I used to think that having a couple of major grocery chains nearby constituted choice. That was before I was tuned into the local food movement and before garlic imported from China irked me. I changed my tune around the time I learned that some major chains consider produce to be “local” if it can be trucked from its source within 24 hours. I didn’t agree so began putting developing my own “food network” - a list of growers and producers, shops and markets that offered easy access to food that is grown right here in the province.
Now is a great time to create your own local food network, to get out of the grocery store and into a community of growers, producers and sellers who will help to connect your table to the land and help us all become less dependent on food that is trucked in from faraway places.
The best place to start is to visit your local markets, the seasonal and year-round sellers of produce, meat and dairy. Most of these markets buy from their own network of local producers and can easily tell you what on their shelves was produced in province.
If you’re looking exclusively for organic producers visit ACORN a non-profit based in Sackville that promotes organic agriculture in Atlantic Canada. Their website includes an easy-to-search database of all certified producers and processors in Atlantic Canada. You can search by province and by product type or you can bring up a map of the province and click on the icons for information on the farmers and producers in different regions. You can buy directly from most of these producers and may of them also sell through local markets.
The Conservation Council of New Brunswick manages a similar database called Buy Local NB . In their database you can layer your search to find, for example, restaurants between Saint John and Sussex that use local ingredients. Or you can search for a butcher, a baker or a grocer in your geographic area of choice. (My search for garlic netted five local sellers.) This site just launched last year so has lots of room to grow, but it’s a good starting point if you want to become more familiar with people and places that sell locally produced food.
The newest online source for information about local food is Smart Eat TV, an online community with a goal to connect people with the wonders of local food produced throughout the Maritimes. It’s part TV channel (will soon feature episodes about local food) part blog, part recipe-swapping forum.
Another source of locally produced food is Speerville Flour Mill. They produce a variety of flours using Maritime-grown grains and offer a great selection of other products from Maritime producers. I run a buying group through Speerville Mill so if you’re looking for a greater variety of their products than is available at the grocery store just let me know.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Finding a better sunscreen
One of the more complicated green living decisions in our household each year is choosing sunscreen. That might sound a bit ridiculous but based on a lot of recent research, making a choice can get quite complicated. Here’s why: Sunscreen contains toxins that can be harmful when absorbed through your skin; your sunscreen is likely to be much less effective than the SPF rating leads you to believe; chances are it won’t protect you from harmful UVA rays; and the higher the SPF you choose the more time you’re probably going to spend in the sun slathered in a false sense of security.
These are the findings of Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) fourth annual review of sunscreen. For this year’s report they analyzed 500 sunscreens, including all of the major brands, and rated them according to their safety and effectiveness.
EWG isn’t trying to scare us away from sunscreen (although that might be your first reaction) their goal is to help us choose our sunscreen very carefully.
Potentially hazardous oxybenzone is an ingredient in about 60% of the sunscreens tested. It’s a hormone-disruptor that gets absorbed into your body through your skin. About 41% of sunscreens tested also contain a form of vitamin A called retinyl palmitate (a compound that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has found could promote the development of skin cancer because of the way it reacts with sunlight.)
Studies show that on average we only apply about a quarter of the amount we should to get the SPF protection promised and we don’t reapply often enough to sustain protection.
Even if you apply and reapply as directed your brand still may not protect you against UVA radiation, the sunlight that doesn’t cause burns but still damages your skin.
And finally, studies have also shown that those who choose sunscreen with a really high SPF rating spend a lot longer in the sun than those who sport products with a lower SPF.
Before you stress out over what to slather on this summer remember that there are plenty of ways to stay safe in the sun, with and without sunscreen.
Cover up with clothing and a hat to protect your skin from the sun. (Sunscreen should never be your first or only line of defense against the sun.)
Search EWG’s database of sunscreens to find a safe and effective brand of sunscreen . EWG has slotted brands into three categories: green for recommend, yellow for caution and red for avoid. The database also provides a UVA and UVB protection rating and rates how well the sunscreen lasts. On the site you’ll find the list of what they consider to be the base (none of which have I seen around here).
