Tom van Oosterhout - Our Green Health

Healthy Lifestyle: What are the Lifetime Benefits of Organic Food

28/01/202208/02/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

The benefits of organic food are numerous. We buy and eat organic food, because it’s better for our environment, for biodiversity, for our food supply, for our health, and for farmers as well. How to explain all these advantages?

For us, to buy organic food is a way to contribute to a better world. With this in mind, we have no problem with the extra price we pay for organic food. It’s an investment that pays off immediately.

Organic food is in fact cheap because we hardly spend money on doctors or medication. We also enjoy investing in the devotion and enthusiasm of the organic farmers and shopkeepers we know. We admire their craftsmanship and their courage for going against the conventional farmers and food industry.

Agrifood Chain Overlooks the Importance of Customer Loyalty

28/01/202201/02/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

The importance of customer loyalty is overlooked by the agrifood chain. The loyalty of consumers is questioned by acting as if they’re stupid. That is one of the opinions I shared in the series of articles I recently wrote about the agrifood complex and its impact on customers.

The first article discussed the food anxiety depression that’s sold to us by governments, agrifood businesses, and scientists.

The second article introduced the debate about food safety.

The third article explained the complexity of the debate about food and the food industry.

In this article, I express my surprise about the lack of the food industry’s confidence in their own capacities. I will illustrate this with two examples. The first is the dairy debate that emerged in The Netherlands at the beginning of the 21st century. The next is the false claims in the European Parliament that the European Green Deal will cause food shortages.

What is Sustainability in Food and How Can we Achieve it?

24/01/202228/01/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

What is sustainability in food and how can we achieve it, is the central question I addressed in my previous 2 articles. In this article, I will explain why governments, the agrifood industry, supermarkets, and scientists, do a lousy job when it comes to the citizen’s sustainability agenda.

In my first article, of this series of 3, I argued that we don’t really suffer from food anxiety depression.

In my second article, I stated that in general, we consider our food to be safe.

Why is Food Safety Important for All of Us?

16/01/202218/01/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

Why is food safety important and what is the connection with the food anxiety depression theory?

In the first article of this series, I explained food anxiety depression as a political, business, and scientific theory. From various perspectives, I tested the credibility of this theory. Specifically from the consumer perspective, this credibility seems very low.

Our behaviour gives away how confident we are about our food, as well as our fears and uncertainties. As has been referred to in the first article. Another indicator of confidence in food may be the consumer’s willingness to pay for greater food safety.

Do We All Suffer from a Food Anxiety Depression?

18/01/202214/01/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

The Food Anxiety Depression is a theory with very strong roots in government and food industry policies and in the science community: “What we can and cannot eat is determined by our fears and uncertainties. This anxiety is incited by the progress that has been made during the past 50 years.”

These are the words of a prominent international expert on food and agriculture. Yet, can we trust these words to be true? Are we really that anxious about what we eat? Did the progress of modern society indeed impose a food anxiety depression on all of us?

Moreover, if food anxiety depression is really spread widely, can we still speak of progress? Do we fear our food? From an opposite point of view we may ask ourselves: is our food dangerous?

Unlock the Benefits of Reducing Food Waste with a Personal Food Plan

06/04/202204/01/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

The best way to start to reduce food waste is by developing a Personal Food Plan. This plan helps you to reduce food waste by reflecting on why, what, when, how, and where you eat.

Your Personal Food Plan has many more advantages, but for now, I stick to the benefits of reducing food waste. Write your Personal Food Plan down on your laptop or mobile, or by hand in a journal.

I will explain the details of the plan in this article. At the bottom of the article, you find a link to an example of a Personal Food Plan.

How to Live with a History of Allergies

18/01/202228/12/2020 by Tom van Oosterhout

A history of allergies can have a severe impact on our lives. More and more people are diagnosed with allergies. Particularly food allergies are on the rise.

When we visit the food department of the supermarket there are a lot of products on offer without gluten. We all have friends that are afraid of bees or peanuts. A lot of dust in the air makes most of us sneeze.

Allergies are related to many other ailments. How to handle the consequences of allergies is not easy. For people with mild to serious consequences, this is a lifetime job. Moreover, with the current pandemic much more is at stake.