Understanding Meat Labels

I am a vegetarian at heart. I've been a vegetarian off and on for most of my adult life, and while I'm not currently eating a completely vegetarian diet, I'm still fully convinced of its benefits... benefits to health, the environment, and of course to the animals themselves. Our household eats mostly vegetarian, and we are happy and healthy doing so.

But.

We do eat meat occasionally, and what I eventually came to realize is that the majority of issues I had with meat eating (mainly those pertaining to non-humane treatment of the animals) could be remedied by eating the right kind of meat. The right kind of meat is also far healthier than traditionally raised meat, it is better for the environment, and it is more socially responsible.

So what IS the right kind of meat? Labels are confusing, and largely misleading. You may pay far too much for a cut of meat because it claims to be "all natural" or "organic" or "grass-fed." Depending on where you buy it, and where it originally came from, these labels can mean - or not mean - very different things.

Here are a few things to know if you're buying beef at a grocery store:

Organic - Beef that is labeled organic is not allowed to have been given antibiotics. It can, however, have been given other drugs. It could have been treated inhumanely, and fed corn and other materials outside of its natural diet. It could be shipped from other countries, and it could have been fed animal by-products. Its production could have used environmentally harmful practices.

Humane - Just as the label implies, beef that is marked "humane"  did not receive any inhumane treatment.  It was not restricted access to free range roaming and feeding, and it was not fed animal by-products.  It could still have been given antibiotics and other drugs.  It could have been fed corn.  It could have been from foreign countries, and had multiple ownership.  Its production could have used environmentally harmful practices.

Grass Fed -  Unless you know where it's coming from, and are aware of the source's practices, grass-fed means just that - it's from cattle that are fed grass (which is what cattle are designed to eat!), and not allowed corn and other non-native materials.  They could still be treated inhumanely, given antibiotics, restricted access to free range, had multiple owners, participated in environmentally harmful practices, etc.

Natural -Natural beef is not allowed to be given antibiotics, nor fed animal by-products.  It could still have been fed corn and other non-native materials (including grain treated with pesticides and herbicides), treated inhumanely, restricted free-range access, be from foreign countries, etc.

Antibiotic/Hormone/Pesticide Free -  This label simply means they weren't given whatever drug is stated.  Any or all of the other harmful, unnatural, or inhumane practices could still have taken place.

Any of the above labels could be meeting the criteria for healthier, natural, more humane meat, but the problem is that the labels as they stand do not require them to do so... which means that you really don't know what it is you're getting, no matter what the packaging says.

So where DO you want to buy it?  Locally!   A local farm or ranch that raises its animals from birth to slaughter the old-fashioned way:  100% grass fed and free-range, with no antibiotics or other drugs, no corn, and no animal-by products.  Animals that are treated humanely their entire lives.  Farms that do not use practices that could harm your environment, and farms that directly benefit your own local community.  Farms that you let you visit!

A good farm or ranch will be able to answer "NO" to all of the following:

• Antibiotics
• Pesticides and Herbicides
• Fed corn and other non-native materials
• Inhumane treatment
• Feed-lot finishing
• Prolonged restriction to access to free-range
• Multiple ownership before slaughter
• From foreign countries
• Fed animal by-products
• Environmentally harmful practices
• Practices that don't directly benefit the local economy

Buying local, 100% grass-finished meat is the best way to know that you are getting meat that is healthy, as well as environmentally and ethically conscientious.  Buying locally also ensures you know exactly where your meat is coming from.  The ranch that just sold us our beef will, upon request, give you the number of the actual cow your cuts of meat came from.   That's a big deal, especially to a former/quasi-vegetarian like me.

Fudge Brownies

I couldn't imagine living in a world without brownies!! This version is from Jillian Michaels, and it uses honey and applesauce instead of refined sugar, whole wheat flour in place of white, and olive oil instead of butter.

Ingredients

* Olive oil spray
* 2/3 cup mild honey, such as clover or orange blossom
* 1/3 cup natural, unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
* 1/4 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 large egg, at room temperature
* 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 8" square pan with olive oil. Set aside.

Place the honey in a large glass measuring cup. Microwave on high until the honey is runny and just bubbling, 45 to 60 seconds. Add the cocoa and stir with a fork until well combined. Let cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, place the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Whisk until well combined.

In a large bowl, combine the applesauce, oil, egg and vanilla. Whisk together until well blended. Add the honey and cocoa mixture, then whisk until smooth. Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture and stir until no traces of flour remain. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake until the surface looks dry around the edges of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it, about 25 minutes. Do not overbake. Place the pan on a cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing into 16 two-inch squares. Store the brownies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

High-Fructose Corn Syrup

Just in case you haven't seen the recent ludicrous commercials promoting high fructose corn syrup as something "all-natural and fine in moderation," here is one of the ads:



I think what bothers me the most about these commercials - among many things - is that there are people out there (and these are the people they prey on!) who will see it and believe it. Hey, great! High fructose corn syrup is fine, nothing to worry about. We just have to eat it in moderation.

