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"Think globally, act locally" isn't just for bumper stickers anymore. This grassroots politics–type slogan has become an important way of thinking about where your next meal should come from. But the implications here are far more than political. Buying local—as well as organic—foods allows you to protect your family by feeding them in the safest way possible. Here are 10 reasons to add "visit the local farmers' market" to the top of your to-do list each week.

1. Local foods are safer. Or at least you can find out if they are. Organic food standards are high, but there are still companies out there attempting to cloud the rules. When you buy locally, it's easier to check out what you're buying, and you won't have to hire Magnum, P.I. to do it. The great thing about local media is that they love to cover this stuff. If for any reason a local farm is mixed up in nefarious activities, there's a good chance your paper has a reporter dreaming of a gig at The New York Times who'll be on the job for you. Even if this isn't the case, you can be inquisitive at the farmers' markets—you'll be surprised how quickly you can get up to date on the local scoop. Farmers who adhere to a strict code of ethics love to talk about others who do, and those who don't.
2. Organic foods are safer. Organic certification standards are the public's assurance that their food and products have been grown and handled according to sustainable procedures, without toxic, synthetic, irradiated, or genetically modified elements, including chemical fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, and other additives. At least that's what the law says. But even though many companies still cheat the system, most of them play by the rules. These rules are in place to help both soil longevity and the health and safety of the consumer. Many Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved pesticides were registered long before extensive research linked these chemicals to cancer and other diseases. Now, the EPA considers 60 percent of all herbicides, 90 percent of all fungicides, and 30 percent of all insecticides, none of which meet organic criteria, to potentially cause cancer. You can't always be certain you're getting safe food, but eating organic foods stacks the odds in your favor.
3. Organic food tastes better. Many people would be amazed to taste the difference between garden-grown fruits and vegetables (and wild meat) and the offerings you find down at your local mega-grocery-mart. The main reason for this disparity has to do with something called trophic levels, which is determined by where plants and animals fall on the food chain. When food—even natural food—is manufactured, as when plants are grown in poor soil with some added nutrients, or animals are raised using drugs and a non-native diet, their physiological chemistry is altered. This doesn't just change their nutrient content—it changes the way they taste.
4. Organic food is more nutritious—which stands to reason, based on the whole trophic levels thing. When soils are depleted and then fertilized, only certain nutrients are added with fertilizers. This results in the loss of many of the plants' original phytonutrients. While these lost phytonutrients aren't necessarily a major component of any individual plant, they add up in your diet and become a major component of who you are. This lack of phytonutrients in the plants in our diets has a lot to do with many modern-day maladies. With regard to meat, it's basically the same story. Animals that are fed a poor diet are, as you might imagine, less healthy to eat, because they're also missing out on essential nutrients thanks to the trophic level paradigm—just like you are.
5. You won't have to eat genetically modified organisms (GMOs). A GMO is a plant, animal, or microorganism whose genetic sequence has been modified to introduce genes from another species. Because the long-term impact of GMOs on our health isn't known yet, they're forbidden by the Soil Association Standards for Organic Food and Farming. Furthermore, in order to qualify as organic, animals can't be fed GMOs, nor can they be fed antibiotics, added hormones, or other drugs. It is not currently required, however, that GMOs be mentioned on food labels, so it's very likely that anything not certified organic contains some GMO ingredients.
6. Your drinking water will be safer. The EPA estimates that pesticides contaminate groundwater in 38 states, polluting the primary source of drinking water for more than half the country's population. Because organic farmers practice water conservation and don't use toxic chemicals that leach into your groundwater, organic farming leads to less waste intrusion into our aquifers, which helps keep your drinking water healthier.
7. Your kids will be healthier. The toxicity of pesticide residue is determined not only by the chemicals used, but by our body weight in relation to how much we consume. This means that your children are even more at risk than you are. It's estimated that the average child receives four times more exposure than the average adult to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food. To try and minimize this risk, buy organic, but also make sure that your family eats a wide variety of foods.
8. To help farmers and farm communities. It's estimated that the U.S. has lost more than 650,000 family farms since 1990. The USDA estimates that half of the U.S. farm production comes from only 1 percent of farms. Organic farming may be one of the few survival tactics left for the family farm and rural communities. The majority of organic farms are still small-scale operations, generally on fewer than 100 acres, and using an average of 70 percent less energy. Small farms use far more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices than large-scale farms do. For example, small farms use manure to fertilize soil, naturally recycling it to keep the land productive.
   
