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Want to Eat Healthy? There’s an App for That!

 

Eating well is an important part of living a healthy life, but sometimes knowing what to eat and even what certain foods are can be a challenge. For those of you doing your own food shopping for the first time, or if you're plain overwhelmed in your local farmer’s market, or even in the produce section at the local grocery store, here is the App for you. The Farmer’s Market Companion provides you with a guide to buying and enjoying fruits and vegetables. The App includes features such as:

• Photos and information to help you identify various produce
• Hints on how to select the best quality food
• Food storage suggestions to prolong the shelf life of your purchases
• Delicious meal recipes and more

Image: Treehugger.com

Take Back the Plate: Reasons to Cook at Home

Whether you’re studying for finals or training for your next big game, it’s always important to eat healthy food. And sometimes the healthiest and most eco-responsible thing you can do is cook for yourself at home. Sustainable Table offers some reasons why you should ‘take back the plate’ and learn sustainable home cooking:

1. It’s Economical Home: cooking is cheaper than buying food at a restaurant or pre-packaged food in a store.
2. It’s Safer: When you cook you have more control over the substances that go into your food; you can more easily avoid pesticides, antibiotics, hormones and chemical fertilizers.
3. It’s Healthier: You can control the nutritional value that goes into each meal by choosing healthy ingredients.
4. It Tastes Better: In recent decades our taste buds have been corrupted through the use of cheap chemicals and corn syrup to fill the role of traditional spices and herbs.
5. It Tastes Like You Want it To: When you cook you can customize the flavors to fit your preferences.
6. It’s Satisfying: You have the opportunity to master the skill of cooking, a skill that will serve you well for the rest of your life.

For more information about sustainable cooking at home visit SustainableTable.com.

Image: Villamilagro.com

Make Your Thanksgiving Green

The holidays are officially upon us! But in this time of excess we can all do our part to make our celebrations a little more eco-friendlily. Here are some handy tips to trim down your Thanksgiving waste:

• When shopping for your Thanksgiving feast, use canvas or cloth shopping bags.
• Make sure to plan your shopping trips ahead to so you only have to make one trip which will save you gas and aggravation.
• Turn down your heater before guest arrive, the added body heat of your guests will keep everyone warm.
• Encourage your guests to walk or carpool.
• Make your own Thanksgiving decorations instead of buying them; you can make place cards out of leaves, center pieces out of pine cones, wreathes from twigs in your yards etc.
• After your party don't throw away those leftovers! Pack them into containers or send them home with your guests.

Now, leftovers are a wonderful part of Thanksgiving, but it's still a good idea to keep track of your portions. Here is a handy estimate of the amount of each food a single guest will consume

• Turkey- 1 pound
• Stuffing- ¼ pound
• Sweet potato casserole- ¼ pound
• Green beans- ¼ pound
• Cranberry relish- 3 tablespoons
• Pumpkin pie- 1/8 of a 9 inch pie

 

For more holiday conservation tips visit Earth911.com and UseLessStuff.com.

Photo source: Blogs.dixcdn.com

Trick or Treat or Dark Chocolate?

 
 
Halloween is over and yet candy is everywhere. What type of candy will you hope to bum off your friends or co-workers? I’ll have dark chocolate, please.

In a recent study, researchers found that dark chocolate can help prevent damage from strokes. The Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism explains that the flavanols found in dark chocolate protect the body against heart disease and strokes. This new study found that dark chocolate can also provide protection after a stroke has already occurred. A specific chemical found in dark chocolate called epicatechin appears to do the trick. It works by activating certain chemicals in the brain that are known for brain cell protection so that once the stroke happens less damage occurs. The study explains that this is only true of dark chocolate and not milk chocolate though. If the percentage of cocoa in the chocolate is higher, the better it is.

So, for your post Halloween eats, dark chocolate seems like a nice treat that will do the trick!

Source: Tree Hugger

The Clean 15

Living in the bay area, we become hyper-concious of buying organic; however, on a student's budget that can get kind of expensive. Here's a list of fifteen fruits and veggies that when grown non-organically still have very low pesticide residue.

Learn More.

Source: The Daily Green. "The New Dirty Dozen: 12 Foods to Eat Organic." Hearst Women's Network. April 22, 2010. http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods. Image Source: The Environmental Working Group

Making your Cup of Morning Joe Greener...

 
Image Courtesy of http://black-java.com via Google Images

As busy and involved Berkeley students, we rely on our morning pick me up to get through the day. Many of us even make our own coffee at home. Organic coffee has been a growing trend in the coffee industry and is not only a great way to be eco-friendly, but also a way to get your fix in a healthier manner.

Learn more about making the switch here.

Go Organic on the Go

From Berkeley Student Food Cooperative to the fining dining of Chez Panisse, Berkeley has been the heat of the organic and sustainable food movement. And, the city and the University have done a lot to make sustainable and organic food available to student community. If you can't hit up the dining hall or Farmers Market, make sure that your on-the-go eating habits are healthy. Here are a few suggestions:

Nature's Path Oatmeal  are ideal for hurried weekday mornings, this sweet, organic oatmeal fits the bill. We like the Flax flavor with a spoonful of peanut butter and a splash of half-and-half.

Annie Chun's Soup Bowls  has lots of different Asian-inspired flavors (including the yummy Teriyaki), in a biodegradable bowl. 

