Whole food -- that is to say, unprocessed and unrefined food -- has the reputation of being expensive. But there are many ways to add whole food to your diet while sticking to your budget. Seattle PI suggests a few:
1.Buy seasonal: Fruits and vegetables are both cheaper and tastier when purchased in season.
2.Use the bulk bins: You won't pay for packaging, labeling and advertising.
3.Grow your own: A sunny yard or even a window box can add cheap, fresh food to your plate.
4.Use your freezer: Stock up and freeze when whole food is on sale.
5.Reduce waste: Don't let leftovers go to waste.
Sources:
Seattle PI June 14, 2011
Disclaimer: while I don't always agree with Dr. Mercola, in this case I do.
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
Purchasing healthy whole foods to feed your family is one of the best investments you can make. The nutrients wholesome food provides will allow your family members to maintain their good health, and even in some cases heal from disease, and this is a gift that is truly priceless.
So while you may be able to get a hamburger for $1 at a fast-food drive through – and this may seem like a budget-savvy option – that money is being essentially wasted because the food is doing absolutely nothing beneficial for your health. You're better off spending that dollar on a pound of string beans or zucchini, or putting it toward a pound of grass-fed meat, than you are throwing it away on processed junk food.
Still, readers have regularly posted that one of the leading obstacles to achieving health is having too limited a budget to maintain a healthy lifestyle ... so I want to share some practical tips you can use to help you save money on groceries and still get healthy food.
First, Trim Your Food Waste
Seattle PI has listed five starter tips above, which are well worth noting, but I want to expand on #5: reducing food waste. Any food you purchase and throw away is, quite literally, akin to throwing your money in the trash. This is actually a major problem, as one-third of the food produced in the world is lost or wasted, according to a new report commissioned by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. This massive number equates to 1.3 billion tons of food annually.
In 2008, the New York Times featured a graphic that shows one U.S. family's share of food waste for one month, which is really eye opening. Using statistics from a 1995 federal study that found over 96 billion edible pounds of food were wasted by U.S. retailers, food service businesses and consumers that year, they figured that a family of four throws out about 122 pounds of food each month.
This adds up to hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars a year wasted, which is why it's so important to be sure your family is eating all of the food you purchase.
The solution to waste is NOT to load up on more processed or canned foods simply because you can store them until the end of time. Their extreme shelf life comes at a high price, as they are often loaded with chemical preservatives. Remember, the fresher your foods are to start with, the longer they'll be safe to eat, so choose small amounts of the freshest foods you can find and eat them as soon as possible.
Recently I detailed more tips to prevent food waste in your home. For instance, if you have a refrigerator drawer full of veggies that are starting to wilt, making vegetable juice is an easy, and incredibly nutritious, way to use them up.
Should You Bother Buying Organic?
Once you've nixed food waste, the next step is to learn how to stretch your food budget to the max without sacrificing quality. One of the simplest ways to do this is to prioritize your spending on higher priced foods, such as organics (these tend to be pricier than conventionally grown foods, but this is not always the case). If you're on a tight budget but want to improve your diet by shopping organic, animal products like meat, raw dairy, poultry and eggs is the place to start.
Since animal products tend to bioaccumulate toxins from their pesticide-laced feed, concentrating them to far higher concentrations than are typically present in vegetables, I strongly recommend you buy only organically raised animal foods.
When it comes to produce, if you can't find the best of both worlds, which is locally grown organics, then buying fresh, vibrant locally grown conventional produce may actually be better than wilted organics. However, it can be tricky, since some conventionally grown produce simply LOOKS fresher due to all the chemicals they've been treated with. Perhaps your best bet, if you can't find locally grown organics, is to opt for USDA certified organic, but not imported organic, over the conventionally grown variety.
For more specifics, here are 10 organic foods that are worth the money.
How to Eat Healthy on a Budget
When planning out a healthy, price-conscious grocery list, be sure you are not throwing money away on processed foods. These tend to be among the most costly items in the grocery store, and they are virtually always close to worthless for your health, as they consist mainly of fillers and additives, and very few actual nutrients.
