Mindful Eats

Green Feminine Hygiene Products: Organic Cotton/Menstrual Cups

It is health that is real wealth, and not pieces of gold and silver. ~Mohandas Gandhi

This post is for the women. Men, I recommend you stop reading here. Stop. Because we're going to be talking about MENSTRUAL PERIOD stuff.

{Yup, that got rid of the guys.}

So when it comes to that time of the month, how do you handle it? Pads, tampons, organic tampons? I recently found a new feminine hygiene product (hate that term) that isn't a tampon or a pad. Actually, it's not new - it's been around since the 1930's. It's more effective, more comfortable and much more environmental. What is it you ask? It's a menstrual cup, which is basically a bell-shaped cup made from medical grade silicone, polyethylene or other nonlatex materials that is worn inside the vagina to collect menstrual fluid.

I think most women find the product journey to be something like this:

1. Conventional Sanitary Pads. They are easy to use and figure out. However, there can be leaking and messiness involved, and it feels like you're sitting on a pillow so some women turn to
2. Conventional Tampons. These are so much harder to learn to use than pads, but provide so much more freedom once you get used to them. However, they still require regular purchasing and can be leaky. Wondering about the health effects of them, you might turn to
3. Unbleached Organic Tampons. If you have something in you for days, you want to make sure its as toxin- free as possible. Your vagina absorbs well, which is why medicines can be delivered through vaginal suppositories. Using nonchlorinated tampons means less chemicals for you and the environment.

I was at stage 3, and wondering if there was anything better because tampons really aren't all that great. I hate having to remember to buy them, they're drying and they can leak. They also didn't feel green - all the material and energy that went into making them and then they were disposed of. Then one day I read an article about menstrual cups. Soon after that I was at Whole Foods buying some nonchlorinated cotton tampons, and I saw some menstrual cups. 

They seemed weird, but in the name of science, I bought one. What happens to the fluid? Isn't it messy?

After three months, I love it. I can't feel it, it doesn't leak, it's not drying, there's no string hanging around, I don't need to remember to bring a tampon to the bathroom (because it's always with you), and I've saved a lot of money.  I wish I'd learned about them 10 years ago!

What's the downside? The icky factor (which isn't so icky). So here's the unvarnished scoop:

Produce: Dirty Dozen and Clean 15

You cannot build a better world without improving individuals. ~Marie Curie

You know how sometimes you have seemingly opposing goals like 1) you want to lose weight AND 2) eat delicious food?  (Okay, I gave that to you as a confidence booster because you already know how to do that. Eat whole unprocessed foods, yum.)  Well, maybe one of your New Year's resolutions is to eat more produce.  So what if you want to 1) eat organic to reduce your chemical intake in the form of pesticides AND 2) you want to be light on your wallet?

Fortunately, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has compiled a list of the "Dirty Dozen" fruits and vegetables with the most pesticide residue, and a list of the "Clean 15" with the least pesticide revenue. You can significantly limit your pesticide intake by avoiding the "Dirty Dozen" and eating the "Clean 15". Likewise you can stretch your dollar by buying the Dirty Dozen organic and the Clean 15 conventional. Now that it's winter, there are several items on the Clean 15 that are seasonal: onions, cabbage, sweet potatoes, grapefruit and mushrooms.

What if you can't buy the Dirty Dozen organic? Just go ahead and eat them. You deserve a gold star for eating unprocessed foods. What if you don't have a budget constraint? Buy everything organic since it's better for our environment not to be depositing chemicals on our soils.

Here's the current list of Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 Foods, but check the EWG database since it is updated.

Dirty Dozen

1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines - Imported
7. Grapes - Imported
8. Sweet bell peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries - Domestic
11. Lettuce
12. Kale/Collard Greens

Clean 15

1. Onions
2. Sweet Corn - there is no required labeling for Genetically Modified Foods, so you may want to purchase this oganically to avoid genetically engineered corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet Peas
7. Mangoes
8. Eggplant
9. Cantaloupe - Domestic
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet Potatoes
14. Grapefruit
15. Mushrooms

Want to learn more?

