A Quest for Nutrition- Part 3 Organic vs. Conventional Food

For the next part of my Nutrition Series, we’re talking about the current conventional food system, specifically eating organic and natural. There are two aspects to this- produce and meat. I have touched on each here, but I implore you to educate yourself. There is much to be learned about our food system, not just the health effects of it, but the political and environmental aspects of it as well.

In our house, we call our grass-finished ranched beef "A Happy Cow"... we figure that's the truth.

Organic vs. Conventional Produce

We all know that eating organic is healthier. It is a current trend that has finally started to gain some ground in the last 10 years. There are numerous reasons to choose organic over conventionally grown produce (by conventionally grown, I mean grown with the use of man-made pesticides and herbicides). The most obvious reason to avoid them is to decrease the number of harmful chemicals and compounds you put into your body. There are at least 107 active pesticide ingredients that are known to be carcinogenic (cancer-causing). Here are some other reasons why you might want to consider organic.

• When produce is left to defend itself against pests and diseases, it generates phytochemicals, which help it to ward off any harmful invaders. Those phytochemicals are super health for us, acting as antioxidants, they stimulate detoxification enzymes, boost the immune system, and act as antiviral/antibacterial agents. When we eat conventionally grown foods, they lack these compounds because they received outside help.

• Consider your children, if you have a family. If they’re eating conventional, their bodies are smaller and therefore the volume of pesticides they’re consuming relative to their body size equates to a much higher concentration of pesticides in their body.

• Conventional farmers do not replenish the soil, but instead use chemical fertilizers and such to keep producing. The health of the soil is a direct function of the health of the plant. Without any regeneration of nutrients (and instead a healthy concentration of man-made chemicals), we end up with contaminated, sick soils. These soils erode and contaminate our water sources and our groundwater through infiltration of rain.  Organic farmers use natural fertilizers which restore the nutrients to the soil without creating a toxic environment.

• Conventional farming has high environmental and societal costs such as costs involved in generating the chemicals, pesticide regulation and testing, hazardous waste disposal and environmental damage. Organic food costs more to you directly, but doesn’t come with the same hidden costs to our society and our planet. Buying organic makes a statement about how we care for ourselves and the world as a whole.

What do you do if you can’t afford to eat organic? There are a couple things you can do to help decrease the amount of chemicals you’re consuming. First, consider that the thicker the skin, the less danger there is of the fruit or vegetable absorbing the pesticide, herbicide, or fertilizer. So, things like Oranges, bananas, cantaloupes can be bought conventional with minimal effect to you since we don’t eat the skin (the drawback here is that by doing this we still support the system that is causing damage to the environment). Other fruits and vegetables such as apples, pears, potatoes, and carrots can be peeled, removing most (but not all) of the chemicals. Here is a handy list of what fruits and veggies can be eaten conventionally, and what are considered to be harmful if not purchased organic.

OKAY As CONVENTIONAL
Fruits:
Avocado
Bananas
Coconut
Dates
Figs
Grapefruit
Guavas
Lemons
Limes
Oranges
Papayas
Passion Fruit
Pineapples
Tangerines
Watermelons

Vegetables:
Alfalfa sprouts
Asparagus
Beets
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Cassava
Cauliflower
Fennel root
Jicama
Leeks
Peas
Radicchio
Red chard
Snow peas
Yams

Only SO-SO for CONVENTIONAL

Fruits:
Cantaloupe
Honeydew
Pomegranates

Vegetables:
Broccoli
Squash (with very thick outer peelings)

MUST HAVE ORGANICS

Fruits:
Apples
Apricots
Blackberries
Blueberries
Casaba
Cherries
Currants
Grapes
Kiwi
Kumquats
Lychees
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Persimmons
Plums
Prunes
Raisins
Strawberries

Vegetables:
Bean sprouts
Bell Peppers
Carrots
Celery
Corn
Cucumbers
Green Beans
Hot peppers
Lettuce (all kinds)
Mushrooms
Onions & shallots & garlic
Potatoes
Rhubarb
Spinach
Sweet potatoes
Winter squash (yellow squash)
Zucchini

Meat and Factory Farming  101

So, we now have a basic understanding of the importance of eating organic fruits and vegetables, but what about meat? Well, depending on the animal, there is a nightmarish story for each with respect to factory farming. My first comment here would be to say that realistically, the direction that humanity took in maintaining a food supply for our ever-growing population was logical. I think as with all things, people look for ways to industrialize everything they do, and farming was no different. It was efficient, financially prosperous, and it insured a stable food supply. However, what we are seeing today with the health of our meat is a result of something that seemed like a good idea but is now being realized as a huge mistake on our part. This is where I will warn you before you continue reading. Ignorance truly is bliss sometimes, and if you think that you’re not capable of the work and or money demands that it might take to make a different choice, then I would suggest you stop reading. This information is disturbing enough that it becomes difficult to turn a blind eye to it. That said, here’s a little bit of background on how we manage meat in the US.

Factory farming began in the 1920s soon after the discovery of vitamins A and D; when these vitamins are added to feed, animals no longer require exercise and sunlight for growth. This allowed large numbers of animals to be raised indoors year-round. The greatest problem that was faced in raising these animals indoors was the spread of disease, which was combated in the 1940s with the development of antibiotics. Farmers found they could increase productivity and reduce the operating costs by using mechanization and assembly-line techniques.

