FoodHealth

                       Stress Fixes
Running late?
There's no point worrying about something you can't change.

Managing time
Time management skills can allow you to spend more time with your family and friends and possibly
increase your performance and productivity. This will help reduce your stress.
* Save time by focusing and concentrating, delegating, and scheduling time for yourself.
* Keep a record of how you spend your time, including work, family, and leisure time.
* Prioritize your time by rating tasks by importance and urgency. Redirect your time to those activities that are important and meaningful to you.
* Manage your commitments by not over- or under committing. Don't commit to what is not important to you.
* Deal with procrastination by using a day planner, breaking large projects into smaller ones, and setting short-term deadlines.

Build healthy coping strategies
It is important that you identify your coping strategies. One way to do this is by recording the stressful event, your reaction, and how you coped in a
stress journal. With this information, you can work to change unhealthy coping strategies into healthy ones-those that help you focus on the positive
and what you can change or control in your life.
Some behaviors and lifestyle choices affect your stress level. They may not cause stress directly, but they can interfere with the ways your body seeks
relief from stress.
Try to:
* Balance personal, work, and family needs and obligations.
* Have a sense of purpose in life.
* Get enough sleep, because your body recovers from the stresses of the day while you are sleeping.
* Eat a balanced diet for a nutritional defense against stress.
* Get moderate exercise throughout the week.
* Limit your consumption of alcohol.
* Don't smoke.

Overwhelmed by others' needs?
Use your senses to distance yourself from reality: "See" a cloudless blue sky, "feel" the warmth of the sun, and "taste" that creamy piña colada. Within
your circle of solitude, no one can enter or disrupt your inner peace and harmony.

Annoyed by difficult people?
To insulate yourself from their irritating behaviors, first acknowledge how you're reacting. Recognizing your emotions enables you to develop strategies
for soothing them, which in turn delivers a sense of calming control.

Second-guessing yourself?
Our minds are often plagued by self-defeating thoughts that start with phrases like "I can't," "I'll never," and "If only." The next time your inner critic pipes
up, follow these steps to silence it: Close your eyes, breathe mindfully, and reflect on a time when you were surprised by your own strength (maybe it
was when you gave birth or quit your job to find a better one). Remembering past moments when you trusted yourself will guide you toward feeling
comfortable with your decisions now.

Falling behind?
Try making a two-column to-do list. On one side, list the high-priority tasks in order of importance; in the other column, jot down the things that can
happen tomorrow or the next day. As you complete each task on your list, cross it off with a colorful Sharpie. This visual affirmation of accomplishment is
soothing, and learning how to tackle stress before it paralyzes you is your ticket to overcoming it.

Meditate
Any repetitive action can be a source of meditation. This includes walking, swimming, painting, knitting -- any activity that helps keep your
attention calmly in the present moment.
When you catch yourself thinking about your job, your relationship or your lifelong to-do list, experts say to simply let the thought escape,
and bring your mind back the repetition of the activity. Try it for just 5 to 10 minutes a day and watch stress levels drop.

Breathe Deeply
Try this: Let out a big sigh, dropping your chest, and exhaling through gently pursed lips. Now imagine your low belly, or center, as a deep, powerful
place. Feel your breath coming and going as your mind stays focused there. Inhale, feeling your entire belly, sides and lower back expand. Exhale,
sighing again as you drop your chest, and feeling your belly, back and sides contract. Repeat 10 times, relaxing more fully each time.

Look Around You
“Mindfulness is the here-and-now approach to living that makes daily life richer and more meaningful. It’s approaching life like a child, without passing
judgment on what occurs. Mindfulness means focusing on one activity at a time, so forget multi-tasking! Staying in the present-tense can help promote
relaxation and provide a buffer against anxiety and depression.
Practice it by focusing on your immediate surroundings. If you're outdoors, enjoy the shape and colors of flowers, hear a bird’s call or consider a tree. In
the mall, look at the details of a dress in the window, examine a piece of jewelry and focus on how it's made, or window-shop for furniture, checking out
every detail of pattern and style. As long as you can keep your mind focused on something in the present, stress will take a back seat.

