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Suburban Farming

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:18:09 -0400

An idea whose time has come. With ever increasing gas prices causing the cost of shipping food from coast to coast and across the seas skyrocketing at an alarming pace people are looking to cut their food bill and cost of driving to the grocery store. Many other websites and people are advocating the buy local or plant your own, and back to the land movement.
In the next few segments I will be talking about Buying Local, Growing your Own, and Food not Lawns.
One great website you will want to visit is KGI Kitchen Gardeners International. Here people practice what the preach. I’m a member of the forums there and like to read and steal snippets from Roger, the sites creator and web master.
Kitchen Gardeners International is all about local food right outside your front door. The website shows you ways you can have food growing right outside in your yard with little work and little space. There’s no reason to go till up the back 40 when you can simply walk out your back door and pick fresh produce. Even tips and hints for apartment dwellers exist on the site. You can check them out here.
http://www.kitchengardeners.org/

Antioxidants & Free Radicals

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:11:00 -0400

Compiled by C.O.P.E. Farms
Caretakers Of Planet Earth

Antioxidants 101
What are Antioxidants? Benefits of Antioxidants
Antioxidants are substances or nutrients in our foods which can prevent or slow the oxidative damage to our body. When our body cells use oxygen, they naturally produce free radicals (by-products) which can cause damage. Antioxidants act as "free radical scavengers" and hence prevent and repair damage done by these free radicals. Health problems such as heart disease, macular degeneration, diabetes, cancer etc are all contributed by oxidative damage. Indeed, a recent study conducted by researchers from London found that 5 servings of fruits and vegetables reduce the risk of stroke by 25 percent. Antioxidants may also enhance immune defense and therefore lower the risk of cancer and infection.
The Health Benefits of antioxidants
Antioxidants work by binding to the free radicals, they transform them into non damaging compounds or repair cellular damage. They also can halt the spread of cancer causing cells with damaged DNA before other vital molecules are damaged. Antioxidants help neutralize the production of free radicals which are chemical complexes that cause harm to our cells and play a major role in the disease process. Antioxidants help alleviate the symptoms and side effects of many of these diseases.

Most Commonly Known Antioxidants

Vitamin A and Carotenoids

Carrots, squash, broccoli, sweet potatoes. tomatoes, collards, cantaloupe, peaches and apricots (bright-colored fruits and vegetables!)

Vitamin C

Citrus fruits like oranges and lime etc, green peppers, broccoli, green leafy vegetables, strawberries and tomatoes

Vitamin E
Nuts and seeds, Whole grains, green leafy vegetables, vegetable oil and liver, fish oils

Selenium

Fish & shellfish, red meat, grains, eggs, chicken and garlic

Other Common Antioxidants
 Some common phytochemicals
•Flavonoids / polyphenols
              *    soy
              *    red wine
•purple grapes or Concord Grapes
             *      pomegranite
•cranberries
             *     tea
    *    Lycopeine
              *    Tomato and tomato products
•pink grapefruit
              *    watermelon
    *    Luetin
•dark green vegetables such as kale, broccoli, kiwi, brussels sprout and spinach
•Lignan
              *     flax seed
•oatmeal
              *    barley
•rye
Vitamin-like Antioxidants:
•Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)
•Glutathione
Antioxidant enzymes made by the body:
•superoxide dismutase (SOD)
•catalase
•glutathione peroxidase
 
Free Radicals
How free radicals are formed.
Normally bonds don’t split in a way that leaves a molecule with an odd, unpaired electron. But when weak bonds split, free radicals are formed. Free radicals are very unstable and react quickly with other compounds, trying to capture the needed electron to gain stability. Generally, free radicals attack the nearest molecule, "stealing" its electron. When the "attacked" molecule loses its electron, it becomes a free radical itself, beginning a chain reaction. Once the process is started, it can cascade, finally resulting in the disruption of a living cell.
Some free radicals arise normally during metabolism. Something the body's immune system's cells purposefully create them to neutralize viruses and bacteria. However, environmental factors such as pollution, radiation, cigarette smoke and herbicides can also spawn free radicals.
Normally the body can handle free radicals, but if antioxidants are unavailable, or if the free radical production becomes excessive, damage can occur. Of particular importance is that free radical damage accumulates with age.
Exercise and oxidative damage
Endurance exercise can increase oxygen utilization from 10 to 20 times over the resting state. This generally increases the generation of free radicals, prompting concern about enhanced damage to muscles and other tissues. The question that arises is, how effectively can athletes defend against the increased free radicals resulting from exercise? Do athletes need to take extra antioxidants?
 
