We are all told to eat healthy – but what exactly does that mean? There are a lot of aspects to a healthy diet. It includes what you eat, how you eat, the impact your food has on the planet, on your health. The following are a few ideas that may get you thinking…

Solar Cooking

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A great little project when you are stuck inside the house. Make a working solar oven using just a pizza box, a cardboard box, some tin foil, duct tape, newspaper and some cling film.

Once complete, this little oven (when placed in the sunshine), should heat up to 200 degrees F (or more) and cook lunch for the whole crew.

Great hands-on project to learn about passive solar heat, as well as to demonstrate why greenhouse gases can lead to global warming.

Food Podcasts…

Food Production and Storage

Growing and storing your own food.  This is the heart of sustainability.  But there are many questions and issues surrounding the harvesting and storing of food.

What is the best method (canning, freezing, blanching, fermentation, drying)? How do I get started, what tools do I need? How to deal with food waste. Menus over the winter. Big box retail outlet issues.

Healing with Herbs (Natural Medicine)

Herbal medicine, or natural healthcare has literally been around for centuries.

Yet those who practice it are still labeled as crackpots or witches (okay, maybe a couple centuries out of date with labeling) by the medical establishment that is very nearly always proved wrong by the next medical establishment that is later proved wrong… and so it goes. 

Outlawing Sustainability (Food Regulations)

As more and more people seek alternatives to the industrialized food system – government follows closely behind with one regulation after another seemingly designed to make sure corporate profits are not adversely impacted. 

Things your grandparents took for granted are suddenly illegal. So what exactly are these regulations and how do they impact your life?

Factory Farms

About 95% of all the meat consumed in America is produced in factory farms.  Meanwhile, about 85% of Americans say they want the animals they consume treated humanely – a big disconnect. 

Find out the harsh realities of factory farming and what we can do about it. 

Big Agriculture (Myths versus Reality)

Since World War II our food system has morphed from a network of family owned farms raising a variety of crops to a global mono-culture based industry that focuses on the production of wheat, soy, corn and rice. 

And government policies encourage, almost mandate this transformation.  The result is an industrialized food system that squeezes out the small farmer, produces food that many say is not only unappetizing but also unhealthy, and damages the planet.

Eating Seasonally

Globalization and genetically modified food has led to a world where nearly every plant can be harvested and shipped nearly every week of the year. 

While this is convenient – it is not natural.  And it can lead to some serious problems.  So how can we, as individuals and as a society, break out of this cycle and eat in a more natural, seasonal pattern?

Preserving Food

We all know we should eat seasonally. 

But often there is an overabundance of food when the food is ready to be eaten (after all, how many zucchini can you actually eat in one sitting?)  And then you can’t find anything worth eating later in the year.

So how best to preserve fresh food? 

Annie explains how to can, blanch, pickle, dry, salt – basically how to make your harvest last through the winter. 

Vegetarian vs Vegan

So just what is the difference between a vegetarian and a vegan?  And why would you choose one diet/lifestyle over another? 

What are the issues that lead some people away from eating animal-based foods?  What are the health benefits or concerns when you cut animal protein from your diet? 

There are as many opinions about this as there are meat substitutes at Whole Foods.