Why we go organic

My organic/whole food story started about 4 years ago (2007) while I was a youth minister.  I noticed that I was packing on the pounds as a youth minister because I was eating really poorly due to lack of self care.   Basically I was letting my job eat my life up and didn't take the time to cook for myself or even pack lunches.  I just kept buying ready made food from the grocery deli or restaurants. 

I began to feel really uncomfortable with my body because I couldn't fit into my clothes anymore and I didn't really feel like replacing my entire wardrobe.  I talked to a few of my youth group volunteers about it and one of the dads talked to me about how his family went all natural/organic and about the impact it made in their lives. 

He said that their kids dropped extra weight they were carrying, they started being able to concentrate better, and everything just seemed to improve.  He also told me that when you go organic that you tend to pay more attention to what you put in your body. 

So I thought, "What the heck?  I'll try this whole natural/organic thing and see if I can drop a few pounds to make my clothes fit better."  What youth minister can't use a bit more help concentrating too?  I think I knew on a certain level that all those chemicals and pesticides in processed and conventionally grown foods couldn't have really been doing me any good, but I didn't know a lot about all of it then.

So initially my switch to organic was based around body and weight issues.  After a few months (like 3 or 4) I dropped about 10 pounds.  I was shocked.  I wasn't even exercising.  I wasn't really back down to college weight, but I was pretty darned excited to have lost that much just by paying more attention to what I put in my body.


When Jon and I got engaged and started talking about what our household would look like after we got married he mentioned that his mom does everything organic and all natural and he'd like us to do that.  This was great news, because then I could continue this organic thing with support!  I imagine it'd be pretty hard to convince someone who isn't sold on the idea that paying (sometimes a lot) more for organic food is a good idea.  The fact that it didn't take Jon any convincing was great for me.

I got pregnant 3 months after we got married and I started reading a few more articles about kids and organic foods.  One of the statistics that stuck in my head most was one that said kids who eat conventionally grown foods have 11 times more pesticide residues in their body than kids who eat organic.   ELEVEN TIMES???? 

Now, I know that many people have said that there is no real difference in health benefits from organic foods vs. conventionally grown food, but as a college bio major, let me submit this as an argument.
I don't think people test pesticide consumption on humans in labs.  As far as I know that would be pretty unethical.  So I don't really think there is sufficient data about this topic. 
I do know (from a friend who taught a Just Faith course in her parish) that there are adverse effects to farm workers and their children from the pesticides sprayed on their farms.  This has been studied. 

I don't know, I guess in my gut I just figure that if you have to genetically modify a crop so that it doesn't die when you spray your chemicals on it, that something is wrong.  I also figure that if you have to combine tomato genes with frog genes so that your tomato can withstand colder temperatures, maybe you shouldn't be growing tomatoes in colder temperatures. 

Genetically modified crops are also untested and it's a pretty scary thing in the medical community, because you have no idea what those virus, bacteria, other organism genes are going to do when they accumulate in the human body.  Doesn't that freak you out?  It freaks me out. 

Not to mention the effects that all those pesticides and genetically modified crops are having on the environment.  Not good people.

We also watched Food Inc, Food Matters, and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  Those we watched in the last few months.  Those documentaries really solidified our rationale that the way you eat can really impact the way you live and that eating organic, free range, grass fed meat can lower your risk of a few food borne illnesses.

So that's why we go organic.  Our health, our kids health, the farmworker's health, the environment, the scary gmo crops, and basically putting our money where we want growth.  If we create a demand for organic crops, then organic crops will lower in price.  I think that's what they taught me in microeconomics anyways. 


Other than that we stay away from:
-high fructose corn syrup, because your body can't digest it and can lead to obesity (not to mention gmo corn!)
- hydrogenated oils, because trans fat never leaves your body
- MSG, because it messes up your central nervous system, can cause endocrine organ disorders, cardiac distress, and other crazy stuff.  I also happen to have sensitivity to it that makes my head feel like a balloon when something is heavily seasoned with it. 
- unfermented soy (not soy sauce or miso), because of the estrogen mimics that can mess up your hormonal balances


I'll be honest.  It is expensive.  Organic milk is like $5 a gallon.  Organic eggs....yeesh, expensive.  Organic produce is getting better when it's in season.  Organic, grass fed meat can also be pretty crazy depending on where you get it from. 

So here are the small things that I do that make a little difference in our bills. 
- I make our own yogurt.
- I bake all our bread, tortillas, cookies, and anything else involving flour (organic flour in the bulk section is cheap cheap cheap!!)
- I try to buy as much organic in bulk as possible through either costco or the bulk section of central market
- I'll buy whole chickens and separate the pieces myself
- We eat smaller portions of meat and I buy meat from our local butcher shop instead of the supermarket
- I try to make the most out of cheap cuts and only get great cuts when there's room to splurge
- We do eat a lot of frozen organic veggies because they're cheaper to get in huge bags at costco
- I make our facewash and my deodorant and we use baking soda and cider vinegar on our hair
- I use coconut oil instead of lotion (a jar of that lasts forever)

I think that's about it.  I end up doing a lot of things from scratch, but I think it makes us value things a bit more and I think I end up eating less because of it.  Basically if it takes me forever to make, I think twice about eating a whole stash of it at once.  Ha ha!