Each time I visit the supermarket, especially the big chains, I remind myself that every product I buy is an endorsement for that particular brand, the company’s values (or lack thereof) and the quality of food inside the packaging.
I’m often amazed that much of the produce on the shelves (in NZ) is shipped in from China, the US and beyond. Most of these are gassed or treated in some way to stop vegetables from sprouting, fruit from spoiling etc. So customers are not only buying pesticides with their “food”, but also other chemicals used to preserve the produce for the boat ride across the big blue. Of these chemical-laden loads, one only then has to wonder which ones were born in a laboratory … nutrient-deficient genetically modified imposters. Wannabe apples, if you will.
But the great news is, the more people who buy organic, locally-grown produce, the more supply there will be. Additionally, the more people who choose to eat this way, the less dis-ease there will be. Whether we consumers want to believe it or not, we can turn things around, every time we line up at the register. Every beep of the scanner is a vote.
Buying food as nature intended may hurt the hip pocket more than the mutant kinds that currently fill many supermarket shelves, but the vibrant health that can result from eating healthily means fewer doctors appointments and hospital visits in the long run. It’s also a beautiful way to contribute to the restoration of the planet. It’s a win-win for all.
Before I became vegan, I didn’t really give much thought as to what was organic and what wasn’t. Fast forward a couple of years and I won’t eat anything else. I know it’s the best thing for my own health and the health of the planet (not to mention the farmers who aren’t spraying toxic chemicals).
Since leaving the US, I’ve been astounded at how tricky it is to buy organics. Big chain supermarkets in New Zealand only offer a very limited selection — hardly enough to fill a dinner plate. I won’t even talk about how astronomically expensive they are.
So the question remains, how do we bring real, affordable organics to the masses while keeping the big corporations honest? It’s the big businesses that threaten the future of organics, because they come at it from a money-making point of view—not from what’s best for the consumer. Get it out quick at as little cost as possible to them. If it looks like an apple, it’ll sell as an apple. Who cares what the nutrient content is.
Science has helped these corporations meddle with nature, with genetically modified produce on supermarket shelves just about everywhere. Studies have shown such meddling is at a huge cost to human health. Big corp organics could be mutant potatoes that resist anything nature throws at it. It may have grown without pesticides and without a scratch, but it won’t mean it’s healthy to eat.
Organic Nation TV caught up with The Environmental Working Group’s President Ken Cook (see video below) to chat about the potential issue of big corporations hijacking organics, threatening its quality and the current standards.
Host Dorothee Royal-Hedinger asked Ken to talk about the anxiety some consumers and activists feel about the trend of big corporations taking over organic brands as well as the tension between making organic food affordable and maintaining the standards on which organics were founded.
He was interviewed at Kickapoo Country Fair held by Organic Valley, a farmer-owned cooperative of more than 1,300 organic family farmers nationwide, in LaFarge, Wisconsin.
Courtesy of organic.org, I’ve included a top 10 list of reasons to grow and buy organics, as well as why we all can benefit from supporting the organic industry, regardless of where you live in the world.
1. Reduce The Toxic Load: Keep Chemicals Out of the Air, Water, Soil and our Bodies
Buying organic food promotes a less toxic environment for all living things. With only 0.5 percent of crop and pasture land in organic, according to USDA that leaves 99.5 percent of farm acres in the U.S. at risk of exposure to noxious agricultural chemicals. Our bodies are the environment so supporting organic agriculture doesn’t just benefit your family, it helps all families live less toxically.
2. Reduce if Not Eliminate Off Farm Pollution
Industrial agriculture doesn’t singularly pollute farmland and farm workers; it also wreaks havoc on the environment downstream. Pesticide drift affects non-farm communities with odorless and invisible poisons. Synthetic fertilizer drifting downstream is the main culprit for dead zones in delicate ocean environments, such as the Gulf of Mexico, where its dead zone is now larger than 22,000 square kilometers, an area larger than New Jersey, according to Science magazine, August, 2002.
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…they sell it on supermarket shelves.
Check out this video below from StoptheRobbery.com if you’ve ever thought cancer (and many other dis-eases such as alzheimers) were a mysteries to be cured by a man in a white coat.
It’s just another example of how important it is to be your own doctor—and that starts with what we put in our shopping carts. Much of what’s offered on supermarket shelves these days are poisons disguised as foods and personal care products (think toothpaste, deodorant, sunscreens etc). It’s little wonder one in three people are diagnosed with some form of cancer in the US alone. In 1908, that number was one in 8,000.
Once these poisons have taken hold, the people in white coats proceed to offer greater doses of poisons in the form of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
It’s time to stop looking for a “cure” and funding societies that masquerade as our would-be saviours, yet do nothing but line their own pockets. While governments may never conform to the side of what’s right and moral, in the best interests of the populations they “serve”, it ultimately doesn’t matter. We all have the choice of what we willingly put into our bodies. We have the power to prevent diseases from manifesting. It’s just a matter of waking up to what’s going on. Oh, and getting really good at reading product labels.
That said, have a healthful weekend!
So a quick trip to the supermarket to pick up some vegetable stock, turned into a marathon label-reading jaunt. I was shocked to see 99 percent of the vege stock included animal products — namely milk. What gives? Call me daft, but I can’t see any good reason for marrying these two products to make stock: I mean, come on, vegetables and milk?
A little investigating below eye level turned up just the gem I needed. Rapunzel’s vegan vegetable bouillon with sea salt (see below) boasts organic ingredients with no animals involved in the making.
This little trip affirmed to me why it’s so important to read labels with an eagle eye, even on products I wouldn’t have dreamed contained animal ingredients.
