Big Girl loves popcorn. LOVES it. She doesn’t get it very often because I have completely stopped using microwave popcorn. The reason: The chemical that coats the bags — perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) — is a likely carcinogen and will actually be phased out of all microwave popcorn bags completely by 2015. In my way of thinking if something is so dangerous that it’s being phased out, why should I take the chance of using it today, but I digress as usual. (You can read more about PFOA here.) My other alternative — making stovetop popcorn — didn’t work. It was sort of a pain. Popcorn made in a regular pot, in my opinion, always came out chewy and gross. Too much steam, I think.

Anyway, this holiday season I went in search of a popcorn machine with a few criteria:

• It had to be plastic-free
• It had to be simple to use and clean
• It had to be compact so it could be stowed away in my regular pots and pans drawer
• It had to be made anywhere EXCEPT China

I found what I was looking for with the Whirley-Pop Stovetop Popcorn Popper. The unit comes in two pieces: an aluminum pot and a vented lid that has a stirring mechanism. The mechanism is connected to what looks like an upside down T shaped wire that extends from one side of the pot to the other. When you turn the crank, the wire spins, moving the popcorn so it doesn’t burn.

Before using it the first time, the instructions said to season the pot by heating a tablespoon of oil, letting it cool, and wiping it out. When it was time to actually pop popcorn, we followed the directions, adding one to three tablespoons (we added two) in addition to 1/2 cup of popcorn. The process was extremely easy and fun. We heated the pot on medium-high using an electric stove. (FYI: The directions say it works equally as well on a gas range.) As soon as we placed the pot on the stove, we started turning the handle. Soon after, the popcorn started popping. The entire process was done within three minutes — it was actually faster than using microwave popcorn, I think!

When the popcorn was done, we emptied it by lifting up what I call the pour flap and spilling it into a bowl. I was pleasantly surprised to see that every kernel popped, and none of the popcorn was burned. And how did it taste? The steam vents at the top of the lid let just enough steam out and kept just enough in so the popcorn was light, fluffy, and extremely tasty. (Note: We used Trader Joe’s Organic Popcorn kernels.)

Cleanup was a snap. Once the pot cooled down, I took a paper towel and wiped the pot as well as the lid and stirring mechanism. The manufacturer recommends wiping it out either every time or every four or five uses. You can also clean it with warm, soapy water, but the paper towel seemed to work fine for us.

My one complaint is that there’s no way to melt butter other than using the microwave or a separate pot on the stove. (And keep in mind that the manufacturer specifically notes that you should not use butter to pop corn since it can discolor the pot.) Butter aside, I would highly recommend the Whirley-Pop unit to anyone who is a popcorn fanatic or just likes making popcorn more than once or twice a year.

• About 10 percent of the juices that CR sampled (from five brands) showed arsenic levels that “exceeded federal drinking-water standards. Most of that arsenic was inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen.”
• 25 percent of samples had lead levels “higher than the FDA’s bottled-water limit of 5 ppb. As with arsenic, no federal limit exists for lead in juice.”
• We’re getting a large portion of our arsenic exposure from apple and grape juice. CR called the juices, “a significant source of dietary exposure to arsenic,” according to its analysis of federal health data from 2003 through 2008.
• Kids are drinking a heck of a lot of juice. According to a CR parents poll, 25 percent of kids under five drink more juice than their pediatricians recommend.

Consumer Reports says the source of the arsenic and lead is contaminated apple orchards. Soil is contaminated due to a number of reasons, For example, arsenic-based pesticides that were used in the past are still hanging around. Plus, there’s plenty of arsenic and lead in the environment from things like the production of pressure-treated wood.  Even more significant, I think, (and something the CR article points out, too) is the fact that much of our apple juice is made from concentrate that comes from China, a country that still uses arsenic-based pesticides.

I have always had a few rules about juice. First, anything my kids drank had to be 100 percent juice — no high fructose, sugar-added junk for us. Second, it had to be organic. Finally, juice was an occasional thing. We drink it sparingly at playdates, at mommy-and-me classes, and always watered it down in a 2-to-1 ratio of water to juice.

These rules, I assumed, would keep my girls healthier. We would avoid pesticides and reduce our risk of obesity. After all, juice is way better than the other options out there — aside from water, of course. Two separate 2010 studies out of Louisiana State University Agricultural Center and Baylor College of Medicine seemed to support my theory.