There are two kinds of chickens raised in the industrial farm setting: broilers (the kind we eat) and layers (the egg-making chickens). Broiler chickens are selectively bred and genetically altered to produce bigger thighs and breasts, the parts in most demand. This breeding creates birds so heavy that their bones cannot support their weight, making it difficult for them to stand. The birds are bred to grow at an astonishing rate, reaching their market weight of 3 1/2 pounds in seven weeks. Broilers are raised in overcrowded broiler houses instead of cages to prevent the occurrence of bruised flesh which would make their meat undesirable. Their beaks and toes are cut off to prevent damage resulting from fights, and the broiler houses are usually unlit to prevent fighting among the birds. Many birds are sick from the chemicals and the obscene growth rate they’re subjected to; as a result, the farmer must go and collected the dead birds through the crowded house each day. Here is an 8-minute video on the Life of a Broiler Chicken. Go to a health store and see what kind of other options you have . There is a different between organic, all natural, and free-range. Organic chickens may be simply on organic feed, but are still raised conventionally, where are a free-range chicken may not be in a broiler house, but is still pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones. Educate yourself about what you’re buying, and make comprises on what you can to keep your food budget under control.

Layers are held in battery cages that are very small with slanted wire floors which cause severe discomfort and foot deformation. Between five and eight birds are crammed in cages only 14 square inches in size. Since the birds have no room to act naturally, they become very aggressive and attack the other birds in their cage; to help combat this behavior, the birds have their beaks seared off at a young age. The layer hens are subjected to constant light to encourage greater egg production. At the end of their laying cycle they are either slaughtered or forced to molt by water and food deprivation, which shocks them into another layer cycle. Many birds become depleted of minerals because of this excessive egg production and either die from fatigue or can no longer produce eggs and are sent to the slaughterhouse. Eggs are similar in that there are organic, all-natural, free-range, etc. choices available. You may startle at the price of a dozen organic AND free-range eggs, but consider what you spend on beer, or a single Starbucks latte to put it in perspective.

Pigs are one of the most intelligent animals… and are definitely the most intelligent among the animals we eat. Pigs are highly social creatures, and are confined in narrow cages where they cannot even turn around. Many pigs become crazy with boredom and develop vices like mouthing, and nervous ticks; their tails are cut off at birth to prevent other pigs nervous chewing habits from being confined. Pigs are born and raised inside buildings that have automated water, feed and waste removal. They don’t see daylight until they are shipped for slaughter. Dust, dirt and toxic gases from the pigs’ waste create an unsanitary environment that encourages the onset of a number of diseases and illnesses, including pneumonia, cholera, dysentery and trichinosis. As with chickens, they are fed an unhealthy, abundant diet of antibiotics and hormones to keep them from getting sick from their living situation and to hurry the growth process.

Cattle are first raised on a ranch where they eat grass and roam the countryside until they reach a certain weight. Once that is achieved they are transported to the feedlot. Most beef cattle spend the last few months of their lives at there, crowded by the thousands into dusty, manure-laden holding pens. The air is thick with harmful bacteria and particulate matter, and the animals are at a constant risk for respiratory disease. Feedlot cattle are routinely implanted with growth-promoting hormones, and they are fed unnaturally rich diets designed to fatten them quickly and profitably. Because cattle are biologically suited to eat a grass-based, high fiber diet, their concentrated feedlot rations contribute to metabolic disorders. Because they are no long given grass (what they are designed for), they become ill… so ill in fact that were they not sent to slaughter, they would really only survive a few months longer. Think about that. We’re eating animals that are near-death sick. I can’t imagine that their meat is healthy, but rather as sick as they were when they went to slaughter. If beef is something you enjoy and desire to keep in your diet, consider grass-finished beef. This can be found at some health food stores, as well as from local ranchers in your area. Make sure you ask if it is grass-finished; however, because many cows are grass-fed and then sent to feedlot to fatten up on a feedlot diet. Remember, that as a meat eater, I am not necessarily advocating a meatless lifestyle, unless you can’t obtain alternatives to factory-farmed meat. Here’s a good educational series about factory farming, but in a less-disturbing and more enjoyable setting.

In all of these cases of meat, these animals live in close confinement, standing in their own feces for most of their lives. Its no wonder that we see cases of e-coli and salmonella becoming increasingly common. Ever wonder why we occasionally find those things in our spinach and other produce? The sick animal waste is contaminating our water sources which of course are used to water our other crops.

This issue of factory farming is a much bigger picture than I have painted here. This is MUCH abbreviated version of the whole picture. I would recommend a couple places for additional information.

Michael Pollen is a writer of books on this exact subject. He is a very realistic, whole food, health-minded person. He still eat meat (burgers for that matter), and has looked at our society’s way of managing the food economy and how the corporate food system is creating food that is making us all sick. My favorite book of his is The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

Joel Salatin is a farmer who has achieved a farming system that not only creates healthy animals, but also gives back to the Earth at the same time. He has the most amazing farming system (I learned about him in the Omnivore’s Dilemma) and is now an author. His books are stories about the road he has traveled and battles he has fought to be able to keep his farm the way it is. He is a great writer. I would recommend Everything I Want to do is Illegal, although he has a bunch of great books to choose from.

If you’re not much of a reader, I would check out Food, Inc., a documentary on the food system. It’s is an eye-opening documentary. I watched it twice. Once on my own and a second time with my significant other because I wanted him to understand why I was making us spend so much on food!

Here are a couple good online resources as well:

• Nutritional value of fruits, veggies is dwindling
• Food and Water Watch has lots of information
• Check out Food CEO- a site for sustainable food
• Check out this article “Meet Your Meat- Why we Should all care where our Burger comes from”

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