General cooking tips
Buy Local Food : Cultivate an awareness of how far your food travels. When Rich Pirog, Food Systems Program Leader for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, tracked the miles traveled for 16 types of produce, he found that locally sourced fruits and vegetables such as apples, lettuce and tomatoes traveled an average of 56 miles, compared to 1,494 miles — nearly 27 times farther — for the same fruits and vegetables delivered through conventional retail channels. Things get stickier with combination foods, strawberry yogurt for example. Pirog came up with 2,216 miles by adding up the distance traveled for the yogurt’s milk, sugar and strawberries. That figure could be slashed by 90 percent if you buy plain yogurt and stir in some locally grown honey and fruit.
Kitchen Tip : Make sure stovetop electric coils work properly. A worn-out element is a real power drain.
Try Eating Raw Food : You need a balance of three basic food groups as most of your diet:
- sweet fruits (apples, oranges, berries, melons, etc.)
- green leaves (dark lettuce, kale, collards, spinach, etc.)
- raw plant fats (avocados, olives & their oil, coconuts & their oil, nuts & seeds, durian)
Eat lots of sweet fruit, lots of green leaves, and some fat (as dressing, pâté, hummus, etc.). Add vegetables as desired, and sprouted grains and legumes occasionally. Try fruit for breakfast and snacks; greens, veggies and fat for lunch and dinner.