Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Organic Bandwagon






One of my friends on Facebook just posted a video, which in his opinion, pretty much sums up why he is a vegetarian. Why in the world I thought to watch it is beyond me.  I will forever be scarred.  But, as I always say, now I know.  Ughhh... I wish I didn't....

This video was put out by PETA, which always highlights extreme situations, but to think that these sorts of things are happening to any animals anywhere is really disturbing. And I'm not even an animal lover! But how any decent human being can watch a video like that and then bite excitedly into a nice piece of steak is beyond me. 

Ok, I'll stop.  This is in no way my plea to get you to become a vegetarian.  Meat can provide our bodies with lots of protein and iron.  All I'm asking you to do is become more aware.  Because after all, once we learn about it, we can make more informed decisions, right?

The *very little* research I've done has pointed out tons of reasons why organic meat and dairy is the way to go.  Here, in random order, are the top 5 reasons why you should consider spending the extra cash on these things next time you are in the grocery store:

1. Organic animals are given access to grass pastures with room to walk around.  This may sound like a no-brainer, but is unfortunately not the case on many large-scale farms (Awww, poor cows...)

2. Organic animals are never injected with artificial growth hormones (Oh, so you mean the chickens can actually stand up? And my children won't go through puberty at the age of 7?  Cool!)

3. These animals are not treated with antibiotics.  (So next time your kid gets an ear infection, the prescribed medication will actually work!!!  Hooray for not building up an unnecessary tolerance to antibiotics!)

4. The meat from grass-fed animals is lower in fat and bad cholesterol than the meat from factory farm animals.  (A low-fat burger? Yum!)

5. Organic farming takes care of the earth.  No harsh chemicals getting poured on the plants means no harsh chemicals seeping in to the soil, or getting blasted in to the air we breathe, or ultimately ending up in the water we need to drink. 

So here's my last plea: Find out where your food is coming from!  Pay attention to what you are putting in your body!  Read labels!  Educate yourself! Trust me, meal time will be a thousand times more enjoyable for you if do.

Have a healthy day,

J

PS- The stuff I wrote about is pretty easily accessible with a quick Google search, but in case you want to see it firsthand, here are some of the sites I've looked at:

 http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/
http://www.stonyfield.com/why-organic/humane-animal-treatment
http://www.novativemedia.com/green-articles/organic-milk.php
http://eatwild.com

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