HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR FOOD?

                  YOU AND YOUR FOOD- HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR FOOD?

Those of you who are concerned about the impact that pesticides etc are having on your health, I am going to draw up this article just to enlighten you a bit more.

Are you aware that it takes an organic farmer a minimum of three years before he can sell his produce as  “Certified Organic.”

APPLES= Apples in Australia get sprayed with a wax to protect from sunburn, four to five times during their growth. This protectant is designed to resist being washed off. The main ingredient of this sunburn protectant is carnauba wax, made from the leaves of a Brazilian palm tree. The substance is also used to make car and shoe polish, surfboard wax and dental floss. While carnauba wax is said to be harmless, two other of the spays ingredients have links to cancer. The Petroleum derived synthetic chemical morpholine has been banned for use in food waxing products in the European Union but despite this it is still allowed to be used by conventional fruit growers in Australia. Remembering that apples as sprayed with herbicides, fungicides and insecticides along with fertilisers approximately every two to three days in wet seasons. To avoid this cocktail of chemicals here is a website.

Here is a contact for Bio Dynamic apples (even better) http://greenwoodorchards.com.au/

How to tell if your Apple is fresh:

To tell if an apple is worth eating, turn it over and look at the base: if the blossom is closed tightly, its fresh. The blossom opens up as the apple ages.

BANANA’S: How many of you thought you were safe handing your child a peeled banana- Think again, the skin of a banana is very porous so it can be permeated by chemicals sprayed. There can also be chemicals residues in the banana flesh because some of the poisons in the soil are systemic, which means they are taken up by the plant and dispersed throughout its membranes.

To prolong the lifespan of bananas, wholesalers packed them in plastic bags impregnated with an ethylene absorbent, such as potassium permanganate. Ethylene is the natural gas produced by bananas and other fruits that starts the ripening process. Potassium permanganate is also used as a medicine, to treat water, as a disinfectant and to age paintwork in the special effects industry. It can be fatal if consumed in large doses.

CAULIFLOWER: Cauliflower’s chemical concoction, the strategy farmers use to control cabbage Moth is based on alternating chemical groups by spraying different insecticides at various stages of the cauliflowers life. The same chemical is not used for more than two consecutive sprays. While regulators test the safety of the individual chemicals, the health risks of this chemical mixture are unknown.

Washing and cooking won’t rid cauliflowers of chemicals. Conventionally grown cauliflowers are repeatedly doused in pesticide chemicals throughout the growing cycle. Many of these chemicals as systemic-they work from the inside-so you can’t completely wash them off or cook them out.

How organic farmers control weeds. Weed control on organic farms is expensive and involves a combination of mechanical weeding, using a tractor and implements, and hand weeding,-both chipping and pulling out weeds by hand-along with flame weeding let’s steam weeding.

CARROTS: mature carrots have more sugars while younger carrots contain more folate. Some carrots are sold with the leaves still attached this may look good but will hasten their demise as the carrots continue to feed moisture to the leaves. Carrots are high In carotene the compound that gives them their colour. Carotene is converted to vitamin A in our bodies which is essential for eye health.

Tear gas used on carrots: the liquid fungicide chloropicrin Is injected into the soil and immediately converts to a gas, as it is released. Chloropicrin Can be harmful to humans and was actually used as tear gas by German forces in World War One.

Chemical health risks with root vegetables: The main health risk is the chemical mixture present in conventional root vegetables. It is almost impossible to test for the effects on human health of all possible combinations of chemicals used on a crop such as carrots. Remember that carrots act like a sponge while they’re growing and will readily absorb pesticide poisons. “Healthy” Raw juicing will only intensify the effects of the chemicals, as the juice is a concentrate.

Organic vegetable growing: organic farmers use alternative ways to handle potential problems instead of fumigating the soil for nematodes, organic farmers ensure there is plenty of organic matter in these soils for the nematodes to consume-because they are actually a good thing to have in the soil. To control ants, organic farmers simply ensure they have a very fine seed bed, which is possible when your soil is healthy and friable (crumbly).

Possibly More next newsletter.