Tag: Department Of Agriculture

The Healthy Eating Food Pyramid

In the United States, The US Department Of Agriculture has devised a Food Guide Pyramid, which serves through a guide for people to understand how to eat healthy. The Food pyramid guide features a chart filled with vertical stripes that represent the five major food groups, plus oils and fats. The color disposition for: Green vegetables, red fruits; deceitful oils and fats; Blue milk and dairy goods; Orange grains; Purple meat, fish, beans and nuts. Here are other pertinent facts about the food guide.

What The Food Pyramid Speaks Of

In 2005, the US Department of Agriculture revised the food pyramid, as they wanted to show Americans a better way of how to eat healthy. The food pyramid has other messages for all of us. Existing tells us to eat a wide change of foods, because well as eat less of some foods and more of others. In the illustrated food pyramid guide, eating a wide variety of food indicates that a balanced diet is achieved when you include all the food groups. This means that you need to have foods of every color, each occasion. In the illustrated food guide, youll detect that as the colored start to get thinner as they reach the top, this indicates that there is a difference between food groups, even if they thoroughgoing belong to a certain food group.

Food Telling Samples

The food pyramid guide offers a number of suggestions for achieving a balanced and nutritious diet. Her are some food serving suggestions.

Grains: Grains are oftentimes measured in ounces. An ounce of whole grains could be equivalent to 1 a slice of bread, half a cup of cooked cereal, half a cup of pasta and 1 cup of cold cereal. 4 to 8 year – old children require at least 4 to 5ounces of whole grains each day, hour 9 – 13 year – olds need at least 5 ounces.

Vegetables: Dark green and orange veggies are best for consumption. Vegetable servings are generally measured in cups, Children from 4 – 8 senescence old need at least one and a half cups of vegetables each day, while 9 to 13 year olds ought 2 cups of veggies each day.

Fruits: Sweet, juicy fruits should be part of the passable diet. Children from 4 – 8 year – old need at least 1 cup of fruit each day, while 9 – 13 year decrepit adolescents need to consume at least half a cup of fruit each day.

Milk And Calcium – Rich Food: Calcium is a mineral that helps strengthen bones, and prevent osteoporosis and other bone deficiencies. 4 – 8 year – old kids need at least 2 cups of milk each day, span 9 – 13 year olds extremity to have at least 3 cups of milk daily. Apart from milk, you can also substitute cheese, yogurt, calcium – fortified orange juice and others.

Milk, Beans, Fish And Nuts: An ounce reproduction of this group would be equal to 1 ounce of fish, poultry and fish, cup cooked dry beans, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon short-lived butter and half an ounce of nuts and seeds.

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The History of Organic Gardening

You could say that the history of organic gardening started centuries ago when ancient civilizations would till the soil, plant the crops and then harvest them. As the demand for such goods increased, fertilizers or pesticides were used to help grow crops but because It was only later on that people realized these were also being eaten after they were washed thus there was a campaign to go back to organic gardening.

There was renewed interest in the 1980s that people in the US began to switch back to organic gardening. The Department of Agriculture even gave the farmers incentives to this old approach and as the demand for such products grew, more and more people have shifted to this method. This has been the trend in many countries especially in Europe.

But what is organic gardening? Well, aside from no longer using fertilizers and pesticides, gardeners will have to rely on compost, crop residue, crop rotation, integrated pest management and mechanical cultivation in order to preserve soil productivity and combat pests.

Currently, such organic gardening methods are regulated by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements which helps farmers grow crops in 75 million acres of land across the globe.

Their goal can be summed up into two words and that is sustainable development so that the land that is used will be around for the next generation because there is a healthy ecosystem.

Is organic gardening effective? The answer is yes. Over a 22 year study that was released to the public in 2005, the results showed that going back to the basics produces the same amount of corn and soybean yields as conventional methods. However, it does so by consuming less energy and without any pesticide residue.

A study done by the University of Michigan shows developing countries that practice organic gardening could double or even triple their crops mainly because they do not have the financial resources to buy pesticides or fertilizer.

The nice thing about organic gardening is that farmers are not the only ones that can do it because you too can make this happen in your own backyard. You just have to learn how to till the soil and keep it in good condition, how to make your crops grow and how to fight against pests so you will be able to harvest them.

You can even turn this into a hobby and see how fun it is to make grow your own vegetables instead of buying these from the grocery. So, go online or buy a few books to learn how easy it is to do.

Remember, the key to a successful harvest regardless of what you decide to plant is all in the planning. Take into account how much you are willing to spend, your limited space and how much time and effort is in your hands.

You will also need to get the right gardening tools like gloves and a tiller to break the soil because it makes the task much easier than doing this by hand so that in a few months, you will be able to see what you planted grow.

As you can see, the history of organic gardening isnt really something new. We have been doing it for a very long time and we probably lost sight of it but we learned our mistakes and we are simply going back to the basics.

Organic Gardening Information

Organic food products are more important than they were before. This is after numerous studies have shown that inorganic farming techniques which have been used in the past are harmful to our health. To give you an idea, here is some organic gardening information that you should know.

Having healthy soil is the basic foundation of organic gardening. There are three types namely clay, sandy and silt. Each one has its own pros and cons but clay soil appears to be the best to have since it is able to retain water especially during droughts so the plants will be able to stay alive.

Also, organic gardening is a technique that does not involve the use of fertilizers or pesticides. Nature does most of the work and by following an organic pest management system you will be able to protect your crops from insects that once threatened the field.

Such a system could mean introducing certain insects to provide security to your crops. You can also use some livestock, birds and toads to do the same thing or plant some of them as they work as a natural insecticide.

To maintain the fertility of the soil, farmers and hobbyists are encouraged to rotate their crops. This simply means planting a new vegetable or fruit every few months so the nutrient levels do not change.

Organic gardening is often referred to as a holistic approach because various methods are used. Aside from crop rotation which was just mentioned, you can also make this happen with the application of compost, manure and cover cropping.

Some farmers may also use processed fertilizers that are environmental friendly such as seed meal and other mineral powders like rock phosphate and greensand that is a natural form of potash.

To create a set of standards for organic gardening, the US government designated the US Department of Agriculture to oversee things. This is similar to what the European Commission has been doing since 1991 which has proven to be very successfully as a lot of their products are imported into the States.

But the governing body for organic gardening is provided by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture or IFOAM that has been in operation since 1972.

Although organic gardening is labor intensive, it generally produces lower yields but is very effective in times of drought. This is because the crops do not require that much water to help them grow which means there is a steady supply that will be harvested.

Because fertilizers and pesticides are not used, it means fewer nitrates and there are more nutrient qualities in the soil especially the number of flavanoids which are an important antioxidant.

The demand for organic products will continue to grow in the future. This is as people become more aware of food safety issues and there is a concern for the environment.

If you do some research over the web, you will realize that there is a lot of organic gardening information out there to help you get started if you want to plant fruits or vegetables in your own garden.

Armed with the proper tools, you will be able to know how to work the soil, which plants are ideal to plant depending on your location and the season and how to take care of them until it is time for harvesting.This just goes to show that you can go a log way with some organic gardening information.