we are to be realistic and consider American desires, how do we throw away less food and not have to sacrifice our individual convenience or choice?

I do not know the answer. I tell myself I do my small part when I buy the most ripened bunch of bananas on the shelf and eat them all in one day so they won’t spoil.

Apples come in all sizes and flavors and all shades of yellow, green, and red. We choose from three or four varieties at the grocery store, ten to twelve at the farmers market. A shame really, as there are 7,500 varieties grown worldwide, 2,500 of them in the United States alone.

The wild ancestor of today’s domestic apples originated in Kazakhstan and can still be found in the mountains of Central Asia. The only apple native to America is the crabapple. We can thank the colonists in the early 1600s for bringing apple trees to North America.

Apples are in season in North America from late summer to early winter. They are now available year round because they keep well in cold storage and we import apples from the Southern Hemisphere.

If you peel your apples, you miss out on many of the benefits of this incredibly healthy food. Unpeeled apples are high in fiber, both soluble and insoluble and they contain pectin, flavonoids, phenols, and vitamin C. They promote regularity, lower cholesterol levels, remove heavy metal toxins from the body, reduce risk of heart disease, help prevent free radical damage, and bolster the immune system. Studies also link apples with decreased risk of cancer, asthma, and Type 2 diabetes.

Choose firm, unbruised apples. Fully ripened fruits have the most antioxidants. Whole apples are much better for you than juice, and juicing yourself is better than store bought since laws in most states now require pasteurization, killing off nutrients and enzymes. If you do choose to buy your juice, don’t buy it clear; buy it cloudy for a higher flavonoid content. You’ll neutralize more free radicals. Do buy organic. Conventional apples are one of a dozen fruits and vegetables shown to carry the most

Although we are sharing recipes to cook this versatile fruit, we recommend you eat one raw apple every day to reap its full health benefits. Remember that old saying?

The typical American diet is rich in calories, artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, sugar, artificial sweeteners, MSG, and trans fats. Let’s not forget pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics. The media bombards us with information about a healthy diet, much of it contradictory, much of it complicated, and most of it wrong. So how should we eat?

Eliminating toxins, additives, and sugar is a no-brainer. But once that step is taken and organic foods are chosen, what is the next step? Whether you’re a meat-eater, a vegan, or a vegetarian, the key is balance. The right balance.

Alkalinity

For optimum health our bodies require a slightly alkaline PH, right about 7.365. A diet high in meats and grains, the typical Western diet, is acid producing. Chronic acidification wreaks havoc with all cellular activities and functions. Many naturopaths believe it to be the root cause of chronic or “incurable” diseases. So how do we maintain our PH balance short of memorizing the list of acidifying and alkaline foods? The simple way is to use the 80/20 principle; 80% of your diet should consist of fresh, raw, organic fruits and vegetables. That may sound extreme, and for some people and their lifestyles it may be difficult, but the closer one comes to this ratio the healthier one will be. And for many people there is not another lifestyle change they could make that would have as big an impact on your health.

In addition, most of us need to be conscious about increasing our consumption of the following:

Fiber

Fiber has many benefits. It feeds healthybacteria, which aids in digestion. It also helps slow the rate sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream, keeping blood sugar levels stable. Fiber also helps with regularity; it speeds up digestion as it scours your colon like a scrub brush.

Enzymes

Enzymes are responsible for nearly every facet of life and health. Without enzymes, food is not digested and nutrients are not absorbed. Enzyme rich, fresh, raw foods are easy for the body to digest. Processed and cooked foods have little or no enzymes. If enzymes are not present in the food we eat, the body creates them. But some doctors believe our bodies can create only a finite amount of enzymes in our lifetimes. So once again, a diet high in fresh, raw, organic fruits and vegetables, adhering to the 80/20 principle, will increase your consumption of natural enzymes.

Antioxidents

Free radicals, atoms or groups of atoms with an odd (unpaired) number of electrons, have been linked to aging and disease. They damage healthy cell membranes and DNA. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals. Again, a diet high in fresh, raw, organic fruits and vegetables is a diet rich in antioxidants.

Beneficial Bacteria

A normal, healthy gut is home to 400-500 beneficial bacteria, all working in harmony. Remember enzymes? Beneficial bacteria produce critical enzymes and control yeast. They help us digest our food and absorb nutrients. Just one dose of an antibiotic can decimate entire species of beneficial bacteria and wreak havoc with this delicate ecological balance.

