Where To Find Really Healthy Eggs and Poultry (It's Not at Whole Foods)

Where To Find Really Healthy Eggs and Poultry (It's Not at Whole Foods)

Most labels on eggs and poultry sold in the supermarkets are misleading, as they are written by producers who are primarily interested in selling eggs and poultry and not in the providing the healthiest food options to the consumer. In this amazing article, Ari LeVaux teaches the consumer how to choose eggs and chicken meat. He also provides definitions of common eggs and chicken meat labels.

For instance, "Free-range applies only to meat birds, and means they have an unspecified amount of access to an outdoor area of unspecified size and quality. In the context of eggs, "free-range" has no meaning."

How many times at the supermarket did you choose eggs with the "free-range" label in lieu of the regular egg carton? The best decision is an informed decision, and this articles helps the consumer decipher between truthful and misleading claims.

Leona Valley is for cherry lovers!

What can be better than farmer's market bounty? Pick your own fruit!

For one short month of June, beautiful Leona Valley is bursting with sweet cherries! There is absolutely nothing like picking a firm and lustrous cherry off the tree and letting the flavor explode in your mouth.

Copeland's orchard organic Utah variety ... small and sweet!

Copeland's orchard organic Bing variety ... dark and sweet!

Copeland's orchard cherries!

Mr Stein of the Stein ranch in Leona Valley informed us that July is apricot month!

Allergies be gone! morning smoothie recipe

Ingredients:

Anti-inflammatory antioxidants:

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• 1 cup of frozen organic berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries, currants, cranberries and strawberries)
• 2000 mg of vitamin C powder

Fluid to keep mucus membranes and tissues hydrated:

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• 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk, rice milk, coconut or hazelnut milk or water

Source of anti-inflammatory easily digestible protein:

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• 1-2 tablespoons or scoops protein powder (undenatured whey, rice or hemp)

Essential fatty acids to educate the body’s immune system to be more tolerant and less reactive:

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• 1-2 Tbsp of fish, cod liver or flax oil
• 2 teaspoons ground flax seeds
• 1 tablespoon almond, pumpkin seed, cashew, or sunflower seed butter
• 1/4 -1/2 of an avocado

Source of minerals, and trace elements:

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• 1 teaspoon spirulina, powdered greens or chlorella

Directions:

Blend until smooth adjusting nut milk as needed

Enjoy every morning before, during and after allergies season

Neither paper nor plastic!

Two Californian cities, San Francisco and Malibu, have completely banned plastic grocery bags of which only 5% are reused. Some other cities are considering similar measures, while the CA legislature is reviewing bill AB 1998, which would ban all carry out plastic bags and make only paper bags available at grocery stores. Opponents of the bill argue that paper bags are much worse for the environment than plastic bags because manufacturing and distributing paper bags releases three times the greenhouse gases of plastic bags.

Both the "ban plastic" and "ban paper" contingencies make compelling arguments for doing away with carry out one-time use bags. Which leaves us with the only logical solution - ban paper and plastic to make way for reusable cloth bags!

My husband took this picture at Balboa Park aka Sepulveda flood basin on a Sunday morning after heavy rains ... the white specs hanging on tree branches are plastic bags .... this is where they end up after the basin floods. I hope this picture will give you the impetus to dig up or DIY some reusible canvas bags to carry out your groceries!

Elections

Today is June 8th - CA statewide direct primary election!

As I was poking holes in the primaries ballot at the nearly empty polling station, I thought about elections as a means for reform. Specifically, I questioned my ballot number (which was number 4) and why, despite high level of dissatisfaction with the current state of things in CA, don't more of us get out to vote? I did not find a satisfactory answer.

But my internal dialog turned to everyday voting, the kind that is done with dollar bills and takes place every time we choose to walk in lieu of driving, go hiking in lieu of watching TV, and buy better-than-organic pesticide-free local produce at the neighborhood farmer's market. We do not need an annual election day to vote for reform. On a daily basis everyone of us makes a choice or votes for a policy when we open our wallets.

So next time you take out and swipe your card, make your vote count and choose reform! Choose policies that benefit your family's health and the planet by voting with dollars for organizations and producers who are committed to making safest products and providing health-enhancing services!

Solid versus liquid

Next time you find yourselves in the personal care isle of your healthfood store, consider buying a solid bar of soap in lieu of liquid body wash.

If you are already using solid soap, you probably already know that a lot less packaging goes into wrapping a bar or a two-pack of bar soap than bottling a liquid bath gel or body wash. And we all know that less packaging = happier planet.

But did you know that solid personal care items may also be healthier for you? A solid bar of soap has no water and, therefore, doesn't need toxic preservatives to guard its freshness and extend its shelf-life the way liquid soap does.