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.".
Did you recently see the news item from the UK about the largest supplier of Organic meat being charged and found guilty of fraud because all he was doing was buying cheap meat from the abattoirs and packaging it as organic?
ReplyDeleteWithout knowing the supplier personally one has to remain highly skeptical about organic labeling.
But I really do wish that apple growers didn't cover their apples with wax. If worms won't eat it why are we humans being forced to eat it. I don't want a shiny apple that looks like a waxwork.
What you say has merit when you look at things from the bottom up. However, if you do eat organic produce, you are limiting your exposure to the pesticides. And if you grow your own food, you're further limiting the bad stuff. Me and my husband have decided not to use plastic wrap this year, so we are trying to phase it out. That is very hard but we use ceramic bowls and wax paper and foil sometimes plastic wrap but we need alternatives. A nigga can get all paranoid with everything being a toxin but if alternatives are presented that don't cost an arm and a leg then people are more apt to use them.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the documentary Food, Inc? If not def check it out.
ReplyDeleteSadly, there seems to be no real way to exempt ourselves from the deadly and cancer causing chemicals and pesticides. I once had chickens and fresh eggs, what a treat those eggs were!
ReplyDeleteIt has always been a dream of to grow my own food....
I have a few fruit trees in my yard, a vegatable garden and I get fresh meat from the family farm all the time.
ReplyDeleteWhile I can try to limit my exposure - I can never eliminate all of the man-made materials (or their by-products) from my diet.
part of the reason I drive an older car and have a home that is aged is that I then reduce my exposure to the chemicals gassing off from all the plastics and adhesives that are in our artifacts.
ReplyDeleteI did try living in a clean air environment doing the home grown food and fresh mountain water thing, it just got too hard. I am a product of soft modern living and don't have the endurance of the older generations.
But then I have no desire to live to a ripe old age and live longer than my friends and relatives so what I do to maintain my health is good enough.