• The Low Down on Organic Food
• What is conventionally grown, industrial food?
• EWG Database

What I ate today: 4T blackstrap molasses, 4T apple cider vinegar, cheese popcorn, caramel popcorn, olive oil popcorn, brown rice, sauteed kale, boiled shrimp, cheese, 1.5 cups coffee + cream, whole wheat spaghetti + bolagnaise sauce + spinach, 1 apple, 30 oz. water

Exercise: jogged 4 miles, 60 situps, 6 pushups

 

All About Eggs and their Benefits

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him. ~Abraham Lincoln

Photo Credit: Delish.com

You know what you should have for breakfast? Eggs. You know what you should have as a snack? A hard boiled egg. You should be eating eggs regularly. Yup, you. Unless you have 1) allergies, 2) diet restrictions (e.g. you're vegan), or 3) disease restrictions (e.g. diabetes). Eggs are little powerhouses of goodness - they are a nearly perfect protein and packed with other nutrients. They are also cheap compared to other protein sources. 

Eggs are a nutritional powerhouse. The protein in eggs are such high quality that all other proteins are measured against them. They contain 18 out of the 20 amino acids, and all the essential amino acids (essential means that your body can't synthesize them - they can only come from your diet) which makes them a complete protein. 43% of the protein is in the yolk, while 57% is in the whites. Eggs are also one of the best sources of choline, which is tough to find elsewhere but important for brain health and reduces inflammation. Eggs also contain all vitamins except for Vitamin C (though not necessarily in significant amounts). And what about the common knock of eggs being bad for your cholesterol? Research has not shown a connection between moderate egg consumption (1 per day) and high cholesterol levels. One extra-large egg contains 7g of protein (14% RDA), choline (30% RDA), and only 80 calories.

What are the best eggs? Egg quality is affected by freshness and chicken health. Most eggs consumed in the U.S. are chicken eggs. You want to eat eggs from the healthiest, happiest hens. Makes sense, yes? Factory chickens that are sick, dosed up on antibiotics, can't move (let alone exercise) because they are smushed in a cage with nine others getting pooped on from chickens above them, pooping on chickens below them, and eating only grain are not going to make the best quality eggs. Go to the farmer's market where you can ask the farmer how her chickens live. The best eggs come from hens that can spend their days outdoors, poking around for bugs in grass. These girls produce healthy eggs with more Omega-3's. Chickens weren't meant to be vegetarians! Find a producer you can trust, and buy eggs that were recently laid. They're the tastiest and most nutritious. Eggs are a cheap protein. Pay up for the best ones. You're worth it.

So what do all those labels mean - cage free, pastured, organic? Pretty much nothing. There are no standards, except for certified organic.  The only thing I trust that to mean is that the chickens eat organic grain. The best thing to do is talk to the farmers at the market about the way their hens are raised. Ask if you can visit their farms or see some pictures.

How can one distinguish egg quality? When you have a healthy, fresh egg, you'll notice right away when you try to crack it. Thwack! That egg is hard to crack because the shell is strong. The chicken had adequate calcium to make that egg. She ran around in open air and ate bugs for protein. Then when you open it, the egg stays tight and contained instead of spreading out all over the place. You notice a bright yolk that sits up high above the white. It's trying to say hello. The whites are tight and thick instead of runny, and you can notice the two layers of whites - a tighter white that's surrounded by a paler white. The highest quality are Grade AA, then Grade A and finally B. B and below usually goes to restaurants and food service.

How should eggs be stored? Eggs are porous and can dry out, so they should be stored in your refrigerator. Preferably in the cardboard carton if they are going to be kept for a while.

Are some egg colors better than others? An egg derives its color solely from pigmentation. If they come from a brown hen, the eggs are brown. If they come from a white hen, the eggs are white. Besides color, there are no nutritional differences. Certain breeds of chickens produce different colors - for example, Platine Bleues produce blue eggs, which I personally think are richer. Try different types as you come across them and let me know what you think!

How is an egg made? Eggs begin their journeys inside a hen, and take about 26 hours to be made. Eggs don't need to be fertilized. The hen creates a yolk as part of ovulation, and it is released into her oviduct. If it is going to be fertilized, that is where it happens. In either case, as the yolk travels down the oviduct, a membrane than the whites are created around it. Then at the bottom of the oviduct, the hard calcium shell is created.

