In this section we provide some interesting Health & Food related information.
- An average family in the west throws away around 20-40 kgs of food packaging waste every month
- It takes 5,000 litres of water to make 1kg of cheese, 20,000 litres to grow 1kg of coffee, and 100,000 litres to produce 1kg of hamburger beef
- The food industry annually spends over £10.5 billion on chemicals to add to food and alter it
- A third of all fruit and vegetables we eat contain pesticide residues
- Avocados contain a special kind of sugar that helps prevent low blood sugar, so may be the ideal diet food
Information from 101 Facts You Should Know About Food by John Farndon
Created by the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center and narrated by Mike Adams, this latest episode of the popular "Food Investigations" series exposes what's really in Vitamin Water.
- For Health - On average, organic fruit and vegetables contain higher levels of vitamin C, essential minerals and cancer-fighting antioxidants.
- No Nasty Additives - Amongst the many additives banned by the Soil Association are hydrogenated fat, aspartame (artificial sweetener) and monosodium glutamate (MSG).
- Avoids Pesticides - Over 400 chemical pesticides are rountinely used in conventional farming. Pesticides are often present in non-organic food.
- Care for Animals - No system of farming has higher levels of animal welfare standards than organic farms working to Soil Association standards.
- Good for Wildlife and the Environment - Organic farming is better for wildlife, causes lower pollution from sprays and produces less carbon dioxide - the main global warming gas.
"Food is steeped in oil. About 400 gallons of diesel are needed to produce
the average American's food annually, and a similar figure holds here. Most of
our food is produced using nitrogen fertiliser, the 'wonder chemical' enabling
non-organic farmers to maximise the productivity of their fields. But such chemical
fertility doesn't come free. Each one tonne of fertiliser takes one tonne of
oil and 108 tonnes of water to make, giving off seven tonnes of carbon dioxide
in the process. If farming is to become climate-friendly, it must rely less on
fossil fuels. That means fewer chemical fertilisers, more use of rotations and
natural fertility-buliding crops like clover"
Robin Maynard- Soil Association.
Information provided by the Soil Association.
Not on the Label - Felicity Lawrence
You Are What You Eat - Gillian McKeith
Raw Living - Kate Wood
Bread Matters - Andrew Whitley
The Powerwatch Handbook - Alasdair & Jean Philips
Healing with Whole Foods - Paul Pitchford
Manual 2000 - Elkington & Hailes
No Logo - Naomi Klein
The Long Emergency - James Howard Kunstler
How to Store your Garden Produce - Piers Warren
The Concise Guide To Self -Sufficiency - John Seymour
How to Grow Fresh Air - Dr. B.C. Wolverton
Foodwise: Understanding What We Eat and How it Affects Us, the Story of Human Nutrition - Wendy E. Cook
Supereating - Ian Marber




