CTN Wellness

Eye candy. Wow! That concept relates to most everything in life. I ended the blog before last mentioning ‘Eye Candy’. I realize it covers so many related subjects and will be a series, maybe not successive, but a series none-the-less. So here’s another…

I just returned from a Whole Foods Market in La Jolla where I conducted an aisle tour for ‘Walk the Store to Develop Your Food Knowledge’. A 50-60ish couple was part of the group. He does all the cooking — very creative, exotic, and what he prepares sounds delicious. Of course, ‘organic’ was one of the discussed topics especially for produce. He said he felt good at his age with just a few complaints and so was very comfortable not wanting to pay the price for organic. It all looked beautiful and delicious, but was the price justified. He and his wife were doing fine without o.g. and, as a matter of fact, they grew some of their veggies, but had tons of aphids. So if these were organic, but with tons of aphids, how did the organic farmers keep their produce from being buggy?  (I have bought some buggy organic broccoli – soaked it salt water before cooking with satisfying results.) He was very skeptical. You know, I didn’t have that answer on a commercial level not knowing if a commercial farm employed the same natural bug deterrents as a home garden with conscientious and controlled planning. (I have to do some research myself.) But he raised the question of trust re what you really see and what you perceive to be the truth behind what’s in front of you and what it actually is along with where it comes from. I directed him to OCIA (Organic Crop Improvement Association) to start his search for answers. I don’t know if he’ll follow up and it doesn’t matter, only to him. But the idea of questioning is healthy. It’s what we should all do and not follow blindly. He may investigate and not like what he finds and may have to do more research. In the end he may remain dissatisfied with ‘organic’ not meeting his standards to pay the higher price, and that’s a good thing because he’ll then be making an informed choice. I don’t agree with him. I prefer organic, but he’s right after all to question and not trust what his eye perceives. We should exercise the right to qualify our trust and ask questions no matter how yummy something looks, but most of us don’t have the time nor do we think to question the ‘organic’ label, so we take the perception on faith. Unless you make it your life’s work, you have to trust somewhere along the way. Preparing foods from scratch is always better than from cans and prepared packaging, even if it’s not organic. So is organic better? I prefer to think so and look for it in stores and farmers’ markets. I prefer to have faith understanding that I’m not the farmer. It sets my mind at ease. Organic does seem to demand a premium price, and business bottom lines do demand a profit, but I’m forced to trust the perception unless I can grow my own produce, which I’m not able to do.

When he asked me the question re why he should buy organic when it’s so much more expensive, I gave him several reasons, the most obvious being the produce is grown without chemicals. Along with that, I told him that he has to make his own hopefully informed choices. What is his priority? What is our’s? What is your’s? Make an informed, educated choice. Yes, organic is big business now with the usual baggage, but you have to trust someone somewhere. With the world becoming more aware of ‘green’, and farmers becoming more aware of and practicing more natural, sustainable agriculture, our trust is hopefully becoming more justified. If price is an issue we shouldn’t make our shopping list an either/or, right or wrong judgment, but more a flexible give and take going for what we feel will benefit us and our families the most.

Ask me! Ask all your questions. If I don’t know it, I’ll find out. If I still don’t know I’ll tell you and will try to point you in one direction or another…

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