I have started a new organic diet because of reading books like "The Omnivores Dilemma" and articles like the oene below. It grosses me out what they do to food we eat. Even though its because they are trying to cut costs they are in turn killing us in a way. Sometimes I think about the people that eat fast food all the time and how fat they get and they say they don't have a choice. If we aren't careful we'll all be like that. Modifying foods can help for the mass production craze in America but adding things like oil and pesticides are just bad. Did you know that protrolium oil is added to corn so they can grow strongly closer together. Animals like Cattle are fed old animal parts of hogs, chickens and even within their own species to help fatten them up.
I know you are what you eat therefore I am going completely organic. Except for milk I haven't done any research on milk yet... but I feel I'll be adapting to soy products really soon.
What's ORGANIC?
For plant foods to be considered organic they can't have been subjected to any synthetic fertilizers or chemicals (like pesticides); the land they're grown on must be certified organic; and genetic modification and irradiation are off limits.
When it comes to animal foods, organic refers to livestock that has access to the outdoors, has been given only organic feed for at least a year, and hasn't been treated with antibiotics or growth hormones.
What is LOCALLY GROWN?
Locally grown is a less definitive term, some say it applies only to foods grown within a 100-mile radius, others stretch it to 250-miles, and one pioneer of the movement defines it as food grown within a "day's leisurely drive from your home."
It also usually means seasonal food from small farms, as opposed to the massive agribusinesses where most supermarket food comes from.
1. FREE OF ANTIBIOTICS, ADDED HORMONES, GMO FEED, AND OTHER DRUGS; NO GMO ANIMALS
2. MAD COW SAFEGUARD: ANIMALS AREN'T FORCED TO BE CANNIBALS
3. USUALLY - HUMANE, ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS
4. USUALLY - ANIMALS FREE -RANGE AND GRAZE
5. THE MIGHT AND MENACE OF MANURE
6. ANIMALS ARE INTEGRAL TO SMALL FARMS
7. FEWER CHEMICALS USED
8. DIVERSITY
9. SAVE RESOURCES
10. YOUR DOLLARS SUPPORT SMALL FARMS
THE WHY, HOW AND HIGHLIGHTS OF THESE TOP TEN
1. FREE OF ANTIBIOTICS, ADDED HORMONES, GMO FEED, AND OTHER DRUGS; NO GMO ANIMALS
WHY: Animals raised organically are not allowed to be fed antibiotics, the bovine human growth hormone (rbGH), or other artificial drugs. Animals are also not allowed to eat genetically modified foods.
Further, animal products certified as organic can not have their genes modified (for example, a scorpion gene cannot be spliced into a cow gene). HOW: The animals are raised in a healthier environment, fed organic feed, and often eat a wider range of nutrients than those raised in factory farms (such as would be the case of free-range chickens and ranch cattle).
http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/food/526
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/joybauernutrition/9335/should-you-go-organic-or-locally-grown
Good for you! I try to eat organic/local as much as possible...having growing up on a commercial farm where I saw how concentrated pesticides can eat holes in a cement floor if they are spilled, lead me to think..."God, we shouldn't be eating even a spray residue..that is disgusting!"
So I began to work for an organic farmer and then to purchase organic, and gradually, locally produced foods. My family, who believe pesticides and herbacides are God's gift to man laugh at me, but I don't care, 'cuze I've seen firsthand how dangerous these chemicals actually are...for us and for the earth...and that isn't even getting into how many farmers I know of who have cancer because of the sprays they use.
Support organic!
Love ya,
Carrot