I searched some of the most common brands around and found that Coppertone Pure & Simple and Sensitive Skin lines have a moderate rating of 3, just one point out of the “recommend “zone. Beware of other popular brands like Banana Boat, Hawaiian Tropic and Aveeno. Most of these brands fall to the “avoid” zone, even the lines for babies and kids.
These are the findings of Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) fourth annual review of sunscreen. For this year’s report they analyzed 500 sunscreens, including all of the major brands, and rated them according to their safety and effectiveness.
EWG isn’t trying to scare us away from sunscreen (although that might be your first reaction) their goal is to help us choose our sunscreen very carefully.
Potentially hazardous oxybenzone is an ingredient in about 60% of the sunscreens tested. It’s a hormone-disruptor that gets absorbed into your body through your skin. About 41% of sunscreens tested also contain a form of vitamin A called retinyl palmitate (a compound that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has found could promote the development of skin cancer because of the way it reacts with sunlight.)
Studies show that on average we only apply about a quarter of the amount we should to get the SPF protection promised and we don’t reapply often enough to sustain protection.
Even if you apply and reapply as directed your brand still may not protect you against UVA radiation, the sunlight that doesn’t cause burns but still damages your skin.
And finally, studies have also shown that those who choose sunscreen with a really high SPF rating spend a lot longer in the sun than those who sport products with a lower SPF.
Before you stress out over what to slather on this summer remember that there are plenty of ways to stay safe in the sun, with and without sunscreen.
Cover up with clothing and a hat to protect your skin from the sun. (Sunscreen should never be your first or only line of defense against the sun.)
Search EWG’s database of sunscreens to find a safe and effective brand of sunscreen . EWG has slotted brands into three categories: green for recommend, yellow for caution and red for avoid. The database also provides a UVA and UVB protection rating and rates how well the sunscreen lasts. On the site you’ll find the list of what they consider to be the base (none of which have I seen around here).
I searched some of the most common brands around and found that Coppertone Pure & Simple and Sensitive Skin lines have a moderate rating of 3, just one point out of the “recommend “zone. Beware of other popular brands like Banana Boat, Hawaiian Tropic and Aveeno. Most of these brands fall to the “avoid” zone, even the lines for babies and kids.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Another family friendly way to eat Swiss chard (or any early greens)
I often over-buy greens in the spring because I'm so excited to have something fresh and local. Lucky for me I'm building a bank of delicious ways to eat them. This galette recipe is my favourite so far. Those of you who have tried my Swiss chard pasta recipe will recognize the filling -- it's exactly the same only with eggs added.
The great thing about a galette is that you don't have to be a whiz with pastry and the free-form assembly always looks great. Don't let the length of this recipe fool you into thinking it's complicated to prepare.
Swiss chard galette
Cooks at 375 for about 45 minutes
Pastry:
2 1/2 cups whole grain pastry flour (regular flour works too, if you don’t have pastry flour)
1 cup butter (cold, cold, cold)
1 t sugar
½ t sea salt
½ cup ice water
Filling:
1/3 cup currants
Juice of 1 lemon
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 large bunch of beet greens or Swiss chard
Zest of 1 lemon
¾ cup feta, crumbled
¼ cup pine nuts (or almonds or walnuts)
2 eggs, beaten
pepper
For the pastry:
Combine dry ingredient in a food processor. Add butter in chunks and pulse until butter is pea-sized. Add ice water and whirr just until dough starts to come together. Remove from processor and place on a lightly floured counter. Knead gently just until you have a smooth dough. Flatten into a disk and refrigerate for at least an hour. (Pastry can last in the fridge for a week or so).
For the filling:
In a small bowl, squeeze the juice of one lemon over the currants and set aside.
Remove stems from greens and chop into 1 cm pieces. Roughly chop the leaves.
Over medium heat sauté the onion in olive oil until soft. Add garlic & cook one minute. Add chopped stems to the onion mixture cover and cook for 5 minutes. Stir and add the chopped leaves. Cook until soft (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat & add a few grinds of black pepper & the currant-lemon mixture.
Stir in feta, pine nuts, lemon zest and egg just before you scrape it onto the prepared dough (you don’t want the egg to start to cook).
Assembly:
Use 2/3 of the dough (save the rest for a fruit galette). On a lightly-floured surface roll out dough into a rough circle about ¼” thick. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet (sided sheet is best, in case the galette runs over).
