Going Organic!

My friend Corrin has inspired me to make more changes. I have been coming across lots of information about how to eat organic easier and cheaper and where to buy it. Corrin is doing a Bible study at her house from Jordan Rubin's book - 7 weeks to Wellness. Although, I don't want to eat all the recipies he printed, he has wonderful information anyone can incorporate to their lives no matter where they are on the health scale. As far as I'm concerned, every little change counts. I am not one to jump into something with a rigid regimine, I have to incorporate changes that will work with our lifestyle now and try the drastic changes at the right times. The big premise of the book is to eat things in the form that God created it. Of course that takes out anything processed. I already try to give our family limited amounts of that, and have come a long way over the years. For the most part, I make dinners from fresh whole foods, thanks mostly to Rachel Ray recipies I have found over the past two years. The food network has great recipies. Almost all of our breakfasts, lunches (a lot of dinner leftovers) and especially dinners are prepared and not from a box or frozen bag. Everything, especially in the summertime is really quick and mostly grilled. I had no choice but to start cooking up here for most meals, because we don't have all the great little bagel shops, corner delis, and unique restaurants with amzing fresh food like in Florida. You get really tired of the Waffle Houses, Chilis, and Longhorns. I miss FRESH FISH!! We have had some delicious dinners in ATL, but you can't just pop down there for a quick bite!!!

The book also suggests eating almost everything organic. This has been a pain for us as far as fruits and veggies go because whole foods is soooo far away and the other grocery stores mostly have organic stuff that doesn't look that great and it is outrageously priced!! We get our organic meats from a butcher near us - the price is actually lower per pound than Bell and Evans or Publix Greenwise. The difference in their meats is unbelieveable in regards to taste, texture and even color. I am so excited I just found an organic farm 15 miles from me!! They have been around for 12 years and I just found it. Up here around these parts, it seems people are really slow in coming around to making any healthy changes. My mom and I are going to start a co - op over there. A co-op is when you pay a certain fee, I think ours will be $30 a week and we get enough fresh fruits and veggies we will split it!! What a deal. Now you do get what is in season, but I think you can request how much of each you want. I am determined to make my family try whatever veggies they give me. I found a good website that has recipies for just about anything on it, besides food network.com. My mom's friend from church has been taking advantage of this co-op for years and is taking us with her next week when she picks up her weekly bags. We'll get to meet the owners and see how it all works. I'll post pictures when we go.

There is also a great website I would suggest any of you readers to sign up to start receiving newsletters. It is www.ewg.org - it stands for Environmental Working Group. They do all kinds of research on food and products and how they products and all the ingredients relate to and affect your health. The sunscreen info was great info for the summer. I'll post shortly a list I got from them that tells you the best fruits and veggies to eat (if you can't eat organic) and ranks them from highest to lowest in pesticides.

I'm off to go make our steak and fish dinner with asparagus and potatoe salad!!!