Whole Foods Nutrition: Organic on a Budget

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s."

Tips for going Organic on a Budget:
1. The food shuffle - Proverbs 31:14 "She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar." This verse is speaking about a wife being creative and diligent. A woman who will not settle for convenience, economy, or habit. She seeks better ways to fulfill the needs of her family. She aims to joyfully put forth the effort to obtain excellent and unique things for her household. She is not discouraged that creativity requires extra work and time.
Getting food from various places will help you to save lots of money on organic produce. Gathering food from farm shares, farmers markets, bulk food distributors, growing some yourself, community gardens, work exchanges, or the internet etc. I was spending a ton more money when I was getting everything from one grocery store. 

2. Think of recipes that will stretch your food further. Things like soups, stews, casseroles, and chilies make ingredients go further. Adding a healthy carb or a legume with also fill you up and add lots of bulk to the food. Items such as rice, beans, lentils, and potatoes are great alongside organic meats and veggies. 

3. Bridge the Gap of nutrition with a product like Juice Plus. I chose to be a rep for the Juice Plus company so that I could educate people on whole foods nutrition and help point them towards a superior product to help bridge the gap of nutrition in their lives (Juice Plus info below) Juice plus is a flooding of phytonutrients. It is non-gmo, herbicide free, raw fruits, raw veggies, and raw berries in capsule or gummi form. They also have an incredible program called the children's health study where kids have the opportunity to get on juice plus for free for up to 4 years. 

4. Freeze things or learn how to can them. Don't let any awesome food go to waste or pass up a great deal! Chopping up veggies and onions and freezing them will not only save you money but will save you time too. If you ever have one of those days where you just don't feel like chopping, you will be thankful that you had some pre-chopped ingredients in the freezer. Sometimes you will come across a great deal on something, but can't think of a way to use it all at once. Canning or freezing the food will help it last until you are ready to use it in a meal. 

5. Prioritizing- Thinking of other areas in your life where you can budget more so that you and your family can reap all of the benefits of eating food the way that God designed it. 

I hope you all enjoyed my vlog today (video below) and thank you so much for taking the time out to visit my blog! Blessings, hugs, and shalom,
Lea

Benefits of Phytonutrients: 
Phytonutrients are nutrients found in plants that develop to protect the plant from damaging environments. Plants are exposed to excess ultraviolet radiation, predator pests, toxins and pollution, resulting in the generation of dangerous free radicals within their cells. These free radicals can then bind and damage proteins, cell membranes and DNA of the plant. Fortunately, phytonutrients simultaneously develop to shield the plant from such damage as well as provide their color, flavor and smell. Why is this important to us? Since we are exposed to radiation and various environmental elements just like plants, we need phytonutrients to protect us. How do we get phytonutrients? We get them by eating the plants! Each plant contains tens of thousands of different phytonutrients that can act as antioxidants, hence it’s key to eat high-antioxidant foods in order to fight free radical damage.

Why Juice Plus?
FARM FRESH NUTRITION
Juice Plus+ starts with farm fresh nutrition. Each capsule and chewable is the product of high-quality plants and seeds, well-cultivated fields and orchards, and the best fruit and vegetable farmers. After our fruit and vegetable varieties are grown, harvested, cleaned, juiced, and dried, they are blended into nutritious Juice Plus+ products that are part of a healthy diet.FAMILY FARM GROWN
Locally Grown Fruits and Vegetables for the Best Quality Nutrition. We start with farm fresh produce – the highest quality fruits and vegetables we can find. We work wherever possible with midsize family farms run by some of the best fruit and vegetable farmers in North America, which helps us provide the best quality nutrition. We inspect farming operations – from the process of handpicking to the natural control of weeds and insects – to make sure we deliver the best quality nutrition so you and your family can experience the healthful benefits of Juice Plus+.
CAREFULLY PRESERVEDWe Carefully Preserve them after Harvest For The Best NutritionFruits and vegetables lose much of their nutritional content when they’re picked early and shipped long distances. We solve that problem by locating our juicing and drying facilities as close to our farmers as possible.  Where that’s not close enough, we utilize a process called Individual Quick Freezing (IQF) to ensure the freshness of each fruit and vegetable. Once the produce has been harvested and cleaned, it goes through our proprietary Juice Plus+ juicing and drying process.

