Background Susan’s Article ‘Top 15 ecolicious Food tips’

How much do we really know about what gets to our plates? What do we eat/drink, how was it produced and where does it come from? How can we make the right choices in this forest of food where we can hardly see the trees? We see the packaging and the labels with the stamp organic or all natural or GMO free, but it often does not make any sense. Since we know that our planet is in distress, that our food production cycle is out of balance, that more than 1 billion people do not have secure access to food, that we cope with animal disease and more and more with foodborne illnesses, water pollution, not to mention loss of biodiversity, climate change and depletion of natural resources, we know we have to change something. In the US, even 76 million people become ill by eating their food. More and more people suffer from diabetes, even one third of all people in the US. And it is not even that strange, if you consider that a heavily subsidized hamburger at McD is 1$ and 2 apples in a supermarket costing more. That is why many people that earn less, eat less healthy and less diverse, which adds to their health problems.

We cannot just watch and see and see it go badly and off to worse and worse! Simply ask yourself: do I want to eat food that is genetically modified, do I want to buy food that has traveled around the world to get to my plate, do I really need strawberries in winter or can I eat pears instead, do I want chickens or cows to be extremely badly treated and buy that cheap chicken breast or steak in the supermarket, do I want all these pesticides on my fruit and vegetables? We, the consumers, have a choice to make, three times a day. With that choice you make a vote for your own health, and a healthier planet. Giants like Wal-mart in the US and Albert Heijn (less of a giant but still), have already changed the pattern by selling organic and local products. And we can do more: make that choice for you, for the planet! I have made it even easier by enlisting my top 15, so it is easy to start today. Let the fun begin!

1. Research, know the definitions and what’s in your meal

Do all the logo’s make any sense? What does ‘natural’ food mean and what is the difference with organic or fair trade for that matter? Ever wondered what GMO means or what kind of additives your food contains? How far does your food actually travel to get here and what impact does it have on the environment?

Always in a rush to get food, simply not having the time and no ideas on what to eat tonight. Just too much to choose from and why be picky? If they are allowed to sell the food it’s fine, right? Well, this isn’t always true. Without noticing you might be eating food containing many harmful toxics or food that you would NEVER eat when realizing how it was produced or what harmful impact it has on our planet. To avoid that and to just make some sense out of the wondrous world of food, spend some minutes of your time on the web to discover the fine distinctions in our food. It will SAVE you time as well, because when you know more, you become more efficient in choosing your dinner at the supermarket.

2. You are what you eat: look for the organic options

After your research you know what organic food means (food that has undergone greatly restricted use of conventional non-organic pesticides, insecticides and herbicides, is free of artificial additives, GMO free, and processed with fewer artificial methods) and the good it does to your food, your health and this planet, search for the organic options in your local supermarket. When it costs that dollar or some cents extra, please have in mind that it not only tastes better (top chefs have been using organic products for years and not because it was trendy, mostly for the better taste), but it is also much better for your health. Almost every supermarket offers some organic goodies. Check out what they are, where they are from and especially, how they taste. One step further: ask your supermarket to stock organic products or organize an all organic party.

Look at the website www.organicitsworthit.org to learn why organic is worth it.

At the least, for your own sake, eat organically what gets to your plate daily. If you eat 2 cucumbers a day, it is very clever to buy them organically. This has the biggest impact on reducing the pesticide and herbicide load on your body, and the planet. EU study shows that organic vegetables hold 40% more antioxidants (which prevent cancer and heart disease). Organic milk was found to hold 90% more antioxidants than conventional milk.

3. Diversify and go for the whole foods

By diversifying your meals, you reinforce diversity in the food production and the market for non-industrialized food. Choosing whole foods (vegetables, peas, nuts, beans, grains, fruit) over processed food (ready to eat meals, snacks etc) saves you a lot of intake of preservatives, additives, fat, salt, sugar and thus, a better heath, not only for you.

4. Eating out: choose green

Organic food increasingly becomes an important part of restaurants. By supporting restaurants that welcome environmental and socially conscious food practices, you are making the point that a healthier planet and its people matter. Surf on the web and find the best organic restaurants. Or read the book Greenopia for all the Green restaurants in NYC or for the Netherlands: the book Puur or visit www.bioboodschappen.nl or www.dinegreen.com

5. Look where your products come from: buy locally

We, consumers, decided that we should be able to eat whatever and whenever we want. Food travels far, real far! A typical meal includes ingredients from 5 different countries, from different continents and travel at least 1500 miles (= over 2400 kilometer). Globalization has so many advantages, but this is not one of them. It takes loads of energy to get the food on your plate, meaning more CO2 in the atmosphere and contribution to global warming. Moreover, more pesticides are used to preserve the food during transport; study shows that local food contains more vitamins and minerals.

The best thing to do (even more crucial than eating organic) is eating local, seasonal food. Buying locally and in-season food has many advantages: it’s fresher and healthier, it supports local farmers and prevents the neighborhood from turning into one big golf course or parking lot, energy costs are way less, meaning better for you and for the planet. If you just cannot go without pineapple or grapes from another continent, choose organic, especially if it comes from developing countries.

