The Fountain of Youth is a legendary spring, fabled to restore the youth of those who drink from its waters. Some say that Juan Ponce de Leon was searching for it when he discovered Florida. But the legend didn’t start with Juan. Tales of healing elixirs and preserved youth run through human history…(more)

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Corn fattens up America’s beef cattle, accounting for 90% of U.S. feed grains. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) fattens up America’s human population. More land (more than 80 million acres) is planted in corn than any other crop. More pesticides and more chemical fertilizer are used to grow corn in the US than any other [...]

If I were to ask you to switch everything in your diet that contains soy to organic, you would have to switch countless items. Soy turns up as an ingredient in a surprising array of products. Almost the entire soy crop in the U.S. is crushed to make soybean oil and meal. Only a tiny [...]

Classic American beef is corn-fed or grain-fed beef. It takes about seven pounds of corn to add one pound of cattle weight. It takes about 1600 calories of fossil fuels to produce 100 calories of conventional beef. In the long run, this is a losing proposition.
And it is not natural. Cattle, with their rumen, are [...]

Consistently named as one of the most pesticide-contaminated fruits and vegetables, apples make my list because they are more popular than the other fruits and vegetables on the list. Thus, choosing organic apples can make a big difference both in lowering your family’s pesticide exposure and in using our consumer power to change agriculture…(more)

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Most people are surprised to find cotton on a list of key food products for change. After all, less than 2.5% of the world’s agricultural cropland is devoted to cotton. Nevertheless, according to some studies, cotton accounts for 10% of all pesticide use, 25% of all insecticide use, and more total insecticide use than any [...]

This switch is pretty easy, but how in the world did catsup end up on the top 10 list? Tomatoes contain an important nutrient called lycopene, one of nature’s most potent antioxidants, known to help prevent and heal cell damage. Foods rich in lycopene can lower cancer and heart disease risk. Tomatoes are, by far, [...]

Picture a treasured, pristine newborn, just beginning the voyage of life. Imagine a baby who hasn’t yet picked up the habits or tastes you wish you never had. Let it sink in - the organs and metabolic settings your baby is developing will be assembled from (and in response to) the food she eats. She [...]

More acres are devoted to growing peanuts in the U.S. than to any fruit, any vegetable, or any nut (peanuts are legumes, like beans or peas). More than 99% of these acres are conventional. Peanut butter is the leading use of all these acres of peanuts.
I loved peanuts and peanut butter when I was a [...]

For some cultures, the staple food is rice; for some it is maize. For American children, the staple food is the French fry! Potatoes are consistently on the list of most pesticide-contaminated vegetables. In recent USDA testing, the Environmental Working Group found that 81% of potatoes still contained pesticides after being washed and peeled, and [...]

There’s more to a glass of milk than meets the eye. You see the milk, but hidden from view is the cow it came from, the dairy where the cow was raised, and all of the land devoted to growing food for that cow. It’s a huge opportunity. When you choose a glass of conventional [...]

Growing our foods organically has proven to be one of the hottest, fastest-growing movements of the 21st century. Already, more than 4 million acres of American farmland have been dedicated to raising our food1 more sustainably, with an eye toward our health and our future. That’s four million acres farmed intelligently without the use of [...]

Parents are often surprised when I tell them that a great number of the products we use in our homes are not necessarily evaluated and declared safe by a government entity. The paints that cover your walls, the stain-resistant fabric that covers your furniture, the very carpet under your feet… these things can contain toxic [...]