Issue 2 - March 2004

Greetings!

Like the fresh green shoots emerging from Mother Nature this spring, Nutiva is expanding with vibrant new growth. We're excited to announce the expansion of our product offerings to include Nutiva Organic Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil.

Nutiva customers often ask me, "What kind of cooking oil is the healthiest?" While hemp oil is best used raw for dressings, coconut oil is the ideal all-purpose cooking oil. Yet coconut, like hemp, has been unfairly demonized by powerful interests.

Nutiva is celebrating the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals 3-0 ruling in favor of the hemp foods industry on February 6, 2004. If you live in California (or have friends who do), everyone's invited to attend the Hemp Foods Victory Parties in Ojai, Santa Monica, and San Francisco on March 26th, March 27th, and April 10th.

Since the amazing court victory, our sales have shot to the moon. It seems Nutiva customers are more comfortable now that they're not having to worry about the DEA looking over their shoulders and checking what's in their delicious, Omega-3-rich salad dressings or granola bars!

In health,

John W. Roulac
Founder and President
Nutiva

Canadian Hemp
Field

Enjoy the Heavenly, Creamy Taste of the Tropics: Nutiva Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is rich in medium-chain saturated fatty acids, which have numerous health-giving qualities.

Ideal as a high-heat cooking oil, a "better than butter" spread for bread and steamed veggies, or a tasty and nutritious substitute for shortening in baking, coconut oil is solid at room temperature, melts at 76 degrees, and requires no refrigeration.

The key to optimizing coconut oil's taste, color, and aroma is in how it's processed. Within two hours of Nutiva's fresh coconuts being chopped, our oil is cold-pressed. Contrast this to 99 percent of the coconut oil used in today's cooking and body care products: the opened coconut is left to dry in the sun for days, then the meat is sent thousands of miles to giant oil mills for refining, bleaching, and deodorizing. And, ironically, this product is often labeled as "certified organic."

There is no comparison between Nutiva's raw, unrefined, extra-virgin Organic Coconut Oil, with its light taste, delightful aroma, and pure white color, and industrialized coconut oil, with its bland taste, faint aroma, and grayish color. Nutiva's coconut oil is packed in a clear, 15-ounce jar, and retails for around $12. Also available in 1 and 5 gallon bulk sizes. Outdated "corporate-speak" assumptions such as "zero fat is good" and "tropical fats are bad" are now being increasingly questioned by millions of Americans.

The traditional Pacific Islander diet consists of large quantities of coconuts, and those islanders who still follow this diet have a low incidence of heart disease and weight problems. When a Western-style diet including vegetable oils is substituted for the traditional coconut diet, many of the diseases common in the United States often increase.

1% Donation Spotlight: Votehemp.com

Votehemp.com is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the acceptance of a free market for industrial hemp. Vote Hemp recently published a Voter Guide for the 2004 election listing the positions on industrial hemp of all candidates for the US Congress and Senate. Make sure to check the positions of your representatives and let them know where you stand on the issue.

This all-volunteer group does an outstanding job, and thanks to their efforts we are moving ever closer to the commercialization of industrial hemp in America.

The following organizations have also received contributions from Nutiva:

Bioneers
The Ecological Farming Association
Hemp Industries Association
Organic Farming Research Council
Oregon Concerned Citizens for Safe Food
The Land Institute
Watts Garden Club

Book Review

Coconut Oil for Health and Beauty
By Cynthia Holzapfel and Laura Holzapfel - 127 pages - Copyright 2003
ISBN 1-57067-158-3

This new book adds to the growing list of educational resources on the benefits of coconut oil. The authors do an excellent job of reviewing the basics on fats, as in this excerpt: "When coconut oil is substituted for oils high in Omega-6 fatty acids, it has a beneficial impact on the ratio of Omega-6s to Omega-3s, and helps improve health in a variety of ways."

Coconut Oil for Health and Beauty offers an extensive recipe section, and also contains helpful tips on using coconut oil for body care.

Health Tip

Don't Panic . . . Go Organic!

Many 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 as potentially cancer-causing. Organic farming keeps harmful chemicals and pesticides out of the foods we eat and the beverages we drink. Organic farms also benefit farm workers by preventing their exposure to chemicals and synthetic pesticides.

News Bytes

Nutiva Hires Industry Veteran Jim Rabiolo As Its National Sales Manager

Farmers Planning Hemp Factory

Mendocino County Voters Ban Biotech Crops -
First County in US to Bar Gene-Altered Farming

Government Vehicles First to Test Coconut Diesel