Organic Tea

The word “organic” seems simple enough but when it comes to shopping for organic our Numi organic tea there can be confusing. So let me share with you my inside look at the standards and laws governing organic tea companies that sell tea labeled organic. For me, it all started with a question, "what exactly determines if a particular tea is grown organically?

The Organic Food Production Act (OFPA) passed by the US Congress back in 1990, required the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop national organic standards for the labeling of organic tea. The National Organic Program (NOP) and OFPA developed regulations requiring products labeled “organic” originate from a farm, or handling facilities, that are certified by either State or private agencies that have been accredited by the USDA. The regulations further state that farms or handling facilities may not use any genetic engineering, ionizing radiation or sewage sludge, yikes!

Further stipulating that organic crops must be grown without the use of most conventional pesticides, petroleum-based fertilizers and again sewage sludge-based fertilizers. The USDA is required by OFPA to review the certification programs under which imported organic products, like tea, are produced. This means that certified agents in foreign countries must apply for USDA certification. In lieu of USDA certification, foreign governments can assess and accredit certifying agents, under National Organic Program requirements, with USDA approval.

An equivalency agreement negotiated between the US and a country’s government may also be used in lieu of certification. So what are the organic tea brands labeling standards? Organic labeling is the simplest part of the certification process and the aspect that is most confusing for consumers. Where I live the word “organic” on a label simply means you pay more, certification wise what the organic label means is that the tea follows the standards based on the percentage of organic ingredients in a product, and by law must be identified with a 100% organic label and must contain only organically produced ingredients.

Produce labeled “organic” must consist of at least 95% organically produced ingredients and display the USDA Organic Seal. Processed produce that contains at least 70% organic ingredients can only use the phrase “made with organic ingredients”. Processed products that contain less than 70% organic ingredients cannot use the term “organic” accept to identify the specific ingredients, on the ingredients list that is organically produced.

So what does all this mean to US tea consumers? Since tea is grown outside of the US certification is almost always done by foreign agents. It has become more and more important for consumers concerned about how their tea is grown to be comfortable with their tea supplier. Bio-terrorism laws have impacted tea importation by looking more closely overall at what and who are importing products into this country, particularly food products. While these laws can sometimes impede the smooth flow of tea to us from overseas it may be beneficial overall to consumers due to the “closer scrutiny” by the FDA.

Converting gardens and estates to organic farming is a costly and lengthy process and sometimes not even a consideration for small farmers. In some cases, farmers are already doing a lot right, but they lack the knowledge or funding necessary to become certified. There is an effort by the US tea industry to educate growers on the benefit both economically and ecologically for growing tea organically.

Reliable quality taste has been an issue with organic teas. Gardens converting to organic farming to produce the different organic tea brands or organic tea India have challenges that will require short and long term solutions to producing tea with consistently good taste. Over the years the organic tea growing process continues to improve, the tea farmers gain more experience and with each passing season, the quality and taste of organically grown tea keep improving.

As an importer and supplier of premium teas, the major responsibility is to know the production standards and philosophies of the gardens they work with. Securing quality organic tea with outstanding taste characteristics can be challenging but more flavorful varieties of tea become available each season.

Going Vegetarian

“Several epidemiological studies indicate that vegetarians have lower morbidity and mortality from chronic degenerative diseases.” Even the Utah Beef Council agrees with that data, but let's face it, today, vegetarians only make up about two percent of the population. Still, every day more and more people give up eating red meat or try their first bite of tofu. Aside from ethics, health and ecology seem to be the main reasons people are turning away from meat?


Hundreds of different studies have shown that vegetarians who eat balanced diets have lower rates of coronary artery disease, hypertension, obesity, and certain cancers. Registered Dietitian Winston Craig says that eating meat costs Americans somewhere between $30-$60 billion per year in medical expenses related to hypertension, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, gallstones, obesity, and food-borne illnesses associated with meat. Dropping some meats from my diet has helped me tamp down the skyrocketing price of meat from the grocery store. And, I remember feeling particularly pleased during the last major hamburger meat recall since hamburger meat was on my do not eat list at the time.