Fun fact - most hens lay their eggs in the morning before noon. None are laid after 3pm.

Tip: Want to eat more eggs? Hard boil a dozen and leave them in the refrigerator for a fast breakfast or snack.

Hens confronted by snow - they stayed in

Acknowlegement to Aliza Holtz for a great deal of egg knowledge

What I ate: 2 slices toast + hazelnut butter, 4 clementines, 1 apple, 32 oz. chicken rice soup, 3 green tea mochi ice creams, bacon ranch popcorn, 1 dark Chocalive truffle, sauteed shrimp + brussell sprouts, 1 cup quinoa, 2 squares dark chocolate, 16 oz water + blackstrap molasses + apple cider vinegar,  50 oz. water + Vitamin C

Exercise: jogged 4 miles

 

 

 

Satur Farms Profile: What Makes Vegetables Better Quality and/or More Expensive?

Baby spinach at Satur Farms

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. ~Henry David Thoreau

Do you ever wonder why some baby spinach is tastier and more expensive than others? The answer, Mindful Readers, is care and freshness, as I learned at Satur Farms. I'd first noticed Satur Farms produce proudly listed on many restaurant menus in NYC. When I mentioned them to private chef Stephane Lemagenen of Zen Can Cook, he enthused "Satur Farms grows the best produce I've seen anywhere on the East Coast. From various types of lettuce to baby vegetables and zuchinni blossoms in the summer, the quality and variety of their produce is just outstanding."

So when Emma, one of my favorite foodies at FreshDirect, suggested that I meet the owners of Satur Farms, I jumped at the chance because 1) I wanted to see what went behind the vegetables that are so well established among NYC chefs and 2) Emma has good ideas.

After a couple conversations, I hopped in a Mint Car and drove out to the North Fork of Long Island to meet Paulette Satur. Having never been to a produce farm before, I didn't know what to expect. (Well, I knew one thing - they have a strict food safety program since I wasn't allowed to bring my dog.) After rolling through miles of flat land, I turned down a charming street and ended up at a large, gorgeous farm. Low slung wooden buildings blend into the surroundings, there are trucks and portapotties, and the entire farm and facility hums with an organized energy.

I found Paulette responding to customers via email in the office. After a few minutes, her husband, Eberhard Muller, burst through the door. While Paulette seems cool and collected, Eberhard is voluble and warm. They give off the intellectually curious vibe of explorers - a couple that stumbled onto something they were good at, then worked really hard to become great at it with a lot of learning and interesting discoveries on the way.

Have they always been farmers? Fascinatingly, no. Paulette was a wine distributor. Eberhard was a celebrated chef whose last post was as Executive Chef at Lutece before he became a full time farmer. Having grown up on a farm, Paulette always wanted to own one. So naturally, when they bought a weekend house on Long Island, they started a garden. Enamoured of the freshness and quality of the produce Eberhard brought it back to use at Lutece. Soon, chef friends were clamoring for their produce, and the couple started farming four acres to satisfy that need. At some point, they had to hire someone to manage their "farm", and as demand grew, they farmed 11 acres, then 35. Now they farm 180 acres with 4 crop rotations per year, or 510 acres.

Chefs (and now retail customers) appreciate Satur Farms for the high quality of their produce. It is obvious that their crops are meticulously and painstakingly cared for. When Paulette and Eberhard decided that growing specialty vegetables on the North Fork was going to be their full-time vocation, they were told by 2-3 people it was impossible. They dug their heels in and persisted, tending their land and buying the equipment that would allow them to become efficient.

As we toured the farm, it was clear that everything was planned with great care. In my unexperienced eyes, everything looked cleaner, more orderly and better cared for than I would hope for. The crops are rotated to make sure the land stays fertile, and the minimum amount of chemicals are used. Paulette explained that extreme weather conditions like humidity made it necessary to use chemicals to keep out fungus and other pests. In addition to the production acres they farm, they keep experimental beds for new crops that chefs request or they are interested in growing.