The truth is, it is not fine. High fructose corn syrup is a highly processed, chemically and genetically modified non-food. It is an ARTIFICIAL sweetener. It goes directly to your liver, and releases enzymes that tell your body to store fat. It can elevate triglyceride levels and cholesterol levels. It tricks your body into thinking you are still hungry, and can lead to over-consumption, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. It can also cause:

Lower IQ
Learning difficulties
Anxiety
Depression
Fatigue
Aggression
Premenstrual syndrome
Accelerated bone loss
Insulin resistance
High blood pressure

And guess what? If you're not reading labels and making a conscious effort to avoid it, you are most definitely NOT eating it in moderation. If you buy most traditionally processed and packaged crackers, cereals, juices, syrups, cookies, spaghetti sauces, salad dressings, ketchup, yogurt, and just about every other processed food, you are eating high fructose corn syrup, and in vast quantities.

The good news is that it can be avoided! Our kitchen is HFCS-free. Buy more fresh foods and shop the perimeter of the grocery store. If you do buy something boxed or processed, read the label. Read the label, read the label, read the label. There are a growing number of great brands out there that do not use it. Will you pay a little more? In most cases, yes. Is it worth it? YES.

And finally, here's a cute little rebuttal I found, and wanted to share. It's great to see that people are keeping their kids informed too.

Kale and White Bean Pasta

I was looking for a recipe to use the big, beautiful bunch of kale we got in our produce basket last weekend. This is my adaptation of one that pairs kale with pasta and white beans, one of my favorite combinations. It is fresh, satisfying and delicious. This recipe made enough to serve my family of six, with leftovers, and it was great cold the next day too.

A few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion, diced
2 (or more) cloves of garlic, minced
1 bunch kale, chopped into bite sized pieces
Two cups chopped tomatoes, OR canned diced tomatoes
1 can white cannellini or Great Northern beans
1 pound whole wheat pasta
salt and pepper, to taste
crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
grated parmesan cheese, to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions and reserve some of the cooking water. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet or wok. Cook onions until soft. Add garlic and kale, and cook until garlic is fragrant and kale has wilted. Add tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Cook and stir until simmering, adding a bit of water (you could also use wine!) if it is not saucy enough. Add white beans and stir. Cook till combined and warmed through. When pasta is done, add it to the sauce mixture, and mix well. Add some of the pasta water if needed to loosen up the sauce. Adjust seasonings, and serve with plenty of fresh parmesan and more red pepper flakes.

Cleansing 101

Walk down the health and beauty or natural foods aisle of any drug store, and you'll be met with dozens of products promising to cleanse, burn, and detox. For just $29.95 (and up) you too can experience the renewed health, energy, and vigor that a good cleansing program can bring.

While there are absolutely many natural herbs and supplements that are beneficial for cleansing and detoxifying (dandelion, yellow dock, garlic, burdock root, goldenseal and kelp, for example), you can also do an effective cleanse at home, on your own, without buying any fancy or expensive products.

Below are several "levels", or methods, of cleansing that anyone can do.

1. Drink More Water
One of the simplest, gentlest, and cheapest things you can do start the process of ridding your body of toxins is drinking more pure water, at least two liters a day. Water is vital for ALL your body processes, and is particularly important for proper digestion. It also aids in flushing, naturally increasing elimination of waste and harmful chemicals.

2. Elimination
Ideally, you would eliminate all harmful foods, including white sugar, white flour, caffeine, alcohol, hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, flavors, and colors, anything with preservatives, etc. But let's be real for a minute. If you're eating the average American diet, replete with its fast food, fried food, packaged food, and soda, your first reaction to such a suggestion might well be, "Are you kidding me?" You can start small! Whatever your vice is, whether it's pizza, soda, Big Macs or Skittles, give it up for a month and see how you feel. Then give up another one. Your body will thank you.

3. Clean, whole foods
For those who are ready to take elimination to the next level, strip your diet of everything but fresh organic fruits and vegetables, whole grains such as brown rice, oats, and quinoa; unprocessed nuts and seeds; and lean organic sources of protein. Eat mostly vegetarian, and if you want to include animal foods, choose only those that are grass-fed, free-range, and free from antibiotics and hormones.

