on my mind monday 12.10.12

It's never the same two weeks in a row.  A collection of what I find interesting in the world of food, nutrition, and holistic health.  Here's what's on my mind.

What's in that pork? - The answer is not great.  As I discuss in my forthcoming book, The Pantry Principle, more antibiotics are used in the food animal industry than are used for people.  The challenge is that now this overuse is causing antibiotic-resistant bacteria to appear in the meat.  Which means if you eat it, you may get infected with a bacteria which is resistant to antibiotics.  Not a good thing. While this is not something that will change easily it can and should be changed.  Consider starting with letting Trader Joe's know that you want them to carry antibiotic free pork.

Peru bans GMO Foods - This is a huge step forward in the fight against GMO.  Peru did not simply require GMO foods to be labeled; they banned all of them from the country for a ten year period of time.  This was done in an effort to prevent GMO contamination of native corn and potato species. While I'm not sure which foods are imported from Peru I do plan to find out and see how I might incorporate them into our pantry.

US diets not up to standard - We're not eating as well as we should.  In part because we are surrounded by large numbers of unhealthy foods and because so many bad ingredients are stuffed into our food.  There is something called the Standard American Diet, or SAD.  Unfortunately it is sad and if we continue to eat this way our health will continue to decline.

Boycott Brands - As many of you know Prop37, the initiative to label GMO foods in California was defeated.  They were outspend significantly by the parent companies of brands such as Cascadian Farm Organics, Horizon Organics, and Tostitos Organics.  While organic foods cannot, by law, include GMO ingredients, the parents companies do not want you to know what they are putting into everything else they produce.  But it's hard to know who owns what and how to avoid those brands.  I have some information in my book The Pantry Principle about this issue but the book isn't out yet.  In the meantime print out this wallet card and take it with you to the grocery store.

It's Channukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights.  Latkes, or potato pancakes, are a traditional food during this eight day period of time.  For those who have never made them before, here's an easy recipe.  I have one change which is that sometimes I will take 1/3 of the grated, pressed potatoes and blend them into a finer texture which I then mix in with the grated, pressed potatoes.  And for toppings, we prefer applesauce and sour cream.  It's delicious.



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photo: mconnors