Wild arugula in a resting crop bed

Equally important as the care that goes into growing their produce is the freshness of it. It is of utmost importance to Paulette and Eberhard that they get produce picked and to customers within 24 hours since fresh food has the best taste. Satur Farms harvests, washes and packages its produce in the morning, then trucks it to customers in the afternoon. This freshness is just not comparable to produce that is grown far away (for example, in California, as it can take 10 days to get to us on the East Coast). Due to the time differential, produce that is shipped long distances is not picked ripe. You can imagine the taste difference. To satisfy their customers' needs for produce in the winter, Eberhard moves to Florida from October through the spring, where they lease 170 acres. He ships to Paulette and it arrives within 24 hours for her to package out to customers. 

Paulette explained that plants continue to produce energy after being picked, so if you harvest some greens and put them in a box overnight, then plunge your hands in the box the next morning, it will be a warm 90+ degrees. She explained this right before she showed me the quick chiller, where all harvested produce was brought down to a chilly temp within a couple minutes. Immediately after being chilled, it is washed and packed and sent on its way. Paulette commented several times about the aroma of fresh lettuce in the morning. You don't think of lettuce as fragrant, do you? However it's easy to imagine the heady fresh scent - probably not unlike freshly mown grass. I think I'd like a lettuce candle.

In addition to producing great food, Paulette and Eberhard believe in doing things as environmentally as possible, from growing to packaging. They also dream of reviving the agricultural community in Long Island to create more jobs. In recognition of their community efforts, Paulette was recenty appointed to the Governor's Regional Economic Council. Is there anything else these two can do? Oh, they recently acquired a new larger packaging facility so they can continue to grow and be more accessible to all of us. In addition to supplying top restaurants in the region, Satur Farms can now be purchased by retail consumers at FreshDirect and Whole Foods. If you are in the New York region, try their vegetables for a quality and flavor boost. If you're not, get out and meet your local growers!

Experimental beds and crops from gazebo

 

What I ate: OIympus Greek strawberry yogurt, 1 banana + Justin's chocolate hazel nut butter, 2 lattes, 4 Whole Foods Two Bite Chocolate Chip cookies, Rising Moon Organics mushroom ravioli + pesto, 4 cups of popcorn, brie cheese, grapes, 1 slize veggie pizza, pasta, mushroom stuffing, 3 mussels, salad, mashed potatoes, rhubarb pie + vanilla ice cream, 45 oz. water

Exercise: jogged 5 miles

 

 

Eat Whole Foods: Organic OR Conventional

Blueberries, strawberries and cherries

Live each season as it passes; breath the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit and resign yourself to the influences of each. -Henry David Thoreau

Summer harvest is on! There's a bounty of fruit and vegetables in the farmer's markets and grocery stores that isn't available the rest of the year. My stove has gone OFF, except for the occasional wild-caught salmon and hard-boiled eggs.

I find myself getting caught up in looking for local and organic offerings. Earlier in the season I was obsessed with delicious organic blueberries at their peak. Then they disappeared. Blueberries are one of my favorite foods, yet I almost stopped eating them because the most delicious organic ones seemed to disappear earlier in the season. Then I remembered that eating seasonal, fresh food is the best food to be eating. Even if it's not organic. Organically farmed produce is better for the environment, and I'd prefer to eat chemical free food, but sometimes it's just not available. Or sometimes you've lost your job, and you can't quite afford to buy organic food. It's OKAY. Here's your free pass to not feeling guilty (if you do). You're doing the right thing for the health of you and your loved ones by supplying them with fresh whole foods. Conventional fresh food is in a completely superior league to processed foods, even if they are organic processed foods. So keep filling your cart with conventional zucchini, apples and cherries.

And I'll keep eating New Jersey conventional blueberries. I'd rather buy them organic, but well-washed conventional blueberries at the peak of deliciousness are a happy alternative.

Want to learn more?

• What is processed food?
• What is conventionally grown, industrial food?

