Get some organic corn (or maize) at your nearest Farmer's Market. It's sweet. It's fresh. It's crunchy. And it tastes amazing. You can steam it, grill it or simply eat it raw! That's right, fresh raw corn tastes delicious in salads. Just remove the husks and silks, break off the stem holding the leaves or husks and then sit it on a cutting board top or wide end firmly pressing vertically on the cutting board. Use a sharp knife carefully slicing off kernels. Add the kernels to your all your salads. Eating fresh corn when it's in season is by far the best way to eat corn. Our whole industrialized food system is based on corn. But consuming corn syrup in sodas or corn flakes as sugar coated cereal candy is taking something wonderful and turning into something horrible. Don't compromise taste or freshness. Frozen corn and ready-to-use husked corn on the cob is not the same. Go to your nearest Farmer's Market or produce stand where it's just been picked the same day and try corn the way we're meant to eat it.

Let me know how you like it!

Can you feel it? The season for fresh peppers is just around the corner. Peppers season officially begins in August. But you can already find green bell peppers, Anaheim peppers and jalapeno peppers (in small quantities) at your nearest Farmer's Market. So start planning what succulent and yummy dishes you'll be preparing to take advantage of the wonderful and unique flavors you can enjoy for the great variety of peppers.

Recently, government inspectors have determined that the recent salmonella outbreak can be traced to "a single Mexican-grown jalapeno pepper handled by a small Texas produce shipper." That means your local Farmer's Market jalepenos are safe.

Recently I've been buying a lot of jalapeno peppers to put in all my meals. I have discovered that you don't have to limit their use to just salsa or pico de gallo. You can cook with them in recipes that call for bell peppers, for instance, and they're not really all that spicy if your remove the seeds and white membranes completely.

I'm even adding them to my raw salads. I seed and derib them completely, then I chop them very finely and add them to my salads and dressings. They add lots of fresh flavor and texture to meals, cooked and raw.

Try them and let me know what you think!

Living in California, I'm blessed by the abundance and variety of fruits and vegetables, year round, grown organically and locally. Most of what I buy comes from the Farmer's Market and from the farmers I know and talk to all the time. There is something deeply satisfying about knowing where your food was grown, who grew it, how they grew it and when.

Not everything sold at Farmer's Markets is organic or pesticide free. But you can easily find out simply by asking the farmers. They're happy to tell you everything you might want to know about the fruits or vegetables you're about to buy.

Within the Farmer's Market, you'll find farmers that grow only a couple of things, and others that grow a huge variety of produce. Some have organically certified farms and others simply use organic methods, but are not certified. Others don't necessarily use organic methods but will tell you that they don't spray any pesticides on their products either. And yet some are certified organic but might still choose to apply some organic chemicals to combat pests while others go completely natural and let some pest chow down part of the crop. Don't just visit your nearest Farmer's Market, talk to the farmers and learn about your food. It's an incredibly rewarding experience to meet the person that grows your food. And be sure to write me when you do!

I came back from Greece about a month ago and I'm still adjusting back to my new schedule and my healthy non-restaurant meals. Yesterday, for some reason, I was feeling really "off" -- mentally and physically. I felt neither motivated nor energetic. It was rough because I had some writing deadlines and also had to go speed walking for my semi-weekly half-marathon. I went to the local Farmer's Market -- always a good source of inspiration. Afterwards, I sat down at my computer and mustered the willpower to get my work done, which was satisfying.

As I was leaving to go on my walk, strangely, I was craving greasy Mexican food. Instead, I had some nuts and fruit and pressed on to go on my walk. I wasn't able to walk as fast as I usually do, and the walk felt a little arduous. But I did it, and felt great afterward. The best part is that halfway through the walk I began feeling hungry again. But my cravings for greasy restaurant food had been replaced by an extraordinary desire to have a giant raw vegetable salad with beans, sprouted seeds and avocado. Yum!

The moral of this long-winded story is that, no matter how "off" you might be feeling, exercise is the solution to get your body back on track, fine-tune your metabolism and generally optimize all your organs, systems and even uplift your spirit. So next time you don't feel up to doing something or are having horrible cravings, take a hike -- or a walk! It just might set everything right again.

