Tuesday, April 21, 2009

What is Organic Coffee and how is it Grown

Organic is a new word used in the context of coffee, tea, cocoa and other food materials in recent times around local shops and super markets. Every year the word is being used by buying public more than the previous year and its use is growing year after year resulting in higher sale proportion of tea or coffee marked as 100% organically grown.

What is organically grown?

To simply put it, organic farming methods leave least or no harmful impact on the surrounding environment. Organic agricultural production systems are mostly traditional methods evolved through learning from nature. In the organic farming methods no synthetic chemical fertilizer or pesticide is used. So that organic production means natural, pure and healthy.

How coffee grows in nature

The coffee plant does not need much direct sun light and so it grows under the shade of large trees. The ground is never sprayed with any chemical insecticide or fertilizer and so the ground water remains pure and uncontaminated. From the canopy of trees leaves fall steadily and the ground is covered by fallen leaves layer on layer. The layers of fallen leaves work as a blanket and protect the moisture of the ground. The moisture in turn help the process of compost to turn the bottom layers of leaves into natural manure to nourish the land.

The thick foliage of shade trees over the coffee bushes house many varieties of birds and also attracts the migratory birds. The birds live on small insects and pests. So they work as natural pest controllers and keep the coffee plants healthy.

The coffee that grows in the shade of other local trees become original and pure in taste and flavor Organic Coffee.

The proposed plantation site is selected carefully. And if the site was being used to grow some other crop using chemical fertilizer or chemical insecticides, then a minimum period of three years are given as conversion years for the proposed site to get over the effects of the harmful chemicals.

After the conversion years coffee bushes are planted along with local shade trees. Care is given equally to the coffee bushes and shade trees and effort is put in to leave bird population to grow undisturbed.

The fallen leaves are left undisturbed to convert into manure to nourish the land and keep it fertile. The bird population effectively controls the pests and harmful insect and protects the coffee bushes. And finally for decaffeinating, approved processes are employed including the Swiss Water process. The coffee thus produced is organic coffee.

Organic vs. commercial production

Organic production methods along with producing coffee intend to protect environment. In this process of growing coffee, more and more trees are grown due to that local biodiversity is achieved. In this method, soil fertility and nutrients are sustained. No chemical pollution is created to harm the human health.

In contrast in commercial profit oriented method of growing coffee, the trees are felled and the cumulative effect is deforestation. Deforestation leads to soil erosion and severe depletion. The commercial grower cuts trees to allow direct sun light which increases production. As there are no birds to control pests and due to the absence of trees and its natural manure, farmers are forced to use chemical fertilizers and pesticides severely harming the environment.

Organic coffee - lifeline of future

Organic production process is eco friendly and helps to repair the environment spoilt by the greedy profit oriented approach of commercial growers of coffee through growing more and more shade trees.

Protecting environment locally helps to enhance the eco system. Rejuvenation and eco system alone can help the planet from disaster and help to sustain life on this planet.

Organic coffee is our responsibility, almost a human duty and life line to healthy future of mankind.


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Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Stop Gaining Fat by Zero Carb Cravings

Do you ever find that you're feeling really hungry and craving sugary food? If there's anything sweet in sight, you just can't control yourself. That piece of cake just looks so good. It's because of feelings like these that some people think that carbohydrates aren't good for them. They think that the key to losing weight is to avoid carbs. But actually, Americans have gotten fatter since low carb diets came on the scene. Today, over 60% of Americans are overweight or obese.

If you find yourself craving carbs it doesn't mean that carbs are bad for you. Cravings are our body's way of telling us that it's missing something. In Americans, the cravings are often associated with one of two things: the American custom of eating three meals a day, or low calorie diets.

If you eat three large meals a day, you're probably eating more at each meal than your body can handle. Even if you're eating nutritious foods like fresh fruit and vegetables, cereals or lean meat, if you give your body more calories than it can use at the time they will be stored as fat.

When you eat, your body releases insulin to process the sugars in your bloodstream. Any sugar that isn't required at the time is stored in your fat cells. Once the insulin is released, it keeps on doing its job until all the sugar has been processed. At this stage, the levels of both sugar and insulin in your blood will be very low. If this happens, you can be left feeling tired and irritable. This is why, if you have a large lunch and then don't have another meal until that night, you start feeling hungry around mid-afternoon.