Find a fruit or veggie calendar on a website and start eating locally and seasonally.

Visit www.localharvest.org for farmer’s markets in the US or the www.eatwellguide.com for the US and Canada. Need more information? Read the Article ‘Food miles and the relative climate impacts of food choices in the US’ www.vegetarisme.be

6. Consider going vegetarian or vegan or at least eat less (factory-farmed) meat

Consumption of proteins harms the environment way more than plant-based food. To produce one kilo of meat, three to five times as much crops is necessary which means more land use, energy costs, transport costs and loss of biodiversity (e.g. rainforests). Widespread use of hormones and antibiotics (and GMOs to produce the food) is day-to-day business. Output of animals causes widespread water pollution and pollution of farmlands and of neighboring communities. Enormous amounts of energy and water are used to run farm operations, to package meat, to transport it etc. Meat production account for at least 18% of our global greenhouse gas emission, contributing to climate change. It globally disrupts the cycle of nutrition. Monocultures to produce food for animals leads to unemployment and poverty for many people in developing countries. Factory farming causes a lot of suffering for the animals. Meat is often unhealthy because it contains saturated fat and harmful cholesterol, let alone the intake of antibiotics and hormones. Moreover, it costs less to eat something else! You can’t believe the waste of resources, of land, of fresh water, of people, of animals, of our planet and all because it tastes good? Eating less meat is good for you, good for the planet, for the animals, for people in other countries.

And really, I can honestly say that I find it very easy to find very good tasting alternatives. Many vegetarian cooking books are available or check the amount of vegetarian recipes online. Try it for a while or make a commitment to first eat 1 day vegetarian, then 2, then 3 and so forth. Be a ‘flexitarian’! I love that word. I promise you that you will feel better. Research has actually shown that vegetarians are 50 percent less likely to develop heart disease, and they have 40 percent of the cancer rate of meat-eaters. They generally live 6 years longer.

Need more convincing, visit this great website: http://www.goveg.com/environment-wastedResources.asp or check out this paper on the benefits of being vegetarian: www.veg.ca/living/veg-position-paper.html And do read the book: ‘Eating Animals’ by Jonathan Saffran Foer. He is truly a magnificent writer with unbiased and honest display of the consequences of our meat choices today.

Watching the movie ‘Meat the truth’, ‘Our daily bread’, or ‘Food Inc’ gives you some excellent insight in the food and meat industry: an image says way more than a 1000 words, that’s for sure. Another tip: watch some videos on peta.org: ‘Meet your meat’ and ‘Chew on this’ are excellent, the latter providing 30 reasons to go vegetarian in less than 4 minutes.

7. Fish? Be picky!

In 2050, the sea will be empty if we continue fishing in this pace, shocking but true. Imagine that, no fish in the sea! Some fish populations have already decreased enormously, e.g. tuna and swordfish by 90%. Most important reasons are changing ocean temperatures due to climate change, dams in rivers, overfishing and by catching, and water pollution. Moreover, some fish are truly harmful for your health, especially for women of childbearing age. Remember that especially big fish, e.g. shark, swordfish, king mackerel contains big amounts of heavy metals like mercury which can cause neurological problems to fetuses and young children).

In general, eat less fish and choose smartly! Pay attention to the Marine Stewardship Council certification (Msc), the international non-profit organization that works internationally to certify fisheries based on the type of fish caught and the methods used to catch the fish. Choose for scallops, squid, clams, oysters over tuna, shark, shrimps and grouper. Also pay attention to fish farming. It may not be the best choice as e.g. farmed salmon requires five times their own weight in fish protein, antibiotics are used, fish are kept in very densely populated areas and farmers often discharge concentrated waste in the ocean, e.g. avoid farmed salmon and shrimp cultivation). In 2004, the journal Science discovered that farmed fish, compared to wild fish, contain 10 times more PCBs – which can cause many brain problems -, dioxins and even banned pesticides.

For US citizens, check out http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/download.aspx and download your Seafood guide or download the SeafoodWatch I-phone App. Dutch citizens can visit  http://www.goedevis.nl/Download%20viswijzer to download the fish guide

8. Dirty dozen, rather not!

Scientist agree that even a small amount of pesticides and other chemicals can cause lasting damage to human health and advise to minimize our consumption. The dirty dozen, the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables are: Peach, Apple, Bell Peppers, Celery, Nectarine, Strawberries, Cherries, Kale, Lettuce, Grapes (Imported), Carrot, Pear.

Potatoes, spinach, green beans, bananas aren’t the best choices either.

