I (Sue) have been following a detox diet for some months - well, three and a half to be exact, and have not only lost weight but feel great too. One of several reasons is that I'm boosting my immune system so that I don't suffer from the usual horrible allergies that normally beset me at this time of year. Red, swollen, itchy eyes and a streaming nose are a real bring-down. So far, so good, even though we've been out walking on windy days when the willow and poplar fluff are flying around all over the place and other pollen is in the air.
With the detox diet in mind, we have added some more products to our range for those who might like to try them. They include amaranth and chickpea flour, gluten-free muesli and green tea. We also have fine unrefined Atlantic sea salt and rice/buckwheat cakes.
Some of you may have noticed that last month we added seaweeds - Nori, Dulse and Wakamé, as well as quinoa, buckwheat and millet flakes. The seaweeds are full of useful minerals and featured in a recent Food Programme on Radio 4. The flakes, when combined, make a great gluten-free porridge. Gluten in the diet is no help for those with allergies.
Gluten-free Buckwheat and Rice Flour Bread
I find the shop-bought gluten-free breads unpleasant, so I make my own with a combination of buckwheat and rice flour along with sunflower seeds. See recipe below.
For those who don't know what to do with seaweeds, here's one tasty suggestion: combine a heaped tablespoon of each of the flakes with a tablespoon of olive oil, a teaspoon of lemon juice and a large, crushed clove of garlic. You can adjust amounts to suit - great on toasts or with salad. There are lots of other ideas on the net, so go Googling if you're interested.
Sugar in all its forms inc. fruit and fruit juice (!), is a no-no on a serious detox diet, so I've taken to using Stevia, even in baking. It's available in the supermarkets.
For determined detoxers, avoiding black tea, coffee and alcohol is important. Tough, I know, but really worth the sacrifice for a while. All infusions are good and I enjoy lemon in green tea.
Anyone who is on my Angloinfo blog mailing list, or who reads it anyway, will have seen posts with reference to some of the above. Have a read for more info. Oh, I mustn't forget good old garlic, the wonder bulb, I've blogged about that too.
Gluten-free Bread Recipe
240g Buckwheat Flour (Sarrasin)
240g Rice Flour
90g Quinoa Flakes (Ground for preference)
3 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Sunflower Seeds
1 tbsp Flax Seeds (Linseed)
1 tsp (sachet) or 3/4 quick shakes of powdered Stevia
1 tsp Xanthum Gum (if you have it, but not essential)
120 ml Water
350 ml Milk or Soya Milk
6 tbsp Sunflower Oil
Combine all the dry ingredients well then gradually pour in the water with the oil until you have a mushy mix. Line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper. Pour mix into the tin and flatten down well using a wettened fork. Cover the top with sunflower seeds and bake at around 180˚ until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean.
This loaf is fairly dense and therefore pretty filling, so I suggest you slice it thin. I hope you'll try the recipe and you'll enjoy the result. Don't expect it to be like ordinary bread, it's a different experience.
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In the summer Leaf and I came back from UK with a bug - how unusual! His went pretty quickly but mine developed into sinusitis. After a week I succumbed and went to the doctor. He prescribed a broad-sprectrum anti-biotic, the corticosteroid prednisolone SOLUPRED. It worked but more than that - the side effect was thrush in the mouth. My tongue became very sensitive to hot and cold as did my teeth and gums. Eating was very uncomfortable. I was furious and went back to the doctor to ask for a natural treatment for my mouth. I was recommended a bicarbonate of soda mouthwash. It worked. So, in future, I shall be trying other natural treatments should I get sinusitis again. Here are some:
• avoid mucus-forming foods such as flour products, eggs, chocolate, fried and processed food, sugar and dairy products. • drink lots of good quality water • include cayenne pepper, garlic, onion and horseradish in soups, casseroles and stews • if you can source it, try Japanese wasabi paste with meals - only a tiny bit. It helps with decongestion • combine 1-2 teaspoons of organic cider vinegar with 6 fl oz of water and a teaspoon of good honey and drink three times a day for five days. It helps thin congested mucus • again, if you can source it, grapefruit seed extract (GSE) is a natural antibiotic
There are probably lots of other ideas for natural treatments. If you know of one, please either share by comment or send us an email so we can add it to this post. Thanks.
