WHY ORGANIC + BEYOND ORGANIC

WHY I eat organic produce and BEYOND ORGANIC animal products

1) Organic fruits/veggies/seeds/nuts/grains

First, as I have mentioned before, I believe there is a link between chemicals (pesticides, fertilizers) and disease. I consider these pollutants, and conventional growing puts these in our air, our water, and food – a three-way assault on our bodies. Beyond Pesticides posts links to studies that study the link between pesticides and Alzheimer’s Disease, Asthma, Birth Defects, Cancer, Diabetes, Parkinsons, and more. For me, it just seems to pass the common sense test… if it kills strong weeds, insects, garden pests, contaminates our groundwater and soils and we are encouraged to use masks when applying, then maybe it isn’t something I want to be spreading around, much less eating.

Nuff said??

Tomorrow, I will post some ways to make eating organic produce more affordable. Stay tuned!

2) BEYOND ORGANIC animal products

Growing up, my family had cows. They were raised and sold to the feed barns. I was lucky to never see them jammed into a stall, standing in manure to their kneecaps with no room to turn this way or that. They grazed on the grass, on hay bales, on salt licks. In fact, one day, at the innocent age of 3, I decided to make my rounds giving them their daily hug and a bull had awakened on the wrong side of the bed! He straight head butted me and I flew through the air like a rag doll. Our chickens roamed freely. We lost some here and there to coyotes, the family dog, and chicken snakes.  My grandma had a large coop and I remember collecting eggs for her in my summers. We had a few pigs and goats and rabbits – none of them were very nice to me but maybe it was because I was so full of hugs and they weren’t feeling it. But, it was a happy little farm – pigs snorting, roosters crowing, baby cows and goats that needed to be fed milk. But that’s not how it was outside our little pasture. This was a true “going to the farm” scenario every child doesn’t want to know about. When our little ones got big enough to be shipped off, I didn’t know what happened.

I won’t go through the long story of what happens to these animals. Most of you know. The rest of you can easily find out. Google debeaking, CAFO, rBGH, or what happens in the stomach of corn fed cows. The animals aren’t treated humanely in the least. They are sick. They are stuffed with fat – which then in turns makes the consumers fat. 70% of the antibiotics in this country go into livestock production. Do you think that magically disappears when we eat them?

So, I ask, do you WANT to eat this? Or, if it was made more price competitive and available, would you opt for a cow, a chicken, a pig that wanders the fields eating grass and bugs, maybe some garden scraps, gets sun, exercise, shelter. A stress-free life. Stress causes problems for humans – why not for animals?

You can also look up any number of studies that prove these animals (and their milk and eggs) have much better nutritional profiles than industry-produced animals. These industrial animal factories also pollute the air and the water. Waste lagoons are not the environmental treasure companies would like you to think they are. This is a topic I could write an entire book on (and several are out there so I won't reinvent the wheel).

If you still think the jury is out, respond to this post and I will give you more information. Or, just rent Food, Inc. I think it's under five bucks on amazon.

So, now that I have provided a little background on why to eat this way, I can tell you more about how. Where to go, how to eat this way without breaking the bank. How I eat. All to come.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon.