So I’m as concerned with eating healthy as the next girl. I recognize the role my food intake plays in my weight, and overall health, but I also know how important my choices can be to the environment as a whole. I personally decided to become a vegetarian a couple of years ago, (actually I’m technically a pescetarian since I do eat fish, but boy does that term sound pretentious!) and have found that my energy levels and overall mood are definitely better when I make sure to balance my diet and eat as naturally as possible. Every time I visit the grocery store I know there are bigger picture choices to be made, and I for one was a bit overwhelmed with decoding the lingo until encountering a article entitled “The Girls Guide to Eating Green” in this month’s Marie Claire magazine.

The article really delves into easy to implement options for people at every level of ‘greeness’. From low-maintenance to hard-core, it gave fabulous options for everyone to improve their eating habits from a socially conscious perspective. One feature I especially enjoyed was a list of terms most people toss around, but don’t understand, and what they actually mean. The complete list can be found on page 242 of the Sept issue but here is a cheat sheet for those of you who might have missed it.

Organic: A USDA-regulated label that says no pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, antibiotics or growth hormones were used. Produce, meats and dairy with a USDA Organic Seal are 100% organic, while other foods may use the designation if 95% of their ingredients are organic.

Natural: This signals that no artificial ingredients have been added. It is only regulated for meat and poultry.

Cage-free: This egg carton labels indicates less than you’d imagine. Unfortunately cage-free eggs can still be packed wing-to-wing in a windowless indoor space. However, more research into the individual brand you purchase from may prove to you that they are living up to the label so definitely ask questions!

Source: flickr user Rick

Free-range: This USDA-defined, but unregulated term means that a bird has outdoor access for more than half its life.

Grass-fed: Indicates that a cow ate grass at some point in its life. This is true even for big commercial farms so rather look for “grass finished” beef to prove that the animal ate only grass in its final weeks, or 100% grass-fed.

Pastured or pasture-raised: This is unregulated but it typically means that an animal has roamed grassy fields throughout its life.

I was a little upset to learn that some of the terms are not a guarantee that animals have been well treated but I was interested to learn that you can search for farms that sell pastured products at eatwild.com. You can also read further about the benefits of buying grass fed meat, eggs and poultry so take a peek. If you have any resources like this that you’d like to share or have your own green grocery tips to share please pass them along!

xoxo,

Miss T

Posted in Main at August 25th, 2009 by Miss T

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