Fresh Fuzz

Watermelon, The New Viagra?

by michael March 4th, 2012 - No Comments »


So you’re down and just can’t get up, well watermelon may be your savior. Before reaching for that phone and ordering Viagra or Cialis, you may want to take a trip down to your local grocery store and pick up a watermelon or two.

Bhimu Patil, researcher and director of the Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center at Texas A&M University, said that watermelon delivers Viagra-like effects on blood vessels throughout the body, increasing overall libido.

When you bite into the meat of a watermelon you get a hit of citrulline amino acid, which helps your overall cardiovascular system and relaxes blood vessels, meaning as it goes down you go up.

Remember that watermelon has a lot of water in it, so make sure to get it organic; otherwise, you’ll be digesting a lot of pesticides and herbicides.

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Mushroom Kits?

by michael August 21st, 2011 - No Comments »

Mushrooms are an extremely versatile food source. They can be grown inside with very little effort and pack a tasty and nutritional punch.  With more and more people starting to grow their own food, either in their backyards or on the windowsill, companies like BacktotheRoots are picking up momentum.

Started by two UC Berkeley students who discovered they could grow gourmet mushrooms from coffee grounds. Their discovery led to the BacktotheRoots grow- your-own-mushroom kits.  For $20 bucks you can grow upwards of a pound and a half of oyster mushrooms.

This kit is now being sold at Whole foods and I suspect similar ideas will continue popping up. If kits like these were made readily available so people could grow all there own food in a fun and easy way, the craze would skyrocket.

 

 

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Santa Monica Celebrates 30 Years of Farmer’s Markets

by michael July 31st, 2011 - No Comments »

Santa Monica just celebrated its 30th year of hosting farmers markets. These markets serve over 900,000 people each year, providing them with fresh, locally grown food.

Today Main Street in Santa Monica had their Farmers Market right after the Main St. parade. It all started back in 1981, when the city of Santa Monica wanted to introduce its residents to organic, local food. Today the markets thrive, selling everything from flowers to grass fed beef.

The Farmer’s Markets around Santa Monica fall on different days, each one having their own delicious offerings. You can visit the Santa Monica City website to see the dates and times: http://www.smgov.net/portals/farmersmarket/.

 

 

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Organic Clothes, New Trend?

by michael July 4th, 2011 - No Comments »

Eco Friendly clothing seems to be an up and coming trend. Companies like H&M and Forever 21 are now offering shirts and dresses made of organic cotton. One thing that is somewhat undiscovered is organic denim. Organic denim seems to be unused by most jean companies but is in abundance.

Recently when I was walking down Main St. here in Santa Monica, I noticed a new store called Green Denim Initiative. They are dedicated to offering premium denim jeans that are eco friendly and use recycled buttons and zippers. I thought this was a really cool idea and i expect to see this catching on very soon.

Just like our Essentia Jeanius mattress, Denim is a great material to work with especially in its organic unprocessed form. I would like to start seeing Levi’s 501’s use Organic denim, along with their new Waterless line. Fingers Crossed…

 

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Help Trader Joe’s Wise Up And Donate Leftover Food

by michael June 25th, 2011 - No Comments »

Grocery shopping is a routine that practically every person has to do. After every night these stores have thousands of pounds of produce that have to be disposed of. It’s unfortunate but this is a very common practice to ensure the freshest quality foods in their stores. Some people are starting to question this practice and protest that these “leftovers” be donated to food drives, where people really need food.

Jeremy Seifert producer of the food documentary Dive! Has started a petition calling out Trader Joe’s to donate soon to expire products. So far Jeremy is doing well, he has gathered more then 30,000 signatures and it seems to have gotten Trader Joe’s attention. Some Trader’s already implement this practice, donating to shelters, and hunger relief organizations, but Jeremy wants this to be a company wide practice.

If you’re interested make your way to the Trader Joe’s food waste Petition and support the cause. http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-trader-joes-to-stop-wasting-food

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Sustainable Living Tips with Tracy Lydiatt(Video)

by michael June 17th, 2011 - No Comments »

If you’ve ever wanted to try to live sustainably but thought it would be too hard, watch this video!

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Tracy Lydiatt is a Green Guru, she explains the simple steps to becoming green and sustainable. Her new book is like a work book ,with step by step instructions to help better your routine for a healthy you and environment.

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Whole Foods Parking Lot (Video)

by michael June 15th, 2011 - No Comments »

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Here in Santa Monica, Whole Foods Markets are everywhere. They are a great place to pick up whatever food you need and have practically every natural and organic product you can think of. If you’re a Whole Foods regular though, you know that their parking lots are always a mess and buying anything will cost you an arm and a leg.

FogAndSmogFilms just released this video on Youtube addressing the issues the organic consumer faces. The video does a great job making fun of all the stereotypes that apply to Whole Foods customers. It’s great to see that I’m not he only one who suffers while doing my weekly shop.

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Organic Coffee At Urth Cafe

by michael June 9th, 2011 - No Comments »

Here in Santa Monica it’s easy to find your fix on caffeine with Starbucks and Coffeebeans on practically every corner. The hard part is finding certified organic coffee, unless you’re on Main St. in Santa Monica, California. Luckily our Essentia store is on this street, which is a Mecca for green businesses, like Urth Café.

Urth Café hosts a wide variety of organic goodies and drinks, ranging from organic coffee to gluten free, egg free and dairy free chocolate chip cookies; which I can endorse as amazingly delicious.  Urth Café is also a great place to just sit down and relax with a very cozy sun filled patio, which attracts celebrities on the daily basis. Jessica Alba and Pink are just some of the celebrities that flock to this little gem. So next time you’re in Santa Monica, grab a coffee or tea and come take a nap on an Essentia bed.

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H&M begins their Conscious Collection

by michael February 5th, 2011 - No Comments »

H&M takes it one step further with its new sustainable line called Conscious Collection poised to hit stores this April. It incorporates greener materials such as organic cotton, Tencel®, and recycled polyester.

“It’s not just about organic cotton any more, the possibilities for creating a complete fashion statement with eco smarter materials are huge now. By designing recurring Conscious Collections we have the opportunity to show in a variety of ways what’s possible using more sustainable fabrics,” said H&M’s Head of Design Ann-Sofie Johansson.

We know that when this hits the stores, it’ll be huge. You can never go wrong when you combine great looks with affordable prices and top quality materials.

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Fair Trade Chocolate in time for Valentines Day!

by michael February 4th, 2011 - No Comments »

Valentines day is approaching rapidly and everyone knows chocolate is always the safe bet. This year though, you may want to go with something that is Fairtrade. This will not only respect the environment but will just make the gift taste that much sweeter.

Take Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates, which offers a potpourri of sumptuous chocolate hearts, filled with everything from natural organic peanut butter to vanilla, to fresh raspberry and more! The Cupid’s Cups (pictured) go for $14.50 and are a perfect Valentines Day gift!

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