See how dark that photo is? I took it outside on my balcony this morning AND adjusted the exposure / brightness afterwards. Have you taken your vitamin D today?
Next week officially kicks off the holidays for so many of you! I've got kind of a funky week coming up. A girl's night is in the works for Tuesday and the dinner is TBD - maybe a dinner out, maybe a cozy evening in since I am going to be solo for part of next week. There's a possibility that I may have to go to Helsinki for work on Thursday, and since work travel days are generally not good food days I'm going to prepare myself with travel ready wraps in my lunch box just in case I do end up going. Aaaaand I've got two Thanksgiving dinners this week with American expat friends. I'm not sure whether I'll make it to both, but I'm putting the Friday one in the plan anyways just in case.
1. Speaking of Thanksgiving, Ina Garten has got some good make-ahead tips for you to help make your Thanksgiving stress free. Y'all know I'm all about make-ahead, so definitely check this out!
2. Breaking fast food's spell is the only shortcut to better nutrition. Yes ma'am!
3. Accordingly, this study says that home cooking is the main ingredient for a healthier diet. Yes again!
4. Local food systems: a green way of life, or a luxury only for elites? Food for thought.
5. And, organic ideologies. I agree with so much of what is said here. We all need to eat more fruit and vegetables, and when we reject non-organic produce we may be missing the point. Thoughts?
Dennis
Thanks for these great articles. Always learn something new. Always more motivated to eat 'well'. Appreciate the comments on when to buy organic and when it could be an option. The celery I buy scares me. Will be a bit more selective with my 'dirty dozen'. Maybe milk too!
kellie@foodtoglow
Thoughtful and thought-provoking links. I am with you in promoting any fruit and veg increase over pushing the idea that everything needs to be organic. In Scotland eating exclusively organic would be very expensive and limited in variety (and often from such far-flung places that the nutritional value would be diminished by the airmiles). I kind of feel that more effort might be made in trying to eat organically those things that we consume the most of by volume. And I agree with Linda that I don't buy things organic if they have thick peels (e.g. the tropicals). One thing I do try and bear in mind is the clean 15/dirty dozen from the EWG. I ALWAYS buy organic celery. It is unbelievable what gets sprayed on this crop!
Katie Trant
Good point re: the dirty dozen. And yes, I hardly see the value of buying organic produce that has to be shipped from so far away, likely picked far before ripeness and diminishing in nutritional value from the moment it has been harvested. There are things that I always buy organic. Dairy is one, spinach is another. A lot of stores around Stockholm have started carrying only organic bananas. I'm not sure what is driving that change, but it's interesting and I wonder if other things will follow.
Claire
I also really look forward to your Friday links! As someone with an interest but no education in nutrition I enjoy reading about nutrition/food system studies that are going on. I also enjoy that someone with a nutrition background has already somewhat vetted the links for me.
As far as the organic/non-organic debate goes, I'm honestly kind of indifferent. I haven't seen enough evidence to convince me that organic is truly worth the extra cost. I do, however, think that eating locally produced food (whether organic or not) is much better for the environment and my local community than eating from the grocery store. I would rather have my money go to the farmer in my community who then puts the money back into the community than to the big chain grocery store. Additionally, the number of miles my food travels when I get it from the farmer's market is less than 100 miles, whereas the food from the grocery store...who knows? I do think that the farmer's market pricing makes local food out of reach for most people, which I hope changes in the future.
Katie Trant
Claire, I think you're bang on when it comes to local vs organic. Ideally the food we get would be local AND organic, but if I had to make a choice I'll go for local every time. I know there are many farmers that forgo organic certification because it would mean having to buy feed or supplies from far away as opposed to from the farm down the road. I agree that farmer's market pricing makes local food difficult for a lot of people, but I also know that that pricing reflects the true value of the labour that goes into producing food. The government needs to stop subsidizing the big guys and give some love to our local farmers in order for their produce to be accessible to us all!
Linda @ Veganosity
I look forward to your Friday links Katie. They are so thought provoking.
First: Yes I took my vitamin D. 🙂
Second: I love Ina Gartner. I made her pie crust in my vegan pumpkin pie. I will be making many of them this weekend to freeze for holiday baking.
Third: Because I eat fruit, veggies, and grains all day everyday, I I try to eat organic as much as possible. I figure a small amount of pesticide residue is better than more. However, I don't buy organic bananas, avocados, pineapple, or anything that has a thick skin. Unless I plan on eating the skin I don't see the point in paying more for organic.
Lastly: If people as a whole would eat more plants and less animals, we would have more than enough crop space and food to feed everyone on the planet. Most of the crops grown today are to feed livestock, not people. But you already knew that. 🙂
Katie Trant
Isn't Ina great?
I also buy organic as much as possible, but when it's a matter of eating a non-organic orange vs no orange, I'd advise the non-organic. The vast majority of people don't eat nearly enough fruits and vegetables, and I think that's a problem we need to address before we get to organics.
This last point is a complex issue. When I did my undergrad nutrition degree it was in the department of land and food systems (formerly agricultural science) so food systems study was a significant part of my degree. In general I think what you said is true, and frankly if livestock could go back to eating their traditional diets (mostly grass, insects, etc) instead of grain they'd be better off as would the people who eat them. There's a lot of evidence to suggest that we do currently grow enough food to feed everyone on the planet, but it's a matter of distribution and is deeply entrenched in politics in a very messy way. Hopefully one day we'll figure this out in a large-scale green, healthy, and sustainable way!
Linda @ Veganosity
Thanks for your reply Katie. You're right on target in regards to what factory farmers feed livestock, and how the animals and humans would be better off if they were fed what they were meant to eat. I also agree that politics have a lot to do with starvation in third world countries, particularly countries in Africa. It's messy, that's for sure! I'm learning so much from your posts. Thank you!