Sunday, November 27, 2011

Eating Organic!

You are what you eat.  It is up to you to choose what food is going to sustain you day after day.  You prepare it; you eat it; you digest and absorb it; it becomes your blood, your cells, your tissues.

When I shop at an organic market and buy a diverse collection of vegetables, fruits, grains, seaweed noodles, kombucha, fresh fish....it makes me SO HAPPY.  I love knowing that my family is putting truly good food into our bodies.

The more I learn, the more I understand how critical it is that we all eat organic whenever possible.  This is important for cancer prevention and especially if you are living with cancer.  For your body to fight the cancer cells, it has to be at its absolute best.  That means digesting food easily and not battling free radicals, toxins, and chemicals that make your body and your liver have to work hard to flush them out.  If you have cancer, you want your body to have an easy job of digesting and using food to its benefit, so that it has energy to fight the tumor and heal.  Organic food will absolutely make that process more likely.


"Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last virgin forests to be turned into comic books and plastic cigarette cases...if we pollute the last clean air and dirty the last clean streams...so that never again will Americans be free from noise, the exhausts, the stinks of human and automotive waste.  And so that never again can we have the chance to see ourselves as...part of the environment of trees and rocks and soil, brother to the other animals, part of the natural world and competent to belong in it."
-Wallace Stegner

Having less pesticides on our growing food is also, obviously, better for our planet.  The cleaner our planet, the cleaner we will be.  Eating organic supports a cleaner water supply; agricultural run-off is poisoning our water, which affects each of us with the water we drink.  If we support organic, there will eventually be less toxins on the land.

In addition to organic food being less toxic and polluting of our bodies and our planet, Rutgers University recently conducted a study comparing organic produce with conventional, and the study showed that organic has a (much) higher nutritional count.  So not only are we getting fewer toxins, chemicals, and genetically engineered ingredients in our body when we eat organic, but we are also getting simply better nutritional value.

Yes, organic is more expensive. But it is worth it.  Think about the long-term health costs you may accrue from eating food grown with pesticides or antibiotics.  Also consider that we only spend 13.8% of our income on food today, compared with 29.7% in 1950.  Food is cheaper, and the quality is less.  And our chronic disease and health problems have increased dramatically along with cheaper production costs.  If affording organic is hard on your wallet, refer to the chart below, which lists the "dirtiest foods," which are the most important to buy organic, and the "cleanest," which you can buy conventionally if you need to.



I love this recipe because, to me, lentils feel filling and delicious, without ever bogging you down.  The addition of the bright, colorful, juicy fruit and vegetables makes this dish a delight. And it is fast and easy, too.  Put on the lentils while you're unloading the dishwasher, chop the veggies, and...voila!  Be sure to use all organic, of course. 

Fruity, Crunchy Lentil Salad


1 lb black lentils or french lentils
1/2 hothouse cucumber, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 green onions, diced
1/2 cup almonds, chopped and toasted
1-2 cup red grapes, halved
2 slices celery, diced
lemon zest from 2 lemons
juice from 2 lemons
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

-Cook lentils, by covering them by 2 inches with water in a large pan. Bring to a boil and cook for about 22 minutes on a simmer
-Meanwhile, dice and chop all vegetables, grapes & almonds
-Pour veggies/grapes in a large bowl, and cover with lemon zest, salt and pepper
-Add in lentils once cooked & drained, and add olive oil and lemon juice to taste. Adjust seasoning to taste.
-Enjoy at room temperature or cold!

I like black lentils for their pretty, delicate shape and firm texture.

The mixture before adding the lentils.



2 comments:

  1. Wow, this recipe looks amazing...I'm definitely going to make this. Love the gorgeous colors of all the fresh veggies!

    ReplyDelete