Some say breakfast is the most important meal of the day - gets you started, but, according to ayurvedic principles, breakfast falls in a digestive rest period. The three cycles are believed to be roughly as follows:
I eat fresh fruit for breakfast as it puts very little strain on the digestive system, however, I do add dried fruits, ground nuts and grains. Here they are with some of main goodies they contain:
FLAX SEEDS - Omega 3 fatty acids and Vit C
WHEAT GERM - Protein, virtually all the essential minerals, Vits A, B1 and B3
SOYA LECITHIN - Phospholipids which aid in cell protection - a sort of 'oil' to keep things moving smoothly
APRICOT KERNELS - Vit B17, the anti-cancer vitamin (check out the facts before deciding whether to take these)
BRAZIL NUTS - Primarily Selenium but other minerals too
HAZELNUTS - Vits E & K and selenium
ALMONDS - Loaded with vitamins and minerals
GOJI BERRIES - Also loaded with vitamins and minerals as well as anti-oxidants
CRANBERRIES - Vit C and anti-oxidants
Leaf likes some muesli and granola with his fruit and goodies.
It all adds up to a delicious breakfast. Mind you I do enjoy the odd boiled egg and toast with Leaf's amazing marmalade.
I promised the other night's dinner guests I'd put this recipe up asap. Pic of tomatoes because it's pretty and I didn't take one of the terrine before serving, sorry!
225g sliced mushrooms 1 medium chopped onion 1 crushed garlic clove 1 small diced red pepper 1 tbsp veg stock 1tsp dry white wine 200g red kidney beans 1 beaten egg 25g fresh breadcrumbs herbs of choice salt and pepper
Pre-heat oven to 180˚C. Line a large loaf tin with greaseproof. Put onion, garlic, pepper, mushrooms, stock and wine into a pan, cover and cook for around 10 mins, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and leave to cool. Puree the mixture with the beans until smooth then add egg, breadcrumbs, herbs and seasoning. Spoon into loaf tin, press down and cook for 45 to 60 mins. Allow to cool completely in the tin before transferring onto a plate, carefully peeling off the greaseproof and refrigerating for at least three hours before serving. Lovely with fresh bread and salad.
My desk is a mess of paperwork and my mind a jack-in-a-box. Popping up and scaring me just when I thought I had everything under control. So much has been going on of late that the info I had ready for my next post, got lost in the pile. Hence the long delay. Luckily I have now found it. Cancer has reached almost epidemic proportions, but the emphasis is always on finding a cure and rarely, if at all, on prevention. Tragically it has become an industry with millions of people employed in the research, treatment, care and after-care of this horrendous disease. If we were all able to avoid it they would no longer be needed, but the pharmaceutical giants would be losing out BIG! Health is not their business. But all is not lost. For those of us who see it as a very real threat, we can adapt our lifestyles in the best effort to keep it at bay. The biggest baddies are diet and, of course, pollution in our air and water. Chemicals are up there too. Chemicals in cleaning materials, cosmetics, air fresheners, garden products etc. I have posted before on alternatives but, if in any doubt, look at the label. Roundup - check that horror out on the net! As for diet - here it's easy to get up noses! Our bible is The China Study by T. Colin Campbell (The study can be considered the Grand Prix of Epidemiology - The New York Times) but we know that the advice therein is a bit too drastic for most people. However, here are a few simpler recommendations to help protect the colon which is particularly vulnerable to cancer: • eat more veg. - a salad a day, a soup a day and lots with the evening meal - raw whenever poss. • avoid charcuterie (the nitrates they contain are known carcinogens) • choose chicken or turkey over other meats, better still brazils or walnuts for selenium • eat more magnesium - in many nuts, seeds, sprouts and dark leafy veg. • eat more fibre - beans and whole grains are best for this along, of course, with veg. • eat curries containing turmeric or sprinkle it on veg, add to soups and stews. A final word, organic eating isn't as expensive as it may seem and is surely worth the extra. Think of the price you might pay for eating foods contaminated with chemicals. None of this is new, but a reminder every now and then is a good thing. Happy, healthy eating!
Ever thought of checking the ingredients in your toothpaste? If not, then this site might give you quite a shock.