So far just about all of the information I have learned and tried to put to use has been very positive. I was especially attracted to the lower rates of disease amongst vegetarians which were right in turn with what Dr. Craig says; that a vegetarian diet is associated with lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and less obesity.

In 1997, the World Cancer Research Fund recommended a vegetarian diet for reducing the risk of cancer and it was the numbers they shared that piqued my interest. Lifelong vegetarians have 24% less heart disease, while vegans have an astounding 57% less. I'm afraid I fall into the vegetarian category since I have cut way back on meat, but still part-take of other animal products like cheese and milk. Vegans don't consume any animal products at all.

An all-inclusive study of a vegetarian religious group, the Seventh Day Adventists, found that the study group had half the rate of high blood pressure and diabetes, half the rate of colon cancer, and two-thirds the rate of arthritis and prostate cancer as other groups (2001). Also, Cornell University reported that eating less meat did more to reduce osteoporosis than supplementing your diet with calcium.

I am living proof that you don't need to go completely vegan to enjoy some of the health effects mentioned in this post I have noticed several improvements since my making a real effort to go meat-free (whenever I can) there has been some weight loss and an increase in workout energy.  In 1999, a meta-analysis of several vegetarian and vegan mortality studies was conducted. The results of these studies were compared together and re-analyzed. The researchers concluded that even reducing meat in your diet had a significant effect on lowering your rate of disease. People who ate meat just once a week had a 20% lower rate of dying from heart disease, and their over-all mortality rate was reduced by 10%.

For those who ate only fish saw as much as a 34% reduction in heart disease death, while their over-all mortality was lowered by 18%. My ultimate goal is to go completely vegan, right now my family, and extended family is the biggest enabler to my not being able to go completely vegan. The good news here is the more you reduce the consumption of animal products, the more you appear to benefit. Only 7% of the vegans studied died of cancer (lung, stomach, and colorectal). Worryingly, 19% of over-all deaths in the US are from cancer.

Being a Vegan, or even a Vegetarian is also good for the planet. How you may ask? Every year, meat eaters contribute to the cattle farming industry. This industry uses farmlands that could be producing food for people to make grain for cows. As most people know, cows produce large amounts of environmentally-toxic methane gas. Raising cows also uses precious water resources. Don't get me wrong I'm not really hating on cows, it's just that back when a cow or cows took care of a families needs the above toxins (methane) and use of the water supply didn't amount to much.

But once cows were gathered by the hundreds to produce milk and other dairy products for the masses it just seems to me that another problem was created. Believe me when I say it was not easy for me to contemplate giving up meat. I come from a long line of hunters, and meat-eaters who do not believe that man fought his way to the top of the food chain just to eat plants. My favorite uncle, Bae Honey, loved to hunt and said to me once "there's room on this earth for all of God's creatures that live in the forest, right next to the potatoes."

This post is meant mainly to share some of the stats I have collected about the health benefits enjoyed by vegans, and vegetarians in the hope you might find it useful and to share some of what I call the negative health effects from eating meat. Moving now to the negative environmental effects of eating meat, did you know that eating meat also contributes to the destruction of the rain forests? I kid you not. In an effort to make a cheaper Big Mac and Whopper, companies are growing cattle in Central America, where labor and other costs are lower. Eager Central Americans are slashing and burning their native rain forests to make room for the beef industry.

It is estimated that a vegetarian diet saves 1.5 tons of greenhouse gas per person per year. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reports that producing one calorie of animal protein requires ten times the fossil fuel as producing one calorie of plant protein, and according to the New Scientist publication eating a vegan diet reduces more carbon dioxide emissions than driving a hybrid car.

This is not the first time I have heard about the negative stats involving eating meat, and the price we pay for every hamburger that originated from a rain forest. Cow required the destruction of roughly 55 square feet of rain-forest, and too, studies show that one pound of beef requires 2,500 gallons of water. The water used to produce one hamburger patty is enough for two-weeks-worth of daily showers.

Whether you join my crusade to save the world one hamburger at a time or not I hope you will take heed of the health benefits listed above and at least consider
a reduction in your meat intake and if you fear going-totally-vegan, you can at least enjoy a safe space in the middle because between an unhealthy diet and the healthy vegan diet is the vegetarian.