Scrape filling onto the pastry, leaving a 2 ½ - 3 inch border. Gently fold the border in over the filling, overlapping the dough where needed.
Bake for about 45 minutes, until pastry looks golden in spots. Remove from oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting.
The great thing about a galette is that you don't have to be a whiz with pastry and the free-form assembly always looks great. Don't let the length of this recipe fool you into thinking it's complicated to prepare.
Swiss chard galette
Cooks at 375 for about 45 minutes
Pastry:
2 1/2 cups whole grain pastry flour (regular flour works too, if you don’t have pastry flour)
1 cup butter (cold, cold, cold)
1 t sugar
½ t sea salt
½ cup ice water
Filling:
1/3 cup currants
Juice of 1 lemon
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 large bunch of beet greens or Swiss chard
Zest of 1 lemon
¾ cup feta, crumbled
¼ cup pine nuts (or almonds or walnuts)
2 eggs, beaten
pepper
For the pastry:
Combine dry ingredient in a food processor. Add butter in chunks and pulse until butter is pea-sized. Add ice water and whirr just until dough starts to come together. Remove from processor and place on a lightly floured counter. Knead gently just until you have a smooth dough. Flatten into a disk and refrigerate for at least an hour. (Pastry can last in the fridge for a week or so).
For the filling:
In a small bowl, squeeze the juice of one lemon over the currants and set aside.
Remove stems from greens and chop into 1 cm pieces. Roughly chop the leaves.
Over medium heat sauté the onion in olive oil until soft. Add garlic & cook one minute. Add chopped stems to the onion mixture cover and cook for 5 minutes. Stir and add the chopped leaves. Cook until soft (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat & add a few grinds of black pepper & the currant-lemon mixture.
Stir in feta, pine nuts, lemon zest and egg just before you scrape it onto the prepared dough (you don’t want the egg to start to cook).
Assembly:
Use 2/3 of the dough (save the rest for a fruit galette). On a lightly-floured surface roll out dough into a rough circle about ¼” thick. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet (sided sheet is best, in case the galette runs over).
Scrape filling onto the pastry, leaving a 2 ½ - 3 inch border. Gently fold the border in over the filling, overlapping the dough where needed.
Bake for about 45 minutes, until pastry looks golden in spots. Remove from oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Lots of action in New Brunswick's local food scene!
Don't we Maritimers say that some of the best parties (and online communities) end up in the kitchen? Looks like this'll be another. Check it out.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Benefits of eco-friendly shaving
 |
| My top pick for a non-toxic eco-friendly shave is shaving soap |
A case in point is shaving. It’s something that most men do on a daily basis and hardly give a second thought. But it is worth thinking about if you’re using conventional shaving products because the toxins found in women’s cosmetics and personal care products are found in men’s products too.
Conventional shaving creams usually contain synthetic chemicals that could be carcinogenic, hormone disrupting and at the very least irritating. The synthetic fragrance alone could cause reproductive problems, as do the preservatives (called parabens). Some studies have also linked them to liver and kidney tumours. Using warm water to prepare your skin for shaving opens your pores, making it easier for these toxins to penetrate your skin and build up in your body over time.
My top pick for a non-toxic eco-friendly shave is shaving soap, along with a shaving brush. Forget the perception that using old fashioned shaving soap takes more time. It takes all of ten seconds to create a thick creamy lather in the soap dish and it’s quick and easy to apply. The rest is the same: Shave. Rinse. Go about your day. I have also read that many dermatologists recommend using a shaving brush and shaving soap since the brush works the soap into the hair bristles, making the shave closer and less irritating.
Olivier shaving soap is your best choice. It’s truly natural (made with olive oil, cocoa butter, beeswax and fragrant oil), costs $9.95 and lasts practically forever. The brush costs $11.95 and you can buy both at their shop in the Saint John City Market or order online at http://www.oliviersoaps.com/. Their soaps are hand-made in small batches at their soapery in Ste. Anne de Kent, New Brunswick.
