Organic Foods are not nutritionally superior to conventional foods

Jul 29, 2009 Organics

A new study for the UK’s FSA (food standards agency) shows that organic foods do not contain a greater level of vitamins or minerals than conventional foods.

In the most comprehensive study ever to be carried out into the nutritional content of organic food compared to ordinary fare, scientists found no significant difference in vitamins and minerals.  Read the Report

A preliminary EU (QLIF) study in 2007 showed that Organic foods likely had higher levels of vitamins and minerals.  This study contradicted another statement by the UK FSA that organic foods were not better than conventional foods.

We think organics are better for a variety of reasons with the lack of pesicides used being the numero-uno reason!  What do you think?

Tags: Organics

Red, White and Yellow – Saute for baby

Jul 28, 2009 Baby Food Recipes Updated, New Baby Food Recipes

Of the fruits and veggies I was hoping to sprout forth from my garden, tomatoes, yellow squash and onions are my 3 favorites.  Alas the garden is a complete washout, quite literally due to the rain we have had for the last 50 years in a row   These 3 little gems make for a wonderful, colorful and flavorful sauté.  You can serve the sauté in a variety of ways.  I love to serve this over a bed of rice.  Add chicken strips to the sauté and you have a light yet filling meal. For your little one who can handle lumps, bumps and texture, grab a potato masher and smoosh the veggies up a bit prior to serving.  This is great for spoon practice and if you don’t mind the mess, it’s a wonderful finger food meal too!

2 yellow squash
1 small sweet onion
3 medium tomatoes
3 tablespoons EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
minced garlic
oregano, basil and thyme

Wash the squash and tomatoes and peel the onions.  Slice and dice the squash and tomatoes to suit your preference.  I prefer to make chunky dices as opposed to round slices for a more “meaty” feel.  Chop the onions in bite sized dices or in fine smaller dices for your little one.

Heat the EVOO and minced garlic in a frying pan.  When the garlic starts to sizzle, toss in the onion and sauté until soft and translucent.  Next add the squash, tomatoes and the spices.  Sauté until the texture you prefer has been achieved.  I take half of the mix out of the pan when everything is al dente and proceed to sauté the life out of the remaining portion.  My kiddos prefer soft, squishy and lifeless

Once everything is cooked, serve over brown rice, quinoa or buckwheat.  If you will be adding chicken, add thinly sliced and diced pieces of chicken breast meat at the same time you add the onions.  When chicken is no longer pink, add the rest of the ingredients.   Enjoy

Tags: garlic, onions, summer squash, tomatoes

Carrots, Nitrates and Baby Food

Jul 27, 2009 Dangerous Food Items, vegetables

We have received 3 emails today asking how commercial baby food companies remove nitrates from their carrots. There must be some discussion going on somewhere in forum-land and I do hope people will see this posting.

Commercial baby food carrots HAVE NITRATES in them too.

Sorry for the caps, you see, it really upsets me to hear people say things like “your site will kill babies by having carrot baby food recipes” or “how irresponsible of your site to include recipes for carrots when carrots can cause babies to have blood disorders”. This one, “Your inclusion of recipes for making homemade carrots is despicable and I hope your site hasn’t murdered any babies”, is most upsetting.

Urgh, it is upsetting because we know that many sites still promote the myth that nitrates can be removed from commercial baby foods (FALSE!). These sites also perpetuate the falsehood that babies should not eat homemade carrots until they are 12 months or older. How scary it must be to think that if you feed your baby homemade carrots, you could kill her or cause her a blood disorder.

Shame on some of those sites for not changing their articles and scaring parents! I have to wonder if many of these sites (that have ads for commercial baby foods) are just schilling for their sponsors or if the authors truly do not understand the chemistry and the information from the AAP about nitrates.

Please visit our Nitrates and Your Baby article to learn the truth about nitrates, carrots and homemade baby food.

Tags: carrots, nitrates