This mid-afternoon hunger and tiredness is your body telling you that it needs more fuel to keep it functioning. Remember, there's no sugar in your bloodstream at this stage because the insulin has already processed it all and sent it to your fat cells. So you start to crave foods with lots of sugar because this is what your body desperately needs. If you give in to your cravings, your body then releases lots of insulin again to process the sugars and the cycle of highs and lows of blood sugar continues.

Maybe you managed not to give in to your cravings and didn't have anything to eat between lunch and dinner. Your body still needed energy so where did it come from? If there's no other source, your body will convert muscle tissue to sugar to use as energy. The end result of this is that your metabolism will become slower. Your body will become accustomed to burning fewer calories and you will build up more fat. This is what happens if you are on a low calorie diet.

So back to the two reasons you crave carbs that were mentioned earlier. If you're eating just three meals a day you are constantly putting your body through a series of sugar and insulin peaks and troughs and not providing it with a constant supply of fuel to convert to energy. And if you're on a low calorie diet, you're forcing it to find fuel from your muscles and slowing your metabolism.

So what's the solution? If you eat more regularly and have five small, nutritious meals throughout the day, you will keep up the fuel supply to your body. You won't go through periods of hypoglycaemia (which is when you have used all the sugar in your bloodstream) and you won't need to draw on your muscles to provide the sugar you need. Once you get into the habit of eating this way, you'll find that your cravings for carbs are a thing of the past.


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Monday, April 13, 2009

What is Organic Farming and is it Important

Organic farming is a broad concept with extreme application. It is well appreciated on a large scale by the people as now with the help of it they can easily grow their own food. If you have a little bit of free time with you then you need not to face any kind of problem. You can prepare and serve good quality delicious food by doing organic farming at your home.

It is not true that organic farming is practiced at a small scale only. By having a trip of farming sector you can easily understand how much vast this sector actually is. This is not the case some time before. Few years back it was not a highly thriving and demanding sector but now the case has totally changed. It is now not limited to a small scale industry as day by day more corporate sectors are taking interest in this field. Large corporate farming is taking keen interest in the concept of organic farming. Continuous research is going on to find out the way by which huge fields of a single crop can be grown. No one can deny the fact that in the process of organic farming, pests are believed to be the major threat. Due to harmful impact on the biodiversity unnatural pesticides are not much preferred to use.

If you are going for the natural pesticides for controlling the pests then it is certainly an eco friendly approach but believed to be much expensive in contrast to unnatural ones. Some time before, due to expensive nature they were not much preferred in the process of organic farming. After the entrance of large scale industries with huge budget this can be achieved now very easily. Natural pesticides can be a good option when it is about the large scale organic farming but if you are going for it at your home or at a small scale in a separate piece of land then it is advisable to look for any other good option. This is because like other kinds of farming organic farming also requires the process of sowing, cultivating and harvesting. If you do not have proper arrangement of water for the purpose of irrigation then you require depending largely on the rain water. If you are concluding the process of organic farming at your home then irrigation is not a big issue but even at a small scale proper arrangement of water is very essential. If you do not have a huge budget with you then it can be a difficult work for you. You require investing a good amount on purchase of seeds, irrigation, fertilizers, harvesting, etc.

There is much debate till now on the use of unnatural pesticides in the process of organic farming. Several environmentalists and consumer protection organization have claimed that the use of unnatural pesticides not only damage the environment but also have an adverse impact on the quality of food. For killing the insects and pests these pesticides are used but they are not considered helpful after sometime. It is so because these insects as well as the pests easily get adapted to the effects of the chemicals involved in them and so these pesticides looses their worth. Sooner or later it damages the health of the final consumer who without knowing consumes a large amount of lethal chemicals and synthesized materials along with the natural food. Thus it is injurious for the health of the human being as well.

Thus there are several ways by which you can have your favorite vegetables as well as fruits and that too with the help of inorganic as well as organic farming. As there are several pros as well as cons of both it is up to you to decide the one that is best for you. You can make use of organic farming to turn your dreams into reality and the best part is it is already benefiting millions of people so you are not at all required to worry for it as well.


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