What's USDA certified - and why do I care?

After I figured out the milk situation, everything snowballed from there. The googling could not (would not) cease.

The first thing I started to figure out was the difference between USDA certified organic, natural and locally grown.

USDA Organic approved food is defined by the USDA as: Organic is a labeling term that indicates that the food or other agricultural product has been produced through approved methods that integrate cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering may not be used.

USDA Organic Farmers must adhere to: Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations.  Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones.  Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation.  Before a product can be labeled ‘organic,’ a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards.  Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified, too.” Consumer Brochure, USDA National Organic Program 

  

If you’re like me you just read all of that and said WHAT?!

After I read all this I took a trip to Trader Joes to see what this was all about. If you’ve ever been to Trader Joes, have you noticed everything that is 100% organic has yellow tags and the rest of their shelf tags are blue? I found several foods that had that USDA Organic logo on the front. Who knew? Sometimes the label is smaller but it will always been on the front (at least in my experience so far).

What I have figured out so far is the USDA Organic label is VERY difficult for companies to obtain. (to grasp the full depth check out this site: http://afsic.nal.usda.gov/organic-production) Knowing these farmers and producers have to go far above and beyond just to get these labels makes me feel a lot better about putting their products into my body.


(Natural and Locally Grown - up next)

Green Challenge: look for foods that have the USDA Organic label on them the next time you are at the store – bonus points if you buy it rather than the non-organic version!

My going green story...

I feel like this is my "coming out" as a greener me story - maybe we need a name for it when people "come out" as green. Any ideas??


Regardless - here's my story:  A year ago if somebody had told me they ate only (or mostly) organic, I would have thought they were snobby hippies who were wasting money on a bunch of propaganda food. So what changed my opinion? Last year I ran into a client of mine at a party - she told me how she spent her day taking her 4th grade daughter to the doctor because just had her first period. (sorry for the TMI!) The point was though, her very young daughter's body had already matured very early. My first question to her was asking if her daughter felt strange being first in her class. To my complete surprise over half her daughters female classmates already had their first periods too! (getting real for a second, mine came along in my junior year of high school, which I realize is a little later, regardless though these girls were VERY young in my book to have this happen already) I asked my client what her doctor said and she told me his theory was: milk. MILK?! WHAT?! How could the delicious cold amazingly yummy with oreo's drink I'd loved my whole life cause a girls period to come earlier than it was supposed to. The answer: injected hormones. 
Of course the first thing I did when I came home from the party was get to the googling. 
Basically I found drinking organic milk has the following perks: (in order of importance to me!)

• no artificial hormones (especially no rBGH*)
• Organic cattle must spend the majority of their lives grazing in open pastures (USDA regulations)
• Organic milk has about a 2 month shelf life (seriously!)

*rBGH is an additive in regular milk that has been linked to causing breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer in humans. This is so detrimental it has been banned in Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and the entire European Union. (completely grossed out that it's still in the US? = yes)

Here is a great article about this: http://greenliving.about.com/od/greenshopping/a/Organic-Milk.htm

I literally have not drank non-organic milk since. 

Green challenge: try organic milk - I don't think it tastes any different but I honestly did start feeling healthier right away (maybe it was mental, but mental health is important too!) OR even if you don't really care about hormones or happy cows think of the $$ savings with your milk never going bad!

If you try it - make sure you stop back and let us know what you thought!

See! Look how happy cow's can be...let's get more of those!