Why organic moms are so f*%$#^% obnoxious
"Would your daughter like some candy?" the receptionist proffers a bag of treats. The kind that look like cute little fruits but...(I sneak a quick glance at the back) are really made of
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Had to put baby down, I was about as 1-armed as Alex Krycek.
Dislcaimer: I do not, I repeat, DO NOT mean to criticize others who are conscientious about their diets. Not at all. I tip my hat to you all for being aware and taking control of your health and making informed choices.
However, nothing annoys me more than someone who wants me to feel guilty or tremble in fear for what I eat. Why? Because I have been subjected to some really obnoxious and irresponsible fear-mongering and hand-wringing on the part of others. One person I knew who was obsessed with the most esoteric of diet and health restrictions tried to make me feel guilty for having an ultrasound with my first pregnancy. As a naive and worried first-time mom, I momentarily panicked, thinking that I had somehow hurt my child. This same guy went on and on about how corrupt big dairy corporations are because milk (so he says, I have done zero research on this) that is approaching the end of its shelf life is sent back to a factory and turned into butter or cheese or yogurt? Chocolate milk? I don't remember. If it were a housewife doing that, he would be praising her frugality and resourcefulness. On the part of a corporation? DIRTY. Dirty, dirty. So is it better to throw food away? There are kids starving in China, you know.
Again, I praise people who respect their bodies and treat them right. Like you. Of course we should demand more in terms of compassion towards animals and consuming foods that are healthy for us.
That being said, some people (NOT YOU) approach it with such an illogical, hypocritical slant on things. Why? Because being hip to minutiae is sexy and makes you look smart and independent, whereas making sure you really do get five servings of fruit and veggies a day is boring. And difficult. And something that we've heard from health care practitioners for decades now. I heard someone panicking about consuming homogenized milk once. Oh yeah? Well how about you stop smoking first, guy?
So should people buy organic? If it's in your budget and you want to, go for it and good for you. On my part, I buy most of our produce from the farmers' market. Some use a minimum amount of pesticides. Some have told me that while they are not "certified organic," they do not spray their produce with pesticides. Fine. Our meats are bought from small farmers who treat their animals with a reasonable amount of decency, i.e., their chickens get to go outside but not at night, and not in the winter time (makes sense to me.) The Amish guy I buy beef from most likely does not start processing his cows before they are dead (yes, slaughter houses do this.) Baby chicks aren't thrown into grinders for being male (yes, this happens in large-scale operations.) I buy from people who treat their animals the way my grandparents did when they were growing up on farms, not like the animals were born into horror films.
My final word, and I'll shut up now, is that we should of course feed ourselves conscientiously. However, do not panic, and do not dismiss the big picture for small details. To the holier-than-thou types, guess what? My dad survived the Vietnam war. And I bet his C-rations were lined with BPA. In fact he told me that he looked at one of the cans and thought, "Wow. This was packaged the year I was born." And yet, miracle of miracles, he is alive and well in his mid-sixties, has six grandchildren and is living a good life. In spite of growing up in a house that had lead paint.*
*Of course, I am all for lead paint having been eliminated.
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