eating organic

a friend of mine, who is considering the switch to eating organic, polled some friends for some advice. essentially, she wanted to know why we made the switch. after thinking about it, i thought i'd dive into that question right here.

and so, here is why we eat organic (and the details on how we do it)...

on the day that we discovered that we were preggers with baby girl e, we switched to organic. just like that- without asking a single question or really knowing why- just because we figured it was "better". we didn't go to the library to check out a book, we didn't have friends that were talking it up, we didn't google it or read about it in what to expect when you're expecting... for us it was a sort of flippant decision that didn't gain real momentum until later.

those first few months of eating "organic" really meant shopping at whole foods (or as my friend refers to it- whole paycheck). if it was at whole paycheck, then we deemed it good. and that was that... for the time.

when e was a baby, i went to visit my sister stacy. while there, we joined her on a run to pick up her csa (community supported agriculture) box. we also observed how her family was doing organic and it got little old me asking some questions.

and that is when i started doing some research. as i read articles and dug deeper i realized that this was something that i really cared about. i learned about pesticides and toxins, about sustainable farming, about antibiotics given to animals and about diseases that are now becoming more and more prevalent in the human body. from what i could see, there were direct links between the changes in farming practices and the health of our bodies.

pesticides are causing our bodies to react differently to the foods we eat. they are also causing natural foods (think broccoli) to be less nutritious for us because as the foods absorb the pesticides they chemically change the value of the food. the nutrients that we think we are getting from fruits and veggies are no longer being processed by our bodies in the same way. essentially, the vitamins that go into our bodies aren't being absorbed in the same quantities. so while we think we are getting x amount of vitamins c, k, a, folate and fiber (to name a few), our bodies absorb less. again, from what i could tell, it looked like the use of pesticides threw the entire food pyramid out of whack.

next was toxins. food dyes contain them. medicines contain them as do sodas, junk food, artificial sweeteners and meat. there are direct links between these toxins and a whole slew of cancers (kidney, stomach, bladder and brain... just to name a few). there are also a huge slew of connections between these toxins and reproductive health.

and then there is the dreaded antibiotic and growth hormones. in an effort to speed up the process from birth to slaughter- lots of cattle and poultry farmers are beefing up their animals to allow them to get bigger faster. they also don't have time to care for each animal individually, so they inject them with antibiotics to keep the livestock "healthy". rather than treating just the sick animals, they give them routinely to all their animals... you know, just in case. the problem is that growth hormones and antibiotics, while being helpful to the farmers bottom line (more milk from cows, more cows at the slaughter table and bigger animals) aren't helpful to humans. growth hormones are linked to reproductive health issues and early on-set puberty. they are also linked to a several different kinds of cancer. antibiotics are linked to antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. this means that when we really are sick and need to be treated with antibiotics, our bodies don't respond to the medicine.

in my research i also learned that lots of other countries have banned some of the things we deem safe in the united states. there are many countries that refuse to import american beef because of this, as the don't stand behind our farming practices. this always gets me going- as i would rather the government agencies ere on the side of caution. unfortunately, farming and government have a difficult time being separate in the usa- there is a lot to be gained by both sides by being in sync.

then there is the waste issue. as animals ingest all of these things (pesticides, toxins, growth hormones and antibiotics) they also excrete all of these things. as they do so, they contaminate the soil. future crops grown with the manure becomes less rich in nutrients... it's a vicious cycle.

and for me, that was about all i needed to know. and so we found a csa in chicago, began to scrutinize our whole paycheck purchases (to really get down to the health of it) and we became more convicted about some other decisions that we had made for our family (alternative medicine and vaccinations- both issues for another post).

over the years, we've had ups and downs with all of this. sometimes i am diligent in aligning my shopping habits with our beliefs, and at other times i am less rigid. but overall, we try to be as organic as possible. if i'm at your house for dinner, i don't think twice about eating what you serve me and don't fret or judge. life is about moderation. i figure that if i do my best to limit our intake of foods containing the above "stuff", than i figure we are that much less at risk. if i'm in a hurry and don't have time for a run to whole foods, i do my best at the local grocery store. if we are in a hurry, we eat fast food. we also dine out at restaurants.

and most importantly, i try to remember that there are a lot of variables. our health is out of my control. i can do what i think is best, but that doesn't mean that we won't get cancer, be resistant to needed antibiotics or have other health concerns.

is it a sacrifice? does it take the whole paycheck? is it difficult?

well, yes it's a sacrifice. we allocate more for food than we would if we shopped at the local chain (although it does all depend on how you shop- i've compared budgets with a friend who doesn't eat organic and has the same family size and found that we actually spend less). i don't really think of it as "whole paycheck" so much, but more of "whole health". my kids are living proof of that- with three children we have administered antibiotics twice over our years of parenting.

the difficulty question is harder for me to answer- i kind of like grocery shopping (i know that might be considered a little weird). i also kind of like taking the road less traveled, so to speak. figuring it all out- finding the csa, cheapest place to buy organic meat, on-line sources of organic goodness- kind of gets me jazzed. i'll admit, since having three kids and moving to a new community, it has had its moments. i've been fed up with the challenge at times and then at other times, i've found it to be easy.

and there you have it... our journey to organic eating. and as an added bonus, it's good for the environment, too. (wow- this post might have spurred on a whole slew of other posts! stay tuned...)