Wondering what I have to say about organic chickens? Who wouldn’t be? But first: What I Ate Wednesday!
I’ve been reading other bloggers’ What I Ate Wednesday posts for ages, but I never remembered to do one for myself! But now it’s time! For anyone who doesn’t know, WIAW was started by the author of Peas and Crayons, and has taken over the healthy living blog world!
So why have I already posted everything I ate on Wednesday, without Wednesday being over yet? Because I decided to post everything I ate on Tuesday since Wednesdays are a very busy and long day for me!
My day started with a 3 mile run and then hot yoga. In between the run and hot yoga I was starving, so I had two small figs with a bit of peanut butter to help hold me over. After yoga, I came home and made some banana oats with Chia seeds!!! I finally broke down and spent the extra money to buy chia seeds because I kept hearing wonderful things about them – and everyone was right! It added volume and some taste to my oats! Also in the mix: 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 banana, 1/2 cup almond milk and a spoonful of PB!
For lunch, I ate the lunch I had prepared on Monday for the week: Wheatberry Navy Salad. It was pretty good, although I have acid reflux and something in there definitely did not agree with me. My friend thinks it was the red onions… will be attempting to pick those out of my lunches for the rest of the week. In the afternoon, in between classes, I snacked on a peach (not pictured…) and then a mini luna bar and some carrots and cucumber slices! Fruits, veggies, grains and chocolate! Haha everything a girl needs.
For dinner, I had my adaptation to Julie’s (from Peanut Butter Fingers) Semi Homemade Meat Marinara Sauce that I also made yesterday. Served over spaghetti squash with some toast with melted cheese on the side! Very Italian… haha. Dessert was vanilla froyo with various toppings… to concerned about eating my yogurt before it melted that I forgot to take a picture! So now that you saw all my good “Wednesday” eats – it’s time for an interesting article that I came across recently that might get you wanted to buy organic!
Organic Health Benefits Confirmed By Study Of Drug Resistance In Chicken Farms
Haha the title of this article sounds like a research paper, doesn’t it? I read an article from Huffington Post (yes, that’s my main news source) regarding organic farms and their impact on health. The study, headed by Amy Sapkota of the University of Maryland (published in Environmental Health Perspectives) tested the microbes in 10 conventional chicken farms and in 10 recently organic chicken farms. To be organic, a farm is not allowed to use preventative antibiotics in animals.
The study definitively found that a considerably smaller percentage of the bacteria from the organic chicken farms had antibiotic resistance. This means that the use of antibiotics creates drug-resistant bacteria, which is not good for the animals or humans. However, the meat industry continues to dispute this kind of data.
Personally, I try and buy either free-range or organically raised meats because the thought of all those chemicals and antibiotics in my food just freaks me out! Another good reason to buy local or free-range meat is to avoid salmonella. For example, as the article noted, Cargill had to recall 36 million pounds of ground turkey because it might have been tainted with a drug-resistant strand of salmonella. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather avoid ending up with food poisoning, or worse, because of these issues. Another reason to buy local!
Do you try and eat local and organic meats? I’ve tried to – but they tend to be a lot more expensive and difficult to find!