   Industrial farms produce so much manure that it's a human health risk. The overspill of manure has contaminated water wells with E. coli and other pathogens. This brings up another subject: Industrial farms still—though now illegally—feed animals the ground-up remnants of other animals that aren't naturally part of their diet. This has led to pathogens like E. coli getting into our foods in the first place.
   
   Furthermore, farm workers are much safer on small farms. A National Cancer Institute study found that farmers exposed to herbicides had six times more risk of contracting cancer than nonfarmers did. Due to their direct exposure, field workers on conventional farms are the most vulnerable to illness as a result of pesticide use. Organic farms eliminate that risk by eliminating harmful pesticides and other chemical inputs from their practices.
9. For more humane treatment of animals. Factory farms treat animals like commodities. They are usually kept in tightly confined pens or cages and often never move more than a few feet for their entire lives. They are also fed the cheapest foods available, no matter how it affects their—and then our—health. Besides the fact that a host of illnesses have entered our world as a direct result of this practice, it's also just not nice. Animals on organic farms are far likelier to be raised without cruelty. They are also fed a diet much closer to what they would eat naturally, and studies tell us—surprise!—that these animals tend to be significantly healthier than their factory-raised counterparts.
10. To promote a vibrant economy. Organic products only seem more expensive because people base their cost on their sticker price alone. However, retail price represents a mere fraction of their true cost. Market prices for conventionally grown foods don't reflect the costs of federal subsidies to conventional agriculture, the cost of contaminated drinking water, loss of wildlife habitat and soil erosion, or the cost of the disposal and cleanup of hazardous wastes generated by the manufacturing of pesticides. Compared to local farms, there's also transportation—and the pollutants that result from it—to consider. All of this means that essentially, you can pay now or pay later—just remember that you're going to be charged interest, mainly in the form of a socially and ecologically diminished world to live in.

What if you can't find organic food? One of our members, who lives in a rural area, went to her local market and requested healthier options. Now the store owner can't keep them on the shelf. You can, with a little initiative, make a difference. After all, retail stores are in business to serve you. If this doesn't work, hit the Internet. Since "organic" is the current buzzword of the food industry, there will be options. And of course there's always your local farmers' market.

For more information on organic and local produce, check out the Web site for the Organic Trade Association, or type "Community Supported Agriculture" into your favorite search engine.

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Questions about your workout program, diet, the latest newsletter, or anything wellness related? Chat with the overseer of Beachbody's fitness and diet development, who also serves as your Fitness Advisor on the Message Boards, Steve Edwards, on Thursday, February 17th, at 8:00 PM ET, 5:00 PM PT. Go to the Team Beachbody Chat Room.

If you'd like to ask a question or comment on this newsletter article, just email us at mailbag@TeamBeachbody.com.

Halfway through the X, people started to ask us about becoming Coaches on the Beachbody Message Boards that we posted to every day. We had no idea what the coaching was all about and didn't even know there was an opportunity. This has changed our life and the lives of our kids! We achieved our goal of moving the family to Cali with the purchase of our new home in Oceanside.

TESTIMONIAL

Mike and I are so blessed and it's hard to believe that it's been barely 3 1/2 years since we started our business. This has been an incredible thing for our family. I will give you the background on it so you can see how it all happened for us.

Back in 2005, Mike and I ordered a program from TV to get back into shape from life and four births. We got in great shape with that program and went on to do it for a year. Ordered a second program and did that for a year as well. Then in 2007 we ordered and started P90X. Halfway through the X, people started to ask us about becoming Coaches on the Beachbody Message Boards that we posted to every day. We had no idea what the coaching was all about and didn't even know there was an opportunity. It had only been around since January 2007 and this was April. So after much talk between Mike and me, we decided to look into it. Mike talked to his now-sponsoring Coach Aaron Mathis and got all of the details on what it was and how much it would cost us to sign up. Well, the cost was my hang-up because Mike and I were struggling very badly for money at that time. The winter before we had gone to get fuel assistance and when I went we not only qualified for fuel but food stamps and Toys for Tots. That was a blow to our pride as parents. So the start-up fee was a concern of mine. It only cost about $117.00 to get started and less than $100.00 each month to keep active so it wasn't a lot of money but when you don't have it, then it's scary! We decided to let Mike sign up because we love Beachbody and loved the programs that we had done and got great results with. We were already sharing with people everything that we were doing so the coaching was a good fit. Mike signed up first because if he made it work then I would sign too. One month later I signed up. That started it all!