Everybody knows that organic foods are better for you, but conventional produce is cheaper, right?

Well, not so fast. It depends on what you're buying. There's no question that conventional produce is, on average, cheaper per pound than organic alternatives, and probably contains more calories-per-dollar.

However, research in the past few years has shown dramatically higher concentrations of health-boosting nutrients in organic foods, including anti-oxidants, vitamins and substances that enable the body to process nutrients.

So when you pay for produce, what is it that you're buying? Are you looking for calories? Or nutrition? It's just possible that on a nutritional basis, you get more for your money with organic.

Plus, avoiding the toxins in conventional produce is priceless.

Read all about this in my brand-new column at Environmental Living!

Whole Foods is reading the writing on the wall. As consumers look for way to cut spending costs across the board, Whole Foods implements a value program called "The Real Deal" designed to provide special discounts to thrift-oriented customers. The 28-page quarterly value guide will be available in stores starting July 17, and will feature money-saving coupons, product discounts, meal plans and low-cost recipes. Hopefully "The Real Deal" will also feature real discounts for real foods, not just overly processed organic foods.

On my semi-weekly visit to the Santa Barbara Farmer's Market yesterday, I was buying some wonderfully fresh and moist Thompson seedless raisins (shown in picture above) and some delicious and amazing Sugar Lady white peaches from the Peacock Family Farm stand when I noticed that they also sell eggs. And as a curious writer, of course, I decided to inquire further about their egg production and how they care for their chickens. Debbie, one of the farmers, who was handling the sales at the stand, informed me that the hens roam freely around the farm eating and behaving according to their natural instincts. Although the farm is not certified organic, they do use only organic farming methods and are in the process of getting certified, which is an expensive and lengthy process. Debbie also told me that the hens have been laying very few eggs lately, which she attributes to the stress that the chickens are feeling as a result of the Gap fire near Santa Barbara. That's right. Chickens get so stressed out by distant fires they stop laying eggs. Since the fires started a week ago, the chickens are not behaving like their old selves, Debbie said. I can relate to that; I'm pretty tired of the power outages, the ashes all over my car, the house and fruit trees in my back yard. I've been feeling tired and the fact that I have to breathe the nasty air when I go on my speed-walks is definitely trying my patience. I don't usually eat eat eggs, but if I did, I would want my eggs to come from chickens that live their natural lives in pesticide-free farms where they can run around freely, eat what they want, stretch their wings when they feel like it and dust bathe just like they love to do.

The Organic Center has just released a free pocket guide, which lists fruits and vegetables that pose the greatest risks from pesticides. All conventional produce is grown with pesticides and chemical fertilizers. But some are more heavily sprayed with pesticides than others. Pesticides can cause developmental problems in children and other long term health effects on adults. It's important to eat organic when possible. If you must purchase conventional produce be aware that the following fruits and vegetables are laden with pesticides and should be avoided or simply opt for other produce not on the list of highly toxic fruits and vegetables.

Here is the list of fruits and vegetables that pose the greatest pesticide exposure:

Domestically Grown Conventional Fruits

1. Cranberries
2. Nectarines
3. Peaches
4. Strawberries
5. Pears

Domestically Grown Conventional Vegetables

1. Green beans
2. Sweet bell peppers
3. Celery
4. Cucumbers
5. Potatoes

Imported Conventional Fruits

1. Grapes
2. Nectarines
3. Peaches
4. Pears
5. Strawberries

Imported Conventional Vegetables

1. Sweet bell peppers
2. Lettuce
3. Cucumbers
4. Celery
5. Tomatoes

It's well known that blueberries are, nutritiously speaking, a power-house fruit. But a recent study conducted by Rutgers University in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows that organic blueberries contain higher values of ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) than conventionally grown blueberries. In other words, organic blueberries are better at protecting against nasty radicals that cause damage at a cellular level, including cancer. Although researchers try to warn against making sweeping conclusions (and why wouldn't they given that the USDA is involved) it's clear that food grown and eaten in its most natural state and without the use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides are better for you. When a fruit or vegetable plant is allowed to grow in its most wild form without genetic modification and it's allowed to develop it's own natural defenses, without pesticides, the most nutritious and better for you such plant will be.