A classic example of this is breakfast cereal, most of which are very expensive yet frightfully high in sugar, and any nutrients they boast are in the form of suboptimal synthetic additives, or worse.
For example, iron-fortified cereals can contain actual iron filings, which is a far cry from the bioavailable iron you get from iron-rich vegetables like spinach. If you haven't seen this eye-opening demonstration of what's really in that fortified breakfast cereal, take a look now—you'll probably never buy another box of cereal again, and rightfully so.
So ditch the old processed standbys and instead set your grocery radar on finding the foods that will give you the most "health bang for your buck." With a little creative use of your dollar, you can enjoy nutrient-packed food choices that are around $1 per serving, such as:
•Cage-free organic eggs
•Raw organic milk
•Raw nuts and seeds
•Coconut milk
•Spinach
15 Cost-Saving Grocery Tips
When it comes to the price of food, it's extremely important to remember that a food cannot be judged by its sticker price alone. Believe me, a diet consisting of daily $1.99 hamburgers and other fast foods, while appearing to be frugal, is far from it when you consider what these foods are doing—or not doing—to your health.
With that in mind, here are 15 tips that are the best of the best to get high-quality food on a limited budget:
1.Choose local foods over organic foods. Often, locally grown foods are raised according to organic standards at a more affordable price.
2.If all that's available or affordable is fresh, conventionally grown produce, buy it, wash it well at home, and eat it.
3.Look for local farms, farmer's markets and food coops offering raw dairy products, eggs, produce, and grass-fed meat. This will allow you to cut out the middleman and save money. Buying in large quantities, such as a side of grass-fed beef, can also save you money in the long run as long as you have room to freeze it (and you consume it before it goes bad).
4.Skip ready-made meals and prepared or pre-cut foods, which can cost up to double the amount as the unprepared versions.
5.Plan your meals ahead of time (including cooking large batches and freezing some for later) so you don't splurge on expensive, unhealthy fast-food at the last minute.
6.Pass on processed junk foods like potato chips, soda, cookies, candy, and other snacks. These are a complete waste of money, even if they're "organic."
7.Buy plenty of fresh veggies, they're usually less expensive than canned versions (just make sure you use them before they go bad).
8.Only buy what you need. Keep track of what's in your pantry so you don't double-up on foods unnecessarily.
9.Clip coupons and use them when you can (but don't buy something unhealthy just because it's on sale).
10.Watch the register when you check out of the grocery store. They often ring up wrong prices, at your expense.
11.Shop with a calculator so you can determine if it's really a better deal to buy something in bulk or in a larger size.
12.Watch weekly specials, and be aware of what's really a good price. You can often find organic produce on sale for less than conventional produce if you know what prices to watch for.
13.If you have the space, consider starting your own vegetable garden. When factoring in startup and maintenance costs, a well-maintained food garden yields a $500 average return each year compared to the market price of produce, according to the National Gardening Association (NGA). So there is a definite financial incentive there.
14.Remember this rule of thumb: Fresh food is always better than frozen, but frozen is better than canned.
15.Make the most of your food purchases by focusing on those that are right for your nutritional type. The nutritional typing assessment is now absolutely free, and will give you an idea of which foods you should eat for optimal health and nutrition.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
SPF 100...seriously!!
Natural sunlight's potential to harm you has really been blown out of proportion. This is thanks to many doctors, health officials, advertisements, beauty experts, corporations, and well-meaning friends. They basically tell you that you need to stay out of the sun because the sun will kill you. This simply isn't true.
For starters, there is little scientific evidence to justify the many health campaigns that urge you to completely avoid the sun. Avoiding the sun just doesn't make sense. And it certainly doesn't make any sense when study after study shows that ...
The Sun is Not Deadly In fact, the sun is healthy for you. Think about it. How could it be any other way?
After all, your ancestors survived outdoors, working outside under the sun's rays far more often than they were indoors and out of the sun.
This brings up an obvious question.
