Eight Guidelines for REAL Healthful Food
In your search for healthy food to feed your family, here is what to look for, whether you’re at the grocery store or farmers’ market. Foods that meet these standards will almost always be a wise choice:
- Grown without pesticides and chemical fertilizers (organic foods fit this description, but so do some non-organic foods)
- Not genetically modified
- Contains no added growth hormones, antibiotics, or other drugs
- Does not contain artificial anything, nor any preservatives (for fresh produce, you can now add the presence of MAP coatings or ‘edible packaging’)
- Fresh (if you have to choose between wilted organic produce or fresh conventional produce, the latter may be the better option)
- Did not come from a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO, a.k.a. factory farm)
- Grown with the laws of nature in mind (meaning animals are fed their native diets, not a mix of grains and animal byproducts, and have free-range access to the outdoors)
- Grown in a sustainable way (using minimal amounts of water, protecting the soil from burnout, and turning animal wastes into natural fertilizers instead of environmental pollutants)