That first half a year, we worked the business through our message board thread on the Beachbody Web site and we did OK—made about $6,000 together by the end of the year! Not bad for having no idea what we were doing as far as the business and just sharing our love of fitness with people. Made Christmas a bit easier that year! Plus in 2007, Mike won his transformation challenge and that was a prize of $10,000 and I won my age group which was $1,000. So overall we got about $17,000 for that 6-to-7-month run.

That brings us to 2008. We worked the business pretty much the same as 2007 but just did more of it because it was fun for us and we LOVED it. That year we doubled Mike's military income doing the business part time. We were crazy excited at that point! Our bills were getting paid and our credit cards were paid off . . . no loans . . . nothing! Plus we had money in the bank for the first time in 14 years of marriage! Life was getting good for us and that year in November, Mike bought me a brand-new 2008 Yukon Denali for my birthday. I got to go into the dealership and pick anything I wanted on the lot. We just bought a brand-new $55,000 truck for my birthday because of Beachbody! OMG! That was the start of more to come. 2008 is when we got on Facebook and that is when things started to roll and roll big for us!

So, 2009 comes around and we are now working the business on the Message Boards and now on Facebook. In the beginning of 2009 we found out that Mike's unit was going to be activated again and that a team was headed out to Iraq and Mike was on the list to go. Well, this is not good. We lost Mike in 2001 and I couldn't go through that again. The business was doing well for us and we decided to see about making it go even better so that we could possibly get Mike out of the military before he had to leave me and the kids. Still working it part time, we stepped up our efforts and made the time we worked even more focused. I'm proud to say that by July 30, 2009, we had built the business enough to get Mike out of the military. We now had Mike home full time with us and we are now buying our time back as a family. Life has now just gotten better! So we are now working the Beachbody business full time from home and we set the goal that in 2010 we were going to move to Cali because we had been there several times over the past two years and fell in love with that state. So we worked the business for the remainder of 2009 and ended the years with a bang. We tripled Mike's military income by year's end in 2009!

This brings us to 2010. Mike and I are well into the business full time and since January we have built it up to set us on course to double our 2009 Beachbody income! That is incredible to us and we have just achieved our goal of moving the family to Cali with the purchase of our new home in Oceanside. We moved here in June when the kids got out of school. We are loving our new life here in California. That is our story in a nutshell. Life is good!

How did we do it? That is the question. Well, we did it through social networking on the Web! We have built 98 percent of this business on the World Wide Web! It has connected us to the world and we were able to connect with people all over the country and expose them to Beachbody. We used our fitness success to promote our business and then we worked hard to bring people in through a "fitness first" approach! If you get them to love our programs then they will love our business! Mike and I are "fitness first" people so it's a natural fit to attract people to the fitness and then work with them to get their fitness success. People who love the results they achieved from the programs make the best Coaches in our opinion. They are walking billboards for their business and talking about it comes naturally and easily for them!

We continue to social-network on Facebook and we are now building locally in our community through our Fit Club/biz opp meeting that we have every week. We are talking to people in our community as well as teachers at our kids' schools! Every day we are out, sharing Beachbody with people. We wear Beachbody apparel when we go out as an "icebreaker" for starting a conversation with people. Then we use the game plan: we expose them with a 3rd party tool and get their contact information so that we can follow up with them in 24 to 48 hours, period! It works!

Mike and I are now 4 Star Diamond Coaches pushing hard to get to 5 Star. We both have a second business center that is building. Mike is a 2 Star in his second and I'm in 2 Star qualification in mine. Mike just opened his third business center and is looking to get it to Diamond as we speak! All of this has been done since May and June of 2007! This has changed our life and the lives of our kids! We love what we do every day, we love helping people get on a path to a healthier life. We are so blessed to have incredible people around us every day and on our team! We work hard to connect with our team members on a weekly basis through check-in calls and emails. This is very important to keep you and your team members accountable to their fitness as well as their business.

There it is! Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Tami French
4 Star Diamond Independent Team Beachbody Coach

Questions about your workout program, diet, the latest newsletter, or anything wellness related? Chat with the overseer of Beachbody's fitness and diet development, who also serves as your Fitness Advisor on the Message Boards, Steve Edwards, on Thursday, February 17th, at 8:00 PM ET, 5:00 PM PT. Go to the Team Beachbody Chat Room.

