Summer Reading

July 16, 2011 at 11:42 AM · Filed under Food, Life and tagged: great food, health, living simply, organic, plastic, recommendations

I picked up some light reading at the library last week. One book that quickly found its way into my hands was Gluten-Free Girl (a lovely memoir/cook book by the author of this blog who discovered how to thrive whilst having celiac disease). The other was Slow Death By Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things. Believe it or not, the latter is a bit more upsetting than the former. I am 130 pages in and I’ve learned the following: everything is killing us. Your sofa. Your car. Your shampoo. Your TV. Everything. (more on this later)

Now, I consider myself a healthy, knowledgeable consumer. I do what healthy people do. I wear sunscreen. It even comes in a recyclable can. Unfortunately, that sunscreen is one of many filled with oxybenzone (a hormone disruptor). I find this “packaging versus contents” dilemma to be a common one. Organic ketchup in a plastic bottle (why not glass?). Organic bananas in a bag (excessive packaging).  “Natural” or “Green” or “Recyclable” products that are nothing of the sort (like my sunscreen). One solution is to buy fresh, organic produce from local farmer’s markets (no pesticides, no plastic, no packaging), but what do you do if that’s not an option? You often have to decide between organic foods marinated in plastic or conventional foods marinated in pesticides.

Okay, that’s a bummer, so let’s end on a high note.

Organic Homemade Yogurt with Roasted Peaches, Plums, and Blueberries (Yeah…all the ingredients came in plastic containers.)

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