How on earth would it be possible for your body to end up being configured in such a way that the sun is now a deadly threat to you, me, and the entire human race?
Like I said, it simply isn't true.
That's not to say sunlight can't be harmful. Of course, it can be...
For instance, long-term, excessive exposure to sunlight can increase the risk of certain types of skin cancer. Yet moderate sun exposure is less dangerous than sporadic sun exposure.
Plus, there's a good deal of evidence that sun exposure without sunburn significantly decreases the risk of melanoma (a more deadly form of skin cancer.) So safe sun exposure is key.
What You Should Know About UVA and UVB Rays
Ultraviolet light from the sun comes in two main wavelengths -- UVA and UVB. It's important for you to understand the difference between them, and your risk factors from each.
Consider UVB the 'good guy' -- though of course you can't de-select UVA if you're going to be in the sun. UVB helps your skin produce vitamin D.
UVA is considered the 'bad guy' because it penetrates your skin more deeply and causes more free radical damage. Not only that, but UVA rays are quite constant during all the hours of daylight throughout the entire year.
By comparison, UVB waves are low in morning and evening and high at midday.
So, if you're out early in the morning or late in the day, you get lots of UVA (bad guy) and not much UVB (good guy). Not a good way to produce vitamin D. Plus you increase your risk of cancer if that's your only sun intake, and you fail to protect your skin.
What's more, have you ever gotten a scorching sunburn on a cloudy day? You think you don't need to protect yourself and you wind up being really sorry you didn't. That's the UVA rays at work. They can break through cloud cover and pollution and do some real damage your skin.
Kind of a Catch 22.
As you may know, wearing a sunscreen on your uncovered skin blocks your body's production of vitamin D. In fact, sunscreens reduce vitamin D production by as much as 97.5 to 99.9%. And interfering with your body's production of vitamin D by 97.5 to 99.9% may have dire health consequences.
After all, vitamin D plays a crucial role in your overall health and well-being. For example, this superb vitamin is known to:
Support your cardiovascular health
Promote optimal cholesterol levels
Enhance your muscle strength
Help produce optimal blood pressure levels
Help maintain a healthy immune system
Support healthy kidney function
Promote healthy teeth
Help keep your bones strong and healthy
Please understand -- this list of important benefits represents a tiny fraction of the ways vitamin D keeps you healthy and fit. And, although you can get vitamin D from natural food sources, experts agree on one thing.
Natural Sunlight is Far and Away the Best Way to Get Your Vitamin D!Sun: Good for you, so long as you don't burn. Protect your skin from overexposure with Natural Sunscreen today.
And it is the ultimate way. Why? Because as soon as the sun's ultraviolet rays strike your skin, your body is programmed to do something remarkable. It starts producing its own natural vitamin D.
Better yet, your body produces the most active form of vitamin D in existence -- calciferol. Also known as vitamin D3. Vitamin D3 is actually the precise form your body needs for the proper functioning of your organs and cells.
And luckily for all of us, our bodies automatically generate enough of it with virtually no risk of overdose. They just know when to stop producing natural vitamin D before it can reach toxic levels.
However, elevated vitamin D levels obtained strictly from oral supplements can take six months or longer to normalize. That's why I don't recommend supplementing your vitamin D with pills. If you do take vitamin D supplements, you need to get your blood levels tested regularly to avoid toxicity.
With natural sunlight, you may be wondering what precautions you need to take...
Should You Use a Sunscreen to Guard Against SUNBURN?
Absolutely! But not any kind of commercial sunscreen. More on that in a moment -- but first, let me just say...
As much as I prefer you steer clear of sunscreens because they interfere with natural vitamin D production, there is one critical exception.
The exception is when it is impossible to limit full body exposure to sunlight! So if you can't limit your exposure for whatever reason, do use a safe sunscreen to protect your skin from sunburn. It is for YOUR own good.
Your risk of getting melanoma may increase in relationship to sunburn frequency and severity. Limiting sun exposure, wearing protective clothing, and using a 100% all-natural, non chemical sunscreen can reduce the risks of skin cancer and other harmful effects of the sun.
