Au....Natural.

Next up is Natural foods. This is where it gets tricky in my opinion. 
Wikipedia says: "Natural foods" are often assumed to be foods that are minimally processed and do not contain any hormones, antibiotics, sweeteners, food colors, or flavorings that were not originally in the food.
I own an advertising agency (www.itsahappymedium.com). I usually say things like "advertising is everything" and when I say things like that it's because I'm trying to explain to a client the high value in advertising. In the case of natural foods though I've come to find the same "advertising is everything" mantra stands, just in a different way. Finding natural foods that are the best and healthiest option for you seems to be all about paying attention not to the advertising, but to the nutrition facts. The advertising can be extremely deceptive in natural foods. Here's why:
The USDA defines "Natural Foods" as a product containing no artificial ingredient or added color and is only minimally processed. Minimal processing means that the product was processed in a manner that does not fundamentally alter the product. The label must include a statement explaining the meaning of the term natural (such as "no artificial ingredients; minimally processed").
This all sounds good, however the snafu that is not being regulated are the companies putting "made with natural ingredients" on their packaging. If you just read that on it's own fast you could easily assume all of the components of that product were "natural". Not the case, that statement could actually just mean that even only one component of that product actually qualifies as the USDA "Natural Foods" definition, the rest of the components in the product could be absolute crap - really yucky crap. 
Basically when looking for natural food options make sure you're actually checking the ingredients on the back of the package - if you can't read the words - put the package down. Also, make sure your items are 100% natural, not just "natural". I promise once you start looking you'll become all too aware of the differences- they are everywhere!

GOOD NATURAL

BAD NATURAL

Green Challenge: find a "natural" item and a 100% natural item the next time you go to the store!

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!