Most of this post, as indicated below, was written in June 2009 on my defunct personal blog. Now that Michael Pollan has appeared on Oprah and Food Inc. was highly recommended for the home DVD library, I’m hopeful that this organic buzz will become an epidemic. My husband was the leader of the food revolution in our house, but I am the champion of the cause.
Hubby gave me a ten-page Times article many years ago, when our children were infants, and he expected me to read it. I was too tired to read anything but recipes at the time, but it was clearly important to him. Plus, we were already eating mostly organic products by then, so what was the point? The first words of the article were “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” I was H-O-O-K-E-D. That article was about Mr. Pollan’s book In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. Pollan states his thoughts simply and backs them up with simple facts, allowing the reader to think clearly about food. Being thoughtful about the food you put inside your body and the food you feed your family is such a simple concept. How did most of us get so far away from actual food?
June 2009
The term organic has become so overused that it seems to have lost its meaning. You even need to read labels closely to determine that what you’re buying is Certified Organic. I must admit that I am kind of a latecomer to using organic products, but I was on-board before every major grocery store had it’s own organic line of products.
I really must credit my husband for his reading of obscure writings and his somewhat healthy paranoia of THE MAN for setting me on a path of better eating. Being raised on Ding-Dongs and bologna, I didn’t give much thought to What I put in my body, but How Much. But hubby has always kept his ear to the ground (or eye to the internet) about hormones in bovines and antibiotics running rampid through the food chain. We started buying organic milk early on. From there, it was natural meats, poultry and eggs. There just was not a lot of selection here in the suburbs in 2001. But we did our best and made a commitment, both mentally and budgetarily, to eating this way.
In 2002, I got pregnant with my first child. If I had any reservations about being as organic as possible, they were gone. This was a human inside me and didn’t he deserve the best chance for the best body, mind and spirit possible? Hell yeah. I ate the purest and most natural foods I could find. I also gained 50 pounds or more by the end of the pregnancy, but I believe that’s unrelated 🙂
My son was breastfed and when he started eating solids, I made all his baby food from organic fruits and vegetables. Lots of my friends thought I was a bit crazy. My mother-in-law was afraid to deviate from my grand plan and my mother would always try to usurp it. I never preached my views (still don’t) – I just tried to quietly abide by eating as naturally as possible. Now you can walk down the aisles of the baby section and take your pick of organic baby food. I used those with my 2nd child, which was great. I know making fresh, organic baby food myself would have been healthier, but I had two kids and a full-time job. Reasonable choices, people.
So what does it all mean? Will we live longer? There are so many factors that determine length of life, I don’t know. Will we live better? I can speak for myself on that count and say YES! I suffer from a chronic illness (Crohn’s Disease) and I can attest to feeling better and rarely being out of remission. I completely credit feeling good with what I put into my body. Remember the Ding Dongs? I do, and my body thanks me everyday for not inhaling a couple of those with a glass of organic milk.
[…] in my life. My husband is the driving force behind many of the green decisions we make (read some here) and the initiative we’re trying this year is no exception. Here’s how it goes down: […]