• We start with whole food.
• We juice the whole fruit or vegetable, including peels,
  leaves and seeds, whenever possible to harvest the
  greatest amount of nutrients.  
• We don’t shortcut the drying process, like others do.

NSF CERTIFIED
Expert-Tested and Expert-Approved To Ensure The Best Nutrition
Careful testing and independent experts ensure the natural purity of our finished products. Juice Plus+ is produced at state-of-the-art facilities that meet or exceed highest food industry standards for blending, encapsulating, and packaging. Our standards are reviewed and our facilities inspected by NSF the public health and safety company. Not-for-profit NSF also inspects and certifies our products, as confirmed by the NSF seal on every Juice Plus+ bottle or pouch. As NSF-certified products, all Juice Plus+ products undergo independent testing that ensures they meet and exceed strict guidelines and deliver only the best quality nutrition.

Dangers of Herbicides:
Two new scientific studies add to concerns about the dangers posed by Roundup (glyphosate), the most widely used weedkiller in the world. A group of scientists from the University of Caen in France found that human placental cells are very sensitive to the herbicide at concentrations lower than the agricultural use, and that it disrupts human sex hormones. (Do we think it's a coincidence that so much sexual and gender confusion has increased alongside the equal increase of using herbicide on foods?)
The scientists concluded that the herbicide could “induce reproduction problems” in humans.In another study, University of Pittsburgh biologist Rick Relyea looked at the effect of Roundup on other life forms. Relyea found that the herbicide caused an 86-percent decline in the total population of tadpoles.Glyphosate is marketed under several brand names — Roundup is Monsanto’s original brand; Syngenta now markets glyphosate as Touchdown Total. These products are widely used in yards and gardens across North America, and U.S. farmers spray millions of acres of crops with them each year. Drift problems are common, where the herbicide spray lands off the targeted area, killing plants.

​Just a few of the issues I have with genetically modified foods outside of the fact that it's literally changing our DNA... and not for the better: 
Infertility: Studies done on animals showed that more than half of the babies of GM-fed mother rats died within 3 weeks. Also, the longer the mice were fed GM foods, the less babies they had and the smaller the babies were. Also, GM fed rats had uterus and ovary changes, and by the 3rd generation, they were unable to have babies. In addition, about 2 dozen US farms reported that GE-fed pigs or cows developed sterility and could not reproduce. All these suggests infertility or reduced fertility and also a high risk of birth defects. And we wonder why infertility rates are increasing daily in humans.
Cancer: In March 2015, World Health Organization (WHO) classified Glycophosphate as carcinogenic. Glycophosphate is a toxin that is greatly used in GMO foods and has been linked to many illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s, Autism. It has also been known to be linked to breast cancer and prostate cancer. Also IGF (Insulin Growth Factor) is increased in dairy products from cows fed with GE foods. Recent studies show that IGF-1 is an important factor in the growth of breast, prostate, colon cancers. Once again, we wonder why the incidence of cancer is increasing.
Liver toxicity: The liver is one of the important organs in the human body and is responsible for detoxification. Rats that were given GM potatoes showed damaged livers. When these rats were switched to non-GM foods, their liver over time went back to normal. I think it is safe to conclude that GM foods play a part in damaging the liver.
Antibiotic resistance: GE foods have the ability to make certain bacteria to be resistant to antibiotics which will ultimately result in the increase and spread of infections. For example, GE maize plant from Novartis includes an ampicillin resistant gene and if this gene moves from the corn into bacteria, it will make ampicillin an ineffective drug in fighting bacterial infections.