By Lauren Otto

Yes, we always hear about how fruits and vegetables are important for our health. But what we may not know is just how significant and true that is.

Newly released research shows that a daily intake of only two and a half servings (one serving is 80 grams, so a total of 200 grams a day) of fruits and vegetables correlates with:

• 16% reduced risk of heart disease
• 18% reduced risk of stroke
• 4% reduced risk of cancer
• 15% reduced risk of premature death

But why stop at two and a half servings a day? The same research shows that ten servings of fruit and vegetables a day correlates with:

• 24% reduced risk of heart disease
• 33% reduced risk of stroke
• 28% reduced risk of heart and blood vessel disease
• 13% reduced risk of total cancer
• 31% reduction in premature death

Though the relationship between these health benefits and eating more fruits and vegetables is not proven to be causal, the association is clear. According to the authors of the research, “high fruit and vegetable intake may… reduce chronic disease risk indirectly, by displacement of unhealthy foods.” 

Basically, what we’ve heard about fruits and veggies is true—they’re awesome for you! Whether it is because they have benefits to your health or simply because they’re a better choice than other unhealthy foods, incorporate more of them into your day to day diet. Choose fruits that don’t have added sugars, and choose them more often.

To get started on more ideas to eat more fruits and vegetables daily, check out some of Greenfield’s many fruit and vegetable options and read through our menu online!

For more information on the research cited here, take a look at the research results here.

By Lauren Otto

In the midst of many different changes in the food industry, Daniel Lubetzky, the CEO of KIND, has decided to initiate a new effort to expose and transform the food industry’s influence on public health.

Starting with $5 million, and continuing with $20 million more over the next 10 years, Lubetzky is launching and funding an organization called Feed the Truth (Forbes). According to the organization’s website,

“Feed the Truth aims to improve public health by making truth, transparency and integrity the foremost values in today’s food system. It will achieve this by bringing together a collection of experts and organizations to serve as an authoritative body that ensures science overrules special interests in the arenas of food regulation, education, promotion and production.”

As a part of these initiatives, the organization will provide resources and education programs “to bring more transparency to the industry and help educate consumers.”

Perhaps one of the most significant elements of this new initiative is the fact that Lubetzky has publicly stated that he will solely be funding the organization, not directing it. After selecting Debra Eschmeyer (Executive Director of the Let’s Move! Initiative and former Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition Policy), Michael Jacobson (PhD, Co-Founder and President of the Center for Science in the Public Interest), and Marion Nestle (PhD, MPH, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University) to appoint Feed the Truth board members, Lubetzky is stepping away from the organization so that it is completely independent from any food companies (Forbes).

“As a business owner, I understand the importance of prioritizing your bottom line, but it’s equally as important to consider how you can succeed while also thinking about the long-term impact on the community,” Lubetzky said in a press conference (Forbes).

The possibilities for the future of Feed the Truth include investigative journalism initiatives, consumer education campaigns, and educational briefings for policy makers and food industry leaders  (Forbes).

This initiative is truly revolutionary, and opens doors to a future of transparency in the food industry in new ways than ever before. Lubetzky’s bold steps will hopefully continue to gain support and inspire other business and government leaders connected to the food industry to purse a future of ethical research, education and communication with its consumers.

As two companies that are passionate about nutrition policy and government messaging in terms of the food industry, Feed the Truth’s goals are extremely exciting for Greenfield Natural Kitchen and D. Brian’s Deli and Catering. We desire our value of honesty between the food industry and consumers to be at the core of all we do, and to see progress like this being made truly is the type of change and activism we stand behind.

You can learn more about the Feed the Truth initiative below:

Feed the Truth

Forbes Article

CBS Interview with Daniel Lubetzky

 

By Lauren Otto, Greenfield Natural Kitchen Social Media Intern

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the death rate from heart disease is on the rise, and researchers say that it is largely due to the rising obesity rates. Studies show that one of the first and most important preventative measures against heart disease is a healthy diet.

In 2015, the heart disease death rate rose 0.9 percent according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention. This was the first increase after four decades of declining death rates due to heart disease, which continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States.

Stephen Sidney, a senior research scientist with the Kaiser Permanent Northern California division of research, said that these findings mark a significant step backward in the general health of Americans.