Organic Food

The label "organic" nowadays used to distinguish one tomato from another is a big stretch from the word's original meaning, until the middle of the twentieth-century organic simply meant something living or derived from living matter. In that sense, the idea of an "inorganic tomato" is a contradiction in terms, unless it is, says, a tomato-shaped glass ornament. With very few exceptions just about all of our food is "organic" no matter how it is produced.

The supermarket word "organic" can be traced back to 1942 when J. I. Rodale launched a magazine he called Organic Gardening. Nowadays Rodale is hailed as a pioneer, but then he was often derided as a crank and a throwback to obsolete ways of farming. He advocated maintaining soil fertility and stability by putting organic-matter, animal manure or compost, back into the soil rather than relying on the "inorganic," or synthetic, fertilizers that were then widely seen as the modern way to go.

So in Rodale's usage, it was the fertilizers, and from them, the farming methods, rather than the food, that was organic making the soil his primary concern and not with issues like biodiversity or animal welfare. It wasn's long before the meaning of "organic farming" soon parted company from Rodale's original narrow distinction between fertilizers. Varying definitions spun out of control as different associations of "organic farmers" tried to set standards in accordance with their own values. Some wanted to stick with a narrow definition in terms of what you could and could not put on the soil, the crops, or the animals. Others wanted to include an entire way of life, including healthy living, an equitable form of distribution, concern for wildlife, and so on. Among organizations of organic farmers around the world, the broader view prevailed. The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements settled on this definition:

Organic agriculture is an agricultural system that promotes environmentally, socially, and economically sound production of food, fiber, timber, etc. In this system, soil fertility is seen as the key to successful production. Working with the natural properties of plants, animals, and the landscape, organic farmers aim to optimize quality in all aspects of agriculture and the environment.

Such a definition does not, however, lend itself to being reduced to a label that can be put on products to show that they were produced organically. Without specific standards that could be encapsulated in a label, consumers were often unsure what the various "organic" labels used by different associations and producers really meant. Hopefully, by now it is understood that organic foods mean so much more than simply whether or not a pesticide is used or not.

In 1990, the U.S. Congress decided to clear up the confusion by authorizing the Department of Agriculture to establish legally enforceable "USDA Organic" standards and a certification scheme so that consumers could be confident that their food really had been produced in accordance with the standards. That led, in 2002, to a set of standards that most people in organic farming considered a reasonable compromise among the various views of what organic farming is all about. Crops must be grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers, and most synthetic pesticides and all herbicides are also banned, although biological and botanical methods of control can be used.

Soil fertility is to be maintained by the use of animal and plant waste (but not sewage sludge, which can contain toxic heavy metals), crop rotation, and growing "cover crops" like clover between other crops. (Cover crops are plowed into the soil to restore nitrogen and organic matter.) Animals used for meat, eggs, or milk must eat organic grains or other organic food and must not be given growth hormones or antibiotics. (Sick or injured animals may be treated with antibiotics, but then their meat, milk, or eggs cannot be sold as organic.) Organically raised animals must have access to the outdoors, including access to pasture for ruminants. Neither plants nor animals can be the product of genetic engineering, and organic food cannot be irradiated.

Reprinted from: The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter by Peter Singer and Jim Mason. Author, Peter Singer is a professor of bioethics at Princeton University's Center for Human Values. He first became well known internationally after the publication of Animal Liberation in 1975. In 2005, Time magazine named him one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Jim Mason is the coauthor of Animal Factories (with Peter Singer) and the author of An Unnatural Order: Why We Are Destroying the Planet and Each Other, which John Robbins, author of the best-selling Diet for a New America, calls "a wonderful and important book." He is also an attorney and the fifth generation of a Missouri farming family.

So if like me, you are a buy-organic-kind-of-person hopefully you will find this information useful. I know the information above broadened my view of the meaning of the word organic as it relates to the food I buy and consume. Prior to now my view of organic-food was simply, did they spray this with pesticides or not? I also learned the pesticides are necessary even on food labeled organic. You can still be okay if you use the labels currently being placed on supermarket foods, I always read the label, with the overall idea being to minimize or remove toxins from the food I eat, and not to add them.