The chemicals in conventional shaving products aren’t the only un-green aspect of the daily ritual. Half a billion razors and all that packaging get tossed out by Canadians each year. Here are a few things you can do to ensure you’re not adding to the pile:
Choose reusable razors instead of disposable razors and buy good quality blades so they last longer. To extend the life of your blade consider buying an EverBlade, a razor blade stand designed to repel rust and corrosion from the blade. According to many enthusiastic reviews I found online a single blade can easily last four to eight months thanks to this stand and at a cost of $30 it will likely pay for itself in a month (http://www.greeneverblade.com/).
With Father’s Day just around the corner consider giving one of these eco options as a gift this year.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
It's June! Start cooking with fresh, local ingredients
Where I live beet greens are just about the first local ingredients to be found at the markets (after fiddleheads, that is). Make a meal of these tasty greens with this delicious pasta recipe.
Pasta with greens (beet greens or Swiss chard)
1/3 cup currants
Juice of 1 lemon
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 large bunch of beet greens or Swiss chard
Zest of 1 lemon
5 oz of goat’s cheese or feta
¼ cup toasted pine nuts (or almonds or walnuts)
Sea salt and pepper
¾ lb pasta (penne works well)
-Set pasta water to boil in a covered pot.
-In a small bowl, squeeze the juice of one lemon over the currants and set aside.
-Remove stems from greens and chop into 1 cm pieces. Roughly chop the leaves.
-Over medium heat saute the onion in olive oil until soft. Add garlic & cook one minute. Add chopped stems to the onion mixture cover and cook for 5 minutes. Stir and add the chopped leaves. Cook until soft (about 5 minutes).
-When pasta is cooked drain and return to the pot. Add greens mixture, lemon zest, currants and lemon juice, and cheese. Toss, season with salt and pepper and serve immediately, with pine nuts sprinkled over.
Pasta with greens (beet greens or Swiss chard)
1/3 cup currants
Juice of 1 lemon
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 large bunch of beet greens or Swiss chard
Zest of 1 lemon
5 oz of goat’s cheese or feta
¼ cup toasted pine nuts (or almonds or walnuts)
Sea salt and pepper
¾ lb pasta (penne works well)
-Set pasta water to boil in a covered pot.
-In a small bowl, squeeze the juice of one lemon over the currants and set aside.
-Remove stems from greens and chop into 1 cm pieces. Roughly chop the leaves.
-Over medium heat saute the onion in olive oil until soft. Add garlic & cook one minute. Add chopped stems to the onion mixture cover and cook for 5 minutes. Stir and add the chopped leaves. Cook until soft (about 5 minutes).
-When pasta is cooked drain and return to the pot. Add greens mixture, lemon zest, currants and lemon juice, and cheese. Toss, season with salt and pepper and serve immediately, with pine nuts sprinkled over.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Eco-friendly mowers
I love the smell of fresh-cut grass but don’t care for all that goes along with it: the noise, the exhaust fumes, the smell of spilled gasoline.
Gas-powered mowers pollute way beyond their worth. An hour of mowing with a traditional gas-powered mower pollutes as much as driving 320 kilometers in a typical car. So throughout the mowing season obsessive mowers could be polluting the equivalent of a 4,000 km road trip while never leaving the yard. Environment Canada estimates emissions from off-road engines (lawn mowers included) make up about 9% of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions. On top of this, millions of gallons of gas are spilled each year by owners refilling their mowers.
I agree that mowing is a necessary evil but there are less evil ways to cut the grass. A goat would be my preferred but for all sorts of practical reasons that solution doesn’t suit our household (or neighbourhood).
For several years we used a reel mower – one of those old-fashioned-looking push mowers. The new versions are much lighter than the tank I recall in the corner of our basement when I was little. A reel mower is great for biceps, and offers a practical solution for nice flat lawns that aren’t too big. They’re quiet enough for early morning mowing and don’t pollute. Ours however became too much work for our large bumpy yard. Based on observation (I don’t mow, I garden) lawn mowing as an athletic workout for my husband lost its charm after five summers of pushing.
Figuring we needed a new, but still eco-friendly, way to mow he did a little research on rechargeable mowers and just this week came home with an Earthwise cordless electric mower. Electric mowers are great for many reasons. They’re quieter than gas-powered mowers, reduce pollution from mowing by about 90% and use only as much power as a toaster. Over the summer an electric mower will use roughly $5 worth of power.
