A Coca-Cola Story

Once upon a time (in 2001, to be specific), the Coca-Cola corporation built a bottling plant in a small and remote Indian village in the state of Kerala. In exchange for sucking vast amounts of water out of the local land, the mighty corporation promised to bring the people great wealth. But within a few short months, the village people began to notice their wells were running dry, so they complained to the corporation. Coca-Cola calmed the concerns of the people and attempted to win back their favor by giving them vast amounts of free fertilizer, saying it would grow bountiful crops beyond their wildest dreams. After several years of use, we arrive at the present day when the village people have suddenly discovered the fertilizer is actually the bottling plant's waste sludge and is laden with cadmium, a highly toxic, cancer-causing heavy metal. The village soil and water are now too heavily contaminated to safely occupy human life, so the plant was shut down last week. Moral of the story: Don't drink Coke..........drink Pepsi! Just kidding, Pepsi is actually in the process of being thrown out of India for similar crimes, as well.

For more information go to commondreams.org or organicconsumers.org

Healthy Ways to Cook

Even if you use the healthiest of ingredients in your recipes, certain cooking techniques can literally eradicate the goodness from foods. Try the following techniques for healthy cooking:

Avoid using charcoal or gas grills, which can increase the production of cancer-causing chemicals. Use an electric grill instead.

Steam your vegetables. Boiling can deplete vegetables of many of their nutrients, while steaming removes far less of the good stuff, and leaves vegetables with a wonderful taste and texture.

To reduce the amount of fat when cooking, use broiling, baking and roasting pans (drizzle your items with extra-virgin olive oil instead of drowning them in butter or margarine). Chinese steamers or stir-fry pans are also good options.

Never microwave anything in plastic wrap or plastic containers.

Replace all saturated fats in your kitchen with extra-virgin olive oil, canola oil, or grapeseed or walnut oils - these monounsaturated fats are far healthier than their saturated relatives.

For more information on heathy cooking tips go to: drweil.com

What's In Season - August

Local seasonal foods are tastier, fresher and more nutritious.
Why? It’s because the produce has been harvested in the last fews days and has only travelled a short distance to market. This means less packaging, processing and refrigeration. All good for the environment (no flying in food from all corners of the planet)and your health.

Here is a list of fruits and veggies that are in season for August:

• Apples
• Apricots
• Arugula
• Basil
• Beans
• Beets
• Blueberries
• Corn
• Cucumbers
• Dates
• Eggplant
• Fennel
• Figs
• Grapes
• Mangoes
• Melons
• Nectarines
• Okra
• Peaches
• Peppers
• Plums
• Raspberries
• Sorrel
• Summer squash
• Tomatoes
• Watermelon

Great all year:

• Avocados
• Bananas
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Kiwifruit
• Lemons
• Limes
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Pineapple
• Potatoes
• Radishes
• Scallions
• Snow Peas
• Spinach
• Sprouts

Note: If you live in and area with favorable growing conditions, many of these vegetables are available to you throughout the seasons.