Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Myth of Organic Foods

Sure, everyone can agree that a diet consisting of pizza, fries and beer is probably not the best.
Some even forgo pork, shrimp, catfish or any other scavenger.
Others posit that a vegetarian/vegan diet is the best.
Still others claim that only an organic diet is acceptable.
So which doctrine is correct?

The truth is; There is no such thing as a completely organic diet in America today.
Organic farmers practice a natural process instead of a chemical process when producing foods.
Most use mulch, crop rotation, and manure instead of a chemical fertilizer.
Most use insects instead of chemical pesticides.
Most allow their animals to freely graze in pastures and sunlight and house their animals in cleaner environments instead of warehousing their herds in a maze of semi-sterile holding pens.

But what of the manure?
Did the manure come from cows which have only grazed in clean pastures?
What of the insects?
Did the insects ingest pesticides from another polluted field?
What of the water?
Is the groundwater free from heavy metals, pesticides or any other chemicals?
What about the mulch?
Is the mulch from a forest which had no chemicals in the air or soil?

Even if these cleaner criteria are met - what about their packaging?
Don't plastic containers contain petroleum and aren't some petroleum products linked to BPAs?
Aren't canned goods also found to contain BPAs?
(Yes, Even Whole Foods canned goods contain BPAs.)
What about cooking your food?
Are you aware of the dangers from a microwave, Teflon pans or aluminum pots?

Even if all this can be avoided - is your home so free of unwanted molds, fumes, or residues that these can never be ingested?
The truth of the matter is that we can only make an effort to avoid intentionally inducing unhealthy materials through our diets.
Most of the time we are going to have to just live with the fact that we are doing the best with what we have.
That our current "Healthy Diet" is really not that healthy at all.
That our current "Healthy Diet" is just not as unhealthy as the common American junk food diet.

So what's the solution?
Well, someone once said, "Eat, drink and be merry - for tomorrow we die.".

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