One study found that children between the ages of two and five who drank 100 percent fruit juice had “significantly” higher daily intakes of vitamin C, potassium, and magnesium and “significantly lower intakes of added sugars compared to non-fruit juice consumers.” Juice drinkers, for some reason, also ate more whole fruits and whole grains. The other study — of children ages six to 12 — had similar results. Kids who drank juice took in more key nutrients and ate more dietary fiber, according to the study. In addition, “overall diet quality, as assessed by the Healthy Eating Index — a measure that evaluates conformance to federal dietary guidance — was higher in all fruit juice consumers assessed.”

Great. Juice is good for adults, too, as studies have found that it can reduce the risk of some cancers and is beneficial to cardiovascular health. Except, of course, when the juice contains carcinogens. So what’s a parent to do? I plan on sticking to water or orange juice for a while, or limiting my purchases to apple and grape juices that are organic and clearly marked, “Made in the U.S.A.” How about you?

My reasons are both health- and conscience-related. On the health side of things, organic turkeys are free of antibiotics and growth hormones that are commonly found in conventional turkey. (Check out this great blog on the subject from Green Talk.) As for the whole doing-the-right-thing thing, well, I think it would probably be much smarter and easier to let one of the experts I’ve interviewed do the talking instead. Here is the interview I did with Sharanya Krishna Prasad, U.S. Programs Officer with the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) about the very topic:

KB: Why is organic turkey so expensive?

Krishna Prasad: Organic turkey is currently more expensive for various reasons. Intensive agriculture is highly subsidized by the U.S. government, and the price of products from intensively raised animals does not consider the true environmental, human health and animal welfare costs associated with producing and consuming factory farmed meat. As the demand for more humane meats increases, and when industry standards for all animal-derived products are raised, the cost of these products will become more competitive.

KB: There are so many different options out there. If I can’t afford organic, what are some of the more acceptable labels I should be looking for?

Krishna Prasad: When shopping for a turkey, look for labels such as “Pasture Raised,” “USDA Organic,” “American Humane Certified,” “Animal Welfare Approved,” or “Certified Humane.” These labels mean animals should have been raised under more humane standard where they were given access to sunlight and fresh air and had freedom of movement. They were also spared non-therapeutic antibiotics and growth-promoting hormones. Avoid misleading labels like “Natural” or “Naturally Raised.” While “Naturally Raised” ensures animals were not given antibiotics or hormones, this label does not mean the animals have freedom, fresh air or sunlight. The term “Natural” has no relevance to animal welfare and merely indicates that the product doesn’t have artificial additives.

KB: Is it worth buying organic over pasture-raised or the other non-organic labels you just mentioned?

Krishna Prasad: WSPA has developed an easy-to-use humane classification system where labeling claims have been designated as ‘Good’, ‘Better’, or ‘Best’ depending on the level of animal welfare required by the claim standard. Under this classification system, both USDA organic and pasture-raised fall under the same category — ‘Better.’

For turkeys, the best labels to look for are Animal Welfare Approved, American Humane Certified, and Certified Humane. If products with these labels are unavailable, we recommend choosing from one of the ‘Better’ or ‘Good’ category labels such as USDA organic, pasture-raised, or free range. If a turkey doesn’t have one of these labels, it was raised without the consideration of animal welfare, and buyers may be paying a premium for products that likely don’t meet their expectations in terms of the impacts on animals.

KB: How can I get my store to carry the “Better” or “Good” categories of turkey?

Krishna Prasad: Consumers should request humane food products from their retailers by speaking with the purchasing manager of the stores they frequently shop at. Studies have shown that it only takes a few customers to request a product before a store will carry it. In addition, WSPA’s website www.EatHumane.org has a postcard that consumers can print and drop off at the comments and suggestions box at their store to request more humane products.

KB: Does organic turkey taste different than the Butterball everyone might be used to?