So, why not move over to natural/organic (the bio shops sell various brands) and save your old tube for other uses, such as:
• to relieve irritation from insect bites, blisters etc. - a drop on overnight • to soothe a minor (not open-wound) burn - apply immediately and leave on • to clean fingernails - scrub on with nail brush • to clean food smells off hands - use like soap • to remove stains from clothes and carpets - apply, rub briskly until spot disappears, then wash as usual • to clean scuffed shoes - apply directly, scrub with brush then wipe clean • to make silver sparkle - apply with a soft cloth, leave on overnight then polish up in the morning • to remove shallow scratches from DVDs and CDs - apply a thin coat, rub gently then rinse clean • to clean piano keys - apply with a damp cloth, rub gently then wipe clean with another dry cloth
Everyone's heard of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals, but not everyone will be familiar with the benefits of phytonutrients. They are basically the beneficial (to human health) chemicals found in plant-based foods. Yet more reason to up the intake. Thanks to Care2 for this useful chart.
350g Farine Integrale (wholemeal) or Farine d’Epautre (spelt)
350g Farine 110 or 80 (semi-wholemeal or semi-refined)
2 x 5ml spoons sugar
1 x 5ml spoon salt
nuts and seeds as preferred
1 x 15ml spoon oil
425ml hand hot water
1 x 5ml spoon sugar
2 packs dried yeast
Mix yeast with water and 5ml sugar and leave for 15 mins until frothy.
Mix dry ingredients well, add yeast mix and oil gradually and mix well. Knead dough until soft and springy.Leave in a greased bag in a warm place to double in size.Knead again back to original size.Shape as desired and put into 1 large or 2 small greased loaf tins.Leave to rise again in the greased bag.
Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds and press into the dough.
Bake in hot oven for approx 25 minutes.
Leave to cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
The prep is done in a trice, then just let the oven do the rest.
INGREDIENTS
75g each of 3 dried fruits (eg raisins, sultanas, currants, chopped apricots, cranberries or choppeddates, you choose) 1/2 pint earl grey tea (using a bag) 250g/9oz refined flour (65) 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground nutmeg 200g/7oz soft brown sugar 1 egg beaten
Soak the fruit overnight in the tea (leave the teabag in). Pre-heat the oven 180˚C/Gas 4. Drain fruit and add sifted flour, baking powder and spices. Mix in well. Add sugar and egg and mix in. Gradually add the juice from the soaked fruit (minus teabag!) until you get a nice gooey mix that will flop rather than pour into a 450g/1 lb loaf tin lined with greaseproof. Bake for approx one hour. Check the cake is cooked by putting a skewer into the middle. If it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Leave to cool for ten minutes. Place an oval plate over the loaf-tin and reverse. Peel greaseproof off the cake and reverse onto a wire rack. Leave to cool.
The cake is delish on its own, with butter or, if a bit gooey, with a glob of cream. Leaf likes it like that. Enjoy!
Friday, 7 January 2011
FIRST AND FOREMOST A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR FRIENDS, READERS AND CUSTOMERS
DISTURBING BUT HARDLY SURPRISING NEWS from Sue
Two issues ago, in The French Week, I noticed an article about carcinogens in food, primarily, although not exclusively, in food given to children. The results of a collaborative Franco/Belgian study are a serious indictment of the food industry. As organic food sellers, we naturally have to do our nutritional health homework, which entails a lot of reading and research. We are not in the least surprised at these findings but very glad they are being brought to attention of the public. Here is the link to an article on the study in The Guardian - perhaps the most reputable and honest of the British papers these days. I could go banging on forever about the desirability of eating organic, but with articles like these, I shouldn't need to. However, I can't pass up the opportunity to emphasize that food grown in degraded soil (i.e. full of herbicides, pesticides etc) will be degraded too. It might look great but it will inevitably be lacking in nutrients. 'We Want Real Food' by Graham Harvey is particularly interesting on this subject. Likewise animal products from industrially-farmed livestock fed the wrong food, treated regularly with anti-biotics and hormones to 'cure' their ailments and speed up growth are likely to be as bad for the humans eating them as for the poor animals themselves. Food processing is what it says it is, put through a variety of processes which invariably remove the goodness - hydrogenisation for example, see this link for more info. And as for all the chemical additives listed in miniscule print on labels, not in my body thanks. Having said I could go banging on, I find myself doing just that. Sorry. The article says plenty.