What I ate: 2 lattes, 1 banana, Hawthorne Valley yogurt + blueberries + strawberries + ground flaxseed, blueberries, donut peach, 4 slices When Pigs Fly multigrain bread with pumpkin seeds, 2 with Jason's Hazelnut spread, 1 avocado, 1 heirloom tomato, 1 handful Herbert's spelt sticks, Cambodian sauteed tofu + broccoli, brown rice, cherries, 16 oz milk, water

Exercise: exercised the puppy - jogged 1.5 miles, walked 4 miles

 

Non-toxic red lipstick and the Environmental Working Group Cosmetics Database

  Juice Beauty Reflecting Lip Gloss in Guava, Lipstick in Fig, and Smashbox in Legendary

Mindful Eaters, you already know that you are what you eat. The food that goes inside you directly impacts the way you feel and look. That's why you're so gorgeous, bright-eyed, and bushy-tailed. Almost as/just as important as what you eat is what you put on you. Your skin is your largest organ, and it's meant to simultaneously protect you and be superabsorbent. Eliminate those toxins and you'll be even more gorgeous and energetic. We've covered body and beauty products before, now we're going to talk make-up (sorry boys).

I've never been a consistent lipstick wearer since I didn't like the staining, but I suddenly wanted that red 1940's look and became obsessed with red lipstick a few weeks ago. I thought it would be easy to find one since every makeup company makes at least one fire engine color. Then I decided to run my favorite brands through the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) Cosmetics Database and made two discoveries, one good and one bad. 1) the EWG Database had vastly improved. It was always in the MindfulEats Resource List, but we'd never featured it since it was clunky and hard to use. Now it's radically more user-friendly, and it's not perfect, but it's really an amazing resource. 2) All the most popular lipstick brands rate at least a 5 in toxicity (out of 10). Not good. No wonder they stain! The highest concerns are Neurotoxicity, Endocrine disruption, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Biochemical or cellular level changes. Nasty. I think my favorite is bioaccumulation - who wants to accumulate toxins in your body?

After a great deal of searching, I didn't find anything perfect. But I did find two brands of lipstick that ranked lower on the toxicity scale: Juice Beauty (2/10), and Smashbox (3/10). 0 is obviously the best, but these brands were the easiest for me to find. I only bought Smashbox (Legendary) to get the bright red - it wasn't my favorite red, but it was close enough and I'd rather have something slightly less toxic. Juice Beauty has really limited colors (two) but I love the product - it feels great and the gloss is nice too. I might have to start making my own lipstick, but until there's a MindfulMakeup line, I'm going to go with these.

What to do - Check Your Products

1. Run your current body and beauty products through the EWG Database. Or if you're looking for something new, run your old product and other alternatives throught the database.
2. Pick a threshold that you don't want anything over. For example, 4/10. Read up on the higher toxicity products. Some natural brands like Weleda might rank higher than that - find out why. some natural brands rate highly for potential allergans, and if you're not allergic, the product is ok for you.
3. Throw away all the products that exceed your threshold. Yup, throw them away. You have permission.
4. Replace your items with lower toxicity, natural products.
5. Notice how much better you feel!

Resources:

• Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetics Database
• Body and beauty product and facial product recommendations (Mindul Eats)
• Mindful Eats Resource List for all kinds of useful links and info

 

What I ate: blueberries + ground flaxseed + Hawthorne Valley Plain yogurt, 8 strawberries, Happy Herbert's spelt sticks, grape tomatoes, whole wheat spaghetti + sundried tomato pesto + ground flaxseed, 1 latte, chocolate farm cake, tofu pad see ew, 50 oz water

Exercise: 5 mile walk/jog with my new dog

 

 

 

Mindful Flowers - Organic or Local

  A cyclist loads up with flowers at the Union Square Greenmarket

A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love. ~Max Muller

Happy Valentine's Day gorgeous! V-Day is around the corner - love it or hate it, it's time to cuddle up with your cutie or make googly eyes at yourself ('cause even if you don't have someone special right now, there's no one more lovable than adorable you).