I was inspired to give ours a try and was impressed. What I love about this new mower is that it’s easy to start; you just insert a key and pull a lever (no yanking on a cord). I found it heavy but not too heavy to push comfortably (ours has a 20” cutting path so is on the bigger side). It cut easily through thick grass and mulches the clippings so they’re left to nourish the lawn. Best of all I wasn’t walking through a path of smog that is typical for gas-powered mowers.
The battery lasts an hour, which is about enough mowing for me and recharges overnight. If you’re in the market for a mower there are several cordless options to choose from. We bought ours at Kent Building Supplies but Home Depot carries several brands too. If you’d prefer to try a reel mower they’re easy to find. I have even noticed a few promoted in hardware store flyers recently.
Figuring we needed a new, but still eco-friendly, way to mow he did a little research on rechargeable mowers and just this week came home with an Earthwise cordless electric mower. Electric mowers are great for many reasons. They’re quieter than gas-powered mowers, reduce pollution from mowing by about 90% and use only as much power as a toaster. Over the summer an electric mower will use roughly $5 worth of power.
I was inspired to give ours a try and was impressed. What I love about this new mower is that it’s easy to start; you just insert a key and pull a lever (no yanking on a cord). I found it heavy but not too heavy to push comfortably (ours has a 20” cutting path so is on the bigger side). It cut easily through thick grass and mulches the clippings so they’re left to nourish the lawn. Best of all I wasn’t walking through a path of smog that is typical for gas-powered mowers.
The battery lasts an hour, which is about enough mowing for me and recharges overnight. If you’re in the market for a mower there are several cordless options to choose from. We bought ours at Kent Building Supplies but Home Depot carries several brands too. If you’d prefer to try a reel mower they’re easy to find. I have even noticed a few promoted in hardware store flyers recently.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Bringing Michael Pollan's "Food Rules" to your table
Fresh cut shoestring fries
The key to making these oven-baked fries crispy is to cut them as thinly as possible
One sweet potato
3 medium potatoes
2 T olive oil
Sea salt and pepper
Peel potatoes or just give them a good scrub if they’re thin skinned. (Sweet potato will have to be peeled).
Slice them as thinly as possible and toss in a bowl with oil and salt and pepper.
Spread in a single layer on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. (Oil the sheet lightly if you don’t have parchment paper).
Bake at 450 for about half an hour (or until they’re crisp to your liking), moving them around the baking sheet every 10 minutes or so.
Remove from oven and serve at once.
Great variation:
In addition to the salt and pepper toss with ¼ t Chili powder and ¼ t oregano.
Quinoa salad with peppers and peas
This grain cooks quickly, has a wonderful texture and is especially nutritious. This recipe works well with rice, barley and bulgar too.
1 ½ cups quinoa
3 cups water or broth
1 red pepper, finely diced
1 cup frozen peas, boiled for one minute
2 T (or to taste) of whatever fresh herb you have on hand.
Dressing:
Juice & zest of one lemon
5 T olive oil
1 T honey or maple syrup
Sea salt & pepper
Put quinoa and water in a medium pot. Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and cook until water is absorbed (about 20 minutes). Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Scrape into a bowl.
Meanwhile, scrub the pepper well before dicing.
Add the pepper and peas to the quinoa and toss with dressing (you won’t need the whole batch).
Season with salt and pepper.
Variations:
Shave red cabbage overtop before serving (very pretty).
Add finely diced mango instead of the peas and use lime juice in the dressing
Add chopped baby spinach or arugula
Speedy salmon burgers
My kids devour these like they're cookies.
1 lb raw salmon or trout
1 large potato, boiled and mashed
1 egg, beaten
½ cup panko or dry breadcrumbs
1 T plain yogurt
Salt & pepper
3 T fresh herbs (Chives, dill or tarragon) or 1 t dried
Good squeeze of lemon
Chop the fish and mix with remaining ingredients.
Form into 3” mini burgers and fry in oil until cooked, flipping halfway through.
Variation:
Works with other fish too.
Try patting in panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) before frying.
The key to making these oven-baked fries crispy is to cut them as thinly as possible
One sweet potato
3 medium potatoes
2 T olive oil
Sea salt and pepper
Peel potatoes or just give them a good scrub if they’re thin skinned. (Sweet potato will have to be peeled).
