Local Options for Food Democracy: Four local businesses are embracing food democracy by empowering consumers to eat healthier.

Processed-Free America

Processed-Free America is a nonprofit offering interactive, hands-on nutrition classes for children and adults. Their mission is to eliminate childhood and adult obesity through empowerment, education and courage. It teaches children and adults how to eat non-processed whole foods while working within their food budget. Instructors show people that healthful foods can be affordable and food preparation is doable.

Founder and Nutrition Director Dee McCaffrey is the author of The Science of Skinny and The Science of Skinny Cookbook and a holistic nutrition instructor at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts. She teaches courses in organic food policy, affordability and sustainability, holistic consciousness and nutrition science.

For more information, call 888-322-9442 or visit ProcessedFreeAmerica.org.

 

Agriscaping Technologies, LLC

Justin Rohner, CEO, says, “We firmly believe that we each have an inalienable right to cultivate our own health or illness, whatever we choose. Growing our own is the most transparent and trusted source of healthy, fresh food.” He feels that agriscaping helps people grow their own health and improve healthy food access and sustainability by transforming landscapes into elegant, edible food gardens, easily managed with the help of their innovative online tools and training, as well as a growing network of certified agriscaping professionals and educators.

For more information, call 480-336-2518 or visit Agriscaping.com.

 

Urban Farm and Urban Farm U

The Urban Farm offers many free and paid in-person and online courses that share how easy it is to plug into the local food economy. Owner Greg Peterson states, “Nutrition is the name of the food game these days. The industrial food system grows food that can be full of toxic chemicals and lacking in nutrition. When we grow our own food using organic techniques, we can grow more densely nutritious food and we know there are no toxic chemicals in it.”

For a free desert planting calendar, visit UrbanFarm.org.

 

Experience Nutrition Group, LLC

Melanie Albert, a holistic nutrition instructor at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, founder and CEO of Experience Nutrition Group, LLC, is teaching a whole food Seasonal, Organic, Unprocessed, Local (SOUL) Food Cooking course, with hands-on interactive intuitive cooking, as well as a Conscious Eating Course for Weight Release and Healthy Lifestyle.

In this intuitive cooking and eating approach, participants actively create healthy organic dishes with real whole foods using simple cooking techniques and mindfully enjoy eating their meals. They also shop for local, in-season produce for the classes at Arizona farmers’ markets and farms.

For more information about Albert, call 602-615-2486 or visit expnutrition.com. Learn about the holistic nutrition and urban farming courses at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts by visiting swiha.edu.

 

Read our article on Food Democracy by clicking here.