If you'd like to ask a question or comment on this newsletter article, just email us at mailbag@TeamBeachbody.com.

Anyone who's read the latest studies about high-protein diets knows that we need to get a substantial amount of protein in our diets—about a third of a gram for every pound of body weight. Meat provides one of our best and most readily available sources of protein, but there are a lot of good reasons to think about cutting back or cutting out our consumption of animal products to satisfy our protein needs.

Aside from the obvious animal-rights issues, there are several economic and environmental considerations to consider. The USDA estimates that it takes roughly 16 pounds of grain to make one pound of beef. When you consider that one-third of the world's population is classified by the World Health Organization as starving, it's easy to see where some of that grain could be put to better use. Beef production also impacts the ecosystem, from the clear-cutting of rainforests for grazing to water pollution to methane emissions, which contribute to greenhouse gases. And the cost of meat to your personal health is also significant. Although packed with protein, many meat choices contain high levels of saturated fats, the overconsumption of which can lead to heart disease and cancer.

At any rate, this article isn't intended to be a polemic about the benefits of vegetarian living. Picking up a book like Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation or Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, not to mention any of the vast Internet resources available on the subject, might convince you to replace meat with an alternative protein source a couple of meals a week.

One challenge in going vegetarian is finding enough "high-quality" protein. High-quality protein is defined as protein that contains all eight of the essential amino acids: isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. Most meat sources have all of the amino acids in one place. Plant sources usually have some of the acids, but not all in one place. So the key is combining foods to get a full complement of amino acids. Here are some of the top ways to get your proteins sans meat. (Vegans, skip to #3, and keep in mind that #7 uses egg whites as a binder). We'll omit soy for the time being—it has its own set of conundrums and contradictions.