Monday, 29 November 2010
WINTER WARMERS
Legumes, beans if you like, are carbohydrate and protein combined and full of dietary fibre. Some people may find them hard to digest due to a lack of the enzymes that break down bean trisaccharides into simple sugars. They are also famous for producing gas! But that can be reduced, even eliminated, with a few simple tricks. 'Why bother?' you might ask. Well, they're bursting with other goodies (see our food values chart page) and in some parts of the world are an important staple, particularly where there's little or no meat in the diet. Traditional Chinese medicine maintains they strengthen kidney-adrenal function. Veggies and vegans use them in all sorts of dishes, such as soups, stews, casseroles, rissoles, patés and stuffings. Many are suitable for sprouting too. There are loads of different beans available in bio and health shops, but the most common ones are red kidney, chick pea, split pea, black beans, white beans, azuki, mung and, of course, red, green and brown lentils. PREPARING LEGUMES: Soak for five to eight hours, then rinse before bringing to the the boil in unsalted water. Remove any foam that comes to the top when they reach boiling point. Allow to simmer uncovered for approx 20 minutes, then continue cooking covered until tender. Seasoning with cumin, fennel seeds, ginger or bay leaves can help reduce gas. Don't add salt until the beans are tender. Add a tablespoon of cider or red wine vinegar in the final minutes of cooking. they are now ready to use in your chosen recipe. TWO OTHER POINTS: Pressure cooking reduces gas. If you've forgotten to put them to soak, cover the beans with water and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and allow to sit for an hour before changing the water and continuing cooking. If you're not used to beans, start with lentils then progress through azuki or black beans. I don't advise going all out for a bean feast, yet!
You'll find plenty of good legume recipes in vegetarian and vegan cookbooks - but I can particularly recommend Rose Elliot's The Bean Book.
Melt butter, sugar and golden syrup over a low heat, stirring constantly, add ginger and allow to bubble.
Remove from heat and add other ingredients.Mix well.
Divide and flatten by hand and place on a well greased baking sheet.Bake for approximately 10 minutes until light golden brown.
For those who tasted these yummy biscuits at Rosemary's venue and Hazel's art workshop - I (Sue) used sunflower seeds and chopped apricots.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
QUICK AND EASY BREAD
This no yeast, no knead (so no rise) loaf is small and dense but not heavy.It is moist and full of flavour and lasts well.
240gspelt flour
45gsmall oatflakes
1·5 tspbaking powder
1 tspsalt
1 tbsppoppy or sunflower seeds
2 tbspground flaxseed
1·5 tbspsugar
150mlmilk
3 tbspsunflower or rapeseed oil
Poppy or sunflower seeds to decorate
Pre-heat oven to 350˚ F(180˚C) and line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
Thoroughly mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.Whisk milk and oil and add slowly to dry ingredients, combining well.Shape and lay in small loaf tin.Press down into the corners and flatten the top with knuckles.Sprinkle with poppy seeds and bake for 50-55 minutes or until browned on top and cooked through (test with a clean knife or skewer to check).Leave to cool in the tin for about 10 mins.Turn out onto wire rack.
VARIATION: For more rise, add 2 tbsp water and get a runny mix which you can pour into the tin. I made some rolls tonight with this mix and they worked out well.
Monday, 20 September 2010
THE GREATNESS OF GRAINS
Whilst white flour and rice can be useful, the goodness has mostly been stripped out - carbs without nutritional value - whereas whole grains are full of important goodies and help stabilise blood sugars. Not really sure how to use them? Here are a few to get you started:(CT = cooking time)
BROWN RICE - popular with those who don't mind the extra cooking time, although our Basmati cooks in about twenty minutes. Brown rice contains lots of fibre, vitamin E, manganese, magnesium, selenium and the amino acid tryptophan. Use instead of white rice in stews, curries, casseroles etc. (CT 40-50 mins)
SPELT - an ancient wheat grain high in protein and more nutritional than ordinary whole wheat. It contains manganese, magnesium and copper and the energy-boosting B vitamins, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin. Use in bread or pasta.