Don't flowers say "Je t'aime"? As a token of your love, you probably don't want flowers that cause secret misery by getting people sick, contaminating the soil and depleting water. Unfortunately, most of the flowers sold in the U.S. are grown in massive South American flower farms that do just that. Americans prefer large, perfect blooms at the cheapest possible price, so the farms step in with minimum wage labor and as many as 127 different chemicals (primarily pesticides and fungicides). The flowers grown are not native to the area and the water they require depletes the groundwater tables. Flower workers suffer from higher rates of rashes, headaches and birth abnormalities among their children from the highly toxic chemicals used. 

Nearly all cornerstore blooms are from these farms. If you want to find innocent blooms, you can find flowers that are grown locally, grown organically, or purchase flowers that have been certified.

What to do - Gift Mindful Flowers

1. Grow your own and clip them. Martha Stewart does it! Start off by giving your loved one an organic plant.
2. Buy flowers from the farmer's market. You can ask the flower grower about his growing practices, and you know exactly where they are coming from.  Since they were living just that morning or yesterday, they might even smell since they aren't being shipped weeks in advance.
3. Buy flowers from your local florist. You can ask about the specific blooms, and purchase the ones that are grown ethically. If there aren't any, tell the florist about your interest.
4. Buy organic flowers - if you can't find them locally, you can find them online at Organic Bouquet. No pesticides or fungicides went into these blooms. 
5. Buy flowers certified by programs like Fair Trade, VeriFlora and the Rainflower Alliance. These programs provide environmental and labor standards in South America, and while they are not organic, they limit the use of pesticides and require workers to be treated fairly. Whole Foods has Fair Trade flowers.

Want to learn more?

• The Secrets Behind Your Flowers - article on Columbian flower farms
• To Pull a Thorn From the Side of the Planet - New York Times article on flowers
• Whole Trade Flowers Make a Difference - Whole Foods blog post
• How to Alleviate Misery

What I ate: hardboiled egg, latte, quinoa, steamed baby bok choy + tempeh, 6 squares dark chocolate, rice crackers, hot chocolate, Mermaid Inn: flat bread, lobster + truffle mac and cheese, seafood stew, chocolate mousse, 40 oz. water

Exercise: Ran 4 miles, 15 min upper body weights 

 

What is the best milk?

Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination. ~Roy Goodman

Ever since I ended up in the milk business, I've been fielding all kinds of milk questions from friends - especially those with kids. So I'm writing them this letter:

Dear Friends,

Thanks for all your questions about milk! I know you want to feed you and your loved ones the best quality food, especially the little ones. So here's what I've learned over the past few months.

What is the best milk I can buy? A few factors go into the "best" milk. Milk is generally valued for nutrition since it provides nine essential nutrients: calcium, potassium, protein, phosphorus, Vitamins A, D, and B12, riboflavin and niacin. As a whole food, raw milk is full of "milky goodness." But most people don't drink raw milk, so if you're looking for th emost nutritions, here are the things to think about:

• Pasteurization level. Milk needs to be well-handled so bad pathogens can grow in it. Pasteurization kills bad pathogens, but it also kills good nutrients (the milky goodness you're looking for). The lowest possible pasteurization level (vat) manages to kill the bad pathogens and the least amount of good nutrients. The higher the pasteurization temperature, the more good nutrients it kills until you are left with sterilized white water (blech, why bother?). It's better for retailers but not for you. Ultrapasteurization means milk lasts 2-3 months unopened. You can tell how much it's pasteurized by reading the label - it will say "Pasteurized" or "Unpasteurized."
• Organic or not. There isn't any conclusive evidence that organic is healthier, yet one of the recommendations from the President's Cancer Panel in 2010 is to eat organic and avoid chemicals in food. Especially for children whose systems are not fully grown yet. Organic milk is chemical-free. No antibiotics or hormones. The feed that organic cows eat is also pesticide and chemical free, and they are required to have access to pasture. You can wait for studies to come out proving one is healthier than the other, or you can just follow common sense and avoid chemicals when you can. A recent British study suggests that organic milk contains less saturated fat and more good fatty acids.
• Hormones. Hormones increase milk production in cows. Lots of milk is labeled as BGH or rBST free even when it isn't organic. Again, nothing has been proven about hormone use, but many people want to avoid them. Some people theorize that the hormones in milk and meat may lead to earlier onset puberty, but nothing has been proven.
• Fat level. Doctors recommend that children under the age of 2 get enough fat to help brain development, which is why kids drink whole milk. Some people believe that the fats in whole milk are good for you as it is a whole food, but if you want lower fat levels, it's up to you.
• Vitamin D. Vitamin D is a hot topic these days, and it needs to be added to all processed milk. One cup supplies 25% of an adult's RDA.

