Load Your Fork with Knowledge

My husband shared this article with me today, and I couldn't agree more with the content of it. Organic food is a nice idea with several benefits, but it isn't the only agricultural solution out there. And personally, I don't feel guilty for feeding my family healthy food (lots of produce, red meat only on occasion) that isn't 100% organic. I've done a lot of reading on the subject, and I'm only encouraging everyone out there to do their own. This article uses the phrase "knee-jerk reaction," and I think that says it all when it comes to a lot of the thinking that is currently out there, pushing agendas in everything from breast feeding to celery farming.

I'd also like to encourage everyone to read up on GMOs, which I don't believe to be the enemy many think of them as. They can actually help solve the world hunger problem by giving us flood or drought-resistant grains, or by making a plant crop unappealing to certain pests, or by maximizing yield (here is another good article, and another.) I find it interesting that the same groups of people who are against a pest-resistant GMOs are also against pesticides. To me, the "pro-naturals" should be into the idea. Humans have been genetically modifying plants for millions of years. Only in the past, we've done it on the "outside": by breeding the qualities we want into a plant or animal. GMOs are simply a shortcut to that, and in the meantime, fewer people might starve.

Years ago I remember seeing an amusing nutritionist on WTTW talking about a client of his who tried to do everything "natural." She insisted that honey wasn't the same as putting sugar on her cereal, because "the little bees make it." He told her that "natural" wasn't always better, because after all, "syphilis is natural." I've never forgotten that. There is a growing anti-science and anti-industry movement in this country that I find somewhat alarming (particularly the former). But if you make your own decisions based on facts and information, and not knee-jerk reactions, you won't have to worry about anyone's agenda.