Have you ever struggled with making the right food choices for you and your family? Is it hard to break through the “noise” of grocery store aisles, packed with so many choices, colors, flavors and claims of “healthy, natural, wholesome, etc.?”
While you may want to make healthy and economical choices, you might decide to pay more for the “healthier options” without any reassurance that those increased costs have tangible value. This can make food shopping feel overwhelming, frustrating and even guilt-provoking.
If, like us, you often read every label of what you are buying, only to end up with more questions and increasing distrust of food labels and industry marketing schemes, your conscious consumerism could easily turn into a full time job! And, for us, it is! But it shouldn’t be for you.
We want to acknowledge this confusion and the economic and systemic challenges to making good food choices. While your health is a personal responsibility and only you can choose what you put into your body, it isn’t your fault that many major food manufacturers are “greenwashing” – making false or misleading statements about the environmental benefits of a product or practice – your food choices.
We also want to help simplify things for you by offering a way to think of food and food choices through the framework of Ayurvedic medicine, which aligns with the laws of nature to deepen our connection to our food and increase our holistic health.
USDA Organic Certification
USDA organic certifications ensure that food is grown with certain practices and cannot come into contact with 700 listed chemicals. This is actually a low number relative to other food certifications globally. When you choose to buy organic, you choose to support organic growing practices and to prevent exposure to these chemicals.
USDA organic, however, is not chemical-free because certain chemicals are still allowed to be used under this certification. Organic food can also be exposed to environmental toxins from every stage of post-harvest shipping. The greater the distance a product is shipped, the more environmental toxins it can be exposed to. Food with “organic” labels in the U.S. range from an unspecified amount of “organic ingredients” to 100% organic, so it is worth checking these labels.
USDA organic certifications are also expensive. There are many local farmers and smaller farms that do harvest their crops free from chemicals and pesticides but cannot afford the USDA certification. Ask around at your local farmer’s market to learn more.
While USDA organic certification is currently the most optimal form of certified growing in the United States, it isn’t necessarily the best form of growing available. Regenerative farming practices include foundational organic growing practices and expands upon those to ensure more nutrient-dense produce for you and your family, maximum water filtration, replenished groundwater supplies and improved resiliency of working land.
Currently, no uniform national labels or certifications exist for regenerative, sustainable farming practices. They also often operate on smaller scales, adding complications to uniform certifications.
Furthermore, when products are harvested before they have optimally ripened, to account for shipping time, they will be deprived of some nutrients. Think of this like a baby developing in the womb. During the last couple weeks of development, the baby is growing really quickly. Brain and lung developments along with critical growth factors occur during this time.
A baby can survive outside the womb when born prematurely but they will be vulnerable to health complications. When crops are harvested prematurely, they are not as nutritionally sound as ripe crops.
What Should I Buy?
Organic
When shopping in a modern grocery store, organic is your best choice of produce. Organically-farmed produce eliminates the most environmental toxins, which provoke disease and disrupt healthy gut bacteria and hormonal balance. Choosing organic is also voting to reduce the use of chemicals in our soils.
Packaged and processed foods inherently contain more toxins but are also nearly impossible to avoid. When choosing packaged foods, there are helpful apps for making choices that reduce your exposure. Environmental Working Group (EWG) or Think Dirty are reputable examples. They have rating systems between brands and provide you with simple frameworks to determine the best brand for you. Use these to replace one item per grocery store trip.
Not everything has to be changed at once. Taking small steps towards more toxic-free food choices is the most sustainable approach.
CSAs
We are approaching late Spring and there is no better time to discover a local farm or crop share in your area. CSA, or community supported agriculture, commonly refers to a group whose members receive weekly or biweekly shares of food from a farm or group of farms in their region.
CSA’s are local and, therefore, every CSA will be different but each member is supporting their local agriculture directly. It can be a wonderful way to eat seasonally and locally while supporting small scale organic or regenerative farming practices. And, there are plenty of options in urban settings!
CSAs do not work for everyone but are definitely worth looking into to see what options are available and to familiarize yourself with the local growing season.
Farmer’s Markets
If a local crop share does not coincide with your needs, sourcing local seasonal goods from farmer’s markets is another great option. Plan your grocery shopping around market times to ensure you can take advantage of what’s available before filling in the rest from a modern grocery store.
Organic Shopping Guidelines:
- At the end of the day, organic food offers significantly less exposure to disease-provoking chemicals and pesticides, is more readily available in almost all grocery stores and has greater food nutrient density and – as many will attest to – simply tastes better thanks to its nutrient density and longer growing cycle.
- Make sure your organic choices are 95-100% certified USDA organic OR ask your local farmer’s market vendor if they farm their crops organically, even if they don’t have a certification.
- Join your local CSA and, if you can buy regeneratively-farmed organic food, even better.
Simplify Your Life with Ayurveda
Ayurveda reminds us that we are a part of nature, and that we mirror nature. In our bodies, digestion is a root cause of disease because it is the foundation of health. In nature, soil health is a root cause of crop nutritional deficiencies because it is the foundation of crop health.
Two fundamental Ayurvedic guidelines for conscious modern food choices include Ritucharya, or seasonal living; and Mitahara, or moderate diet.
Ritucharya, or living in accordance with the seasons, improves digestion and supports a healthy immune system, healthy weight and healthy skin. It is also a preventative medicine. A fundamental component of living in accordance with Ritucharya is eating seasonally-available foods.
Nature has a wonderful way of providing us with what we need, when we need it. When we take in qualities that balance those of the changing environment we balance ourselves and support our holistic health. Buying from CSAs and local farmer’s markets supports Ritucharya.
Mitahara means moderate food, or following a moderate diet, and represents the concept of linking nutrition to the health of one’s body and mind. A modern-day equivalent to Mitahara is intuitive eating. Eat organic food that nurtures your cells, listen to your body and eat to 75% full, and – most importantly – avoid distraction by practicing mindful eating.
In Ayurveda, we want to support the health of our gut microbiome and the health of our soils. With all the exposure to environmental toxins in our modern world, cleansing periodically can be necessary. Check out a few of our simple recipes below to support daily cleansing from a holistic approach.
– Liver cleansing juice with organic vegetables. The liver is one of the primary seats of fire in the body. It plays vital roles in filtration, digestion, metabolism, detoxification, protein synthesis and the storage of vitamins and minerals.
– Cooked apples are rich in soluble fiber, a type of prebiotic, which helps the beneficial bacteria in our gut.
– Sweet potato with ginger and kale is a cleansing and tonifying Spring recipe that aligns with ritucharya and mitahara principles.
– Boost your immunity to help increase the body’s natural detoxification processes with this cleansing and cooling meditation
Eating locally, organically, seasonally and sustainability are the most important steps you can take toward protecting your own health and that of your family, your community and Mother Earth!
Article authored by Chloe Chaput, who is dedicated to her role as a Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist (CAS) to work with women’s health, male and female fertility challenges, parents/caregivers, and children to address a variety of clinical health concerns at the root of their cause. Contact Path Wellbeing today to set up your appointment with Chloe Chaput, CAS.
The information contained within this article is for educational purposes only and should not replace the direct advice of a doctor or other qualified healthcare professional. Always consult a professional healthcare provider when considering a new health regime.
