wood and bean, "is it worth going green?"

8/3/2019 Wood and Bean, "Is It Worth Going Green?"

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Okay, okay, so it's the bookwritten by us: The Babytalk

Insider's Guide to Your Baby'sFirst Year (Wellness Central)

but it's also a book with aphilosophy that works for all

momswhat feels right toyou usually is right. Here'sjust one of our tried-and-

true sleep tips: A ne wbornusually can't stay awake form ore than two hours a t atim e. Seriously. Of c ou rse ,

your baby doesn't wan t to letyou in on this little secret, so

instead of rubbing his eyesand yawning, he may do

something to confuse you,like become wide-eyed orcranky. To avoid this, w atc h

the clock. W hen he's b ee nup for about an hour anda half, feed him again, puthim in his bou ncy s eat or

crib, turn on some lullabiesor a musical mobile, stepback out of sight and seewhat happens. If he nodsoff, you're on your way to

starting a routine.


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is it worthgoing green?As controversy swirls over the nutritional value of organicfoods, we sift through facts and fables to find out wha t's w orthbujdng organicand wha t's really not.STORY Step ha nie W o o d ADDITIONAL REPORTING Shawn Bean

There it was. plodding across theCNN news crawi, seven words,a million implications: "Organicfood no healthier than regularfood." The i tem referenced astudy released in late July by theFood Standards Agency (FSA), an independentgovernm ent bureau in the United Kingdom . Afteranalyzing 50 years of research, the authors c on -cluded that "there are no important differencesin the nutrient content, or any additional healthbenefits, of organic food when compared withconventionally produce d foods."

The backlash was swif t . The OrganicConsumers Association, a grassroots orga-nizat ion with more than 850,000 membersand volunteers, immediately released a state-ment calling the study "faulty, misleading ... andmethodically flawed." Charles Benbrook, Ph.D.,chief scientist at the O rganic Center, a Boulder,Colorado, nonprof i t that helps consumers,policy makers and the media understand thebenefits of orga nic produ cts, stated that the FSAwas "downplaying positive findings in favor oforganic food,"This rift cuts through the center of a mas-sive, skyrocketing industry. Sales of organic foo dand beverages in the United States leapt from$1 billion in 1990 to an estimated $24 billion in2008, an annual growth rate of about 20 per-cent. But strip away the eight-figure revenues


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and arguments betwee n scientists andactivists, farmers and policy w onks, andyou have the same questions and con -cerns that arise at dinner tables andgrocery stores across the co untry: Areorganics really better for my family? Arethey worth the extra, well, green? Fornew moms, who scrutinize every bitethey take in and every spoonful theydish out, is splurging on a few organicfoods the right thing to do? And if so.which products should one buy?While the U.S. Food and DrugAdministrat ion (FDA) and the U.S.Dep artmen t o f A griculture (LJSDA) rou-t inely inspect foods produced in theUnited States, there's no question thatorganics eliminate a lot of unnecessary

and dangerous toxins from our l ives.They reduce the intake of pesticides,h o r m o n e s a n d a n t i b i o t ic s c o m -monly used in agriculture, notes AlanGreene, M.D., author of Feeding BabyGreen: The Earth-Friendly Programfor Healthy, Safe Nutrition DuringPregnancy. Chiidhood, and Beyond(and yes, that 's his real name). Still,neither the USDA nor the AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics (AAP) claimsthat organic foods are more nutr i -t ious. To a pediatrician, making sureyour baby receives a balanced diet iswh at is preferable," notes pediatricianSteven Abelowitz, M.D.. medical direc-tor of Coastal Kids Pdiatrie MedicalGroup in Newport Beach and LagunaNiguel, Ca lifornia.

But what exactly is organic? For start-ers, organic products must be producedwith ou t conv ention al pesticides; fertiliz-ers made w ith synthetic ingredients orsewage sludge; bioengineering; or ion-izing radiation. Meat, poultry, eggs anddairy products must co me fr om animalsthat are not given antibiotics or growthhormones. In addit ion, government-approved cert if iers must inspect thefarm where the products are grown orraised to make sure the USDA's organ icrules are being follow ed.

But for farmers like Ronnie Cummins,nat ional d i rec tor o f the OrganicConsumers Association, organic is sim-ply about getting back to how it was.Speaking to an audience of organicfarmers in La Farge, Wiscon sin, in July,the ponytai led Cummins said, "I wasborn in 1946. That year. 42 pe rcent of

our fruits and veggies were gro wn in ourbackyards, or in schoolyards and urbangardens, When you wen t to a grocerystore, most of the stuff you boughthad been produced within a 100-mileradius. The fo od was pretty pure, andit was basically orga nic. My grandpar-ents were organ ic farmers in East Texas.But they didn't know the w ord organic.They were just doing what their parentshad taught them .'While all this may sound who lesomeand nostalgic, the truth is there's a lotof information out there, and save fora few tiny stickers or labels with fineprint, we're given little dire ction regard-ing what's worth buying organic andwhat's not. For starters, foods labeled

as "natural." 'ho rmo ne- free ' and "freerange" are not always organic. Whetheryou're pregnant, nursing or introducingtable foods to your baby, use the follow-ing guidelines to help determine what'sright for your family. Keep in mind thatgoing organic doesn't have to be anall-or-nothing proposition. Greene sug-gests doing a little at a time, based onwhat your budget allows.During PregnancyChoosing organic whe n you're expect-ing depends on only one key factor:what you crave, says registered dieti-tian Bridget Swinney, R.D., author of thebooks Eating Expectantly, Baby Bitesan d i^ealthy Food for Healthy Kids. Sherecomm ends that you keep a journal ofwhat yo u eat over a period of about tw oweeks, then buy organic versions of thefoods that top your list.

