Autumn has almost passed us by, here in Upstate, South Carolina. That means many fruits and vegetables stopped producing and local farmers are moving to their winter crops. However, you – the consumer- can still support your local farmers and obtain good, healthy food through CSA’s or Community Supported Agriculture programs. What are CSA’s? These are partnerships between local consumers and their local farmers. Consumers pay a fee ahead of a growing season, as an investment into the farm. Each week during a growing season, the customer receives a box or a bag of what crops were harvested that week. Crop production can be unpredictable, therefore, customers are not always…
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7 Ideas to Reduce Food Waste
As a food enthusiasts, it breaks my heart to know food goes to waste. According to Feeding America, a non-profit organization aimed at ending hunger, an estimated 40% of food grown, processed and transported in the United States will never be consumed. More food reaches our landfills than plastic, paper or any other type of solid waste; and the food filling our landfills produce so much methane gas, it has 21 times the global warming potential than carbon dioxide. An estimated 70 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States each year. Food Waste is an Epidemic What is food waste? Be leery of which statistics you…
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Marketing Food To Our Children – PART 4
A four part series examining the United States Government’s relationship with the agricultural industry and how that directly affects your family’s health There is little doubt governmental policies regarding subsidizing farmers to grow more corn, soybeans, wheat and others have not changed since the 1940’s. Originally meant to help our country out of a depression, these policies have encouraged agribusiness to develop ways to create more, cheaper products using these subsidized crops. These cheaper products, high-fructose corn syrup, nitrates, and other “processed” foods have directly impacted the health of our country. Leading the world in heart disease, diabetes and obesity, America is falling into a desperate health crisis. Despite…
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Distribution & Marketing of Our Food – PART 3
A four part series examining the United States Government’s relationship with the agricultural industry and how that directly affects your family’s health So far, we have examined the United States governmental hold on our food supply and how subsidized foods are dangerous to our health. Corn, the number one subsidized food in this country, is processed and manipulated into everything from high fructose corn syrup to feed for cattle. The Agricultural Department and the Food and Drug Administration have created an additive, detrimental food supply, contributing to our country’s ill health and obesity. Mass Distribution The Grocery Manufactures of America want to sell cheap processed foods, at higher prices in…
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Does the Government Decide What You Eat – PART 2
A four part series examining the United States Government’s relationship with the agricultural industry and how that directly affects your family’s health In part 1, we discovered CORN is the most heavily processed food in the nation and high-fructose corn syrup is killing us, by making us the most overweight nation in the world. Because the US Government subsidizes farmers to produce more corn, eventually to be processed, but does not compensate farmers to grow fruits and vegetables, we are a nation that is doomed. Government Is Not Concerned Our national “Dietary Guidelines,” are developed by the Department of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with the United States Department…
