Yo, going organic ain’t easy but it’s necessary. This post isn’t going to be about why regular food is bad and organic food is good. This article is about two often overlooked sides of going organic: it’s not always the best choice and going organic for your neighbor.
Organic Is Not Always the Best Choice…
Screeeeechhh! Say what! I thought if it was organic it must be healthy? Heck no my friend. One debate I enter into quite often is about the unhealthy side of organic foods. Let’s face it, a manufacturer is a manufacturer and the bottom line is always king to any business. If it wasn’t we would pay half price for organic foods, but we’ll discuss that next.
What I am talking about here can be summed up in a recent conversation I overheard between two moms at Publix. As I was collecting my usual items in the organic aisle of my Publix, two moms were shopping. One of them actually shouted, “Thank God! I can now get oganic Pop Tarts! I felt so bad feeding them to my kids but now I don’t have to feel crappy anymore.”
OH MY GOD! I almost fell over into my cart. To this lady an organic Pop Tart is OK! Let’s not have a healthy breakfast, let’s just have an organic Pop Tart and send scooter off to school loaded with natural sugar and organic white flour. I’m sure the teacher can handle his sugar rush and crash with the other 20 or so kids in the room.
Do you see my point? Junk food is junk food is junk food is junk food. Plain and simple. Please don’t fall into the trap of thinking just because you buy the organic marketing version of a product that you are now making an enlightened choice. Same for transfat free Oreos. So what! An Orea is still loaded with diabetes causing sugar. The improved version just won’t jam up your arteries as fast.
Brother…Can You Spare an Oraganic Apple?
It is a shame that in our nation the poorest individuals of our society are forced to eat the garbage that manufacturers put into the food system. Many people, some of my family and friends included, just can’t affort to double their weekly grocery bill to buy organic foods. Doing that means deciding between gas in the car or organic groceries in the house. They have to load their pantries full of items chocked full of transfats, nitrates, pesticides, high fructose corn syrup and other nasty things which are shown more and more every day to not only be cancer linked, but also to be causing a huge obesity epedimic. Don’t you find it odd that our most unhealthy states and cities happen to be in the poorest communities?
As a family we made the decision to buy organic when possible in hopes that the more people who do it, the higher the product demand and thus, price comes down. It breaks my heart to see how much crap really is in the foods we all like. For example, avoiding high fructose corn syrup in your foods is like avoiding sex and violence on TV. Good luck!
I still have my protein bars and shakes and other non-organic foods, but each week we are switching more and more to the organic versions because it is about the only foods you can read the label and understand what you are eating. Who knows…maybe it is or isn’t healthier for us, maybe pesticides in our food isn’t that big a deal, and maybe the food really doesn’t taste any better. But, I’m not comfortable rolling the dice with the health of my family on a maybe. I just hope that one day anyone who wants to live an organic lifestyle can. If buying it now while the price is jacked up will make a difference, then so be it. Here’s my money oh organic food producer!
The most important thing to take away from this article is this: go organic when it makes sense for your health. Check the labels and learn all you can about foods and what you want your family ingesting. If it’s junk food, it’s junk food. A pretty organic label doesn’t mean healthy. It just means it met a higher production standard.
Now, I shall carefully climb down from my box and go have my organic peanut butter.
__________________
Daily Exercise: Shoulders!!! This shoulder routine is a tough one that incorporates core training along with a lot of ways to hit the shoulders hard.
Superset One: 4 sets
Seated Rear Delts
Full Circle Raises
Leg In and Outs on bench
Superset Two: 3 sets
High Cable Rear Delt Pulls
Shrugs
Hand to Knee Crunches
Superset Three: 4 sets
Arnold Press
Upright Rows
Arnold Press
Bicycle Crunch
Superset Four: 3 sets
Plate Raises
Straight Leg Incline Lifts
Cardio: Again, I’m getting in those walks for the three day. Today was 3 miles. I jogged 2 min. walked fast 3 the three miles. I’ll be doing some Cardio Directory moves tomorrow for high intensity.
Daily Food Journal:
B – Egg Whites, banana, Toast and Jelly WW/SF
S – SBD 140 Cal Bar
L – Spin salad with Spicey Thai Tuna, Feta, and 1/4 cup of cottage cheese
S – Popcorn and raisins
S – A load of peanut butter!!! Craving fat and TOM is coming. I always crave PB right before TOM.
D – Grapefruit, Spinach salad with grilled chicken and cucumber
S – Cantaloupe and Sherbet
Corinne,
I have been trying to go Organic when available. One issue I have is that many times it seems as though the organic version of prepackaged foods is higher than that of its non-organic counterpart.
Have you had this experiece? Do you see it as a do-able tradeoff?
As always, thank you.
Comment by fitme2006 — April 10, 2007 @ 6:29 pm
Yes…it’s almost always a lot more expensive. I know it costs more to raise organic and such, but I think as more major brands get involved it will help bring overall costs down. The major brands won’t do it unless they can see that there is a strong demand. It’s getting better and more mainstream, but it will still take awhile before it becomes available to everyone.
Comment by phitnphat — April 10, 2007 @ 6:41 pm
Oops, that should have read higher in SUGAR. I didn’t notice I had left that out. Sprry about that.
Comment by fitme2006 — April 11, 2007 @ 6:15 pm
Corrine,
I have been a long time lurker on your site and on your daily WW thread.
I could have written this article about organic food! It is so true. I buy as much organic for our family of 7 as our budget can hold. My hope is that, like you, if enough people buy organic the prices will go down and then my grown children can afford to eat organic food . Right now they can only have it when they visit for dinner, which is frequently!
Thank you.
Kelly
Comment by Kelly — April 15, 2007 @ 7:32 am