Category Archives: Food in the News

Organic Isn’t Always More Expensive

Organic apples

Many people complain that buying organic food seriously influences their budget. Comparing the two kinds of fruits and vegetables, GMO (genetically modified) food almost always looks better. Apples, tomatoes, and bananas are way bigger and seem more appealing than organic ones. Even so, people want to buy healthy organic food—yet it’s perceived as more expensive […]

Exercise Won’t Keep You Healthy If You’re Running on the Wrong Fuel

Runner

A group of cardiologists in the UK are trying to “bust the myth” that to fight obesity, you only need regular exercise. In an editorial written for British Journal of Sports Medicine, they asserted that the source of the calories matter, as calories from sugars increase fat storage and make a person hungrier, whereas calories […]

About-face on Preventing Peanut Allergies

Peanuts

Another 180-degree reversal by this country’s nutritional “authorities.” This is the second huge reversal in just one month; the previous one being the USDA warning that foods containing cholesterol do not need to be avoided. They don’t elevate blood cholesterol levels. That comes after generations of perpetuating this fear and their own bad science. Royal […]

What’s Your Beef

cows

Eating grass-fed beef may be one way to help the environment. What?! But to save the planet, you must stop eating meat, right? The answer isn’t so simple. Read this Wall Street Journal essay and this Time magazine article to find out how sustainable methods of raising cattle and other animals for food can help […]

Toxic Toothpaste

I just read the list of ingredients in my toothpaste. Is this stuff safe?! I wonder, since some ingredients deemed safe are later declared toxic. For example, triclosan was an ingredient approved for use in toothpaste until recent findings forced the EPA and FDA to take another look. Some companies have responded to consumer concerns. […]

Raw Milk Battle Royale

The battle for raw milk is on! Bills to legalize or expand raw milk sales are pending in thirteen state legislatures. Is your state on the list? Find out at the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund website. You can also find out where the issue of raw milk stands in your state by visiting the Real […]

Has Your Spring Garden Had Its Inoculations Yet?

Have you visited any commercial ag farms recently? In nearby Weld County, here in Colorado, the fields are tilled and ready for their spring inoculation of such poisons as 2-4D and Roundup. The sterilized soils are so dead they can no longer produce without the use of these synthetic chemicals. I wouldn’t have a problem […]

Raw Milk Cheese: Tricks of the Trade

In a social climate where truth depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is, is it strange that some “raw” milk cheeses sold in Whole Foods and other health food stores are not made from raw milk? Let’s establish first that raw milk is only raw when the enzymes are alive. According to […]

Can Probiotics Console the Inconsolable?

The inconsolable crying of a colicky baby. How are parents supposed to cope? They try everything, but nothing helps. Back in January, NPR reported some new research published by JAMA Pediatrics. Colicky babies in Europe were given a form of the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri with the idea that friendly bacteria could help them develop their digestive […]

It Depends on the Vitamin

By now, you’ve probably heard about the vitamin studies published in the Annals of Internal Medicine “proving” that vitamins “don’t work.” My first question when I heard this news was, “What kind of vitamins did they give the study participants?” But when I read the studies, I couldn’t find an answer. The researchers list “multivitamin […]

The Gut Brain Connection

Had any gut feelings lately? Your gut bacteria may be trying to tell you something. Science is starting to confirm what some already know—that what happens in our gut affects what goes on in our brains and also influences our moods and our feelings. This makes sense considering the fact that there’s a ten to […]

Bring on the Bitters

After a long hiatus collecting dust on the back shelf, bitters are back—and they’re not just for cocktails anymore. Here in Colorado, an enterprising bitters maker has found wild success. Shae Whitney, owner of the Dram Apothecary in Silver Plume, forages for wild herbs in her surroundings and uses them to concoct her own signature […]

Foster Farms Off the Hook

Foster Farms’ chicken has sickened 389 consumers with antibiotic-resistant strains of Salmonella Heidelberg since November 15, according to the CDC’s last count. The USDA issued a Public Health Alert about the outbreak on Oct 7, 2013. That’s alarming enough, but even worse is that 40% of those who contracted the bacteria have required hospitalization because […]

Obesity Is a Disease—Are Refined Carbohydrates the Cause?

Burn more calories than you eat, and you’ll lose fat. This belief, known as the “calories-in, calories-out” theory, is an unquestioned principle of nutrition. We all buy it. And it makes sense—if we assume all calories behave the same in the body. Or, as the dietitians like to put it, “a calorie is a calorie,” […]

Certified Naturally Grown: The Answer to High-Cost USDA Organic

For small farmers, USDA certified organic is an expensive proposition. But there’s a new game in town: Certified Naturally Grown. CNG’s website explains that their organic certification program is a “Grassroots Alternative to the USDA’s National Organic Program meant primarily for small farmers distributing through local channels—farmer’s markets, roadside stands, local restaurants, community supported agriculture […]

The Cookbook of Unknown Ladies

Unknown Ladies Cookbook

Even if you have no interest in making calf’s head hash, roasted hare, or cow heel, you’ll still want to visit this blog: The Cookbook of Unknown Ladies. Featuring handwritten recipes from a cookbook dating back to the 18th century, it provides a fascinating look at history and how our approach to food has changed […]

Depraved Nutrition Amid Caloric Affluence

It only costs eight bucks. And it’s a quick read. But Pottenger’s Cats: A Study in Nutrition foretold the nightmarish results of dietary experimentation on the American population. “We now observe in the human race the successive generational decline, exogenously imposed, by a degrading food supply. All this is done not for the good of […]