Frugal, Time-Saving Tips for Healthy Eating
How Families Can Save Money on Organic Food and Keep Kids Healthy
Sep 23, 2009
Many parents are aware of the risks involved in eating foods that have pesticide residues on the foods and in the soil the plants grew in, but making the change to eating organic can be daunting and expensive. Eat Healthy, a new website at Healthy Child, Healthy World, has lots of tips, tricks and recipes to help parents choose and cook healthy, pesticide free foods for children.
Why are Pesticides Dangerous for Children?
Pesticides contain chemicals such as methyl parathion, which is an endocrine disruptor, and iprodione, classified as "a probable human carcinogen". Children's bodies are immature and still growing and developing, so introducing any substance that can interfere with that process is a bigger risk for kids than it would be for adults. Artificial hormones in milk, substances that mimic hormones, such as BPA, or other endocrine disruptors can affect the development of body systems that depend on hormones.
How Can Parents Reduce Children's Exposure to Pesticides?
Eat Healthy has many resources available to help parents make healthy choices around their children's nutrition. Organic food is grown without chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and is a much safer choice for children. However, organic food is often significantly more expensive than the non-organic equivalent. Eat Healthy helps parents increase their consumption of organic food in a frugal way by buying organic foods selectively, buying in bulk and cooking/eating more efficiently so that less food is wasted. Whether parents want to know the 10 fruits and vegetables to buy organic or the top 10 genetically engineered crops, Eat Healthy can help reduce the pesticides and GMOs a family consumes.
Recipes, Resources and Experts
Eat Healthy also helps parents make healthy eating choices for their families by providing a list of healthy recipes, resources and experts on nutrition. Experts such as Dr. Alan Greene, author of Feeding Baby Green [Jossey-Bass, 2009] and Tara DelloIacono-Thies, nutrition strategist for Clif Bar & Company, contribute by writing articles and guiding the content of the site, as well as providing trusted resources and business partners such as Earthbound Farm. Recipes are submitted by experts and other readers, which can be a big help to parents trying to make changes to mealtimes without much time to prepare meals in advance.
Eat Healthy and Healthy Child, Healthy World provide information and resources for parents to help reduce children's exposure to toxic chemicals in their food, household environment and drinking water. Making lifestyle changes to reduce exposure to harmful chemicals can seem overwhelming at first, but these resources can help families go green without breaking their budget.
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