Because it is not possible to directly measure free radicals in the body, scientist have approached this question by measuring byproducts that result from free radical reactions. If the generation of free radicals exceeds the antioxidants defenses then one would expect to see more of these by products. These measurements have been performed in athletes under a variety of conditions.
 
Several interesting concepts have emerged from these types of experimental studies. Regular physical exercise enhances the antioxidant defense system and protects against exercise induced free radical damage. This is an important finding because it shows how smart the body is about adapting to the demands of exercise. These changes occur slowly over time and appear to parallel other adaptations to exercise.
 
On the other hand, intense exercise in untrained individuals overwhelms defenses resulting in increased free radical damage. Thus, the "weekend warrior" who is predominantly sedentary during the week but engages in vigorous bouts of exercise during the weekend may be doing more harm than good. To this end there are many factors which may determine whether exercise induced free radical damage occurs, including degree of conditioning of the athlete, intensity of exercise, and diet.

Health Food vs. Healthy Food How to Read Labels

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:08:06 -0400

An eye opening video of how the food companies lie to you about the amounts and contents of your food.
Remember also how deceptive words like “lite”, “fat free”, and “sugar free” can be. Lite doesn’t actually mean fewer calories; it can mean less sugar or less sodium. Fat has twice the amount of calories as sugar and “sugar free” items may have more fat added to compensate taste.
Look for foods that have less total fat, saturated fat, and total cholesterol. Look for foods that have more fiber and less sugar.
Also remember on food labels, ingredients are listed in most to least order.

The Cost of Healthy Eating

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:05:41 -0400

One thing this video doesn’t touch on is that while the healthier food may cost more look what it does for your health. What were the doctor bills for medical treatment of the poorer families due to malnutrition, health related illnesses due to being overweight, heart problems, bone and joint problems, bad backs, and more from eating cheaper foods that are less healthy for you???? That is the true cost of healthy eating. While the less healthy food may look like a bargain it cost you more in the long run with health related problems and bills.

Free Ranged Chickens

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:02:00 -0400

Heres a video I want you to see not all free range chickens have access to the outdoors like ours do. Most free ranged chickens don’t even receive a free ranged diet they are still fed commercial feed. If you buy your free ranged eggs from a grocery store chances are they aren’t much better than any other eggs there in the grocery store. Get to know your local farmer and learn where your food comes from and how its cared for. BUY LOCAL.

Here at C.O.P.E. Farms we allow our chickens to free range. At night the chickens are brought in to the coop and locked up for safe keeping. Unfortunately EVERYTHING likes to eat chicken. Where we live we have foxes, coyotes, hawks, owls, possums, raccoons, and the occasional stray dog. If we allowed our chickens to stay outside overnight chances are we would be a few less chickens the next morning. Thus we protect them with a nice large chicken house that only a bear could tear into.
During the day our chickens are allowed to be chickens and free range on our property eating natural greens, insects, and seeds. this natural diet produces a superior egg, with less cholesterol, more omega 3’s, and a deep orange yolk that stands at attention, bringing you a fresher, healthier, better tasting egg.
At C.O.P.E. Farms our chickens are never fed antibiotics, hormones, arsenic (found in most commercial chicken feed), GMO corn, or other contaminates.
Our chickens are hard workers here on our farm. In our commitment to being self sustainable our chicks provide us with pest patrol of the gardens and manure to be composted to fertilize crops. Their natural curiosity to scratch and peck keeps insects in check so we don’t have to use pesticides or herbicides on our crops, keeping with out organic growing commitment.
Our chicks are a mixed bag of breeds that provide those wonderful old farm style brown eggs. You could receive eggs from any of our named chickens such as Nugget, Tyson, KFC, Popeye, Zaxby, or more.