Slice them as thinly as possible and toss in a bowl with oil and salt and pepper.
Spread in a single layer on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. (Oil the sheet lightly if you don’t have parchment paper).
Bake at 450 for about half an hour (or until they’re crisp to your liking), moving them around the baking sheet every 10 minutes or so.
Remove from oven and serve at once.
Great variation:
In addition to the salt and pepper toss with ¼ t Chili powder and ¼ t oregano.
Quinoa salad with peppers and peas
This grain cooks quickly, has a wonderful texture and is especially nutritious. This recipe works well with rice, barley and bulgar too.
1 ½ cups quinoa
3 cups water or broth
1 red pepper, finely diced
1 cup frozen peas, boiled for one minute
2 T (or to taste) of whatever fresh herb you have on hand.
Dressing:
Juice & zest of one lemon
5 T olive oil
1 T honey or maple syrup
Sea salt & pepper
Put quinoa and water in a medium pot. Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and cook until water is absorbed (about 20 minutes). Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Scrape into a bowl.
Meanwhile, scrub the pepper well before dicing.
Add the pepper and peas to the quinoa and toss with dressing (you won’t need the whole batch).
Season with salt and pepper.
Variations:
Shave red cabbage overtop before serving (very pretty).
Add finely diced mango instead of the peas and use lime juice in the dressing
Add chopped baby spinach or arugula
Speedy salmon burgers
My kids devour these like they're cookies.
1 lb raw salmon or trout
1 large potato, boiled and mashed
1 egg, beaten
½ cup panko or dry breadcrumbs
1 T plain yogurt
Salt & pepper
3 T fresh herbs (Chives, dill or tarragon) or 1 t dried
Good squeeze of lemon
Chop the fish and mix with remaining ingredients.
Form into 3” mini burgers and fry in oil until cooked, flipping halfway through.
Variation:
Works with other fish too.
Try patting in panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) before frying.
Greening-up your diet just got easier
If you’re on a mission to green-up your diet and are looking for some quick guidance you’re in luck, Michael Pollan has a new book that proves it really isn’t that complicated to adopt a diet that’s healthier for you and the planet. Titled Food Rules, it’s a 140-page paperback that can be read in an hour but you might want to read it more than once and may be leave it on the counter as a reminder.
Pollan has written a couple of great books on how to eat but in this new book he has distilled his key ideas into dozens of easy-to-understand (some highly amusing) statements about what and how to eat. If ever there was a Coles Notes for eating well (in the green sense of the word) this book is it.
As I have mentioned before, I often get asked for green eating guidance. I only wish I was as clever and concise with my advice as Pollan. He’s the guy who summed up his food philosophy in seven words: “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.” By this he means eat whole food that you have prepared yourself, rather than prepackaged, highly processed edibles. He recommends that everyone eat more vegetables and treat meat more like a condiment. And in the context of these first two principles he recommends that we spend more on quality ingredients and eat less overall.
If you’re wondering where to begin with greening your diet the format of Pollan’s book works really well. He offers 64 starting points (what he calls rules) that make perfect sense and are so memorable that they’ll be running through your head at the grocery store just like a catchy tune.
Here are a few of my favourites:
-Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce.
-It’s not food if it arrives through the window of your car.
-Avoid foods that you see advertised on television.
-Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.
-Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.
-Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it.
-Cook.
Pollan is tough on highly processed foods, calling them “edible foodlike substances” and he backs up his criticism with a mix of facts and opinion that might have you feeling a little sheepish, depending on how you feel about your current diet. But he does end with the rule “Break the rules once in a while” because eating well most of the time is what we all need.
If you’re looking for more ways to green-up your diet I’ll be speaking about food at the Maritime Green Living Expo at the Trade & Convention Centre on Sunday, May 30. http://www.maritimegreenexpo.com/
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Be choosey about the toothpaste you use
Have you ever read the warning label on a tube of toothpaste? Are you alarmed that toothpaste even has a warning label? I’ll guess that few people have bothered to read the safe use instructions on the package, including not swallowing the toothpaste and, on some popular brands, “Recommended for adults and children over 12 years.”