OATS - nothing as warming as porridge. High in protein as well as fibre, oats can help lower cholesterol and even stabilise blood sugars. They come in lots of forms but it's better to choose the least refined and get all the goodness. You can use oat flour instead of wheat flour for cakemaking by the way. Oats contain magnesium, manganese, selenium and tryptophan.
WILD RICE - great if you can get it. It's high in protein and has a lovely nutty taste and is much lower in calories than white rice and high in fibre too. Ideally go for the black, unblended (with white rice) type. Can be used in all the same dishes as white rice. (CT 50-60 mins)
QUINOA - delicious and full of goodies - a complete protein, it's also high in B-vitamins and fibre as well as iron and magnesium. It reduces the risk of heart problems, helps protect against free radicals and is said to ease the pain of migraine sufferers. (CT 15-20 mins)
BULGUR RICE - derived from bulgur wheat and a top-class health food. It contains lignans and ferulic acid which help ward off nitrosamines which are linked to cancer. It's particularly high in fibre and loaded with minerals such as iron, zinc, manganese, selenium, phosphorus and magnesium. (CT - just pour boiling water over it and watch it swell! Takes about 20 mins. You can cook it in boiling water too)
PEARL BARLEY - chokka with fibre. The unrefined variety contains lots of potassium along with every other mineral you can think of (well almost). Use in soups, stews, pilaf etc. (CT 15-20 mins)
MILLET - is a highly nutritious grain. It contains more iron than other grains and is a good source of zinc, calcium, manganese and B vitamins. It is gluten free. Great as an accompaniment to stews and curries. (Soak overnight for quicker CT - 5-10 mins, or instant CT approx 20 mins)
There are quite a few other interesting grains and versions of the above, but it would take several pages to cover them. Suffice to say whole grains should form an important part of our diet as they contain so much goodness - carbs, protein, vitamins and minerals - and interestingly prepared, they taste great. I always add salt or bouillon powder to the cooking water. Grains cooked with neither can come out really bland and flat.
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
WOT A HATEFUL COLOUR!
APOLOGIES TO ALL OUR READERS FOR THE LURID BLUE THAT HAS TAKEN OVER OUR TITLES. I'M TRYING TO FIND A WAY OF CHANGING IT, BUT HAVEN'T YET SUCCEEDED. TO MAKE UP FOR IT, I'LL PUT A FEW MORE PICS IN OUR RIGHT HAND COLUMN. IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO GO BACK TO OUR USUAL BLACK, PLEASE DROP US AN E-MAIL - THANKS SO MUCH.
This is something we've often wondered about. It's a long piece, sorry about that (I don't have the capability to page-break), however, it is interesting stuff.
So, make a cuppa, settle into a comfy chair and spend 5 minutes finding out why it's better to buy a canvas shopping bag or a basket and re-use all those other bags it's hard to avoid.
It’s an age old question, when it comes time to check out when grocery shopping: paper bag or plastic bag? It seems like it should be an easy choice, but there’s an incredible number of details and inputs hidden in each bag. From durability and reusability to life cycle costs, there’s a lot more to each bag than meet the eye. Let’s take a look behind the bags.
Where do brown paper bags come from?
Paper comes from trees — lots and lots of trees. The logging industry, influenced by companies like Weyerhaeuser and Kimberly-Clark, is huge, and the process to get that paper bag to the grocery store is long, sordid and exacts a heavy toll on the planet. First, the trees are found, marked and felled in a process that all too often involves clear-cutting, resulting in massive habitat destruction and long-term ecological damage.
Mega-machinery comes in to remove the logs from what used to be forest, either by logging trucks or even helicopters in more remote areas. This machinery requires fossil fuel to operate and roads to drive on, and, when done unsustainably, logging even a small area has a large impact on the entire ecological chain in surrounding areas.
Once the trees are collected, they must dry at least three years before they can be used. More machinery is used to strip the bark, which is then chipped into one-inch squares and cooked under tremendous heat and pressure. This wood stew is then “digested,” with a chemical mixture of limestone and acid, and after several hours of cooking, what was once wood becomes pulp. It takes approximately three tons of wood chips to make one ton of pulp.