4. Raw Foods
While there are many people that incorporate a raw, or semi-raw diet into their everyday lives, it is also an extremely beneficial practice even on a short-term basic. A few days or weeks of raw eating can help improve your immune system, your digestion, your skin, your hair, and your energy levels. There are many reasons for the healthful advantages of eating raw, but a brief explanation is this: heat and cooking destroy enzymes, vitamins and minerals. It also causes the production of free radicals, which can contribute to a host of diseases and health problems. Eating food raw delivers many times more nutrients, enzymes, and disease-fighting antioxidants. You can read more about raw eating here Raw Food Life

5. Cleansing Fast
At the most extreme end of the scale is the cleansing fast. Just like it sounds, a cleansing fast is a fast - a period of time with no, or limited, solid food - for purposes of cleansing. A fast can last one day, a few days, or several. It can consist of simple waters, juices, raw foods, or a combination. A few benefits of fasting is that it can effectively rid your body of toxins, break addictions to substances such as caffeine and sugar, give all of your body systems a rest, flush your digestive tract, eliminate retained water, alleviate constipation, bloating and other digestive symptoms, improve skin and hair, increase energy, and kick-start a healthy weight-loss program. Side effects? The first few days can be rough, especially if you were a regular user of things like caffeine, alcohol, and sugar. You can experience headaches, nausea, dizziness, joint pain, and other flu-like symptoms as you go through detoxification and withdrawal. Also, the worse your diet was prior to the fast, the worse your side effects will likely turn out to be. The end result - a stronger, healthier, body - is well worth it.

If you would like to try a cleansing fast, one popular method is with lemonade. There are several variations, but the basic recipe is as follows:

Juice of 1/2 a lemon
8 oz water
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1-2 TB organic honey or maple syrup (to taste)

Drink 6-8 glasses throughout the day, along with pure water, and a glass of a natural fiber supplement such as psyllium seed husks. That's it! The cayenne pepper is beneficial for cleansing largely because it helps with circulation, but if you have trouble with the taste, you can use less, or leave it out altogether.

You can drink the lemon water on its own for up to ten days, or you can use it as a stepping stone to beginning a less-restrictive fast. The key is to add foods back in slowly to give your body time to adjust.
The following is a schedule that I personally used, which incorporates both the fast, and several elements of the other cleansing methods.

Days 1-3: Drink 6-8 glasses of the lemon water, plus one glass per day of fiber drink

Days 4-5: Discontinue the lemon water, and drink as much as wanted of pure vegetable and fruit juices.

Days 6-7: Add raw fruits and vegetables, and continue to drink the whole juices

Day 8: Add lightly steamed vegetables and brown rice

Day 9: Add raw, unsalted seeds and nuts

Day 10: Slowly begin adding other foods back into the diet

Whether you do a full fasting cleanse, or just start by cutting out your daily cup of cappuccino, cleansing on any level is an essential first step towards better health. Pick a path and just do it. Today.

I'll have some sodium with a side of preservatives and trans fat

Last week, I watched Jamie Oliver's new reality show, Food Revolution. The premise of the show is simple yet genius. He travels to Huntington, West Virginia - which has been called the unhealthiest city in America - to try to get better foods into schools, homes, and individuals. He spends time working in an elementary school cafeteria (where he is met with much resistance) as he cooks, educates, and works to open their eyes as to how they are slowly killing their children. That city, along with most of the rest of the country, is in dire need of CHANGE, and he is trying to help facilitate that change.


What I loved about the show, besides his earnest desire to make a difference, is the fact that what he's advocating isn't a "diet" with crazy rules and restrictions. All he's advocating is eating real food. What a concept!

No one is eating real food anymore. Even worse, no one is feeding their kids real food anymore.

I have to admit, it hurts my heart a little bit every time I'm at the grocery store and see overweight and/or generally unhealthy children walking alongside a grocery cart filled with what amounts to nothing more than sodium, preservatives, sugar, artificial colors and flavors, and trans fats. And the worst offenders seem to be the products that are specifically aimed at children! What are we doing to our children?

A friend of mine recently related to me how many parents had packed Lunchables for their kids during a school-sponsored trip. I think a lot of what parents feed their kids leaves a lot to be desired, but Lunchables are in a class all their own. Here are the ingredients in a basic pack of turkey and cheese Lunchables:

Ingredients: Roast White Turkey – Cured, Smoke Flavor Added: White Turkey, Water, Potassium Lactate, Modified Corn Starch, Contains Less Than 2% Of Salt, Dextrose, Carrageenan, Sodium Phosphates, Sodium Diacetate, Sodium Ascorbate, Smoke Flavor, Sodium Nitrite, Natural And Artificial Flavor.
Pasteurized Prepared Cheddar Cheese Product: Milk, Whey, Milk Protein Concentrate, Milkfat, Sodium Citrate, Salt, Lactic Acid, Sorbic Acid As A Preservative, Oleoresin Paprika (Color), Annatto (Color), Cheese Culture, Enzymes, Whey Protein Concentrate, With Starch Added For Slice Separation. Contains: Milk, Wheat
Crackers: Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Riboflavin [Vitamin B2],Folic Acid), Soybean Oil, Whole Wheat Flour, Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil, Salt, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Leavening (Baking Soda, Calcium Phosphate), Whey (From Milk), Soy Lecithin (Emulsifier)

That's not food!! Neither are the chicken nuggets, hotdogs, tator tots, boxed macaroni and cheese, and Goldfish crackers that make up the standard kids' fare. People are feeding this stuff to their kids day in and day out, and whether they see it immediately or not - its health consequences are huge and far-reaching.

