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Natural Awakenings Central New Jersey

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Food to Heal the Planet

Jun 30, 2021 09:30AM ● By Julie Peterson
Green and purple lettuce growing in healthy soil

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Eating healthy also means making a choice for the health of the planet. 

Organic, locavore and small-farm advocates are speaking out against the industrialized U.S. food system with its extensive use of pesticides, poor treatment of animals and lack of regenerative soil management. Organizations like the Rodale Institute, Regeneration International, Kiss the Ground and the Ecological Farming Association are working to train farmers to regenerate soils to not only restore climate stability, but also provide far healthier foods from nutrient-rich soils.

“I believe if we have a greater understanding of our local and regional food systems, we will be moving in a more sustainable, intentional and responsible direction for ourselves, our communities and the planet,” says Andrea Bemis, author of the farm-to-table cookbook Local Dirt and operator of Tumbleweed Farm with her husband Taylor in Mount Hood, Oregon. 

Local food is easier on the planet for several reasons. “Large commercial farms work the soil so intensively that they must use synthetic fertilizers to get anything to grow,” says Brock Hall, owner of Florida Fields to Forks, in Malabar, Florida. Alternatively, cover crops keep nutrients in the soil, requiring less water and naturally sequestering more carbon from the atmosphere. Shorter transit or shipping distances after picking uses less pollution-causing fuel.  

“Choosing the right food is not only important for our personal health, but also is important for our planet and for our checking account,” says T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study and The Future of Nutrition. “I have come to believe, after being in this discipline for 65-plus years, that our choice of food is the easiest and most important choice we can make to address the many existential problems that we now face.”


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Food as Medicine: The Healing Power of Nutrition

Well-being is increasingly linked by researchers to a healthy diet, motivating many people and the medical community to take seriously plant-based diets and the role of gut microoganisms. Read More » 

 

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Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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