Krishna Prasad: While some studies have been conducted on the taste of meat from organically-raised turkeys versus meat from intensively raised animals, to my knowledge they have not been conclusive. WSPA has noticed a trend among gourmet restaurants featuring more locally sourced, humanely-raised products on their menus. Chefs are probably taking in to account both the better care and fewer resources it takes to raise animals humanely. But I am sure they are considering the good taste as well. Today most food offered for sale in major U.S. supermarkets is from animals raised under intensive confinement on large factory style farms. These animals are typically denied fresh air and sunlight, and given very limited freedom to move and express their natural behaviors. Polls have shown that a large majority of Americans think the way farm animals are raised is important to them. Consumers who choose humane turkeys can be assured that the animals were given more natural living conditions and are typically given access to fresh air and sunlight, and freedom to move and express their natural behaviors.

So there you have it. Will this affect the way you shop for meat this holiday season? Was I insane for spending so much on a turkey that was gone in less than 20 minutes? I’d love to hear your feedback.

My husband's cast iron skillet: The grosser it looks, the better it is to cook on!

First, a little background. You and I call it Teflon, but what we’re really talking about is perfluorooctanoic acid (or PFOA), which is what manufacturers use to make all your brownie pans, frying pans, and turkey roasters non-stick. You can also find the chemical, which is sometimes referred to as C8, inside of packaged foods containers such as microwave popcorn bags and in many other consumer products. (The Environmental Protection Agency has a page dedicated to PFOA that’s got a lot more information. It’s certainly worth a read. You can find it here.)

Here are the problems that the EPA had with PFOA, taken directly from its site:

• PFOA is very persistent in the environment; it doesn’t break down and go away.
• It is found everywhere. You can see very low levels both in the environment and in the blood of the general U.S. population
• It sticks around inside of us for very long time, too. Once you ingest it or breathe it in, it’s in there.
• It has been found to cause “developmental and other adverse effects in laboratory animals.” (And in humans, too!)

If you’re like me, the last item in the list might be the one that’s giving you pause. What kind of adverse effects, you might want to know. Well, according to research studies PFOA can be linked to:

• Lower birth rate and size: Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that babies with higher concentrations of the chemical had smaller heads and lower body weights. Read the study here.
• Infertility: Women with higher levels of PFOA took longer to get pregnant, according to a study out of the UCLA School of Public Health.
• Elevated cholesterol: Kids with higher levels of PFOA have higher cholesterol levels, according to a study in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
• Thyroid disease: A “study revealed that people with higher concentrations of PFOA in their blood have higher rates of thyroid disease. The researchers analyzed samples from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationally representative National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES),” according to researchers.
• ADHD: In this study, Boston University School of Public Health researchers found “increased odds of ADHD in children with higher serum PFC levels.” (PFOA is one of the PFCs they tracked.)

There have also been studies linking PFOA to cancer, although most of the research has been on the effects of PFOA released into the environment as a byproduct of manufacturing. No matter, the research is so compelling that, way back in 2006, the EPA asked manufacturers to phase out the chemical. Eight large non-stick manufacturers complied. The voluntary ban will be achieved by 2015, but that doesn’t do anything for all the folks who have non-stick cookware in their homes already unless they proactively get rid of everything non-stick they own.

That’s exactly what we did. Despite the fact that my husband loved his non-stick griddle, we tossed it along with four frying pans, a brownie pan, cake pans, cookie sheets, and a roasting pan. We actually threw it in the recycling bin rather than donating it to make sure it wasn’t going to be around to potentially make someone else sick. Today, we use either cast iron or stainless steel when we cook, bake, or fry, and I didn’t spend a fortune to make this happen.

My husband, for instance, got a $30 cast iron griddle to replace his beloved non-stick one. (No, he did not like it in the beginning, but has grown to love it.) I bought it from my local Target, and was thrilled to discover it was actually made in the United States, which is a rarity these days. Target also carries a number of other cast iron Lodge products including loaf pans, skittles, and fryers. (Note: I have nothing to do with Target or Lodge and am not being paid to say that. I just like the products.) I picked up some really inexpensive Pyrex brownie and cake pans at the Pyrex outlet. I got my stainless stuff as hand-me-downs, and was actually pleased to find that I had a plain stainless cookie sheet already sitting in my cabinet as well as a nice stainless frying pan.

From a cooking perspective, I love the fact that the glass and stainless stuff cleans up really easily. It’s also adding some extra flavor to my baking since I am forced to grease and flour my cake pans and butter up the brownie pan. The cast iron griddle, which is fully seasoned now, gives off a warm, homey smell when things are cooking on it. Plus, I love the extra boost of iron the entire family gets with our pancakes and eggs. (The American Dietetic Association confirms that cooking foods in or on cast iron increases the amount of iron in foods.)