Koyo Ramen will make you say goodbye to your old Ramen habit.  Made from tasty organic, heirloom wheat noodles.  

Annie's Homegrown Mac 'n Cheese is an organic update on an dorm classic: pasta with real cheddar makes for better feasting..

Moosewood Restaurant Frozen Entrees are great frozen entrees from the folks (Berkeley resident Mollie Katzen) behind the Moosewood Cookbook series. 

Clif Bar has endless options so you can never go wrong with Clif Bar. Their fruit leather snacks will give you a daily dose of vitamins. The Pro-Shop Cafe sells a variety. 

Newman's Own Popcorn is a great late-night snack and an awesome alternative to the old stuff. 

Source: "Cooking Up a Dorm: College Week," www.idealbite.com, viewed on August 19, 2009

B.Y.O.M. -Bring Your Own Mug

 

    

 

Worried that your double-shot-no-foam-skinny-fair-trade latte is expanding your eco footprint?

Popular coffee chains have reported using over 2.3 billions paper cups a year. North America uses 50 million trees for paper cups and 33 million gallons of water to make paper cups. And even though paper is a renewable resource, a large amount of non-renewable resources are used during the production. Travel cups and mugs come in all shapes and sizes! You can fool your barista by getting one these re-useable ceramic mugs.

Green your caffeine fix by bringing your own mug! By ditching this single-use object, you’ll divert over 23 pounds of trash a year from going to the landfill. Plus, by using your own mug, you’ll also save some green -- many coffee shops offer discounts when you bring in your own mug. 

 

Green Certified Restaurants in Berkeley!

 

After working out your minds in class and your muscles at the RSF, your body needs healthy good food to keep up with your busy lives. Fortunately, all four Cal Dining Restaurants on campus are Green Certified, and we are surrounded by a quite a few other green certified restaurants within walking distance of campus.

 

Bay area restaurants earn green certification by making a commitment to adhere to eco-friendly environmental and conservation measures throughout their operations. While regulations vary from city to city they are generally monitored by Bay Area Green Certifiers and city regulators who make sure restaurants meet the certification standards.  Restaurants that are Green Certified are eco-friendly because of the food they serve (high quality, organic, locally grown foods that follow sustainable practices), and actions they take in operating their business: doing everything they can to lighten their eco-footprint by conserving resources, reducing pollution, and minimizing waste.

 

Below is a list of restaurants just blocks from UC Berkeley offering great food, eco friendly practices and a green certificate of accomplishment.

1. Ajanta 
2. Breads of India
3. Cafe De La Paz
4. Chez Panisse Cafe
5. Gregoire
6. Pie in the Sky
7. Zatar

Visit Green My Cuisine to see a more extensive list of green certified restaurants throughout the bay area.

 

Greening our meals

 

 

We all know that our body needs food for energy. Whether you’re heading to the RSF to do a workout, or going to Underhill to compete in an intramural sports event, you have to supply your body with energy. Remember that calories turn into energy and energy is produced by the food that we eat. Going green, by eating organic, cutting out the additives and chemicals, will sustain your body’s energy so you have a powerful and satisfying workout. Take a look at the tips we gathered below from treehugger to help turn your meals more sustainable for your body and the planet.

 

1. The Big O: When you eat organic, don’t just picture the healthy food you are putting in your body, picture the healthy ecosystems which produced that food, the workers who are safer from chemicals, the land, water, and air that is being protected, and the wildlife that is being allowed to thrive. Organic vegetables, fruits, grains, juice, dairy, eggs, and meat (and don’t forget the organic wine and beer), are grown and processed in ways that support healthy people and a healthy planet.

 

2. Fair fare: Fair trade certified food ensures a proper wage and working conditions for those who harvest and handle it. But fair trade is green for the environment as well.

 

3. Go local: Local food generally use less packaging, is fresher and tastier, and comes in more varieties. It also supports small local growers and lets them get more for their produce by not having to spend so much on packing, processing, refrigeration, marketing, and shipping.

 

4. Don’t follow the pack: Instead of buying foods that come in extensive packaging, look for unpackaged or minimally packaged foods, experiment with bringing your own containers and buying in bulk, or pick brands that use bio-based plastic packing.

 

5. Compost the leftovers: Greening your meals isn’t just about the food that winds up on the plate—it’s the entire process, Composting leftovers will ease the burden on the landfill, give you great soil, and keep your kitchen waste basket from smelling.

 

6. Grow your own: In the garden, in the greenhouse, in the window box, or even something fancier, even urbanites can get quite a bit of good eats from not much space. Grow your own and save money, enjoy your own produce and contribute to

 

7. To and from: Just as buying locally grown food cuts on “miles per calorie,” buying from local sellers cuts back on emissions, fuel consumption, and unnecessary traffic.

 

8. Just enough: Put some extra planning into the amount of food you cook will cut back on waste. If it’s something that will spoil quickly, try to avoid making more than you or your family can eat. \

 

9. Raw: Many people swear by the benefits of eating raw. Whatever the health advantages may be, preparing raw food consumes less energy and because raw food is usually fresh by definition, it is more likely to be locally grown.

 

10. Ease up on the meat: Meat is the most resource-intensive food on the table and eating less of it can be the single greenest move a person makes. A pound of beef requires around 12,000 gallons of water to produce, compared to 60 gallons for a pound of potatoes.

 

Source: Tree Hugger, viewed October 30, 2006