If you're a beef-eater. Greene sug-gests choosing grass-fed, organicallyraised cattle. It's leaner and health-ier, and can have up to five times theamount of brain-building omega-3 fattyacids as regular beef. Though the costof organic meat can be double that ofregular, try treatin g it like a side dish an dopt for smaller servings.

Also consider another source oforganic protein that may be less expen-sive than beef: soy. But remember thatdespite its close association to healthyliving, soy doesn't always equate toorganic. Eighty-five percent of the soy-bean crops gro wn today in the U.S. aregenetically mod ified, wh ich means thegenet ic code of the food has been

dirtydozenThese fruits andveggies top the list fortheir pesticide load. Go"O" with those w henyou can.1. Peac hes2. Apples3. Sweet bell peppers4. Celery5. Nectarines6. Strawberries7. Cherries8. Kale9. Lettuce10. Imported grapes11. Carrots12. PearsSource:The EnvironmentalWorking Croup

altered in a lab to make it more w eed- o rbug-resistant. Dr. Greene says the prob -lem is that no o ne realty knows yet whatimpact genetically modified foods willhave on our health and our farmlands.So make sure to check the packaging,and d on't mistake an 'all-natural" labelon soyor any other productas a syn-onym for organic.Finally, think about switching toorganic milk. Pregnant women need

to co nsume a lot of calcium, as muc has 1,300 milligrams a day. During preg-nancy, the calcium transfer from mothe rto baby reaches 270 milligrams a day.That's wh y milk is one of Greene's toporganic picks. And although the USDAmaintains that all types of milk areequally safe, choosing organic meanssaying no to a whole chemical systemof agriculture.New MomsYou might expect the nutrition advicefor new moms to be the same as dur-ing pregnancy, and certainly the above


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suggestions still hold true . But there area few m ore recomme ndations to keepin mind w hile shopping.If you're breastfeeding, breast milkprovides your baby's source of DHA, anomega-3 fatty acid that's important tobrain and vision develo pme nt, so eatingDHA-rich foods like salmon is important.Experts recom men d you sho ot for 300to 500 milligrams of DHA 3 day. A serv-ing of salmon {a 6- to 8-ounce f i l let]packs that and more.However, the debate over organicseafood is ong oing . Greene notes thatthe USDA has no classification yet fororganic seafood. Acco rding to the FDA,pregnant and nursing wom en can safelyeat up to 12 ounces (or two servings)

a week of w ild salm on, tilapia, shrimp,catfish and p ollock. If you want to buythese items organ ic, look for the MarineStewardship C oun cil logo o n the label,which certifies it's sustainable seafood.Nursing moms should also con-sume lots of vitamin A, It's passed in thebreast milk from mother to baby, andif you're not careful, mom's supply canget scarce. Vitamin A is foun d in green,orange and yello w fruits and veggies. Ifyou choose to skip the organics, lookfor produce that's "vine-ripened" or 'tree-

ripened." It has more nutrients.

based organizat ion that works toprotect children from toxic chem icalsin food, water and other p roducts, andthe folks there w ou ld say there are stilltoo many residual toxins in baby f o o d -even if said levels are lower than thestandards set by the USDA. EWG likesGerber, which commands 70 percentof the baby food market and has donea lot to reduce pesticides, but there'ssti l l more that can be done. Perhaps

Keep in mind that foods labeled as"natural," "hormone-free" and "freerange" are not always organic.From 6 to 12 monthsYou're probably getting ready to makebaby's transition to solids, if you haven'tstarted already. The definitive answerabout buying organic or conventionalbaby food wi l l depend on whom youask. if you were to query Jay Hoecker,M.D., emeritus consultant w ith the MayoGlinic, he'd say. "Organic baby food canlimit your baby's exposure to pesticidesand other potent ial contaminants infoods. However, the American Academyof Pediatrics says organic foods are nosafer or more nutritious than are otherfoods," Organic baby food can also beconsiderably more expensive.

Now contac t the Env i ronmenta lWorking Group, a Washington, D.C.-

it's moms erring on the safe side thathas inspired many organic baby foodbrands to sprout and succeed- Thereare a number of start -ups, amongthem Healthy Times, Jack's Harvestand Plum O rganics. Some establishedbrands have created their own organicoffshoot [Gerber Organic).

Of course, you can always makeyour ow n foo d too , which at this stagerequires simple purees. If you chooseto be your baby's personal chef, it 'salways best to buy organic. That 'sbecause pound for pound, babies eatand dr ink more than adults, whichmeans they're exposed to a higherconcentration of toxins than we are,says Greene .

From 1 yearto 18monthsOnce your baby is ready for wholecow's mi lk , organic mi lk or whole-bean soy milk are good places tostartfor exactly the same reasonsyou might choose them in pregnancy.Environmental chemicals are storedin fat, and because high-fat wholemilk is such a big part of a toddler'sdiet, it's best to go organic when babyswitches from breast milk or formula,dietit ian Swinney says. Three othe rpopular organic choices for toddlersare potatoes, apples and ketchup, againbecause kids eat so much of them.Plus, organic ke tchup has double thelevel of antjoxidants, according to astudy by researchers from the USDA.

And remember- Eating green doesn'thave to be anall-encompassing lifestylechange. Your baby wil l thrive with awell-baianced, healthy diet free of asmany processed foods as possible,whether they're organic or not. Theorganic impact goes far beyond thedinner table, local grocery store andour children's we ll-being . It's a causefor global longevity. Says Gummins,"We're not going to solve our publichealth crisis, we're not going to sta-bilize the climate, we're not going tobe able to deal with more expensiveenergy unless organic becomes thenorm again." Preserving the environ-ment is not unlike politics: Every littlevote for the future coun ts. *


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wood and bean, "is it worth going green?"

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