Welcome back to Keepin' it Green in the Kitchen: Part 2 of my short series.

If you missed Part 1 last month, you can read it here.

Among other topics, I focused on buying local foods, growing your own foods and the environmental impact of some foods.

This month, I’m going to address why eating less processed foods is beneficial, why purchasing organic foods makes sense – and which ones to purchase– as well as how to reduce food waste.

Less processed foods are better!

You’ve probably heard that less processed foods are better for your health.

The more processed the food, the more the nutrients have been removed.

A baked potato is much healthier than French fries. Fresh vegetables and fruits are better than canned, especially if salt and sugar have been added. Your body knows the difference.

Less processed foods also make more sense from an environmental perspective. Processing foods requires energy, water, and other resources.

Take the Green Living Tips white rice vs. brown rice example.

To produce brown rice, seeds are run through a rice huller/husker for milling to remove the outer grain husks. That’s it.

White rice requires additional steps. The germ and the inner husk (bran) are removed and the grain is then polished, usually using glucose or talc. Then some white rices are even fortified to add back some of the nutrients that were removed.

Those synthetic vitamins may be produced in laboratories and factories from a variety of chemicals, meaning more negative impact on the environment.

Brown bread vs. white bread is a similar case.

Not used to brown rice and brown bread? It may take several weeks to get used to them.

Now that I’ve adapted, however, I find white bread to be pasty and flavorless. White rice is also too bland. The only real disadvantage I see to brown rice is the added cooking time required; it requires a little more advanced planning for dinner.

There are so many dietary changes we can make to reduce our environmental impact and to eat healthier!

Try a simple vegetarian meal of stir fry with tofu at home instead of a trip to a fast food restaurant for a burger, for example.

Choose organics when possible

I would love to buy all organic food, but that would blow my food budget (and my husband would kill me!)

The Wikipedia definition of organic foods is "foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives."

Environmentally speaking, organics make sense.

Additionally, the general consensus across several general surveys and studies is that organic farming is less damaging for the following reasons:

• Organic farms do not consume or release synthetic pesticides into the environment – some of which have the potential to harm soil, water and local terrestrial and aquatic wildlife.

• Organic farms are better than conventional farms at sustaining diverse ecosystems, i.e., populations of plants and insects, as well as animals.

• When calculated either per unit area or per unit of yield, organic farms use less energy and produce less waste, e.g., waste such as packaging materials for chemicals.

Some of the suggested health benefits of organic foods are debatable, but here are several possible health benefits found here.