Sunday, January 22, 2006

Organic (not so) Common Sense ...



I will be the first to admit that I've never taken the topic of organic foods seriously. Somehow, paying twice the money so that cows and chickens can run around free before being (I'll say it nicely) "taken to market", never made much sense to me. Besides the money and the philosophy aspects, the whole topic of organic has just been plain confusing. Reports of high mercury content in "organic" fish, fights over the cumulative impact of pesticides in fruit and vegtables, big-industry taking advantage of loopholes in federal organic guidelines, and to cap it all off ... as if it were all a bad joke ... organic cosmetics are stealing more than their fair share of the limelight. But with a two year old that drinks 30 ounces of milk a day (and a wife that understands the importance of organic a thousand fold more than I do) I've been relunctant to take the risks associated with saving a few bucks.

Thankfully, Consumer Reports recently published their own findings here "When It Pays To Buy Organic" and here "When Organic Pays (And Doesn't)".

In summary, these Consumer Reports articles point out the following about organic foods:
  • The good news: New studies show that by eating organic food, you can greatly reduce your exposure to chemicals found in conventionally produced food.
  • More good news: You don’t have to clean out your wallet to buy organic foods if you know which ones to buy and where.
  • Buy more: Apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach, strawberries, meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, and baby food.
  • If price is no object, buy more: Asparagus, avocados, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn, kiwi, mangos, onions, papaya, pineapples, sweet peas, breads, oils, potato chips, pasta, cereals, and other packaged foods, such as canned or dried fruit and vegetables.
  • Don't bother buying: Seafood.
  • The bad news: As more big players enter the organic market, government standards have come under attack. So it’s more important than ever to understand food labeling and what’s behind it.
These two articles really go a long way towards making organic a more common sense topic among cost-consious individuals and families.

Matt

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Hello World ...



Just a little post to let everyone know that we've carved out our own little corner of the blogoshere ... pretty cool, huh? We'll be using this blog to keep our family and friends in touch with the million-and-one happenings that we move through each and every day (and also the billion-and-one photos we take!)

About the photos ... The photos that are posted in the blog are primarily for show and tell. You could right click them and save them to your computer but they are small and not very good for taking to the photo-shop for printing. If you want photos that you can hold in your hand or download to your computer, you'll have two options. Just email Matt at badjedi@gmail.com and specify which option(s) you are interested in and we will set you up with the appropriate permissions to access the online albums.

Option One: "I want to hold them in my hand!" ... We will have an account at Shutterfly (info) where you will be able to log into our account, view the latest and greatest albums, and select exactly which prints and how many you would like to have mailed to your door!

Option Two: "Slap me with some data!" ... We will have an account at PBase (info) where you will be able to log into our account, view the latest and greatest albums, and download the photos straight to your hard-drive! Once you've got the data you can take them to your local photo shop of choice or print the photos right at home off of your printer.

About the blog ... Feel free to add comments to any post in this blog. By doing so, this blog can become more of a forum that will only get more and more interesting as time moves on.

The Fam ...