A week ago this past Saturday, March 9th, we were privileged
to welcome the Co-owners of The Foodery,
John Bauer and Mike Speights to speak at my facility about sustainable food systems.
In regards to our health, it all starts with the food we
decide to purchase and eat. As the
world’s population continues to grow the issues of food purity, sustainability
and safety and the cost to both our health and environment must be addressed.
John and Mike did a superb job of introducing the subject
and giving all participants things to consider as we go about making our food
decisions.
The following an overview of the main topics discussed.
A Historical Perspective: What do we spend on food?
Did you know that in 1930 24% of GDP was spent on food?
20% of that was for food that was prepared and consumed in
the home and only 4% was allocated for eating out.
Today, we spend only 9% of GDP on food and of that 5% is for
home use and 4% for eating out.
Granted that food today is a lot cheaper than it was back in
1930 due to the proliferation of large scale food production, Government corn
and soybean subsidies, and the development of inexpensive food fillers and
additives that have allowed manufactures to reduce costs and maximize profits.
A tale of two crops:
CORN:
Due to Government policies
that encourage farmers to grow as much corn as they can through farm subsidies,
the majority of corn grown in this country is produced in a mono-culture.
The problem with
mono-cultural farming is the only thing that is grown on that land is
Corn. Only growing one crop nearly all
year long is bad for the environment. It
depletes the soil, so it needs to be artificially “re-fortified” through
chemical intervention, it encourages destructive pests due to availability of
their food requiring dangerous insecticides to be employed and basically just
messing with how nature is supposed to work.
Messing with Mother Nature: Genetic Modification
85-90% of all corn and soy grown and consumed in the United
States is Genetically Modified.
The GMO Corn that is being produced is designed to withstand
the herbicide ROUNDUP. This allows
farmers to spray their crops with Roundup to kill off the weeds and other
non-corn growth, without damaging the corn crop, resulting in larger crops and easier
harvesting.
Not only is GMO corn
able to resist deadly herbicides, it’s also a REGISTERED INSECTICIDE
Shocking, GMO Corn is an Insecticide; it’s
designed to kill bugs
I’m sorry; you can’t tell me
something that can resist deadly chemicals and kills bugs is NOT potentially
harmful to my health. I don’t care if
the FDA and USDA say it’s safe. I’m not buying it. I have an easier time believing in Santa and
the Easter Bunny.
For a discussion of potential health issues related to GMO corn,
please link to the following article by Angela Herring, Northeaster University
As
well as check out this excellent documentary on how corn has become so enmeshed in our modern food supply:
That means, all that processed food you are eating that has
corn and soy in it, well unless it says “NO-GMO” it’s GMO.
The food industry is not legally required to list
Genetically Modified ingredients on food labels.
In fact the food
industry has spent millions of dollars on lobbying efforts and
marketing/advertising scare tactics to defeat legislation making truth in
labeling legal.
Kale:
Kale production is not
subsidized by the government. Farmers
are not paid to plant Kale.
Now I’m not saying that all
Kale production is organic, but let’s look at the example of a small local farm
that produces Kale.
John and Mike went out to
meet with a local farmer to find out how he produces his kale. Basically he plants kale during kale season
and after kale season he plants something else in the same ground and this goes
on most of the year. It’s called crop
rotation and allows the soil to remain healthy.
Each type of crop contributing to replenishing the soil of vital
nutrients, promoting helpful bugs like earthworms to live and irrigate the soil
as well as the other cool stuff they do as well as keep harmful pests away thus
reducing the need for poisonous herbicides and insecticides.
Where’s the Beef?
Most of the beef found in
your local market is controlled by only 3 companies who warehouse cows on large
feedlots.
Fed on a diet of grain
consisting mostly of corn but also includes a whole host of other disgusting
things that cows don’t eat like beef tallow.
This diet is designed to produce the biggest animal for the lowest cost.
This lower cost is then
passed on to you in the store. Sounds
great right? BUT there is a higher cost.
First off, cows don’t eat
grain. They eat grass. And their
digestive system is designed for grass not grain. The result is that the grain diet raises the
acidity in the cows’ stomach causing all kinds of nasty havoc resulting in a
sick cow. So what do the farmers
do? You guessed it they pump the cow
full of anti-biotics. Actually they put
the anti-biotics right in the grain with all the other gunk including growth
hormone.
Interesting side note about
anti-biotics, they discovered that they also contribute to the animals growing
bigger and faster.
So again what’s the problem,
bigger, fatter cheaper beef for me right?
Well yes BUT, if we are what
our food eats, do you really want to be ingesting trace amounts of anti-biotics
and growth hormone.
To date, beef is not tested
for chemical levels.
But not only do you run the
risk of ingesting chemicals you may not want.
Because the animal is not eating its natural diet, the nutritional
profile of the beef is different.
Cows allowed to eat their
natural grass diet, produce meat that has a healthy fatty acid profile
especially in relation to Omega 3/Omega 6.
This healthy ratio is reversed in corn fed beef.
Laughing Happy Cow:
Cows that are raised on
pasture and allowed to eat their natural grass diet, live happy lives and
produce wonderful tasting meat and dairy that is also healthy for humans. In addition the risk of e-coli and other
contamination is greatly reduced due to the healthy and clean environment the
cow inhabits.
Cost: Everything has a cost
The fact is everything has a
cost. In some cases the cost is money,
in others it’s time and when we are talking about food we can’t forget the cost
to our health.
There have been some studies
recently that disprove that organically produced produce are no more healthy
than non-organic. But I think they miss
the point. It’s not so much that organic
is healthier; it’s more that there is less risk of ingesting potentially
harmful chemicals.
Although the Government
allows farmers to utilize these chemicals, we still don’t know what the true
affect they have on our health and environment over the long term.
In the case of meat and by
extension other animal protein sources, I really think it’s obvious that a
healthy animal raised in a healthy environment eating its natural diet is the
better option to an animal that spends his last months in a pen, cheek to jowl
with other animals, with no room to move, given a diet that makes them sick
only to be given copious amounts of
anti-biotics.
Here is the thing, although
it does cost more to eat organic, one way or the other you end up paying. The choice is yours, pay for better food that
will help you stay healthy OR buy cheaper food and pay the doctor later.
Personally I’d rather pay now
for good food and stay healthy. But that‘s
just me.