“It’s a definite milestone in the wrong direction, and the concern that a lot of us have is that it reflects largely the approximately three-decade-long epidemic of obesity,” Sidney told the Wall Street Journal.

Obesity rates in the United States have been increasing since the 1980s. The CDC reports that 38.2 percent of 20-74 year olds and 20.6 percent of 12-19 year olds are obese, which is drastically higher that the 14.5 percent of 20-74 year olds and 6.1 percent of 12-19 year olds who were obese in the early 1970s.

Obesity can cause a variety of health problems, including hypertension, diabetes, and other heart-related problems that increase risk of heart disease.

In the midst of the widespread effects of obesity and diabetes, there is work being done to prevent these health- threatening issues. According to the Wall Street Journal, diabetes prevention programs based on research studies prevented more than half of high risk patients from developing diabetes through appropriate weight loss, exercise and a healthy diet.

According to Dr. Sydney, one of the first preventative measures to be taken when it comes to obesity and heart disease is prioritizing a healthy diet.

Though there is a fairly common belief that low fat and high carb diets are healthy, there is a strong correlation between diets that are high in sugar and starches and the rising obesity and death rates due to heart disease.

At Greenfield, we believe in making it easier for people to eat truly healthy foods—including foods that are healthy for our customers’ hearts. At times like these when ways to pursue healthy food are more necessary than ever, Greenfield makes these options available. We focus on minimizing sugar and starch contents and serving clean food that is truly nutritious and heart-healthy. By prioritizing serving food that is good for people’s health, we hope to contribute to making healthy eating a norm that ultimately lowers risk of heart disease—one meal at a time.

By Lauren Otto, Greenfield Natural Kitchen Social Media Intern

Greenfield Natural Kitchen recently had the honor of accepting the 2016 Minnesota Restaurant Association Sustainability Award because of its standard of excellence when it comes to environmentally friendly packaging and products. In its first three years of providing healthy and ethical food to the people of downtown Minneapolis, Greenfield has remained true to its three core values of meaningful employment, environmental stewardship and clean food. Greenfield is committed to not only talking the talk and starting the conversation about sustainability, but walking the walk of taking action to care for both customers and the environment.

 

According to Greenfield’s general manager Kate Ehlert, Greenfield is not focused on comparing its standards with the rest of the food market because of its commitment to the highest possible standards. If any product or packaging is not at as high of a clean or ethical standard as possible, Greenfield replaces it with a better product, no matter what.

 

“It may be better than what most restaurants are offering, but if it’s not the best, we’ll get rid of it,” Kate said. “We want to constantly be as clean and pure and transparent with our customers as possible.”

 

And Greenfield continues to strive to do just that. All of Greenfield’s packaging, along with all of its distributors’ packaging, is recyclable or compostable—from the to-go containers and cups to the straw wrappers and garbage bags, there are no exceptions. Greenfield’s food is completely GMO free, contains only ethically sourced proteins, and is as locally grown as possible. The menus are even oriented around crops that are in season so that more ingredients can be purchased locally.

 

Greenfield’s unwavering commitment to clean food and sustainability creates challenges, but ultimately its goal is to push other restaurants to prioritize these practices and make sustainability a norm in the restaurant industry. Kate said that it’s been exciting to see several environmentally conscious restaurants matching some of Greenfield’s standards.

 

“I really love that there’s a higher demand for healthier food and that there are clearly more people seeking it out,” Kate said. “Overall we’re just here to make everyone’s lives easier and make it possible to eat a little healthier.”

 

In the long run, Kate thinks that Greenfield has a lot more to explore in the world of sustainability, eco-friendly practices and clean food. And the most important priority is to make as much of an effort for positive change as possible.

 

“People often think they can’t make a difference, but we make thousands of tiny differences,” Kate said. “I’m not saying we can solve environmental problems by ourselves, but we can definitely make an impact.”

 

Greenfield has always been and will always be fundamentally rooted in values that stretch far beyond products. And with every one of the thousands of tiny differences that commitment has made, there are real impacts that contribute to healthier people and a healthier planet.