Of course, most people aren’t going to be able to toss all their non-stick cookware into the garbage like I did, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do something. I challenge everyone to replace one pan — the one you use the most — by the end of the year since it can make a huge difference in your PFOA exposure. Ready to give it a shot?

This post is how I am participating in this week’s Real Food Wednesdays and Fight Back Fridays, two awesome blog carnivals dedicated to promoting the use and consumption of — what else? — real food.

My beautiful neti sitting in my bathroom.

Little Girl came home on Monday with her first preschool cold. No sniffles, just a cough. She’s actually really good about covering her mouth with her elbow, but she’s also only three. Sometimes she coughs on Mommy.

Yesterday I started getting that tell-tale burning in my sinuses as well as a pain behind my left eye that always leads to a cold. I do not have time for a cold. I have dinner out tonight with friends and a play with the girls tomorrow and a six-page white paper to write. I do not have time to be sick. I went into preventative action.

My first order of business: Using my neti pot. Don’t know what a neti is? Check out this post — one of the first I ever wrote — about the proven scientific benefits of using a neti pot, which is essentially a little teapot that you use to pour water through one nostril so it can come out the other. Since I first wrote that post, there’s been more research data to support the use of neti pots including this one proving its effectiveness for children from the University of Kansas School of Medicine and this one from the University of Padova in Padova, Italy. The Italian study actually that found that using a neti eliminated the bacteria staphylococcus aureus (better known as staph) in study subjects’ noses. Okay, so I used it and, I will not lie, because I wasn’t feeling good it was not a pleasant wash. It burned.

I also made sure I ate lots of cold-fighting foods yesterday. I had two bowls of soup, which has been found to have cold-fighting properties. I went with a tomato-based chili for lunch. (Tomatoes are high in vitamin C.) I had chicken soup for dinner. I also loaded up on garlic, adding two cloves to the chili I made.

This morning I feel better. It’s amazing, really. Was it the neti? Was it the food? Was it a combination of the two? I’m not sure, but I’m hoping that it sticks. Just to be on the safe side I am going to neti again this morning. It can’t hurt, right?

What’s your favorite cold-fighting cure? Have you ever used a neti pot? Even more important: Do you have a good chili recipe? Mine came out blech but I ate it because I couldn’t stand the thought of throwing out all that expensive organic chicken and beans. By the way, this post is how I am participating in this week’s Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday, two awesome blog carnivals dedicated to promoting the use and consumption of — what else? — real food.

Thanks to the Candy Professor for letting me use this photo, which shows the with-artificial-colors, without-artificial-colors difference.

A fellow Twitter pal clued me in that the New England Confectionery Company, the company behind NECCO Wafers, decided to go back to its old recipe — and all the artificial colors that used to be in it. I confirmed the news by reading this piece, Customer Outrage Forces Necco To Put Artificial Ingredients Back Into Wafers on NPR’s blog, although this was announced back in May at the Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago, according to Samira Kawash, (AKA the Candy Professor). She wrote a blog about it in the spring.

In a nutshell: The company in 2009 made the switch from using artificial colors and flavors to natural ones. From the NPR blog:

“Instead of artificial dyes and colorings, the revamped Necco wafer used natural colorings made from turmeric , red beets, purple cabbage, and cocoa powder. The company also replaced the artificial flavors in some of the wafers with natural flavors.”

People hated it, according to company officials, and complained. Meanwhile, sales dropped by 35 percent, according to reports, so the company switched back to the artificial stuff.

The Candy Professor was nice enough to provide an ingredients list for both the old and new version:

All natural: Sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, coco power, natural flavors, vegetable gums, natural colors (red beet, purple cabbage, turmeric, caramel color, paprika)

Original (aka chemically one): Same as above with citric acid and artificial flavors, Yellows 5 & 6, Blue 1, Red 3, Red 40

I can remember eating NECCO wafers as a child, but I really wonder if they contained artificial colors. I mean, they’ve been around since 1847. You’re not going to tell me that artificial colors were around back then. I would personally like to do my own taste test. I wonder if there are any of the “natural” version left on store shelves?