Drink Hot Tea
If you’re a coffee-guzzler, consider going green. Coffee raises levels of the notorious stress hormone, cortisol, while green tea
offers health and beauty.
Chamomile tea is a traditional favorite for calming the mind and reducing stress. And black tea may be a stress-fighter, too,
researchers from University College London report. Participants who drank regular black tea displayed lower levels of cortisol,
and reported feeling calmer during six weeks of stressful situations than those who drank a placebo with the same amount of
caffeine.

Take an Attitude Break and Show Some Love
Induce the relaxation response by cuddling your pet, giving an unexpected hug to a friend or family member, snuggling with your spouse, or talking to a
friend about the good things in your lives. When you do, you'll be reducing your stress levels.
Why? Experts say social interaction helps your brain think better, encouraging you to see new solutions to situations that once seemed impossible, she
says. Studies have also shown that physical contact -- like petting your dog or cat -- may actually help lower blood pressure and decrease stress
hormones.

Try Self-Massage
* Place both hands on your shoulders and neck.
* Squeeze with your fingers and palms.
* Rub vigorously, keeping shoulders relaxed.
* Wrap one hand around the other forearm.
* Squeeze the muscles with thumb and fingers.
* Move up and down from your elbow to fingertips and back again.
* Repeat with other arm.

Take a Time-Out
Adults need time-outs, too. So when you sense your temper is about to erupt find a quiet place to sit or lie down and put the stressful situation on hold.
Take a few deep breaths and concentrate on releasing tension and calming your heartbeat. Quiet your mind and remember: Time is always on your
side, so relax. The stress can wait.

           Try a Musical Detour
                    Music can calm the heartbeat and soothe the soul, the experts say. So, when the going gets rough, take a musical stress detour by
aligning your heartbeat with the slow tempo of a relaxing song. And you might want to make that a classical tune. Research shows that listening to 30
minutes of classical music may produce calming effects equivalent to taking 10 mg of Valium.

Eating “Green” Made Simple: 3 Helpful Buyer's Guides

My weekly grocery shopping trips practically require a manual these days. I have such a hard time remembering what I should buy—farm-raised or wild-
caught, grass-fed or free-range? Is organic really healthier or will conventional do? And what about local?
Plus, some of the adjectives on food products are fancy marketing rather than fact-based claims. Take the term “natural,” for instance. Since it’s not
defined by the FDA, it’s more or less meaningless.
So to make the trip through the aisles a little easier, and figure out how to make the best choices, here's a little help.

* Seafood Buyer’s Guide
Keeping track of which seafood is sustainable isn’t an easy task. At present the USDA has no organic certification program
for seafood. This guide tells you what to look for at the fish counter.

Which labels to look for at the fish counter.

You may have decided to buy wild vs. farmed salmon but finding other sustainable seafood isn’t an easy task. At present the USDA has no organic
certification program for seafood (an organic seafood label may mean nothing or that the fish was certified “organic” overseas). For sound
environmental information, go the Blue Ocean Institute and Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch websites. At the fish counter, look for the labels
listed on the following pages.

Sustainable Seafood Advice

Blue Ocean Institute, led by noted marine biologist Carl Safina, has a Guide to Ocean-Friendly Seafood that gives each species of fish a green (good),
yellow or red (avoid) rating. For example, green fish are relatively abundant and their fishing or farming methods do little damage to natural habitats and
other wildlife; a “red” rank means the species is subject to overfishing or is farmed using methods that harm the environment or wild fish. Search the
guide (and download a wallet-size card of it) at blueoceaninstitute.org/seafood—or by entering fishphone.org into your PDA browser.

Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch recommends fish based on current scientific data on environmental and health concerns and direct
interactions with fishery and fish-farm operators.

               Marine Stewardship Council

              Fisheries and fish farms sporting this label have paid to be certified for the condition of available stocks, the management system and the
             impact on the environment. Products can be traced directly back to the source.