Probiotics can help restore the natural balance. Many suggest taking them (or eating them) on a daily basis, and certainly this suggestion has merit to anyone coming to an organic lifestyle from a lifetime of poor nutrition and antibiotic use. But again, adhering to a good, balanced diet and the 80/20 principle of eating 80% fresh, raw, organic fruits and vegetables will feed beneficial bacteria and aid in maintaining proper balance.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids

Essential fatty acids, omega-6s and omega-3s, cannot be manufactured by our bodies. They must come from our diet. Our bodies need both omega-6s and omega 3s for a variety of metabolic processes including healing. The ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s should be nearly equal, but the typical American diet is high in omega 6s and low in omega 3s, with a ratio closer to 17:1. And we suffer for it—with inflammation, aching, poor healing and chronic illnesses such as lupus, fibromyalgia, and heart disease. To decrease omega 6s, avoid processed foods and conventional poultry, beef, and dairy and choose organic meats—grass fed beef, free range poultry, etc. To increase omega-3s, eat fatty fish, nuts, seeds, and unrefined whole grains (it is best to soak or sprout nuts and seeds to release enzyme inhibitors and change acidic nuts to alkaline). Flaxseed, cod liver oil, or other omega-3 rich oils can be added to our diet, but we must be sure they are fresh and not overly refined.

We will go into more depth about all aspects of a healthy diet and the dangers of additives, GMOs, and conventional farming in upcoming issues. In the meantime, eat healthy. Eat smart. Go organic.

Understanding both healthy & not so healthy sugars with their Glycemic Index & Load

Is there such a thing as healthy sugar?

Our body needs sugar to survive. But what we don’t need is refined sugars. Anyone suffering from an overabundance of Candida should limit their fruits, choose them wisely, and forget about sweets in general until the Candida is under control. This goes for those suffering from diabetes and any fungal, viral, or bacterial infection as well. If you do suffer from Candida problems we recommend Thorne SF722. It kills Candida better than anything we know of. A good probiotic to help rebuild the healthy gut flora is recommended too.

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In nature, we didn’t eat a lot of sugar, and none of it was refined. In fact, just to get an idea of how easy it is for us to ingest more sugar than we would have ever done in nature, consider the fact that our fruit has grown in size and has become sweeter and easier to eat. One good example is the banana. Just google “wild banana.” Check out the pictures.

Sugar is wrecking havoc on our bodies in a few different ways. It’s hard on the pancreas, the liver, and it feeds fungus, bacteria, viruses, and other parasites that stress the whole body. Consuming refined sugars radically lowers the body’s immune system and leads to allergies, both seasonal and food allergies.

Note: If you’ve been eating too much sugar (and this includes those known as “healthier sugars,” check out How to Kill Candida and Balance the Inner Ecosystem. For a better understanding of how sugar interacts with the body, check out Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases.

Many people consider themselves healthy but suffer from certain ailments due to their sugar intake. In many cases, these people do not realize that the alternative healthier sugar choices they make still contribute to health problems. Sugars like brown rice syrup, honey, coconut palm sugar, and apple juice are still refined sugars and should be used sparingly. Maple syrup and dates are other sweeteners that, depending on your definition are not necessarily refined, but still are sugars none the less and need to be limited as well. If you or someone you know suffers from seasonal allergies or chronic Candida overgrowth, give up the honey, the brown rice syrup, the agave, and any other sweetener, save stevia, completely for a week and see what happens. We bet the results will surprise you.

The reality is that junk food, whether made with healthier sugar substitutes or high fructose corn syrup is still junk food. Healthy foods are whole foods, and whole foods should be the foundation of anyone’s diet.

Glucose

Glucose is the simple sugar made by the body through digestion of carbohydrates. It is the body’s chief source of energy. Sometimes glucose is called dextrose.

Sucrose

Sucrose is what we commonly refer to as table sugar. It is made from highly processed sugar cane or sugar beets. The composition of sucrose is a combination of glucose and fructose, which separates during digestion. Pure sucrose is devoid of any nutrients.

Fructose

Fructose, commonly called fruit sugar, is a simple sugar found in honey, tree fruits, berries, and melons. But don’t be fooled into thinking fructose on a label means you are eating fruit sugar. Pure crystalline fructose comes from two sources: corn or sucrose (table sugar). Corn starch is processed to release fructose. Sucrose (table sugar) is enzymatically hydrolyzed to separate into glucose and fructose. Crystalline fructose is pure fructose from one of these two sources.

High Fructose Syrups

High Fructose Corn Syrup is made from starches like corn, wheat, and rice. High fructose syrups contain nearly equal amounts of glucose and fructose, a composition nearly identical to sucrose (table sugar). The reason high fructose corn syrup is so abundant in our processed food is simple-it’s cheaper than sugar. Because we highly subsidize corn and place tariffs on sugar imports, high fructose corn syrup is much less expensive.

Pure fructose is 1.2-1.8 times sweeter than sucrose so less is needed for the same level of sweetness. It is low on the glycemic index, therefore it does not lead to peaks and dips in the body’s glucose levels. But fructose is processed in the liver. When too much fructose enters the liver at once, the liver can’t process fructose as a sugar. Instead, the liver turns excess fructose into fats-triglycerides. When you incorporate these fats into our bodies cells (the cell membranes) triglycerides cause these cells to be insulin resistant. This is the reason that high fructose corn syrup leads to diabetes. Fructose is linked to significant increases of both cholesterol and triglycerides. And remember-fructose, like sucrose-is a highly refined processed sugar devoid of any nutrition.