Which milk tastes the best? We think the cow's diet and the pasteurization level has the biggest impact to flavor. Cows are meant to eat grass, so we like dairies that graze their animals. The lowest level pasteurization produces the freshest milk since the milk hasn't been scalded. Fat levels also affect milk - whole milk is richer than skim.

Which milk is best for the environment? Organic milk is best for the environment - herd sizes tend to be smaller, and no fertilizer or chemicals or used on pasture or in feed. That means when the cow poops, no Round-Up, antibiotics, or other stuff is dumped back into the ground.

Which milk is best for cows? Most everyone agrees that the worst possible environment for animals is being crowded into a feedlot with no access to pasture and no room to move. Conventional, industrially farmed milk is the worst. Organic cows are supposed to have access to pasture, and the new National Organic Program rules will enforce that in June 2011. But for now, brands like Horizon and store private labels buy from organic feedlots. They will still buy from large 1000+ "farms" in the future, which isn't exactly the idyllic family farm we think of. There are smaller conventional farms that farm sustainably and with good animal practices. Some people think it's cruel that organic cows can't be treated with antibiotics when they are sick and truly need them. E-mail or ask the people that make your food!

Why is organic milk so expensive? It's more expensive to farm organically. Organic feed is more expensive than conventional feed. You are also required to have more land per cow, so the land base has to be bigger. Metrics like somatic cell count (white blood cells or pus) have to be lower, so cow management needs to be better. Organic farms are also often smaller, so labor is not as efficient. You're paying for higher quality in terms of nutritional, environmental and animal benefits.

What's the deal with packaging? I think about milk quality and environmental impact in terms of packaging. Most options are glass, plastic and cartons.

• Milk Quality. Vitamins in milk degrade when light hits it (particularly Vitamin D), which is why a lot of plastic milk jugs and cartons are opaque. Plastic leach (as we are very cognizant of at MindfulEats). While there is a risk, HDPE (most milk jugs) are hard plastic which have not been shown to leach, and fresh pasteurized milk is coded for 18 days before it goes bad so you won't have it in the container that long.
• Environmental Impact. The cost of energy used to create and recycle the packaging is what has the greatest impact. While glass is beautiful and reusable, there is a significant cost to collecting and cleaning the bottles. Cartons are recyclable, but the aftermarket for the cartons is very low quality and it takes more energy to make them to begin with. HDPE plastic (#2) is commonly recycled and takes less energy to create. Ideally, everyone would walk their own vat to the local dairy, but given the alternatives, they all have drawbacks. I might give the nod to opaque plastic.

What's homogenization do? When you look at a glass of milk, cream automatically floats to the surface. Homogenization blends the cream in so there isn't a "creamline." It does the same thing that shaking milk really hard does. There are no nutritional differences from homogenization - it is pure taste preference.

What kind of milk do you recommend? I recommend an organic, vat-pasteurized milk sourced from small family farms. If that is too expensive for your budget, I woud recommend a local, sustainably farmed, vat-pasteurized conventional milk. [Disclosure here - I am a part owner of NYFOODS, which produces an organic, vat-pasteurized milk sourced from small family farms. The reason that I'm even associated with NYFOODS is because that's the kind of food I want to make - high quality, clean food for you.]

Want to learn more?

