Health Affixed

Health Is Limitless

Seasoning the Meat

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Bland meat is no bueno. Whether it’s experimenting with salts like Himalayan Salt, peppers like Garlic Pepper, or cultural seasonings like Caribbean seasonings, using seasonings will only enhance the natural flavors of the meat. A good marinade is also another option.

According to Spices Inc., savory herbs and spices that have strong flavors of their own pair well with beef. As for poultry, you can choose your seasoning based on the desired flavor for the rest of the meal because poultry pairs well with a variety of seasonings like curry, mint, and tarragon.

It is also important to allow the flavors of the meat and seasonings to meld before cooking the meat. The time needed will depend upon the amount of meat and your time constraints. Aim for 45-60 minutes at room temperature, but, if you’re short on time, 20-30 minutes at room temperature will allow the seasonings to soak a little deeper into the meat than cooking it right away.

Bottom line: there are a ton of seasonings that you can use to enhance the flavor of your meats. Your taste buds will thank you for the additional flavor.

Never Again: Organic Blueberries

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This is one organic item that I can no longer enjoy; blame it on the trauma from seeing maggots in my blueberries, not the alcohol.

Apparently, when you purchase organic blueberries, you run the risk of getting a batch infected with maggots. These maggots, by all accounts, are harmless if accidentally consumed. However, just seeing them in your blueberry can be a traumatic experience.

When it comes to blueberries, a little bit of pesticide may actually go a long way. The female blueberry fruit fly lays her egg under the skin of the blueberry. The eggs hatch in the blueberry and the maggot/larva emerges. The maggot feeds on the pulp inside of the blueberry. The infested berries are packaged and sold to organic vendors. The vendors sell to consumers and the consumer, well, consumes the infested berries.

If you have never had an issue with blueberry maggots, then there is no need to give up your organic berries; instead, be aware that maggots in organic blueberries is a real possibility and stay alert while consuming your organic blueberries.

GMO Labeling

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When you read the back of a candy bar, does it say: “partially produced with genetic engineering?” If so, do you care?

Well, this GMO labeling was a big deal in at least one state: Vermont. Vermont passed laws to make GMO labeling mandatory where crop modification techniques were used in the creation of a food product. GMO technically means genetically modified organisms. Specifically, it’s altering the genetic makeup of a living thing to make it different than it is naturally.

Apparently, selective breeding is one type of genetic modification that humans have been using for a very long time. In the selective breeding process, foreign genetic material is not added; instead, certain genetic material is separated or concentrated and/or combined with other selected genetic material. Generally, selective breeding was accomplished by carefully breeding parents that show the desired characteristics. For example, via natural mutation, a seedless grape was born; basically, due to a genetic defect, the seeds in the grape did not harden so the grape was essentially seedless. Our ancestors took the seedless grape and cross bred it with other grapes to create more seedless grapes. Thus, today, we have all types of seedless grapes which are the by-product of selective breeding.

Another type of genetic modification is genetic engineering which is mentioned on most mainstream candy bars and food items. Genetic engineering is the splicing, dicing, adding, and manipulating of genes to create a desired by-product. It is much faster than the cross breeding method used for many years by our ancestors. You basically remove a desired gene from plant one and add it to plant two so that plant two will have the desired gene found in plant one. It definitely seems to be a lot more unnatural than the selective breeding method; the genetic engineering process may create a risk of potential unforeseeable side effects. Yet, it is difficult to know if these side effects will be harmful, helpful, both, or wholly dependent upon the consumer.

Bottom line: knowing that genetic engineering was used to create the food item allows you to choose whether to eat or skip the item, and choice is the basis of free will. GMO labeling gives you that choice.

If you don’t care, then you don’t have to read the label. However, for those of us who want to know these things, I applaud Vermont for its laws mandating the label, and I hope that other states follow suit.