Maltose

Maltose, also known as malt sugar, is half as sweet as sucrose (table sugar). It is produced from starch (barley, wheat, rice or other grains). It has been produced in China since 200 B.C. We use it in making beer and as an additive to some processed foods.

In our bodies, maltose is formed as the first step in digestion of starchy foods. It is then broken down into glucose.

Lactose

Lactose is the sugar found naturally in milk.

Date Sugar

Date sugar is 100% dehydrated dates ground into small pieces. It is a whole food, high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Date sugar can be substituted for granulated sugar or brown sugar cup for cup, but it does not dissolve in liquids. Most alternative health practitioners consider Date Sugar to be a healthy sugar alternative.

Sugar Alcohols or Polyols

Maltitol, maltitol syrup, sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, lactitol, lakanto, erythritol, and isomalt are examples of sugar alcohols. They occur naturally in plants but are usually manufactured from sugars and starches. Sugar alcohols have fewer calories than sugars because they are not completely absorbed by the body. They can ferment in the intestines and cause gas, bloating, and diarrhea.

Information on Xylitol from Natural News:

Health Claims

It is obvious to me, as it might be to you, that xylitol, in addition to killing bacteria, will probably kill just about anything. This clearly explains why it is only recommended to be used in small doses. Yet if you go to a health food store, you will see larger sized bags of xylitol on the shelf, promoting its many health uses.

Health Concerns

In lab tests, xylitol will kill a rat 50% of the time in a dosage of 16.5 grams of xylitol for every 1000 grams of rat. Medium rats weigh 100-120 grams, or say .25 pounds. That means, to kill a 100-gram rat, you need only to get the rat to consume, 1.65 grams of xylitol.

A typical xylitol piece of gum contains .7 – 1 gram of xylitol. About half the amount needed to kill a rat. I read of a study stating that humans consumed up to 400 grams of xylitol per day without any ill health effects. I find that hard to believe that such a study is accurate in comparison to the lab tests done as indicated on the material safety data sheets. If 1.65 grams can kill a rat, consuming 400 grams would be highly toxic to humans.

Glycemic Index

When carbohydrates are digested, glucose is released into the bloodstream. The glycemic index is a comparative measurement of the amount of glucose released by a particular food over a two to three-hour period.

Foods that rapidly release glucose rate high on the glycemic index (GI). Foods that slowly release glucose are low on the glycemic index. Mixing high and low GI foods can result in a moderate glucose release.

But the GI rating alone does not give you all of the information you need to determine a food’s effect on your blood sugar. It only tells you how quickly the carbs in a food should turn into sugar in your blood. The glycemic load or GL tells you how much of that carb the food contains. And of course the amount you eat of that particular food is also a huge factor in the rise of your blood sugar.

Foods ranked low on the GI scale release glucose slowly and steadily without a sudden spike of glucose in the blood.  A spike in glucose results in a large insulin release, which is more likely to store glucose as fat rather than use it as fuel. Plus a high release of insulin often results in a rapid drop in blood sugar, causing hunger. So you eat candy. Your blood sugar spikes. Insulin is released. Your blood sugar drops. You eat more candy. The sugar rollercoaster ride begins.

It is important to remember that the GI scale is simply a comparative scale; it compares one food’s blood glucose response to another. There are many other factors to consider when choosing your food. Start with the basic question. Is this food dense with nutrients?

The Best Sugars

When baking, or for coffee and teas, honey would not be used since the heat destroys the natural benefits. Stevia does not bake well and it has a funny aftertaste to most people, but we love it in lemonade and cranberry juice, as well as many teas. If forced to a favorite, sugar cane juice, maple syrup, and coconut palm sugar are our top choices when used sparingly. While we are not a fan of agave, sugar alcohols, or using very much of any refined sugars, a mix of them can be a healthier choice for baking and other recipes that call for sweeteners. Using a little bit of agave, some lactitol, some stevia, and sugar cane juice or coconut palm sugar can be a great way to lessen the adverse effects of any one type of surer while still getting a very nice, well-rounded sweet taste.

Please note that the glycemic index numbers here are estimates. There are many variables that help determine how quickly a sugar is absorbed. These numbers represent an average of many different respected studies. In addition, it is very important to note that the glycemic index and the glycemic load do not define what is a healthy sugar and what is an unhealthy sugar. There are many other variables.

If you’ve been eating too much sugar (and this includes those known as “healthier sugars,” check out How to Kill Candida and Balance the Inner Ecosystem. For a better understanding of how sugar interacts with the body, check out Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases.

Recommended Reading:

• Heal Cavities, Gum Disease, Naturally with Organic Oral Care – Toothpaste recipes included
• Total Nutrition – Make your own Homemade Multivitamin and Mineral Formula
• Still Have Candida? How Mercury Fillings Cause Candida Overgrowth