Studies revealed that people who spend more time outdoors without getting sunburn, actually decrease their risk of developing melanoma.
Now get this:
Safe sunlight exposure has also been shown to protect against as many as sixteen different types of cancer, including breast, colon, endometrial, esophageal, ovarian, bladder, gallbladder, gastric, pancreatic, prostate, rectal, and renal cancers, as well as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
So, yes, your body needs a bit of unprotected sun exposure. For all the benefits I've mentioned earlier. But if you can't avoid the following three scenarios:
You're forced to be in the direct rays of the sun for a longer time than is safe...
You must go into intense sunlight without having the opportunity to gradually build up to it...
You're in a situation where blocking the sun with strategic clothing or sunshades is impractical...
...use a sunscreen to help guard against sunburn. But, don't just slap on any of the standard commercial brands you find on store shelves. With that in mind...
It's Time to Expose the Sunscreen Smokescreen!
In my opinion, corporate greed has created products that are harmful.
I'm talking hundreds of sunscreens that I believe are toxic because they contain man-made chemicals ... chemicals I believe can cause serious health problems and increase your risk of disease. Here's why.
The main chemical used in sunscreens to filter out ultraviolet B light is octyl methoxycinnamate. OMC for short. OMC was found to kill mouse cells even at low doses. Plus, it was also shown to be particularly toxic when exposed to sunshine. And guess what?
OMC is present in 90 percent of sunscreen brands!
But that's not the half of it. A common ultraviolet A filter, butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane, has also demonstrated toxic properties.
Furthermore, several studies show that the chemicals commonly used in sunscreens are absorbed through the skin and end up circulating in your blood stream. Not good. So...
If Your Sunscreen Contains Any of These Chemicals That I Consider Dangerous and Potentially Life Threatening, Do Yourself a BIG Favor...
Dump it in the trash now .
Yes, that's right. Toss your sunscreen in the trash if it contains any of these questionable chemicals:
Toss your sunscreen in the trash if it contains any of these chemicals I consider to be potentially harmful.
Para amino benzoic acid...
Octyl salicyclate...
Avobenzone...
Oxybenzone...
Cinoxate...
Padimate O...
Dioxybenzone...
Phenylbenzimidazole...
Homosalate...
Sulisobenzone...
Menthyl anthranilate...
Trolamine salicyclate...
Octocrylene...
And, oh yes, let me not forget...
Potentially harmful chemicals such as dioxybenzone and oxybenzone (two chemicals I just mentioned) are some of the most powerful free radical generators known to man!
So if your sunscreen contains dioxybenzone, oxybenzone, or any of the other chemicals I just revealed, I highly recommend you switch to a formula that is safe and healthy for your skin.
And a note to moms ... You are undoubtedly very conscientious about caring for your children. But when you lather up your son or daughter with sunscreen thinking you're doing the right thing, you could in fact be doing more harm than good.
So check the labels on your sunscreen, and throw them out if they contain any of the potentially dangerous chemicals named above. After all, your skin is your largest organ, as your child's skin is theirs.
And it may surprise you to find out that zinc oxide has been used all over the world for over 75 years as a safe sunscreen to help you prevent excessive sun exposure.
Unlike chemical sunscreens that absorb ultraviolet light, nature provides us with titanium dioxide and zinc oxide ... two remarkable ingredients that remain on your skin to reflect and scatter away both UVA and UVB rays from your body. How do they do this?
Quite simply, they do it by forming a physical barrier, without irritating or clogging your pores.
~Dr. Mercola
So...what kind of sunscreen do I use on my family? Simple: A & D Zinc Oxide Cream
But don't look for it in the sunscreen isle; you'll find it in the diaper area....and it's a lot cheaper than your commercial brand suncreens.
For starters, there is little scientific evidence to justify the many health campaigns that urge you to completely avoid the sun. Avoiding the sun just doesn't make sense. And it certainly doesn't make any sense when study after study shows that ...
