twinkies and vitamins.

My first post on the go-green blog!

I recently started the book Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger, and it's full of interesting information about the creation of processed foodstuffs. Now, we all know the importance of eating organically (rid the earth of pesticides, rid our bodies of poisons, eat healthier foods, etcetera), and here's another reason (as demonstrated by information in the book): Organic and local foods retain a much higher vitamin and mineral content than processed foods or foods that have to be stored for long periods of time -- and many processed foods have to be enriched with vitamins to replace nutrients lost during processing (enriched flour, anyone?). The manufacturing of vitamins is such an intense process that it creates heavy pollution and takes huge tolls on the environment. (Many vitamins are being produced overseas now, b/c of stricter pollution laws in the USA.)

Moral to the story? Eat organic, skip your engineered vitamins, save the environment.

Disclaimer: I'm not endorsing skipping your vitamins altogether--just be careful to determine what you're getting from other sources, and reconsider all those processed foods that had to be enriched with synthetic vitamins. Vitamins are good for you and manufactured vitamins do have important qualities to them.