Exercise

Exercise is a very important part of a healthy diet, and done on a regular basis exercise will help you fight off disease and other unhealthy conditions. Exercise on a daily basis helps keep you in control of your weight, boosts your energy level, and enjoy an improvement in your mood. Exercise can be fun, social, and put the spark back in your sex life.

Let me start by saying that if you suffer from any chronic health problems diabetes, arthritis or heart disease you should let your doctor in on any new exercise plan, especially if you haven't exercised regularly in a while. I am not a doctor but my goal, with the posts I write, is to keep you out of the hospital, and healthy by sharing the health news, and tips I find in all my health and wellness online exploration. I also realize that what works for me, exercise-wise, may not work for everyone who reads my posts.

Whether you prefer indoor, or outdoor physical activity exercise can allow you to unwind and whether or not you chose to workout indoor or outdoor you can still team up with friends or family to enjoy the social aspect of keeping your body active on a regular basis. When it comes to exercise some exercise is better than none, but exercise on a regular basis is better than over-exercising on a once in a while basis. Seventy-five minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week, such as running or one-hundred and fifty minutes of moderate exercise activity like walking is a good recommendation for the beginner.

I actually use a combination of the two that involves both walking and some running with strength training for my major muscles at least twice a week. I made my own schedule and depending on the way your day usually shapes up you should too. The important thing is to take some time for yourself,  then take the plunge---start and begin exercising on a regular basis.

I spread my exercise activity out over the week so my exercise seldom happens at the same time every day, but I try to stay committed and still make sure that my exercise goal for that day is met. So if you suffer from low energy levels, especially when it comes to experiencing, or enjoying sexual intimacy physical activity on a regular basis can not only raise your energy level it has also been known to increase confidence in your own appearance.

Where intimacy is concerned, women who exercise on a regular basis may experience enhanced arousal due to increased blood flow where it's needed most. Men who get an aerobic workout on a regular basis are less likely to have a problem with ED (erectile dysfunction) than men who chose not to give up the couch for a more active lifestyle. So if you're already on a healthy diet path and you haven't yet added exercise to your daily routine, then take the plunge into exercise on a regular basis.

Bulletproof yourself against many types of cancer, anxiety, and depression, type 2 diabetes, and high-blood-pressure to name just a few of the illnesses and conditions the lack of exercise can leave you open to. Lower your death risk with a regular daily exercise activity of your choice with the emphasis not on how much exercise you can do, but how often you can exercise.

Cinnamon and Honey Mix

There is a magic that happens when you mix and boil Cinnamon and Honey together. Cinnamon falls in the sweet spice family of herbs. I have heard that cinnamon is good for improving your sleep, and weight loss but I use it mostly on my oatmeal and as part of my flu and cold elixir I usually put together in the cold and flu season. Honey contains high amounts of vitamins and minerals that can vary slightly depending on the flowers the bees forage but overall it is hard to beat the anti-fungal and anti-bacterial qualities found in pure natural honey.

Mixing the two together creates, in my opinion, a superfood that can be useful for a list of health problems. For someone, looking for help controlling cholesterol levels the mixture of boiled cinnamon and honey can, in about two hours lower high cholesterol levels as much a 10%.  This may sound funny and, I have yet to give this a try, but the mixture of cinnamon and honey on pasta, eaten on bread in place of jelly at breakfast is said to decrease cholesterol in the arteries and protect against heart attack.

Consuming the cinnamon and honey mixture on a regular basis can protect you from organisms like viruses and bacteria strengthens your body's resistance to these organisms by bulletproofing your immune system. Cinnamon mixed with honey can even provide reinforcement when your body is a war with a cold. A quarter tablespoon of cinnamon and one teaspoon of honey taken three days in a row will go a long way in helping you fight off that cold. Honey, doctors have discovered, contains an ingredient that can remove flu bacteria and viruses, how cool is that?

When it comes to your skin and acne a mixture of cinnamon and honey applied to your face before bedtime, and rinsed off in the morning can help reduce the inflammation that causes acne. The mixture of cinnamon and honey, with olive-oil added, can be used to prevent hair loss. Mix one tablespoon olive oil, one tablespoon honey, and one teaspoon cinnamon applies to your scalp for at least 15 minutes then rinse.