In the meantime, I’m really sad that the company made the switch, especially since I suspect that the drop in sales had very little to do with the new colors. (As you can see from the above photo: the color difference is negligible, in my opinion.) I’d say it has to do more with choice, since even the “natural” version of the wafers is little more than formed sugar. With so many other yummy candy varieties on the market, maybe NECCO Wafers, a throwback to the nineteenth century after all, just doesn’t appeal to today’s consumers. I guess we’ll just have to see how the market shakes out.

• as much Vitamin C as cup of blueberries
• as much iron as a cup of spinach
• as much calcium and Vitamin D as a glass of milk
• as much Vitamin A as an 8 ounce glass of tomato juice
• as much fiber as a bowl of oatmeal
• as much Vitamin E as two glasses of carrot juice
• as much Vitamin B-12 as a cup of cottage cheese and fruit

Wow, I thought, a cookie that is actually healthy is probably something I would want to buy! I had to see the list of ingredients, though, since it sounded too good to be true. Unfortunately, it was. Every one of the four varieties (Chocolate, Crispy, Soft & Chewy, and Vanilla) contains artificial flavors, hydrogenated oils, and chemicals like monocalcium phosphate, monoglycerides, and polydextrose. (Polydextrose, according to Wikipedia, is “an indigestable synthetic polymer of glucose.” Ugh.) The Soft & Chewy version lists high fructose corn syrup as its third ingredient. Have a look at the ingredients yourself.

The Twitter party, which was HUGE and well-attended, was a busy one, but the conversation didn’t reflect the fact that these cookies are basically plain old cookies that contain some not-so-great ingredients — with some added vitamins thrown in. Instead, the hosts played up a health and nutrition angle. Most of the questions, in fact, were directly related to nutrition such as: What is your best tip for ensuring your child has a nutrition-rich diet? Do you worry your athlete is not getting enough vitamins and minerals in their diet? How do you celebrate the end of a (sports) season? What does your athlete eat after a game? What type of food would you take to your child’s game or a team party? Have you ever struggled with being asked to be the Team Snack Mom?

Attendee comments during the two-hour Twitter party were all over the place, but most were very enthusiastic. One attendee/host suggested dunking WhoNus into milk to get a “double” vitamin boost. (“When you dunk a Whonu in milk its like getting double the vitimans.”) Another said she likes crumpling up the cookies into Greek yogurt. Yet another said how happy she was that cookies were finally a healthy food. Exact words: “It is nice they are nutritious.” Sigh.

My take away from this is how smart the folks at WhoNu’s parent company Suncore Products are. They are marketing these cookies as part of a healthy, active lifestyle. Moms, who may not have the time or gumption to look at the ingredients, are falling for the hype hook, line, and sinker. And that’s one of the biggest problem I have with these cookies: Parents are being lulled into thinking they are doing something good for their kids when in reality they are simply giving them a highly processed food that just happens to have vitamins in it. Oh, and the fact that all those parents are probably playing up the vitamin angle when giving them to their kids, who will then learn to equate cookies with healthy food. I’d have fewer problems with them if Suncore Products removed all the artificial gunk and high fructose corn syrup. How about you?

This post is how I am participating in this week’s Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday, two awesome blog carnivals dedicated to promoting the use and consumption of — what else? — real food. BTW: If you’re looking for a truly “healthy” cookie, why not bake some yourself? There are some great recipes out there. Try this one or this one or this one.

Kettle Cuisine soups. I love soup. Love it. It’s quick, filling, and usually chock-full of vitamins and healthy stuff. Except for one thing: It usually comes in a can. Cans usually have BPA, which in my book negates all the good stuff, which is why soup, in recent years, has become something I avoid. Yes, it’s true homemade soup is BPA-free, but I can’t always make my own. (Although I  did make my own lentil soup during the throws of my severe anemia. I didn’t freeze it as my mother told me I should, so I threw a bunch of it out. But I digress…) A few weeks ago, a press contact at Kettle Cuisine reached out, sending me a few coupons to try the stuff for free. I decided to give it a try since the company uses real food ingredients — no hydrogenated this or high fructose that. The soups come frozen in BPA-free plastic containers; It’s #1 PETE, but I still took the soup out of the container and put it into a glass bowl to heat it in the microwave. After a few minutes it was ready. Oh. My. Goodness. I had Tomato Soup with Garden Vegetables (110 calories) on Wednesday and Angus Beef Steak Chili with Beans (250 calories) last night. Both tasted like my mom made them — lots of vegetables, meat, and broth. A success. Can’t wait to try the other varieties.

Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident for Wii. I spent a lot of time lying on my back over the past few months. My poor kids had to sort of hover close by so I could watch them. We played Wii a lot and this game — a type of I Spy — was one of their favorites, and something I could actually play with them. The best part of this game is that the entire family could participate. Big Girl did the navigation while Little Girl and I (and sometimes my husband) searched for the hidden items on the screen. It’s a lot of fun, and it doesn’t get old.

MindWare Q-bitz. Another fun game for the entire family. Each person gets their own square frame along with 16 multi-patterned dice. The goal: Try and duplicate the pattern on a card before someone else does. We gave Little Girl a head start so even she could play!

The iPad 2. I was never an Apple fan. I prefer PCs, actually, but I cannot explain HOW much I love my iPad. I love the Optimum Online iPad app that lets me pull up live television from every room in my house. I love Fruit Ninja, which is a super-fun game that everyone can play alone and against each other. I love having an always-on Web browser sitting next to me while I watch TV. I just love it. Thank you, Steve Jobs, for creating a device that anticipates and provides for everything I need and want to do.

Clif Kid Z-Bars (in either chocolate brownie or chocolate chip flavors). What do you do when your hemoglobin drops below ten? Eat stuff that is iron-rich. While I love Cream of Wheat, I can’t eat it more than once a day. Enter Z-Bars, which are 95 percent organic, low in calories and fat, and taste like candy. I ate one every day both for the taste and for the hefty dose of vitamins and minerals.

Citrus Lane gift boxes. I’m finally able to talk about baby stuff without crying, so I figured I’d pass along this great idea. This company lets people buy monthly giftbox subscriptions for new parents, filling the boxes with healthy and natural items that are age-appropriate for Baby. For example, Month One’s box contains an Aden + Anais Burpy bib, a bottle of Mommy’s Bliss Gripe water, a Sage Creek Organics washcloth, a package of Weleda Calendula Diaper Care, and a Cotton People Organic baby doll. Very cool, very fun. A nice way to give all throughout the year, especially since you can start the subscription any time between month one and month 18.

That’s it for now. Big weekend coming up. Big Girl turns eight. My MiL goes home to Florida. The kids have an extended weekend. Hope everyone has a good one.

The outline of my Grandma's personal garden. The compost heap was at the lowest point of the photo.

Growing up, I lived in a house with a huge (for Long Island) backyard. It was a stretched pentagon-shaped piece of property 60 feet across in the front but about 300 feet across in the back. It went back at its deepest 250 feet deep, and the house wasn’t big so there was a wide expanse to run and play and work in. Since there was so much room every spring my Italian grandma would come and plant three vegetable gardens along the back fence, which abutted a school yard. We’ have tomatoes, watermelon, lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, green peppers, eggplant, and herbs, among other items. She also planted a fourth garden along the common side fence that we shared with a neighbor — a perfect place to grow green beans, cucumbers, and other climbing plants.  Grandma was blessed with a proverbial green thumb. My father had one, too, despite the fact that he grew up in a Manhattan apartment building. They gardened together for years before he died.

While my father had good instincts, it was my Grandma who taught him that the best fertilizer is the natural stuff. During the planting phase he’d watch my grandmother drop egg shells, veggie scraps, and manure into the dug-out holes, lovingly ensconcing in the little seedling plants and covering them with what was essentially garbage. I don’t know if my grandmother had anything to do with it, but at some point he started making a huge compost pile in the backyard and it became the primary way to feed our garden. All the yard and grass clippings went there, of course, but so did coffee grinds and eggshells and apple peelings. Dry leaves were added in the fall. In the spring they would fill up a wheel barrow and dump piles of compost on top of the garden, covering up the withered vines and plants from the previous year. (No reason to pull them, after all, since the dry, brown vines and mushed tomatoes and eggplants would simply have gone into the compost bin anyway.)

Between April and April, I can remember him — every so often — turning over the pile with a pitchfork. What’s most vivid, though, is the memories of its smell and heat. In the spring, the pile would steam as he uncovered the decomposing bottom layers. In the summer, if you took a moment, you could smell the different components rising up. It was a good smell. I think I may have even sat in that heap once or twice. It was fairly close to our swingset, so it was often incorporated into our play — sometimes it was a home for ghosts; sometimes goblins lived in it.The smell and the process bring back wonderful memories of people who have been gone for years.