• President's Cancer Panel 2010 Report and Recommendations
• Pasteurization in milk: Different pasteurization levels and what they mean
• Cornucopia Institute Organic Dairy Report & Scorecard: consumer watchdog on organics (NYFOODS can be found under our processor Upstate Farms - 4 cows for EXCELLENT)
• Milk 101: Mindful Eats post
• Organic milk - is it worth your money? Nice article on organic milk

What I ate: vegetable juice, apple, tangerine, sliced dried mangos, dried kale, whole wheat spaghetti + Rao's sauce + ground flaxseeds, Pepperidge Farm cheddar goldfish crackers, rice noodles + swiss chard + shiitake mushrooms + tofu, 40 oz. water

Exercise: Ran 4 miles, 15 min upper body weights 

 

How to alleviate misery

  Dan France's heifers roam freely instead of in a confined animal feeding operation

The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention. ~Barbara Walters 

What is the price of misery? We live in a consumerist society where we buy stuff all the time. How much more would you pay to buy something that was made without causing any harm to a person, an animal, or the environment? Or maybe the flip question is more relevant since we all know what it takes to make things the right way - in a high-quality fashion without screwing someone in terms of salary, treating animals inhumanely, or the environment unsustainably. How much harm are you willing to inflict to be able to buy something for less?

We all know that blood diamonds are bad. But they can be sooo sparkly, and they are cheaper than buying conflict-free diamonds. Is the shine worth human misery?

What about iPhones? The rare earths that go into the phone come from unregulated Chinese companies, and poor farm families have their lives ruined from the mining. Without the suffering of those communities, iPhone prices would be astronomical. Is it a worthy tradeoff? What if you promise to use your iPhone for years instead of upgrading in two?

This thinking extends to the stuff we buy every day - food. Americans have become used to buying cheap food produced by wide-scale, industrial farming. If we stopped to think about it, we would want clean, high quality, nutritious food. It would be produced in a way that didn't build-up chemicals in our soil and water to harm the environment, didn't create unhealthy and doped up animals for food, and didn't cause cancer and other diseases in the people that work with crops and pesticides/herbicides or force people to work for less than a living wage. Industrial farming has become so prevalent that Americans pay less for their bad-karma food than any other country. As a percent of income, Americans spent 5.7% on food in 2006. Europeans, who have low tolerance for low-quality food, spent between 10.4% and 14.7%.

Let's spend mindfully against misery and change the world. Vote with your wallet for quality and doing things the right way. There's a New Year's resolution for those that are still looking.

What to do - Support Good

1. Research the things you buy. Why are there different price levels? How is it produced? 
2. Identify your values and the things you want to support. If you can't think of anything, try buying the misery-free version. Don't buy things that don't hurt people, animals or the environment, and support a positive lifestyle instead.
3. Buy the best quality you can. Get the most nutritional bang for your food dollar, and spend money on things that last. It's a waste of time and money when you have to replace items. Do you really want to spend your life shopping? 

Want to learn more?

• How much different countries spend on food in 2006 (USDA)
• What is industrial food/farming (Mindful Eats)
• Cornucopia Institute, consumer watchdog for organics (Mindful Eats)
• You are worth high quality food (Mindful Eats)
• Mindful Flowers (Mindful Eats)

 

What I ate: poached nyegg, macadamia nuts, pear, hot and sour soup, white rice, sauteed fish, tofu, squash, pan fried vegetables and noodles, 4 peanuts, blue cheese crackers, dried squid, brown rice, tofu, mushrooms, sauteed fish, 42 oz. water

Exercise: Ran 4 miles 

 

The Mindful Gift Guide

Even the Charles de Gaulle airport grocery store has mindful gifts

Remember, the greatest gift is not found in a store or under the tree, but in the hearts of true friends. ~Anon

Tis the season for gift giving. The buying season might start on Thanksgiving, but there's no reason to panic. You have plenty of time. We like to give gifts that are memorable, useful and kind to the earth. You can find them anywhere! There are a lot of gift guides out there, but without further ado, here is our Mindful Gift Guide. It will be a permanent link on the left. Help us out by adding more suggestions!

What I ate: green juice, 24 oz hot cider, 1 hardboiled egg, whole wheat spaghetti + sundried tomato pesto sauce, raw milk cheddar cheese, salmon rice ball, seaweed rice ball, udon noodle soup + swiss chard + 2 eggs, 5 squares dark chocolate, almonds, dried mulberries, Mariebelle Hot Chocolate, 40 oz. water

Exercise: ran 4 miles, upper body lifting