* Eco-benefits: The statistics on global fish stocks are grim: 52 percent of fish stocks are fully exploited, which means that they are being fished at their
maximum biological capacity; 24 percent are overexploited, meaning they are depleted or recovering from depletion; and 21 percent are moderately
exploited.
* Is it regulated? Yes. The agency certification lasts for five years with yearly audits.
* Keep in mind: Fish without the label may be equally sustainable but the farms and fisheries from which they came might have chosen not to invest in
certification.

Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)
This label is for farmed shrimp, catfish and tilapia, raised without antibiotics and in conditions that exceed local environmental
regulations. Plants that process the fish employ safe-packaging practices to reduce risk of food borne illnesses.

* Eco-benefits: Historically, shrimp, catfish and tilapia farming have caused considerable environmental damage to the biodiversity of wetlands by
disturbing sediment, impacting mangroves where wild fish spawn or, in the case of shrimp, scraping the bottoms through drag netting. Only farms
prohibiting practices that harm natural habitats are eligible for the label.
* Is it regulated? Yes. Site inspections and audits implemented by the nonprofit Aquaculture Certification Council ensure that farms and processing
plants meet environmental and safety standards.
* Keep in mind: The label applies only to farmed—not wild—shrimp and fish.

Safe Harbor
All fish sold in the U.S. should contain less than the Food and Drug Administration’s safe methylmercury limit of 1 ppm, but not
every fish is analyzed. Seafood with this label has been tested for mercury levels and has met Safe Harbor’s standard for that
specific species—a threshold that’s lower than the FDA’s 1 ppm “action level” and the average mercury content level for that type
of fish.

* Eco-benefits: Reduced exposure to mercury, which may harm an unborn baby or young child’s developing nervous system.
* Is it regulated? Yes. Only fish that have been tested for mercury and meet the standards get the stamp.
* Keep in mind: The label does not necessarily mean that the fish you’re buying is low in mercury; it just means it’s lower than average for that species.
For example, it’s prudent for pregnant women to avoid all swordfish (which is very high in mercury)—even that which bears the Safe Harbor seal.

* Meat and Poultry Buyer’s Guide
Meat and poultry labels are confusing. What does “Natural” on that package of chicken breast mean? Why does “Certified Organic” cost so much? What’
s a meat-eater to do? This guide will help you make choices that are best for you.

When it comes to buying meat and poultry, the greener choices are not always obvious.
Meat and poultry labels are confusing these days. What does “Natural” on that package of chicken breast mean? Why does “Certified Organic” cost so
much? What’s a meat-eater to do? Our green guide to meat and poultry will help you make choices that are best for you.

Grass-Fed and -Finished (beef, lamb, bison)

Grass-fed animals eat nothing but their mother’s milk, fresh grass and cut hay for their entire lives—versus animals raised conventionally, which graze
until they reach a certain weight, then are sent to feedlots, where they are “finished” on grain diets until they reach market size.

* Health benefits: Some research suggests that grass-fed meats are richer in omega-3 fats and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) than those raised on
grains.
* Eco-benefits: Grass-fed-meat farms voluntarily certified by the American Grassfed Association (AGA, americangrassfed.org) do not use antibiotics
(which can end up in water systems) or grains (which require land to grow them and fuel to transport).
* Is it regulated? A definition of “grass-fed” proposed by the USDA is still in a comment period. Many, including the AGA, consider the USDA’s proposed
definition too lax as it allows for hormone and antibiotic use and some grain feeding.
* Keep in mind: “Partially grass-fed” means cattle are grain-finished. Not all grass-fed beef is organic.

Certified Organic (beef, pork, lamb, bison, poultry)

Organic standards prohibit all use of antibiotics and hormones. (Hormone use in poultry and pork production—
even conventional—has been banned since 1959.) All feed is vegetarian and certified organic—including pastureland—
which means that it is not treated with pesticides or herbicides and cannot be genetically modified. Animals have access
to pastureland, sunlight and enough land for exercise, and grazing is done in a manner that does not degrade the land
through erosion or contamination. Animal cloning is forbidden.