According to a report on the front page of the NY Times (9/12/2016), Big Sugar paid researchers at Harvard to skew their writings to place the blame for Heart Disease on animal fat and not sugar. Following the death of President Roosevelt from heart disease, and with the knowledge that heart disease was accounting for 1 in 2 deaths, researchers began trying to understand why so many were dying, and whether those at risk could be identified and helped. There were two schools of thought as to the cause: Dr Yudkin from Cambridge believed sugar to be the primary cause, and Ancel Keys believed it was cholesterol from dietary fat from animals (saturated fat). From the 1950’s through today, most people believe the government messaging which tells us to avoid dietary fat and replace those calories with sugar and carbs. Now we know that Harvard’s Dr Hegsted and Dr. Stare were paid by Big Sugar in the 1960’s to contradict their earlier work that associated sugar and saturated fat with Heart Disease. Their work was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (7/27/1967) where they wrote that it’s not the sugar, it’s the cholesterol and saturated fat that increases ones risk of heart disease. Stare and Heisted were not required to disclose that Big Sugar paid them to do this research.

 

Big Food continues to influence what we consume, and the NY Times has also revealed that Coca Cola has provided millions of dollars in funding to downplay the link between sugary drinks and obesity (..it’s the inactivity..). Q: What has more sugar? One 20 oz bottle of Vitamin Water? or Three Krispy Kreme original glazed donuts? You guessed it, Coke’s bottle of Vitamin Water.

I don’t want my food to be adulterated – I’ll take it in its natural state, just the way nature intended, thank you very much. I have a healthy mistrust of genetic engineering, so the whole idea behind GE tastes terrible to me. We are going to insert an extra gene in a food crop like corn, soy, sugar beets, alfalfa, canola, why? So they will survive when the grower applies greater amounts of Round Up? This is wrong.

Call me a skeptic, but I don’t trust studies and reports from the GMO producers that say that genetically engineered foods are safe. I want to enjoy a healthy lifestyle, and that means knowing what’s in the food I eat.  So when I’m told that GMO’s are safe, and that’s why they don’t need a label, I think ‘Are you kidding me?’. Americans have a long tradition of ingredient and nutritional labeling and we have a right to know what’s in our food so we can make informed buying decisions. GMO labeling is required in many countries including Europe, China, Japan, Australia, and Brazil. It should be required in the US.

Here’s the good news:  GMO labeling won’t be a problem for GNK customers, because we do not use any GMO products. We choose organic where we can (alfalfa sprouts, sugar beets, edamame) or we don’t offer the item (corn). It costs a little more, but I believe it’s the best path for customers of GNK. So continue to enjoy your personalized meals knowing that they are free of GMO’s.

Can diet reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease? Yes, say researchers at the Rush University Medical Center, even when the diet is not followed meticulously. It’s called the MIND diet, and it reduced risk up to 53% w strict adherence and 35% in those with moderate adherence. The diet is based on 10 foods that you should eat, and five that you should not. The good ten are green leafy vegetables, other vegetables, nuts, berries, beans, whole grains, fish, poultry, olive oil, and wine. The five to avoid are red meat, butter, cheese, fried / fast food, and pastries / sweets. More information at Rush.edu.

Want to eat better? Of course, me too. Breakfast at greenfield is a quick and easy way to include better foods in your life. Our breakfast speed line invites you to craft a personal meal using organic eggs or egg whites plus a variety of whole ingredients to create breakfast tacos, wraps, or bowls. Everybody pays the same price, yet every meal is as different and unique as you make it. The common thread is that it’s fast, easy, and satisfying in a smug sort of way. So recharge your body in a way that bagels, donuts and cereal can’t, with breakfast from greenfield Natural Kitchen. We thank you, and your body will too.

Greenfield Natural Kitchen branding – Grits + Grids     www.gritsandgrids.com The team at Bolster really did an excellent job designing the experience and brand for Greenfield Natural Kitchen. The logo is a graphical representation of earth meets fields; a witty way to communicate “green” and “natural.” The interiors are simple, clean and poignant with natural textures and el…

December 10th marked the opening day of our first Greenfield Natural Kitchen! We chose a spot on the skyway level of the Canadian Pacific Plaza building at 120 South 6th Street in downtown Minneapolis. Here is to an exciting road ahead!