Organic Food Sales Increased

Turns out instead of a slow down in organic food sales, they actually increased by 15.8 percent in 2008, according to a survey done by the Lieberman Research Group for the Organic Trade Association (OTA).

The Organic Trade Association’s executive director Christine Bushway declared, “Organic products represent value to consumers, who have shown continued resilience in seeking out these products. This marks another milestone for the organic food market.”

The survey found that organic food accounted for about 3.5 percent of US food sales last year. Not only that, but organic food sales grew at a much faster rate than general US food sales. 

The Biggest Sellers In Organic Foods

Yes, we love our fruits and vegetables!  They constitute the biggest part of organic food sales, accounting for about 37 percent.  As I mentioned in a previous post, “Food Holidays In June“, now is a great time to be getting fresh fruits and vegetables at Farmer’s Markets.  If you don’t know where to find one, you can look at the Local Harvest website to locate the nearest Farmer’s Markets, family farms and producers of organic foods.

Beverages and dairy sales are the other biggest sellers in the organic food market, at 14 percent each.  Organic beverage sales are growing the fastest, with 40% more sales in 2008 than the previous year. Organic breads and grains are close behind in sales growth, with 35 percent more sales over the year before.

(If you’re interested in the best whole grain breads, check out “Looking For Healthy Whole Grain Breads.”)

Choosing Organic Food

So how about you? In these times when most people are trying to make their dollar stretch more and more, are you choosing to go for the value of organic foods?

Post from: Health Food Made Easy

Do You Buy Organic Foods?

Calcium provides lots of benefits, including:

• maintain healthy, strong bones
• Support proper functioning of nerves and muscles, and
• Help your blood clot .

So what are the top 5 dairy sources of calcium?

1. 389mg - Yogurt (flavored), 1 cup
2. 334mg – Ricotta, part skim, 1/2 cup
3. 302mg – Skim milk, 1 cup
4. 300mg – Low-fat (1%) milk, 1 cup
5. 297mg – Low-fat (2%) milk, 1 cup

Keep those bones healthy and eat some yogurt!

Post from: Health Food Made Easy

Top 5 Dairy Sources of Calcium