Anyway, tonight as I took a bowl of vegetable scraps out to my own pristine, antiseptic, black plastic compost bin I remembered the one from my childhood, and connected the two. I don’t know why it took me so long to do so. Here I thought I was doing something so modern and Earth-friendly, but in reality I was just following in my father’s footsteps. He and my grandmother were eco-friendly before I EVER was.

Feeling nostalgic, I came inside and told Big Girl about my childhood compost bin. (She loves hearing about when Mommy was a little girl.) I also made her a promise: Next year, we’re going to start a garden. After all, what’s the point of composting if you don’t use it for what it’s intended for: creating life.

Grapes make an excellent snack -- as long as you make the choice.

It costs more to eat well, according to a research study out of the University of Washington.

Hoping to see what effect the new U.S. dietary guidelines would have on a family’s pocketbook, researchers –  including Pablo Monsivais, acting assistant professor at the University of Washington and part of the Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network — evaluated hot much extra it would take to meet the new guidelines. (A quick aside: Prof. Monsaivais had already concluded back in 2009 that a better diet, which means a diet that’s richer in nutrients than calories, is more costly, and mostly consumed by those who are better educated.)

Research, according to newspaper and online reports, found that “eating more potassium, the most expensive of the four nutrients, can add $380 to the average person’s yearly food costs.” It also costs more to meet the fiber and Vitamin D guidelines. In addition, researchers confirmed that you can lower food cost by getting more of your calories from saturated fats and sugar.

Researchers want the U.S. government to back up the new guidelines with advice, and tell people how they can get the biggest bang for their buck. Me? I’m not so sure this would do very much. People know, for example, that bananas provide a good helping of the blood pressure-lowering, heart-helping nutrient potassium. I just don’t think it matters. Sure, they could eat a banana for a snack — bananas that cost about $.19 each or $.29 each if they are organic — but most choose not to. It’s sad, but I truly believe we as a society have been conditioned by marketers and advertisements and huge, honking supermarket end caps that a snack of say, potato chips is a much better alternative. I mean, who really thinks about potassium aside from pregnant women and mothers of small children?

I know I sound very cynical, but I have spent the better part of a week interviewing people who were morbidly obese, and I got an earful about what brought them to the brink of death. (These were really, really sick people with multiple co-morbidities like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart issues, sleep apnea.) Every one of those interviews confirmed something to me: It’s just far too easy to overeat bad food because eating bad food makes us, at least for a moment, feel good. The rush of sugar and chemicals dopes us into feeling good. The ultimate self medication. And that bad food is often the cheapest and easiest to find and get.

All of the people I interviewed are now closer to “normal” weight. (Although with two-thirds of adults and one-third of children being overweight, what’s really normal anymore?) They have made big changes in their lives. They all cut out processed carbs, chips, candy, sweets. They eat lots of lean meat, vegetables, and whole grains. They exercise. Not coincidentally, they all feel great. The co-morbidities are gone. And many of them are a little bit angry that they were duped into eating garbage to begin with.

This is not the first time I’ve written a story about weight loss. In the past, every single expert I’ve interviewed told me the same thing about weight loss: Calories in, calories out. That’s how you get slim, that’s how you stay healthy. If you eat, for instance, a Trader Joe’s chocolate biscotti (150 calories for a single small cookie) you’re probably still be hungry after you wipe the crumbs off your chin. However, if you eat a huge cup of organic red grapes (about 100 calories as well as fiber, vitamin C, iron, B-1, manganese, and calcium), you’re not as likely to be hungry. I know this firsthand. You’re also closer to your goal of eating more antioxidants like the anti-aging resveratrol.

And so we are back at the beginning. Yes, it’s cheaper and easier to eat garbage. It takes lots more time, a little more money, and a lot more effort to make good food choices. But I am convinced that the government can’t help us with this. It’s up to every person to make his or her own choices. Yes, I think it would be great if, for example, the Food Stamp program would make it more difficult to buy high calorie processed foods, and reward recipient for buying fruits and vegetables, but I don’t see that happening any time soon. How about you?