Cinnamon and honey mixed together was already know to have a positive effect on the stomach, by presenting stomach aches, but a more recent study has shown that the combination of these two ingredients is also effective in treating gastric cancer when one tablespoon of cinnamon and one tablespoon of honey are taken over a period of three months. The same combination of ingredients one tablespoon of cinnamon, one tablespoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water helps fix a gall bladder infection by killing harmful bacteria in the gall bladder.

Where we all fall in the list of cures and treatments the combination of cinnamon and honey can provide is beyond me and my abilities to know. My hope is that by spreading health-related information like this we can all get a clearer picture of just how useful these health tips can be and figure out when and where to apply them. So far I have enjoyed success with just about every health tips I have followed and where necessary I have checked with my doctor when thinking about replacing an over-the-counter medicine with a herbal, or more holistic one.

It's not that I don't trust all of the health tips I read across, I just like to balance some of my non-medical knowledge decision-making with some true medical opinion, and I love sharing the health tips I have tried and that have worked for me. I have made a small batch (two small jars) of the cinnamon and honey mix and I'm just finishing my first week of using it each morning in tea. You can bet if  I develop any superpowers that fact will appear in a post.

Flower Pot Herbs

It’s not exactly fast food, in fact, it could take most of the summer to get your herbs to the point you can begin harvesting them but I thought it was well worth the wait. With only the most rudimentary of tools, a little space on my kitchen counter and some unsaturated elbow grease, I sat up my own countertop herbal garden indoors and start growing herbs in pots for beginners.

Indoors or out gardening is a rewarding hobby. It was nice to see the beauty of my herbs take root, and begin to grow all summer long. For me, it was a joy to fulfill one of my favorite wishes to grow my own herbs. My plan originally was not to grow them indoors but everything worked out so well I ended up being glad that I did. Oregano, Sage, Parsley, Cilantro/Coriander, Tarragon, Mint, and Rosemary were my herbs of choice.

An indoor gardener can grow his or her own herbs, making it as simple or complicated as he would like. In many ways the oregano is like me, it doesn't tolerate the winters very well, but oregano does very well on your kitchen countertop. Oregano can grow just as well from cuttings or seed I found out.  Sage makes a great indoor plant whether you live in a hot, or cold climate.  Parsley grows best from seed and its ability to withstand a wide range of temperatures makes Parsley a good indoor herb to grow too.

My next flower pot contained cilantro some times called coriander it's best grown from seed. You need to make sure the seed germinates quickly so it's a good idea to cut the seed for cilantro in half I learned. It only took about one week to see my cilantro growing, and it is one of those herbs you can grow all year round. Tarragon can tolerate frost very well when it's grown outside so countertop gardening with Tarragon is a breeze when it came to temperature consideration. Mint grows well from the root, or cutting I used the root method. Mint tastes great in drinks or tea, it dies back in winter, but for the rest of the time mint grows like a weed. Placing a rosemary cutting in water until the roots sprouted, which seemed almost immediately, in a day or two so less than 4 days later it was ready to be planted in my countertop flower pot and my countertop garden was complete. There are a few things you should consider when thinking about gardening indoors.

The first consideration when growing herbs indoors is light, in my kitchen, the plants on my countertop were situated right next to the window and since they were in pots I could rotate the seedling or sprouts that needed the light the most. When the weather changes even when placed next to a window overcast, and clouds can still cut down on the light your plants need so it's a good idea to have a grow light standing by just in case you live in an area where the sun can disappear for days at a time.

The next consideration is to try and figure out what plants you want to cook with? What are your favorite herbs? Do a little research or question the people at Home Depot, or the Nursery you go to about the herbs you want to grow and try to learn how each of the herbs you want to grow need to be treated when it comes to watering, feeding with fertilizer, and tending to with regard to different pest who also love the herbs in your indoor garden. You can even learn which herbs to plant together. I chose not to grow my herbs in 4-inch pots and used a little over foot long pots so I could grow more than only one herb in each flower pot, for example, my mint and oregano roomed together a move that overall did save me some countertop space.