Why should we all be concerned about this? Because most people haven’t a clue what’s in toothpaste and digging up a list of ingredients takes more than a little effort.
You might be surprised to discover that conventional toothpaste contains the artificial sweetener Saccharin. Health Canada banned the use of Saccharin in food 30 years ago due to animal studies that linked consumption to an increased risk of bladder cancer. (They are currently rethinking that ban, due to heavy lobbying from the diet-food industry, but many scientists continue to recommend against lifting the ban.)
Most brands also contain Triclosan as an antibacterial agent. The EPA considers Triclosan a pesticide and part of a class of chemicals that is thought to cause cancer in humans. Most whitening toothpaste also contains lye, considered a poison by the FDA
Then there is the controversy around fluoride. It’s not that fluoride is bad it’s just that we may be getting too much of it. When you combine toothpaste, fluoridated drinking water in some communities (not Rothesay or Quispamsis) and the consumption of all sorts of processed foods that are made with municipal water that is fluoridated, some health experts are worried that we’re ingesting too much fluoride. It builds up in our bones and among other things is linked to increasing rates of bone cancer in young boys.
Children under the age of two shouldn’t use toothpaste with fluoride and all children should be supervised while brushing to prevent swallowing. Not that it helps. The commercial brands for kids are formulated to taste just like candy and putting a toothbrush spread with children’s toothpaste in a child’s mouth is like giving them a lollypop and telling them not to swallow.
Now that you know some ingredients you might like to avoid, there are several alternatives to conventional drug store toothpaste, including options for children.
Tom’s of Maine gets a good rating since it’s saccharin-free, Triclosan-free and offers several options without fluoride, as do Natures Gate, Jason and Green Beaver (made in Canada). All carry a great variety of flavours. My children won’t budge from Tom’s of Maine Apricot and I prefer Nature’s Gate Fennel.
These brands are more expensive than convention brands but keep in mind you only need a small amount to do the job. For a little extra whitening power (minus the lye) keep a little pot of baking soda by the sink and brush with that a few times a week. Combined with proper flossing you won’t be compromising your dental health for the sake of overall wellness.
Why should we all be concerned about this? Because most people haven’t a clue what’s in toothpaste and digging up a list of ingredients takes more than a little effort.
You might be surprised to discover that conventional toothpaste contains the artificial sweetener Saccharin. Health Canada banned the use of Saccharin in food 30 years ago due to animal studies that linked consumption to an increased risk of bladder cancer. (They are currently rethinking that ban, due to heavy lobbying from the diet-food industry, but many scientists continue to recommend against lifting the ban.)
Most brands also contain Triclosan as an antibacterial agent. The EPA considers Triclosan a pesticide and part of a class of chemicals that is thought to cause cancer in humans. Most whitening toothpaste also contains lye, considered a poison by the FDA
Then there is the controversy around fluoride. It’s not that fluoride is bad it’s just that we may be getting too much of it. When you combine toothpaste, fluoridated drinking water in some communities (not Rothesay or Quispamsis) and the consumption of all sorts of processed foods that are made with municipal water that is fluoridated, some health experts are worried that we’re ingesting too much fluoride. It builds up in our bones and among other things is linked to increasing rates of bone cancer in young boys.
Children under the age of two shouldn’t use toothpaste with fluoride and all children should be supervised while brushing to prevent swallowing. Not that it helps. The commercial brands for kids are formulated to taste just like candy and putting a toothbrush spread with children’s toothpaste in a child’s mouth is like giving them a lollypop and telling them not to swallow.
Now that you know some ingredients you might like to avoid, there are several alternatives to conventional drug store toothpaste, including options for children.
Tom’s of Maine gets a good rating since it’s saccharin-free, Triclosan-free and offers several options without fluoride, as do Natures Gate, Jason and Green Beaver (made in Canada). All carry a great variety of flavours. My children won’t budge from Tom’s of Maine Apricot and I prefer Nature’s Gate Fennel.
These brands are more expensive than convention brands but keep in mind you only need a small amount to do the job. For a little extra whitening power (minus the lye) keep a little pot of baking soda by the sink and brush with that a few times a week. Combined with proper flossing you won’t be compromising your dental health for the sake of overall wellness.
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