* Health benefits: Since USDA-certified organic labeling requires that animals be traced from birth to slaughter (including feed sources and medications),
problems related to animal diseases and human foodborne illness can be easily traced to the source.
* Eco-benefits: Organic standards ban the use of antibiotics and growth hormones, which leach into groundwater and ultimately end up in public water
supplies.
* Is it regulated? The USDA regulates the Certified Organic standard and independent agencies conduct farm inspections.
* Keep in mind: Organic doesn’t necessarily mean grass-fed; however, certified organic livestock generally graze on open-range land three to six
months longer than conventionally raised livestock to reach market size.

Certified Humane (beef, pork, lamb, poultry)

This label guarantees that animals have freedom to move and prohibits crates and tie-downs in stalls, as well as artificial means to
induce growth, such as continuous barn lights for broiler chickens.

* Eco-benefits: Certified Humane prohibits the use of antibiotics and growth hormones, two factors in groundwater pollution.
* Is it regulated? Yes. Certified Humane standards are endorsed by several animal-rights organizations, including the ASPCA
and the Humane Society. Producers are audited by third-party groups.
* Keep in mind: This label does not mean animals are certified organic.

Natural (beef, pork, lamb, poultry)

No additives or preservatives were introduced after the meat or poultry was processed. (Certain sodium-based broths can be added to poultry and pork
labeled “natural.”) This term does not ensure organic feed. The term “natural” is often confused with “naturally raised,” a term proposed by the USDA
that would mean the animals were not given antibiotics and/or growth hormones.

* Health benefits: Natural meats have no nitrites or nitrates, preservatives that have been linked in some children and women to various types of cancer.
* Eco-benefits: “Natural” has no substantial environmental benefit.
* Is it regulated? It is a term defined by the USDA but not regulated.
* Keep in mind: “Natural” alone says nothing about how an animal was raised.

* Produce Buyer’s Guide
The greenest choice for produce? Grow your own or buy organic produce from local farmers. But if you can’t do that, consider choosing foods with
these labels.

At the farmers’ market, or the supermarket, what do those labels mean?
The greenest choice for produce? Grow your own or buy organic produce from local farmers. It’s good for your local economy, not to mention fresher
and better tasting. Much of the fresh produce you’ll find in a typical grocery store has been picked before it is ripe, then shipped a long distance which
gives it less time to develop a full spectrum of vitamins and minerals. Even if they seem ripe these vegetables will never have the same nutritive value as
if they had been allowed to fully ripen on the vine. In addition, during the long haul from farm to fork, fresh fruits and vegetables are exposed to lots of
heat and light, which degrade some nutrients, especially delicate ones like vitamin C and the B vitamin Thiamin.

And then there are pesticides to consider. According to the USDA’s pesticide data program, imported fruits and vegetables often have higher residual
pesticide levels than domestically grown produce. So the best thing to do when vegetables are in season is to buy them fresh and ripe, and as close to
home as possible. If you can’t do that, consider choosing foods with the following labels:
Local
Locally sourced food can mean just about anything—your backyard, your county, your state, 50 miles, 100 miles, 200 miles, and so on. Many state
labels (e.g., Colorado Proud) mandate only that food is grown and processed within the state.

* Health benefits: Locally grown foods are often picked when they are riper (since they take less time to travel to market) and can be richer in nutrients
because of this.
* Eco-benefits: Buying locally can conserve fuel that would be used to transport food long distances. According to the Leopold Center for Sustainable
Agriculture at Iowa State (www.leopold.iastate.edu), if Iowans purchased only 10 percent more of their food from within their home states, it would result
in as much as a 7.9 million pound reduction in carbon emissions annually. However, research out of the UK and New Zealand suggests that, in some
cases, imported foods may be kinder to the environment because they originate in countries that use simpler farming methods (think: ox cart versus a
tractor) or more fuel-efficient transportation systems.
* Is it regulated? No.
* Keep in mind: “Local” doesn’t necessarily mean a farm is small, organic or sustainable.