I even found it fun figuring out which ceramic herb pots to use for the kitchen because of all the extra information I collected from the gardening experts. You'll need potting soil and some organic water-soluble fertilizer to feed your plants every 10 to 14 days. A few hand tools for digging and working your mini-countertop-farm potting soil, I also added a pair of rubber gloves for the days I don't feel like getting my fingers dirty. Be careful not to over water your plants make sure your pots have holes in the bottom to allow water to drain and not collect in the bottom of the flower pot and you should be off to a good start.

Nourishing Your Skin

This post takes a look at some of the foods that nourish the largest organ on the human body, your skin. I will also share information about a list of foods that have been scientifically proven to boost the strength, health, the appearance of your skin. And some interesting details about the Walnuts, Yellow Bell Pepper, Raspberries, Pomegranates Chickpeas, and Salmon that have been proven to help you maintain healthier skin with fewer wrinkles.

The best way to maintain that healthy skin glow is to eat healthily, and maintain a healthy diet so here are some of the ways to protect the skin you're in. Our body's protective covering of skin is under constant attack from the sun, the gazillions of good and bad bacteria that call the surface of our skin home and from within. Most of the time if you're not healthy on the inside, it will show on the outside, your skin.

So let's start with Walnuts, unfortunately for us, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are not made in our bodies but walnuts are a rich source of omega-3 fatty acid and when you eat them walnuts can help our body make collagen that is necessary for healthy skin. Inflammatory skin diseases like acne and psoriasis can be reduced by the helpful anti-inflammatory qualities of the omega-3s that can also be found in other foods like ground flax seeds, flaxseed oil, tofu, chia seeds, and canola oil.

Chickpeas are also good for your skin, the zinc in chickpeas is important for your skin mainly because it supports the regeneration of new skin cells. A benefit most noticeable in skin repair associated with the healing of wounds. Studies have shown that zinc can inhibit propionibacterium overgrowth, Propionibacterium is just one of the gazillion skin-dwelling residents mentioned above that contributes to acne. Zinc-fortified cereals, oatmeal, poultry, tofu, oyster and beans are all good sources of dietary zinc when it comes to keeping your skin healthy.

One of the building blocks of protein is amino acids and amino acids are believed to be related to collagen synthesis in our skin. I have noticed that when I highlight information like that in my blog posts about half the people who read it and share their thoughts with me say something like, "I tried it and I actually believe it works! While the other half shares why they don't believe it worked for them. To me, this sounds about right since not every cookie-cutter health idea fits everyone.

That is also one of the reasons I caution everyone interested in trying something new "health suggestion wise" to be sure to consult with your doctor before stepping off the healthy path your doctor may have laid out for you. The food medicine ideas that I try and work for me might not work for you, especially if you are taking prescription meds. Anyway, back to the amino acids---salmon contains all of the essential amino acids that play a role in skin health. Researchers found that consuming a combination of essential amino acids significantly increased the rate of collagen syntheses in mice suffering from ultraviolet light damage.

In my research, I found that eating a well prepared, grill cooked, salmon meal left me feeling full and very fulfilled and while I do suffer from bouts of dry skin some days I still can't tell if it's the hard water my city provides for bathing or the fact that I don't have salmon as often as I might like that contributes to my dry skin. I do know that salmon is a good source of monounsaturated fat that was found to be a positive associated with skin elasticity in older women in the British Journal of Nutrition.

Carotenoids the antioxidant pigments that give a lot of fruits and vegetables their bright orange, yellow, and red colors can be found in sweet potatoes. Carotenoids help keep our skin cells healthy and go well with fat-soluble foods to help them be better absorbed, so for a boost to your skin health that tastes good add some nuts or a little olive oil to your sweet potato. In the article, I consumed about carotenoids the people whose faces were rated as healthy looking by others around them had consumed 2.9 carotenoid laced fruits and vegetables a day.

To end this post let me mention how Pomegranates and Raspberries can help keep your skin looking healthier and more attractive. These two fruits are high in ellagic acid and research has shown that ellagic acid can significantly reduce collagen breakdown from UV light exposure. To me, it's been eye-opening to see the role nutrition plays in the prevention of collagen breakdown, wrinkle reduction, and other skin damage. For better-looking skin make as many of the above fruits and vegetables mentioned above a part of your skin healthy diet.