My Organic Life

For awhile I’ve been thinking about doing a post about all the organic stuff I’m learning in a sort of concise way. Becoming organic does not happen overnight. Neither does spelling the word organic because I always spell it “orgainic" and have to edit.

One of the first things I did was bottled water. I think we all did. We thought we looked so cute with that healthy little bottle while holding our keys and cell phone. Some of us have switched to holding a coffee cup from Lotsabucks. Mine was out of convenience because there’s issues with our water out here. It’s killed a number of coffee pots. So I refuse to drink it because I figure it will kill me sooner or later. We also got huge piles of plastic bottles. We’re doing our part and recycling plastic. Then we got tired of recycling plastic and switched to the giant reusable bottles and got some of those metal bottles to carry around. We also collected cans but then we stopped buying all that soda so no more cans. But the last time I looked it was like $.50 a pound and if it goes higher I might have to raid some of those recycle bins.

There’s some films I have watched. I’ve gotten Jace to watch 2 of them. Most important is Food, Inc. If you watch only one food related film watch this one. There are lots of people out there telling you, you can make a difference but you need to buy their book or machine and they are giving you the same information you find in these movies. What I like about Food, Inc is they tell you how you can make a difference in your own life and others’ simply by eating. When you buy food at the store, the store keeps an inventory of products sold. Based on what customers are buying that’s what they will sell. If you’re choosing healthier or organic items then your store WILL carry it. You don’t have to be a stereotype activist to make change happen.

King Corn was the next film I saw. I believe it was made before Food, Inc but along the same lines. This time you’re taken along from the actual growing of corn to where it goes and how it gets there. I have to say that I find it disturbing when they talk about feeding genetically modified corn to cows, the cows have to take medicine because they get ulcers, then we consume products with corn and cow, and how many over the counter medicines are there for upset tummy and acid reducers? Do you see the connection I see?




Now, we can talk about high fructose corn syrup, or HFCS. Remember the ad that tells you it’s o.k. if it’s in moderation? Have you looked at the ingredients in your food lately? It’s in almost everything . How are you supposed to have it in moderation? Do you know the rate of diabetes in this country? Do you know what the studies show about sterility in hamsters in their third generation after GMS? I am definitely working on cutting that out of our house. And once again big companies are listening. In fact they are listening a lot. I almost feel sorry for all the farmers who have everything riding on their government subsidized corn. There’s a handmade/homemade, organic/natural bandwagon and everyone is jumping onto it.

A typical days worth of juicing for me.

Another movie, book, website, is The Gerson Miracle. This one will tell you about juicing everything and all the supplements, etc, etc. They also have claims that it’s a cure for cancer and every other disease. The only down side is that little part at the end…coffee enemas. I’m just not that strong of a person. Can I tell a difference in my body from juicing? A little. I’m not tired in the middle of the afternoon, but I still managed to lose my shoes today.

The last show I can recommend is the Future of Food. It makes one worry that one day we’ll have to garden in sterilized greenhouses while we wear our white suits because the terminator gene may be floating around in the outside air.

Other small changes we’ve made: We switched to organic eggs bought directly from the chicken growing person farmer. Last week we made the switch to organic milk. I’m buying more from the farmer’s market. I’m watching my grocery store’s organic selection slowly growing. If I’m not buying processed food then I can use that money on organic or natural foods and spend the same amount of money.

So how can you make the change? Switch one item on your grocery list to organic. When you’re happy with that then switch another item. It’s been a few months over here and I still have a long way to go but I’m happy with what I’m seeing so far.