The pulp is then washed and bleached; both stages require thousands of gallons of clean water. Coloring is added to more water, and is then combined in a ratio of 1 part pulp to 400 parts water, to make paper. The pulp/water mixture is dumped into a web of bronze wires, and the water showers through, leaving the pulp, which, in turn, is rolled into paper.
Whew! And that’s just to make the paper; don’t forget about the energy inputs — chemical, electrical, and fossil fuel-based — used to transport the raw material, turn the paper into a bag and then transport the finished paper bag all over the world.
Where do paper shopping bags go when you’re done with them?
When you’re done using paper shopping bags, for shopping or other household reuses, a couple of things can happen. If minimally-inked (or printed with soy or other veggie-based inks) they can be composted; otherwise, they can be recycled in most mixed-paper recycling schemes, or they can be thrown away (which is not something we recommend).
If you compost them, the bags break down and go from paper to a rich soil nutrient over a period of a couple of months; if you throw them away, they’ll eventually break down of the period of many, many years (and without the handy benefits that compost can provide). If you choose to recycle paper bags, then things get a little tricky.
The paper must first be re-pulped, which usually requires a chemical process involving compounds like hydrogen peroxide, sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide, which bleach and separate the pulp fibers. The fibers are then cleaned and screened to be sure they’re free of anything that would contaminate the paper-making process, and are then washed to remove any leftover ink before being pressed and rolled into paper, as before.
How are plastic bags made?
Unlike paper bags, plastic bags are typically made from oil, a non-renewable resource. Plastics are a by-product of the oil-refining process, accounting for about four percent of oil production around the globe. The biggest energy input is from the plastic bag creation process is electricity, which, in this country, comes from coal-burning power plants at least half of the time; the process requires enough juice to heat the oil up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit, where it can be separated into its various components and molded into polymers. Plastic bags most often come from one of the five types of polymers — polyethylene — in its low-density form (LDPE), which is also known as #4 plastic.
How does plastic bag recycling work?
Like paper, plastic can be recycled, but it isn’t simple or easy. Recycling involves essentially re-melting the bags and re-casting the plastic, though, according to the U.S. EPA, manufacturing new plastic from recycled plastic requires two-thirds of the energy used in virgin plastic manufacturing. But, as any chef who has ever tried to re-heat a Hollondaise sauce will tell you, the quality isn’t quite as good the second time around; the polymer chains often separate break (thanks to reader MaryBeth for noting the difference between “separate” and “break” — the former implies that the chains can come back together, which they can’t), leading to a lower-quality product.
What does that mean to you? Basically, plastic is often downcycled — that is, the material loses viability and/or value in the process of recycling — into less functional forms, making it hard to make new plastic bags out of old plastic bags.
What about biodegradable plastic bags?
Biodegradable plastic is a mixed bag (pun intended) as well; while biopolymers like polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and Polylactide (PLA) are completely biodegradable in compost (and very, very, very slowly — if at all — in a landfill) and are not made from petroleum products, they are often derived from our food sources.
The primary feedstock for bioplastics today is corn, which is rife with agro-political conflict and often grown and harvested unsustainably; because of these reasons, and because it competes with food supply, it is not likely to be a long-term solution in the plastics world.
Plus, some bags marked “biodegradable” are not actually so — they’re recycled plastic mixed with cornstarch. The cornstarch biodegrades and the plastic breaks down into tiny little pieces but does not actually “biodegrade,” leaving a yucky polymer mess (if in small pieces). The only way to avoid this? Look for 100 percent plant-based polymers, like the two mentioned above.
So, while it’s good to have the alternative (and to recognize the innovation it represents), bioplastics aren’t quite ready to save us from the paper or plastic debate.
Paper or plastic: A look at the facts and numbers
Further insight into the implications of using and recycling each kind of bag can be gained from looking at overall energy, emissions, and other life cycle-related costs of production and recycling. According to a life cycle analysis by Franklin Associates, Ltd, [pdf] plastic bags create fewer airborne emissions and require less energy during the life cycle of both types of bags per 10,000 equivalent uses — plastic creates 9.1 cubic pounds of solid waste vs. 45.8 cubic pounds for paper; plastic creates 17.9 pounds of atmospheric emissions vs. 64.2 pounds for paper; plastic creates 1.8 pounds of waterborne waste vs. 31.2 pounds for paper.
