October = Non GMO Month

GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms. The most frequent use of the term GMO is in relation to the food that we eat, in that many crops and factory-made foods are created from genetically modified ingredients. Genes from other plants, viruses, bacteria, animals, etc. are inserted into the genes of certain products such as corn to make them more stable and resistant to drought, disease and pesticides. However, because of this cross-breeding, the safety of such foods has not been able to have been proven and other countries (and some counties in the U.S.) have banned the modified foods from being imported and/or grown.

Now on to the health aspects of GMO’s. Though the goal of GMO crops is to make them less susceptible to pests, more resistant to drought and stronger overall, the actual result is that stronger pesticides will be needed for the stronger weeds and disease, just as overuse of antibiotics has created stronger strains of disease in humans. Do we really want stronger pesticides to be used on the food that we eat? I sure don’t, and that’s why I try to do as much shopping as possible at my local farmer’s market here in Red Bank, NJ. Even though the items are still not 100% organic, at least they aren't grown conventionally (with possibility of GMOs and harmful conventional pesticides). But still there are boxed foods in the grocery store that also have GMO ingredients in them, and as of today there are no rules that say that they must be labeled as such.

More and more consumers are becoming concerned about GMOs, yet most people don't know how to avoid them because the United States doesn't require GMOs to be labeled. Check out these 4 simple tips to avoiding GMOs, from the informative Non-GMO Shopping Guide.

How to Avoid GMOs:

Buy Organic. The USDA Organic certification prohibits GMOs. All the more reason to buy organic food!

Look for "Non-GMO" Labels. But remember: You won't just be looking for one. There are dozens of labels out there, be a food detective!

Avoid At-Risk Ingredients. These include corn (corn flour, meal, oil, starch, gluten, and syrups; sweeteners such as fructose, dextrose, and glucose; and modified food starch), soybeans (soy flour, lecithin, protein, isolate, and isoflavone, vegetable oil, and vegetable protein), canola oil (also called rapaseed oil), cottonseed, and sugar (avoid anything not listed as 100 percent cane sugar, as well as aspartame).

Buy Products Listed in the Non-GMO Shopping Guide. Check out the downloadable guide here. They even have an app for your phone/iPod.

Keep it Fresh!
- Lauren

Information adapted from www.the goodhuman.com, www.deliciousliving.com, and www.nongmoshoppingguide.com

Friday Friend Shout Out: Citizens for a GMO Free World

Today's Friday Friend Shout Out is dedicated to Citizens for a GMO Free World. Founded by 15 graduates from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, including our friend and Co-Leader of the Holistic Moms Network of Monmouth County, NJ, Dawne Vrabel. Citizens is an organization dedicated to removing Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) from our natural food sources. They work tirelessly advocating for the labeling and/or removal of GMOs from our food supply.

According to one estimate, GM foods are present in approximately 80% of dpackaged food products in America. As many of you know, Americans increasingly rely on packaged products for the majority of their meals. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) had called for an immediate moratorium on GMO foods because doctors believe they pose a serious health risk. GM products also cross-polinate with neighboring crops, unintentionally modifying much of our food system and deeply impacting farmers. Unlike pharmaceuticals, GM crops cannot simply be removed from the system, the continued cultivation of GM crops is altering beyond viability the very foundation of our health and society: our food.

Unfortunately, American consumers and farmers continue to be denied the simple, inalienable right to choose what we produce and what we eat because labeling of GM foods is not currently required. In fact, in the US, foods may legally contain up to 10% GMO material and still be considered organic (in the EU, it's 0.9%). In three separate federal cases, US courts ruled that the USDA, specifically the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, violated the National Environmental Policy act by not providing and Environmental Impact Study on the impact to an ecosystem or farmers due to cross contamination. The USDA has admitted that they do not have policy or screening measure to identify, or weed out, a shipment of unapproved GMOs unknown to the regulatory system.

Citizens for a GMO Free World are at the forefront of activism towards the labeling of GMOs and removing GMOs from our food sources. This summer, they reached out to First Lady, Michelle Obama, sending a letter to request her assistance and created a petition to place an immediate moratorium on all GM crops, among other requests.

Citizens for a GMO Free World, you've taken on Goliath and we commend and support you! Keep up the fabulous work!

To learn more about GMOs please click here.

Keep it Fresh!

~ Terra