And I can never help but wonder if they honestly don't know any better, or if they just don't care?

Top Foods to Buy Organic

In a perfect world, I'd have jillions of dollars to spend on food. I'd buy only the finest and freshest organic foods possible. Or better still, I'd have a big beautiful organic garden of my own - and someone to lovingly tend it for me, as plants tend to die in my care - and I'd personally grow everything I needed.

Alas, this is the real world. I have a finite grocery budget, and all that currently grows in my backyard is grass (and honestly not a whole lot of that.) Eating well and eating within the parameters of a budget requires some compromise, and it helps to have some knowledge of where its prudent to spend a little extra money, and where its okay to be more frugal.

Here is a list of the foods that are most important to buy organic whenever possible, because of heavy contamination; followed by a list of those foods that are generally "clean," and which you can feel good about buying non-organic if money is a concern.

Buy these foods organically grown:

Meat - If you're buying conventionally raised meat, you're also buying the hormones they were given for growth, the antibiotics used to resist disease in their poor living conditions, and the pesticides and fertilizer used to grow the grain they're fed. Additionally, it uses much more water and energy to raise a meal's worth of meat than it does one of grain. Meat that is Certified Organic is raised on organic feed, and was not given hormones or antibiotics. Your best choice when it comes to meat, both for health and the environment, is meat that was grass fed, and preferably local.

Milk - I don't regularly purchase milk, or any dairy, but if your family (and especially your children!) drink a lot of it, it is worth the extra expense to buy organic. Traditional cow's milk is going to contain the pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and other chemicals that they've ingested. Organic milk comes from cows that are not fed grains grown with pesticides, nor given antibiotics or growth hormones. Again, your best option is to find a local, organic dairy where you can actually SEE their operation, and see how the cows are treated. Know where your food comes from!

Coffee - Most of the coffee we buy comes from countries that don't regulate the use of chemicals. Look for the USDA Organic label to ensure that the beans were grown organically. You can also look for a Fair Trade Certified marking, which ensures that the farmers are paid - and treated - fairly.

Apples - Apples are treated with a lot of chemicals to ward against everything from insects to fungi. Scrubbing, and even peeling doesn't get all of these off the fruit.

Peaches, Nectarines, Pears - These are treated with lots of pesticides, and their very thin skin is easily permeated.

Celery - Celery has NO skin to protect against the poison they're grown with

Strawberries - Like celery, they have no skin to act as a barrier. Avoid conventionally grown strawberries, particularly if you're buying out-of-season when they're most likely to be shipped from other countries with less regulations on pesticides.

Sweet Bell Peppers - Peppers are typically very heavily sprayed, and they are very thin-skinned.

Cherries - Treated with many chemicals.

Kale - While this green provides lots of health-boosting vitamins and minerals, it is also traditionally grown with a lot of chemicals.

Leafy Greens - Like Kale, these are an important part of the diet, but are also found to have high levels of residue. Our health food store has very reasonably priced organic mixed greens, grown without any chemicals, that are washed, packaged, and ready-to-go.

Grapes - Imported grapes grown in countries with lax regulations are the worst offenders, but grapes grown in the United States are typically high in residue as well, due to the heavy use of sprays and their very thin skin.

Carrots - Europe will be banning the use of pesticides on carrots, parsnips, and other similar foods in the next decade, but the United States currently has no such plans.

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The Clean List:

The following foods have thick and/or tough skins, so any chemical residue is discarded with the skin. Of course you should always rinse your fruits and vegetables before you eat them, whether you're consuming the skin or not.

Avocados

Sweet Corn

Pineapple

Mango

Sweet peas

Kiwi

Eggplant

Papaya

Watermelon

And these have little threat of pests and other problems during their growth, so the use of chemicals during the growing process is generally unnecessary and slight:

Onions

Asparagus

Cabbage

Broccoli

And finally, two vegetables that were previously on the "dirty" list and were recently found to be clean (for reasons that the Environmental Working Group are not sure of) are potatoes and tomatoes.

When in doubt, and if money is no object, of course buy the organic versions! But if you're like me, and sometimes have to choose between making the healthiest choice and, well, paying the mortgage, then being careful and informed can go a long way to ensuring that you're taking the best path possible.