Paper bags can hold more stuff per bag — anywhere from 50 percent to 400 percent more, depending on how they’re packed, since they hold more volume and are sturdier. The numbers here assume that each paper bag holds 50 percent more than each plastic bag, meaning that it takes one and half plastic bags to equal a paper bag — it’s not a one-to-one comparison, even though plastic still comes out ahead.
It’s important to note that all of the above numbers assume that none of the bags are recycled, which adds a lot of negative impacts for both the paper and plastic bags; the numbers decrease in size (and the relative impacts decrease) as more bags are recycled. Interestingly, the numbers for paper bag recycling get better faster — the more that are recycled, the lower their overall environmental impact — but, because plastic bags use much less to begin with, they still ends up creating less solid and waterborne waste and airborne emissions.
Paper and plastic bags’ required energy inputs
From the same analysis, we learn that plastic also has lower energy requirements — these numbers are expressed in millions of British thermal units (Btus) per 10,000 bags, again at 1.5 plastic bags for every one paper bag. Plastic bags require 9.7 million Btus, vs. 16.3 for paper bags at zero percent recycling; even at 100 percent recycling rates, plastic bags still require less — 7.0 to paper’s 9.1. What does that mean to me and you? Plastic bags just take less energy to create, which is significant because so much of our energy comes from dirty sources like coal and petroleum.
The best way to go? A reusable bag, not a plastic bag. Anya Hindmarch’s wildly popular “I am Not a Plastic Bag” tote is helping give the reusable bag some sex appeal.
Paper bags or plastic bags: the conclusion
Both paper and plastic bags require lots and lots of resources and energy, and proper recycling requires due diligence from both consumer and municipal waste collector or private recycling company, so there are a lot of variables that can lead to low recycling rates.
Ultimately, neither paper nor plastic bags are the best choice; we think choosing reusable canvas bags instead is the way to go. From an energy standpoint, according to this Australian study, canvas bags are 14 times better than plastic bags and 39 times better than paper bags, assuming that canvas bags get a good workout and are used 500 times during their life cycle. Happy shopping!
Article sourced from Treehugger - a worthwhile eco site.
Soak fruit overnight in orange juice. Line a 7" cake tin with greaseproof paper leaving plenty around the sides to lift cake out later. Mix all dry ingredients except raisins in a large bowl. Half-puree the fruit with juice, raisins and vanilla essence in a food processor or blender. Add to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Transfer to the lined cake tin and press down with a large spoon or masher until well compacted. Cover with a round of greaseproof paper with a side plate topped with a heavy weight. Chill in the fridge for 7 - 8 hours. Ease the cake out of the tin by lifting the greaseproof carefully. Peel off the paper and decorate the cake with the flaked almonds. Serve as a cake or dessert with cream.
Only popped online to check out my emails this morning and found a link to this article. Naturally it is of great interest to us and our business, but we also believe it explains clearly, if somewhat lengthily, why we are wedded to organic.
The issue of feeding the world is perhaps, alongside global warming and expanding populations, the most important challenge we and future generations have to face. Of course, they are all linked. Like most people we just want to get on with our lives and not have to think about what looks like an increasingly bleak prospect for the future, but can we afford to? It's up to each of us to decide. What we do urge is that you read this article. What it has to say seriously affects not just our planet, but our health. Secondly, we ask that your forward it to your friends. We're in this together.
Here are the first couple of paras to get you started. (Click on 'this article' (in green above) to read the rest)
Organic can feed the world
by Maria Rodale
(September 2010) — You probably buy organic food because you believe it’s better for your health and the environment but you also may have heard criticism that “organic cannot feed the world.”
Biotech and chemical companies have spent billions of dollars trying to make us think that synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are necessary to feed a growing population. But science indicates otherwise.
There’s clear and conclusive scientific data showing organic agriculture is key not only to solving global hunger but also to curbing global warming, promoting public health, revitalizing farming communities, and restoring the environment.
Have just noticed the Apricot and Oat Square recipe (3 posts below this ) already appeared back in March, so am up-dating this latest one - as a variation. I think I prefer this (softer) version.