It would be much better for your health to eat less of the DD or eat them at least organically and rather one of the clean fifteen: Onion, Avocado, Sweet Corn, Pineapple, Mango, Asparagus, Sweet Peas, Kiwi, Cabbage, Eggplant, Papaya, Watermelon, Broccoli, Tomato. Read more on www.foodnews.org and download the list or the I-phone App

9. Go for the tap

Water bottles are very fashionable nowadays. It seems so fresh and good for you to drink from lovely mountain springs or alpine creeks. Usually, water from bottles, however is just the same as water from the tap. Especially in developed countries with regulated public water supplies and where temperatures are not as high as to infect water with germs, it is perfectly safe and healthy to drink from the tap. More compelling reasons to drink from the tap is the vast amount of energy used to bottle water, to transport it across the country, oil used to produce plastic bottles and the amount of waste it delivers (most bottles end up in landfills or incinerators). I would suggest using water filtration systems instead of bottled water if you doubt the quality of your water.

10. Choose soy over cow milk

Generally, milk is good for your health; at least that’s what they told us year after year after year. In some countries, milk commercials and intake were or are even subsidized by the government to boost the industry. Milk is not such an uncontroversial product as you might think. Cows are one of the greatest burdens on this planet: think of all the manure they produce, what they all must eat, their 30% global contribution to methane – a greenhouse gas eight times stronger than carbon dioxide – and the antibiotics they need to curb illnesses or hormones intake to encourage milk production, the energy costs for transport and running the farm (e.g. climate control in the barns). Conventional cows from factory farms don’t have the possibility to move; crops are brought to them keeping them close to the milking barn.

Consider an alternative. (Organic) soymilk is a very good alternative and available in almost every supermarket. Rice or almond milk are possibilities as well, although less common. They are extracted from natural ingredients, do not produce methane, manure, bad treatment of animals and use of antibiotics or hormones. They contain comparable amounts of protein and vitamins and minerals are added if lacking. Soymilk comes in two variable, sweetened and unsweetened. Some may have to get used to the taste, but again remember all the advantages and try it multiple times.

11. Coffee and tea: buy responsibly

Products like coffee, tea, cacao or soy are usually produced in developing countries. Agricultural policies know some supplemental specific problems there, e.g. the cutting of tropical forests, the irresponsible use of detergents, erosion, loss of biodiversity, neglecting local communities, child labor and bad labor conditions. Pay attention to certification as fair trade or Oxfam Novib.

For all coffee and tea production, the environment suffers, especially due to the use of pesticides and fertilizers, water use and high transport costs. When drinking coffee and tea, buy the organic alternative. Another comment: use the least paper coffee filters as possible.

12. Choose organicoholic

Again, choose organic or biodynamic wines and beers. Conventional wines may contain sulfites, known to have negative health effects on many people and again pesticides and fertilizers are used. Organic beer is harder to find, but available. It means that ingredients used, for example hops and barley, are grown and processed without the use of pesticides, fertilizers and fungicides. Even organic spirits are available, e.d. vodka, tequila, whiskey, gin and rum.

13. Reuse, recycle, reduce

For example:

- Bring bags to supermarkets!!,

- Reuse glass jars for storing food,

- Cover pans when cooking, it saves energy and speeds the cooking process

- Reuse boiled water, e.g. for pasta or vegetables to spray your plants (first cool it down of course),

- Choose for the least packaged food product in store or ask for minimum amount of package necessary,

- Avoid products that uses needless extra plastics and paper for packaging. Usually this means, buy in great quantities and avoid single-serving products,

- Save food (easily to store in a bowl, use cloth (instead of paper) napkins and reuse them (before washing),

- When shopping for packaged products, search for the companies that use minimal amounts of packaging or recycled materials,

- Wash fruit in a bowl instead of letting water run for a long time,

- Only let the dishwasher run when it is completely filled (clean by hand if you only have a small amount of dishes/pans to clean,

- If you order take-out and eat it at home, bring your own bag and don’t take what you don’t eat (e.g. napkins, forks etc).

14. Carbohydrates: choose local and organic, no white rice

When it comes to carbohydrates, eat local and organic products as much as possible for the reasons named above. Also keep in mind that rice is a huge methane emitter, the very powerful greenhouse gas emission (responsible for 23% of warming potential in he atmosphere). It could be stated that there is no other crop that is emitting such a large amount of greenhouse gas. If you are a huge fan of rice like me, buy brown rice. White rice has a long assembly line, meaning over processing that removes most of what’s good for you, such as beneficial vitamins and nutrients and requires much more energy. Potatoes and pasta (usually made from wheat flower) add to lower energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

15. Grow your own where possible

It is not all that hard, at least when you have a garden or a balcony. Relying on practices as cover cropping, crop rotation and composting, rather than toxic and persistent pesticides and synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, to enrich the soil adds a lot to the quality of your food. When you grow it yourself, you know for sure that you do not eat toxic food, but rather food with higher nutrient content and often a better tasting as well. Local farmers or environmental groups can be of good help as they are aware of local conditions, what grows well and what problems you may encounter. You can buy organic seeds rom local or online retailers and use organic methods to keep insects etc away.

Books like: Rodale’s Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Green Resource for Every Gardener can be of great help.