What's so great about Community Supported Agriculture?CSA is a rapidly growing movement of family farms that work directly with consumers. Local consumers take a "share" or subscription in their nearby farm's harvest of just-picked produce (or dairy, eggs, chicken, beef, etc.). In exchange for an annual fee, subscribers reap the fresh harvest every week straight off the farm. In fact, CSA farms grow specifically for their community. The farms involved are family farms on small acreages. Farm products are often organic, as requested by the consumers, and therefore much easier on the environment. The environmental benefits are many. In the United States, small farmers devote 17% of their area to woodlands, compared to only 5% on large farms. Small farms maintain nearly twice as much of their land in "soil improving uses," including cover crops and green manures [1]. But there are social and economic benefits as well: In farming communities dominated by large corporate farms, nearby towns are dying off. The empty ghost towns of our prairie states and other farming regions are what agribusiness has left of once thriving towns with busy main streets. Where family farms predominate, on the other hand, there are more local businesses, schools, parks, churches, clubs, and newspapers, as well as better services, higher employment, and more civic participation. Furthermore, the smallest U.S. farms, those of 27 acres or less, have more than ten times greater dollar output per acre than larger farms, thereby requiring less acreage on which to feed the same number of people. But the most wonderful thing about community-supported agriculture is the appreciation it gives us of the earth-source of our food. Rather than boxing and packaging every product and even the consumer behind a wall of ignorance, CSA brings the beauty, immediacy and intimacy of our earth into all of the food that we receive from the farms. The fresh, delicious taste and fragrance of the recently harvested produce is beyond comparison with the supermarket inventories that sit for several days in their massive piles waiting for purchase. For help finding a community-supported farm in your area, visit www.localharvest.org or www.csacenter.org. [1] Dr. Peter Rosset, "The Multiple Functions and Benefits of Small Farm Agriculture", Institute for Food and Development Policy, September 1999 |
The Sweet Tooth - More Deprivation Caused by Regular PamperingIf you've got a sweet tooth, you know that it doesn't let you ignore it for very long. At least once every day or two, that old boss lets you know who's in charge. You rummage around the kitchen for sweets, check all the way to the back of the refrigerator; dart out to the store if necessary. A sense of sugar/chocolate deprivation sets in, and demands that you do something about it. Not that the sweet tooth can be calmed down for weeks at a time by an especially large sundae or other massive binge. Wouldn't that be convenient! Why does this happen? How does a person who regularly indulges the sweet tooth end up feeling more deprived - and more frequently deprived - than those insufferable serene types who don't eat sweets? It has to do with a process called homeostasis. When you eat a lot of sugar, your body notes that your blood glucose level is higher than normal. As a result, the pancreas secretes insulin, which packs this sugar away into cells that process it, in order to bring your blood sugar back to normal. When a lot of sugar is ingested, a lot of insulin comes out and packs it all away, which overcompensates and swings your blood sugar a bit too low for a while. This accounts for the afternoon brain fog (transient hypoglycemia) often experienced after a high-carbohydrate lunch. And this is when the sweet tooth (really, just a euphemism for a sugar habit plus a fluctuating blood glucose) wakes up and reminds you who's really boss. It doesn't have to be this way, of course. Sugar cravings like all other cravings can be overcome by substituting better quality, but equally satisfactory, foods. You just have to know exactly what kinds of good foods can satisfy which kinds of urges! If your strongest urging is chocolate, it is possible to appease the chocolate monster without sugar. See our whole food chocolate recipe in the May 2004 newsletter. (continued top of column 3) nwnwnwnwnwnwnwnwnwnwnw Did you know that organic food in the Phoenix area may be had for about $1.00 per pound? For several years now, Tamara Berenberg of Ahwatukee Produce has been providing straight-off-the-farm; fresh in-season and year-round variety organic produce to her local customers. Each week's basket contains about 20 different kinds of fruits and vegetables. Tamara can be reached at organics@amerion.com. If you live outside the Phoenix area please follow the links at the end of this month's community supported argiculture article. |
The Sweet Tooth...
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Fruit is not just another sweetener. People often ask, "Isn't fruit just as bad for you as desserts with refined carbohydrates and concentrated sweeteners?" Definitely not! Refined carbohydrates, such as sugar and flour are only fragments from original whole foods that contained all of the molecules necessary for their optimal digestion. What's left by the time it's packaged and sold to you as a dessert is something quite different, an artery-slathering, fibreless, nutrient-robbed shadow of its former self. Fruit on the other hand has the fibre necessary to slow down the entry of natural sugars to the bloodstream, which keeps your insulin at moderate levels. Insulin is what is particularly important not to let spike too high (except for those who must inject insulin for Type I diabetes, etc.) Fruit also has not been stripped of its inherent vitamins, minerals and enzymes, many of which are necessary for its complete digestion. Blueberries in the news... Pterostilbene may sound like some rare nutritional disorder, but it is actually a naturally occurring component of both blueberries and grapes that USDA researchers have found lowers cholesterol and other blood fats. USDA's Agnes Rimando said of her research team's work: "We are excited to learn that blueberries, which are already known to be rich in healthy compounds, may also be a potent weapon in the battle against obesity and heart disease, which are leading killers in the U.S." Pterostilbene has also shown anti-fungal activity, according to previous research. Another good fruit is the pomegranate. The polyphenols in pomegranates have been shown to stop arterial plaque buildup, and in some cases reduce plaque by 30% according to a recent study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. nwnwnwnwnwnwnwnwnwnwnw
Have you ever sought a physician who learned the following in medical school:
Look no further: the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians |