10-26-2009, 06:16 PM
What is really difficult about researching this stuff is that there is SOOOO much money involved on both sides that are spewing propaganda. And the biased parties are EXTREMELY biased. The meat and produce groups say that there is absolutely no harm, none, NONE I tell you! The hippie/vegan/localvores say that eating any of it will kill you. DEAD. No question about it. Don't even look at non-organic food it might give you eye cancer.
The truth lies somewhere in the middle. It doesn't take a genius to realize that eating foods pumped full of pesticides and hormones can't be good for you. But it surely isn't as bad for you as some people will tell you. Doing it occasionally probably isn't a problem, but as a regular part of the diet it is a problem. When they give cows hormones to make them bigger and produce more milk you have to realize that we are mammals too. We drink that milk and eat that beef. The hormones come with it. Boobs are for more than holding a bikini top up. They are actually functional too. And they're likely affected by hormones the same way as in cows. On the flip side, as has been mentioned above, our current society simply can't function without industrial farming techniques. It would be nice if everyone had a garden in their back yard but we don't and that still won't feed a family of 4 even if we did. I think that the best solution is to figure out what gives you the best bang for the buck and find a balance. For my wife and it was beef and eggs. For someone else maybe it is chicken and fish. If you can afford to go all organic...by all means, go for it. But it probably isn't necessary to go to that extreme. We try to support local agriculture as much as possible but not to the extent that it becomes an obstacle in our lives. It's easy because of where we live. We live in one of the most agriculturally productive areas in the US. If we can support local farms then they don't need to ship stuff...then it doesn't need to be processed as much and doesn't need to be preserved as much. Other areas though don't have that luxury.
The truth lies somewhere in the middle. It doesn't take a genius to realize that eating foods pumped full of pesticides and hormones can't be good for you. But it surely isn't as bad for you as some people will tell you. Doing it occasionally probably isn't a problem, but as a regular part of the diet it is a problem. When they give cows hormones to make them bigger and produce more milk you have to realize that we are mammals too. We drink that milk and eat that beef. The hormones come with it. Boobs are for more than holding a bikini top up. They are actually functional too. And they're likely affected by hormones the same way as in cows. On the flip side, as has been mentioned above, our current society simply can't function without industrial farming techniques. It would be nice if everyone had a garden in their back yard but we don't and that still won't feed a family of 4 even if we did. I think that the best solution is to figure out what gives you the best bang for the buck and find a balance. For my wife and it was beef and eggs. For someone else maybe it is chicken and fish. If you can afford to go all organic...by all means, go for it. But it probably isn't necessary to go to that extreme. We try to support local agriculture as much as possible but not to the extent that it becomes an obstacle in our lives. It's easy because of where we live. We live in one of the most agriculturally productive areas in the US. If we can support local farms then they don't need to ship stuff...then it doesn't need to be processed as much and doesn't need to be preserved as much. Other areas though don't have that luxury.