1. Eggs. Egg protein is commonly referred to as a "perfect protein," because it contains all eight essential amino acids. There's a reason Rocky drank eggs during training; they contribute greatly to muscle recovery. One egg contains 6 grams of protein, with only 80 calories and 5 grams of fat. It also contains more than 200 milligrams of dietary cholesterol, which is high, but dietary cholesterol isn't the same thing as blood cholesterol. In fact, some eggs are now produced with high levels of omega-3s (achieved by adding fatty-acid-rich seeds to the hens' diets), which can actually aid in the lowering of blood cholesterol levels.
2. Dairy. One cup of 2 percent milk contains 8 grams of protein, only 5 grams of fat (3 of which are saturated), and about 120 calories. Switch to skim milk and you get just as much protein, no fat, and 30 percent fewer calories. An ounce of Swiss cheese also has 8 grams of protein, 8 grams of fat (with 5 grams saturated), and a little over 100 calories. Nonfat yogurt may be your best dairy option: 8 ounces has 14 grams of protein and only 137 calories. Or try cottage cheese, which boasts 28 grams of protein in one cup. Many dairy products still have the same saturated-fat issues as meat, and not all people can tolerate dairy well; a not-inconsiderable percentage of the population is either lactose-intolerant or allergic to dairy.
3. Legumes. You probably already know some of the great health benefits of legumes. Not only are they high in fiber, they're high in protein, too. A cup of chickpeas has about 17 grams of protein, while a cup of lentils has about 16 and a tablespoon of peanut butter has about 4. Some people blame beans for intestinal distress. It actually isn't the fiber in the beans that causes gas, but a sugar that requires an enzyme (which humans lack) to help digest it. When soaking beans, add a pinch of baking soda to the water. It'll help leach this sugar out of the beans, making you less gassy after eating them. Also, to avoid the sugar, don't cook the beans in the water you soaked them in. Another cautionary measure is that if you weren't much of a bean eater before, introduce them into your diet slowly to give your system time to get used to them.
4. Grains. Usually we think of grains as carbs, but when we're talking grains, they actually have a fair amount of protein. A cup of barley, for example, contains almost 20 grams of protein. A cup of buckwheat flour contains 15 grams of protein. A cup of couscous (dry) contains 22 grams of protein. A cup of oats for oatmeal provides you with 13 grams of protein. If you always choose whole-grain varieties of your favorite grains, you'll get most of your recommended daily allowance (RDA)* of fiber as well. But carb-watchers should beware; whole grains are the "carbiest" of the protein sources available.
5. Nuts and seeds. The mighty almond, which also has the most fiber per ounce of any of the common nuts, also has the most protein—6 grams per ounce. Almonds do have 16 grams of fat per ounce, but only one gram is the unhealthy saturated kind. Pumpkin seeds, or pepitas, have 7 grams of protein per ounce (about 140 seeds) with 13 grams of fat (2 grams saturated). Other seeds, like sunflower and flax, are also good sources of protein, with about 5 grams per ounce.
6. Seitan. Seitan is a meat substitute made from processed wheat gluten. Popular for centuries in Asia, it has gained popularity in America in the past few decades, but is still largely only available in health food markets. It's not very flavorful, which makes it an ideal ingredient for replacing meat in any dish—it will assume the flavor of the sauce or spices you use. Many Asian dishes use it as mock pork, chicken, or beef. Just 3 ounces of seitan contain 20 grams of protein, almost twice as much as steak, and only 130 calories and 2 grams of fat. Try it in a stir-fry—you might fool your family!
7. Quorn^®. Quorn is the most well-known brand name of a fungus-based protein source that has only been available commercially since 1985. Quorn is processed into different forms and flavors, like hot dogs, burgers, and faux chicken nuggets. Three ounces of Quorn, depending on how it's prepared, can have 10 to 16 grams of protein, with low fat and calorie contents. As with seitan and other meat substitutes, you should keep an eye on the sodium content; salt is usually the go-to ingredient when attempting to disguise a meat substitute's origins. Also, there have been some reports of people having allergic reactions to Quorn, so it may be worth checking with your doctor to see if you're sensitive to it.
8. Nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast can be used as an additive in a variety of recipes. It's very popular in Europe and Australia, and is gaining popularity in America. It has a slightly cheesy flavor and can be added to shakes, soups, and sauces, or used as a substitute for Parmesan cheese or as a popcorn or garlic-bread topping. It's especially rich in B vitamins. A two-tablespoon serving has 8 grams of protein (and is a complete protein, containing all amino acids), only one gram of unsaturated fat, and 50 calories.
9. Spirulina. Also known as blue-green algae, this has been a food source for centuries in Africa and South America. It has a lot of vitamins and minerals and is a complete protein. One ounce of dried spirulina contains 16 grams of protein, only 2 grams of fat, and 81 calories. Algae aren't the most appetizing foodstuffs, and much of spirulina is consumed in pill form or mixed into super-green drinks (like Shakeology^®). But it can also be used powdered or fresh in dips, salads, and sauces. Take a look at Internet message boards and Web sites, where enthusiasts post lots of recipe ideas.
10. Amaranth and quinoa. These are often referred to as "pseudograins." Both are actually seeds but are similar to grains in texture and flavor. Both are complete proteins, containing all eight essential amino acids, and have high levels of fiber and minerals. Amaranth can be used as flour, puffed into breakfast cereal, or cooked into soups and stir-frys. One ounce has 4 grams of protein, 2 grams of fat, and 105 calories. Quinoa can also be used for breakfast cereal, and, when boiled, makes an excellent substitute for rice or couscous. One cup of cooked quinoa contains 8 grams of protein, 4 grams of fat, and 222 calories.

Another way of getting extra nonmeat protein in your diet is with Shakeology, Beachbody's delicious meal replacement shake. Available in Chocolate and Greenberry flavors, Shakeology packs 17 grams of protein per serving and is great either in place of a meal or as a snack. And of course I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Beachbody Whey Protein Powder. With 18 grams of protein in every scoop, and available in chocolate and vanilla flavors, it's a great addition to your health shake, containing the highest concentration of branched-chain amino acids—critical for muscle development—of any protein source. Additionally, if you're thinking of cutting back on fish in your diet, you might want to consider adding a decent omega-3 supplement to your regimen.

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Questions about your workout program, diet, the latest newsletter, or anything wellness related? Chat with the overseer of Beachbody's fitness and diet development, who also serves as your Fitness Advisor on the Message Boards, Steve Edwards, on Thursday, February 17th, at 8:00 PM ET, 5:00 PM PT. Go to the Team Beachbody Chat Room.

If you'd like to ask a question or comment on this newsletter article, just email us at mailbag@TeamBeachbody.com.

What does "organic" mean? What makes a fruit or vegetable organic? What about meat? And what are the benefits of buying and consuming organic foods rather than conventionally grown ones?