Organic farming is a holistic approach to food production, making use of crop rotation, environmental management and good animal husbandry to control pests and diseases. Processed organic foods use ingredients that were produced organically and organic ingredients must make up at least 95% of the food. There are only a limited number of additives used in organic food production.

Some key aspects of organic farming and food are:

* restricted use of artificial fertilisers or pesticides
* emphasis on animal welfare, and prevention of ill health, including stocking densities, free range, choice of suitable breeds
* use of conventional veterinary medicines is focussed on treating sick animals
* emphasis on soil health and maintaining this through application of manure, compost and crop rotation
* processors of organic foods have a restricted set of additives to use
* no use of GMOs or their products allowed

Do you really know what goes into your food? Discover the advantages of organic food on this site and see exactly what producers have been adding to your fruit and vegetables to make it less healthy than a few years ago.
In the rush to produce more and more crops to satisfy growing demand producers have had to resort to using a lethal cocktail of pesticides to control disease and insect attack.

Good news for their bank balances perhaps but not good news for your health, this is why you need to be informed of the advantages of organic food.

Did you know that if you consumed an average apple you would be eating over 30 pesticides, even after you have washed it?

The quality of food has definitely gone down since the second world war. For instance, the levels of vitamin C in today's fruit bear no resemblance to the levels found in wartime fruit.

Organic food is known to contain 50% more nutrients, minerals and vitamins than produce that has been intensively farmed. Read more about this here.

You will have to eat more fruit nowadays to make up the deficiency, but unfortunately that means eating more chemicals, more detrimental affects on your health eating something that should be good for you!

Also don't forget about the cocktail of anti-biotics and hormones that cattle and poultry are force fed.

What happens to those chemicals when the animal dies?

Digested and stored in human bodies is the answer, have you seen pictures of animals in severly cramped conditions in battery farms?

advantages of organic food graphic 2It just does not make sense to state that any animal kept in these conditions is healthy and produces high quality food.

If you are as worried as I am about the health of your family then you need to read the articles on this and seriously consider converting your family to the organic lifestyle with the organic food information you are going to learn on this site.

Trust me, once you try some organic produce and taste an apple the way it should be, and perhaps how you recall it tasting in your youth, you will never go back to mass produced fruit again.

Sure there are issues with availability and cost but with a bit of research you should be able to find local stores who stock organic produce.

Also, don't forget about your local farmer, I'm sure you will be able to find one that has seen the light and opened up a farm shop to supply local residents.

You should be able to get some very keen prices from these shops, why not take a look around and see who is offering produce in your area?

Some more startling facts now. Pesticides in food have been linked to many diseases including:

Cancer
Obesity
Altzheimer's
Some birth defects

Not a nice list is it? There are probably others but if you think about it, how can it be okay for you to eat chemicals and not expect some form of reaction in your body. Our bodies are delicately balanced wonderful machines. Any form of foreign chemical is bound to cause irritation at the least.

Please take advantage of the organic food articles and information on this site and do consider taking a closer look at what you are eating. It's for your health after all!

It is not as yet fully understood why only some Manuka honey has an antimicrobial property not shared by other honeys. This property is called the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) antibacterial property.

The presence of this activity can be detected by laboratory testing, which is conducted by the Honey Research Unit at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. Honey that is tested and verified to have a level of 10 or more is given a UMF rating and is referred to as 'Active'.

Active Manuka honey was first discovered by Dr Peter Molan M.B.E of New Zealand's Waikato University Honey Reasearch Unit.
While all honey has some anitbacterial properties, Active Manuka honey is especially potent and effective against a wide range of bacteria and fungi, such as: helicobacter pylori (the stomach-ulcer causing bacteria), Escherichia coli & Staphylococcus aureus (the most common cause of wound infections), and the MSRA superbug. It is also know to shorten the duration of bacterial diahorrea and assist in the re-hydration of diahorrea patients.

The antibacterial strength of Active Manuka honey is measured against the relative strength of phenol, a laboratory disinfectant. For example, Active Manuka honey with a 12+ rating, is equal to, or stronger than, a 12% phenol dilution in water. Active 20+ Manuka honey is equal to, or stronger than, a 20% dilution etc.

However care must be taken when purchasing Active Manuka honey, to ensure that the purchased product does in fact have superior antibacterial properties. It is commonly agreed that only Manuka honey with a 10+ or better rating is considered to be Active. In recent years, due to the popularity of Active Manuka honey, many new products have, emerged containing the Manuka name. Unfortunately, many of these do not have antibacterial properties superior to any other honey varieties, and as such, are not considered Active. Rating systems that do not use a number value (eg. AAA rating) should also be treated with suspicion.

Each and every batch of Superbee Active Manuka honey is laboratory tested to confirm the activity is to the value stated on the label.