The Sun is Not Deadly In fact, the sun is healthy for you. Think about it. How could it be any other way?
After all, your ancestors survived outdoors, working outside under the sun's rays far more often than they were indoors and out of the sun.
This brings up an obvious question.
How on earth would it be possible for your body to end up being configured in such a way that the sun is now a deadly threat to you, me, and the entire human race?
Like I said, it simply isn't true.
That's not to say sunlight can't be harmful. Of course, it can be...
For instance, long-term, excessive exposure to sunlight can increase the risk of certain types of skin cancer. Yet moderate sun exposure is less dangerous than sporadic sun exposure.
Plus, there's a good deal of evidence that sun exposure without sunburn significantly decreases the risk of melanoma (a more deadly form of skin cancer.) So safe sun exposure is key.
What You Should Know About UVA and UVB Rays
Ultraviolet light from the sun comes in two main wavelengths -- UVA and UVB. It's important for you to understand the difference between them, and your risk factors from each.
Consider UVB the 'good guy' -- though of course you can't de-select UVA if you're going to be in the sun. UVB helps your skin produce vitamin D.
UVA is considered the 'bad guy' because it penetrates your skin more deeply and causes more free radical damage. Not only that, but UVA rays are quite constant during all the hours of daylight throughout the entire year.
By comparison, UVB waves are low in morning and evening and high at midday.
So, if you're out early in the morning or late in the day, you get lots of UVA (bad guy) and not much UVB (good guy). Not a good way to produce vitamin D. Plus you increase your risk of cancer if that's your only sun intake, and you fail to protect your skin.
What's more, have you ever gotten a scorching sunburn on a cloudy day? You think you don't need to protect yourself and you wind up being really sorry you didn't. That's the UVA rays at work. They can break through cloud cover and pollution and do some real damage your skin.
Kind of a Catch 22.
As you may know, wearing a sunscreen on your uncovered skin blocks your body's production of vitamin D. In fact, sunscreens reduce vitamin D production by as much as 97.5 to 99.9%. And interfering with your body's production of vitamin D by 97.5 to 99.9% may have dire health consequences.
After all, vitamin D plays a crucial role in your overall health and well-being. For example, this superb vitamin is known to:
Support your cardiovascular health
Promote optimal cholesterol levels
Enhance your muscle strength
Help produce optimal blood pressure levels
Help maintain a healthy immune system
Support healthy kidney function
Promote healthy teeth
Help keep your bones strong and healthy
Please understand -- this list of important benefits represents a tiny fraction of the ways vitamin D keeps you healthy and fit. And, although you can get vitamin D from natural food sources, experts agree on one thing.
Natural Sunlight is Far and Away the Best Way to Get Your Vitamin D!Sun: Good for you, so long as you don't burn. Protect your skin from overexposure with Natural Sunscreen today.
And it is the ultimate way. Why? Because as soon as the sun's ultraviolet rays strike your skin, your body is programmed to do something remarkable. It starts producing its own natural vitamin D.
Better yet, your body produces the most active form of vitamin D in existence -- calciferol. Also known as vitamin D3. Vitamin D3 is actually the precise form your body needs for the proper functioning of your organs and cells.
And luckily for all of us, our bodies automatically generate enough of it with virtually no risk of overdose. They just know when to stop producing natural vitamin D before it can reach toxic levels.
However, elevated vitamin D levels obtained strictly from oral supplements can take six months or longer to normalize. That's why I don't recommend supplementing your vitamin D with pills. If you do take vitamin D supplements, you need to get your blood levels tested regularly to avoid toxicity.
With natural sunlight, you may be wondering what precautions you need to take...
Should You Use a Sunscreen to Guard Against SUNBURN?
Absolutely! But not any kind of commercial sunscreen. More on that in a moment -- but first, let me just say...
As much as I prefer you steer clear of sunscreens because they interfere with natural vitamin D production, there is one critical exception.
The exception is when it is impossible to limit full body exposure to sunlight! So if you can't limit your exposure for whatever reason, do use a safe sunscreen to protect your skin from sunburn. It is for YOUR own good.