Certified Organic

Certified organic fruits and vegetables are grown without the use of pesticides and herbicides, genetically modified seeds or sewage sludge fertilizers.
Farmers must conserve soil quality and often use nontoxic Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques, such as using ladybugs to control aphids or
mint oils and cloves to deter pests.

* Health benefits: Some preliminary research suggests that organic farming may, in some cases, increase the concentration of certain nutrients, such as
antioxidants. It also reduces the chance of consuming minimal amounts of pesticide residues that can accumulate in fruits and vegetables.
* Eco-benefits: Organic farming eliminates the pesticides and herbicides that can impact groundwater and aquatic plants, fish, birds or other wildlife. It
also bans genetically modified crops, some of which can cross-pollinate and ultimately destroy the reproduction systems of non-GMO plants. Per bushel
of corn, organic farming takes about 30 percent less energy than conventional farming, according to a recent review published by the Organic Center, a
Rhode Island-based nonprofit.
* Is it regulated? Yes, USDA monitors products with Certified Organic labels
* Keep in mind: Organic standards apply only to farming methods and do not regulate a sustainable production or packaging program and place no
limitations on farm size. Also, many small farms may be organic but cannot afford the elaborate USDA certification process needed to get an official label.

Biodynamic

Biodynamic is one of several farming practices that take the basics of organic farming a step further and look at a farm as a self-sustaining
organism that thrives on the integration of crops and livestock, recycling of nutrients, maintenance of soil, and the well-being of entire
ecosystems and communities. One of the best-known, Biodynamic is one of the few that is labeled and certified.

* Health benefits: The same as organic: some preliminary research suggests that organic farming may, in some cases, increase the concentration of
certain nutrients, such as antioxidants. It also reduces the chance of consuming minimal amounts of pesticide residues that can accumulate in fruits and
vegetables.
* Eco-benefits: Everything from water collection and runoff to distribution is done following the best practices for sustainability. A 1993 study of 16 farms
in New Zealand showed the Demeter-certified biodynamic farms to be equally productive but to have much higher soil quality than their conventional
counterparts.
* Is it regulated? Yes, by the independent Demeter Association.
* Keep in mind: Biodynamic principles extend to distribution (which is primarily local) so products are usually available only through co-ops, CSAs and
farmers’ markets.

Organic or Not?

Organic versus conventional produce

Is organic produce healthier than conventional? Here are three facts to consider:

1. Eating organic berries instead of conventional ones can reduce your exposure to pesticides, and recent research suggests that it also may give you
a nutrient boost. Last year, a study out of Newcastle University in the United Kingdom reported that organic produce boasted up to 40 percent higher
levels of some nutrients (including vitamin C, zinc and iron) than its conventional counterparts.
2. Additionally, a 2003 study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that organically grown berries and corn contained 58 percent more
polyphenols—antioxidants that help prevent cardiovascular disease—and up to 52 percent higher levels of vitamin C than those conventionally grown.
3. Recent research by that study’s lead author, Alyson Mitchell, Ph.D., an associate professor of food science and technology at University of California,
Davis, pinpoints the mechanism by which organic techniques may sometimes yield superior produce. It’s a difference in soil fertility, says Mitchell: “With
organic methods, the plants glean the nitrogen from composted soil and grow slowly, with their nutrients in balance. Vegetables fertilized with
conventional liquid fertilizers grow like crazy and use less energy to develop antioxidants.”

Buying conventional produce from local farmers also has benefits. Nutrient values in produce peak at prime ripeness, just after harvest. As a general
rule, the less produce has to travel, the fresher and more nutrient-rich it remains.

Bottom line: Eating more fresh fruits and vegetables in general [not necessarily organic ones] is the point. If buying all organic isn’t a priority—or a
financial reality for you—you might opt for organic specifically when you’re selecting foods that are most heavily contaminated with pesticide and
insecticide residues. According to the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org), those include peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines,
strawberries, cherries, lettuce, imported grapes and pears.