Why eat organic?

I wasn’t always a huge supporter of eating organic. I was a poor college student… a poor medical student… and a poor resident. In fact, I didn’t start thinking about my health seriously until my husband and I were planning to get pregnant. Maybe this was a little late in the game at 37 years old… but better late than never, right?

In college, I lived off of lean cuisine microwaveable meals with plastic and drinking 3 diet dr. peppers a day. In medical school, I survived off a protein bar, sandwich, and microwaveable dinners as well. Did I mention that I experimented with smoking to help me study? Ick, what horrible habits! In residency, I continued with protein bars, microwaveable meals, and hospital food that was free for residents around 9p. Not to forget, that I made sure I went to a bunch of residency interview dinners to meet potential incoming residents. Fast forward to getting ready for my wedding day, I went 3 months on a paleo diet and felt incredible and saw real changes in my body without feeling deprived or hungry. We went organic during my first pregnancy. We’ve placed more importance on sustaining our baby and helping her maximize her growth and learning with a more nutritious diet. During my second pregnancy, I again ate organic. But, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and moved to a more Whole30 diet — eliminating processed foods as well as sweets. I was able to really control my blood sugars with diet alone, and I feel better without all the processed food and sweets in my system.

Why do I think about this now? More and more, I feel the impact of a well-balanced diet on my body. My AGING body. Perhaps in our youth, we can fake it and make it by eating crap food and maintaining an unhealthy lifestyle. But as I’m aging, I feel the effects more and definitely sooner. Additionally, I care more now about what I put into my body and in my family’s. I would love to teach my kids the importance of healthy eating and what good food tastes like. So, enter my quest to eat organic as well as grass-fed, hormone-free meats as well as going more plant-based.

Resources:

HelpGuide – Organic Foods: What You Need to Know

HelpGuide – Healthy Food for Kids

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research – Organic vs. Non-Organic PDF

MindBodyGreen – A Doctor’s Top 4 Reasons to Eat Organic

Dr. Axe – Dirty Dozen

EWG – EWG’s 2018 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce

Time – 4 Science-Backed Health Benefits of Eating Organic

The Organic Center – Bringing you the science behind organic

Food Safety Magazine – 2018 Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen Lists Rank Produce Items by Pesticide Level

Association between organic food consumption and metabolic syndrome: cross-sectional results from the NutriNet-Santé study. Eur J Nutr. 2018 Oct;57(7):2477-2488.

Human health implications of organic food and organic agriculture: a comprehensive review. Environ Health. 2017; 16: 111.

Organic Food in the Diet: Exposure and Health Implications. Annu Rev Public Health. 2017 Mar 20;38:295-313.

Are organic foods safer or healthier than conventional alternatives?: a systematic review. Ann Intern Med. 2012 Sep 4;157(5):348-66.

Clean Label Project: Methodology

Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health: Health Risks of Pesticides in Food

U.S. Right To Know: Monsanto Papers

U.S. Right To Know: Pesticides

Time: Why Organic is the Right Choice for Parents

NBC News: What a nutritionist wants you to know about pesticides and produce

EH_VENN_GRAPHIC_sm — U of Washington Center for Ecogenetics & Environmental Health

Key Points

Eat organic and free-range/cage-free/grass-fed/hormone-free when possible
Pesticides are toxic and can lead to health problems later in life
Choose organic alternatives to the Dirty Dozen
Babies, young children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding women are more susceptible to pesticides and toxins in food.
Research the labels and get the facts
Consider these Netflix documentaries on Health and Nutrition

Instant Pot Miso Ramen

My husband absolutely loves ramen. I love ramen. When we went to Japan back in November 2015, we indulged in all different types of ramen. The variety, purity, and umami flavor of the ramen was incredible. I wanted to try and make it at home…. why? Sure it may take me hours, but there’s a gratification and “get it anytime I want” mentality when I am either too lazy or too busy to leave the house.

After an appropriate internet search on a legit ramen recipe, I stumbled across the website IceOrRice and was blown away by their love for cultural food and flavors and their willingness to share it with people.

So… see below for their fabulous recipe to make instant pot miso ramen!

Instant Pot Miso Ramen

Keep in mind…. I am not a chef. I’ve used my instant pot maybe 3 times in my life. But this recipe delivers without fail!! Give it a try, you’ll be so glad you did!

Side note: I didn’t have a whole chicken on hand, so I used 64 oz organic chicken stock and 32 oz water for my broth/liquid.

I also didn’t have red miso on hand… note to self: get it from the Asian market as it does matter for the umami flavor!

I used these gluten-free and organic millet and brown rice ramen noodles that I got at Costco and they were a nice consistency and were a great and almost unnoticeable gluten-free replacement.

I didn’t plan ahead so I wasn’t able to do the IceOrRice Shoyu Ramen Egg, but I did follow the directions for cooking time of the egg. I used the shiitake mushrooms from the broth in the dish itself. And I love kimchi — that’s a staple for me in almost any asian side dish. Scallions sprinkled on top are always lovely! We had some left over mirin-marinated ground beef, so we threw that on top for a little texture.

I also had some leftover tofu that we threw in our ramen.

My husband took this photo prior to devouring the ramen. He was sooooo stoked! Looks like this recipe is a keeper — it makes enough to use throughout the week (4-6 adult servings). Perfect comfort food for cold nights!

Yeah, we really enjoyed this ramen recipe!!! Terrific job iceorrice!!

Paleo: my initial thoughts

It all started with 23 and me. Initially, I did it bc this company was just getting started, and I enjoy analytics and health and ancestry. Well, once I got the info from this, a colleague of mine told me about DNA Fit. It basically looks at your genetics and how your body handles nutrition, fitness, and metabolism. I found out a lot about my own health! Based on my DNA, it said my body does best with a Paleo diet. So, I opted to do a mostly paleo diet starting in October 2016 — with an upcoming wedding in February 2017, I was on a mission.

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I started ordering Trifecta Nutrition for quick and organic Paleo meals. I would eat these meals 5 days a week for lunch at work. One of the biggest things I noticed was that I was fuller longer and had much less cravings for sweets. From October to February, I lost 10 lbs and got lean. Of course, I was also doing Sweat (iphone app) by Kayla Itsines. This is a no-nonsense program that you can do anywhere and anytime. In the past, I’ve done almost all of the beachbody products: p90, p90x, p90x3, chalean xtreme, turbo jam, insanity, turbo fire, hammer and chisel — of all of these, I really highly recommend P90x3 — it’s a terrific program that will give you results if you put in the work. But what I found is that I would actually stick to the Sweat program much longer and have faster recovery with her program vs. P90X3.

So what have a discovered about myself as I’ve taken a more Paleo heavy diet? I have less cravings. I perform better physically and mentally. I actually feel like I’m eating more and staying fuller longer. And that (for me), is one thing I absolutely love! Overall, I feel less deprivation…and that makes me happy!

What are your thoughts? Anyone else have similar or different experiences with a Paleo diet?

Good places to start:

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