Your risk of getting melanoma may increase in relationship to sunburn frequency and severity. Limiting sun exposure, wearing protective clothing, and using a 100% all-natural, non chemical sunscreen can reduce the risks of skin cancer and other harmful effects of the sun.
Studies revealed that people who spend more time outdoors without getting sunburn, actually decrease their risk of developing melanoma.
Now get this:
Safe sunlight exposure has also been shown to protect against as many as sixteen different types of cancer, including breast, colon, endometrial, esophageal, ovarian, bladder, gallbladder, gastric, pancreatic, prostate, rectal, and renal cancers, as well as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
So, yes, your body needs a bit of unprotected sun exposure. For all the benefits I've mentioned earlier. But if you can't avoid the following three scenarios:
You're forced to be in the direct rays of the sun for a longer time than is safe...
You must go into intense sunlight without having the opportunity to gradually build up to it...
You're in a situation where blocking the sun with strategic clothing or sunshades is impractical...
...use a sunscreen to help guard against sunburn. But, don't just slap on any of the standard commercial brands you find on store shelves. With that in mind...
It's Time to Expose the Sunscreen Smokescreen!
In my opinion, corporate greed has created products that are harmful.
I'm talking hundreds of sunscreens that I believe are toxic because they contain man-made chemicals ... chemicals I believe can cause serious health problems and increase your risk of disease. Here's why.
The main chemical used in sunscreens to filter out ultraviolet B light is octyl methoxycinnamate. OMC for short. OMC was found to kill mouse cells even at low doses. Plus, it was also shown to be particularly toxic when exposed to sunshine. And guess what?
OMC is present in 90 percent of sunscreen brands!
But that's not the half of it. A common ultraviolet A filter, butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane, has also demonstrated toxic properties.
Furthermore, several studies show that the chemicals commonly used in sunscreens are absorbed through the skin and end up circulating in your blood stream. Not good. So...
If Your Sunscreen Contains Any of These Chemicals That I Consider Dangerous and Potentially Life Threatening, Do Yourself a BIG Favor...
Dump it in the trash now .
Yes, that's right. Toss your sunscreen in the trash if it contains any of these questionable chemicals:
Toss your sunscreen in the trash if it contains any of these chemicals I consider to be potentially harmful.
Para amino benzoic acid...
Octyl salicyclate...
Avobenzone...
Oxybenzone...
Cinoxate...
Padimate O...
Dioxybenzone...
Phenylbenzimidazole...
Homosalate...
Sulisobenzone...
Menthyl anthranilate...
Trolamine salicyclate...
Octocrylene...
And, oh yes, let me not forget...
Potentially harmful chemicals such as dioxybenzone and oxybenzone (two chemicals I just mentioned) are some of the most powerful free radical generators known to man!
So if your sunscreen contains dioxybenzone, oxybenzone, or any of the other chemicals I just revealed, I highly recommend you switch to a formula that is safe and healthy for your skin.
And a note to moms ... You are undoubtedly very conscientious about caring for your children. But when you lather up your son or daughter with sunscreen thinking you're doing the right thing, you could in fact be doing more harm than good.
So check the labels on your sunscreen, and throw them out if they contain any of the potentially dangerous chemicals named above. After all, your skin is your largest organ, as your child's skin is theirs.
And it may surprise you to find out that zinc oxide has been used all over the world for over 75 years as a safe sunscreen to help you prevent excessive sun exposure.
Unlike chemical sunscreens that absorb ultraviolet light, nature provides us with titanium dioxide and zinc oxide ... two remarkable ingredients that remain on your skin to reflect and scatter away both UVA and UVB rays from your body. How do they do this?
Quite simply, they do it by forming a physical barrier, without irritating or clogging your pores.
~Dr. Mercola
So...what kind of sunscreen do I use on my family? Simple: A & D Zinc Oxide Cream
But don't look for it in the sunscreen isle; you'll find it in the diaper area....and it's a lot cheaper than your commercial brand suncreens.
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