Most people I know decide what food to buy by comparing prices. If you have two chickens of equal weight and one costs $1 more than the other, the cheapest one is by and large the one that gets purchased. A chicken is a chicken, right?
Even many of the people who purchase organic foods spend the extra money not for a better chicken, but for the absense of synthetic chemicals.
What most Americans overlook is the issue of food quality. There is a difference between the $6.80/lb sirloin steak I buy from my farmer, and the steak that costs less than half of that from Wal-mart. While yes, the steak straight from the farm doesn’t have the bad chemicals or growth hormones, it is also grass fed, which means that it is drastically higher in omega 3 fatty acids, CLA, and a list other nutrients too long to list. Likewise, organic vegetables aside from being free of pesticides have also been shown to be as much as 30% higher in various nutrients than conventionally grown produce.
The fact of the matter is that your body wants and needs these things. Most people don’t notice an immediate difference in how they feel or how their body operates and so figure why spend the extra money. I’m here to tell you that it does make a difference over time. It requires consistency.
We are willing to spend money on expensive homes and cars, sophisticated home theater systems, clothes, lawn-care, computers, jewelry, and $5 Starbucks coffee, but we are unwilling to spend a little extra on the food that goes into our bodies. As long as it tastes the same who cares, right?
Your car will last you maybe 10-15 years. Your home theater system will be obsolete in 5 years. Your computer will be obsolete the day after you buy it. Your clothes will be out of style next year.
Your body will be with you for a lifetime.
Where should you spend your money?
hear, hear. grassfed beef, csas, local milk and honey, grub-eating chickens and eggs. it all tastes much better! dollars well spent. i’ve been trying to do a better job of just not wasting food (if it’s all going to cost so much — and require actual effort in terms of connecting with farmers, farmers markets etc) which is a positive spinoff of eating better aside from better health.
Amen. We would rather spend more on food and cut down in other areas. Our food bill is high but we eat healthy.
I am going to try a couple recipes in my NT next week.
Thanks for the post.
Elizabeth
Brian,
What amazes me is when people will say things like, “I don’t want to spend the money, I’d rather not worry so much about what I eat and die 5 years younger.” I’ll usually reply, “It’s not only about longevity of life, but about quality of life, too.” It is sad how many people don’t age well and have many health issues to deal with at younger and younger ages.
Kelly
One problem that arises from too much wealth is that it encourages us to move from a practice of appropriately fulfilling needs to wildly fulfilling wants. This is never a good development and leads to ill health on all levels of being.
Imagine a grocery store that had unit prices as a function of nutrient density? Wouldn’t that be interesting?
One of the reasons I dislike shopping in mainstream grocery stores is that I am confronted with what people put in their shopping carts. It is painful to me. I want to run up and beg them, “Don’t you know that this will kill you?” Often though my gaze shifts from the shopping cart to their bodies and faces and I can’t help but realize that they are already dying a trans fatty acid death. I wish I could help them to see…
Leslie
I quite agree, Brian. It does take a while of eating all-organic to notice the difference — it’s not as if you can eat one meal and suddenly feel the effects completely. For me, it took a few weeks; as you pointed out, we were eating organic for the sake of not eating pesticides and other toxins. And then, one day, I suddenly noticed that I felt quite a bit different — better! Whereas, when we have a rare meal at a non-organic restaurant, I feel the effects fairly quickly, and certainly by the next day … and it takes a few days to get back to “normal”.
I’d also say that, in my opinion, organic food *does* taste far better. It even looks better although, to me, looks are not the issue. But just compare an organic steak, for instance, with one from a supermarket. Next to the organic steak, the supermarket steak looks pretty much beat up, with poor texture, and fake red “juice” in it. And the taste is nowhere comparable.