(This was originally the longest post in the history of blogging, so I'm breaking it up. You're welcome.)
I've been thinking alot lately about what our family eats. I started by watching the documentary Food, Inc. It was quite interesting to learn about the business of food and the food industry – which, like most industries, is driven by profits not necessarily what is best for their customer - but I wanted more facts. So then I read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
and Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
(both of whom were interviewed for Food Inc).
Then I watched this video by Robyn O'Brian, author of The Unhealthy Truth
. (If you read or click on one thing in this post, click that. Please.) And today I had the pleasure of meeting Robyn and talking with her at a lunch sponsored by Stonyfield.
Its been a lot to process. And frankly, I'm more than a little overwhelmed. It is so much information and very little of it is good. But I was so encouraged by Robyn today, as she shared that she follows the 80/20 rule. Try to eat the best you can 80% of the time and focus on progress, not perfection.
Love it. We're taking some baby steps here in our house. We've only done a couple things, but we're slowly making some changes and I thought I'd share what they are and why. I started by focusing on things we consume the most of every day.
First up: Milk and Dairy
We've been drinking organic, pasteurized whole milk in our house. This isn't new, we've been drinking organic milk since my children were born. But I've expanded this to include all dairy. We consume a ton of dairy products in our household, and since I've been committed to organic milk already, this wasn't a huge jump for us.
We drink/eat organic dairy because dairy products account for a reported 60 to 70 percent of the estrogens we consume through our food. If that seems like a shockingly large number, it’s mainly because milk naturally contains hormones passed along from cows. Milk that's labeled as organic has to come from cows that weren't treated with BGH – a growth factor that conventional milk producers use to increase milk production. BGH may be converted in the body to a hormone called IGF-1 which experts believe increases the risk of certain types of cancer – especially breast and prostate. Robyn just wrote a terrific article called Raging Hormones about hormones in milk. Hormones in milk have also been linked to early puberty in little girls.
Hormones are not the only issue: antibiotics are found in dairy as well. The cows – who are sick due to their unnatural-corn diet and the hormones – are injected with massive doses of antibiotics, which the USDA says may lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in people. Plus, "Many doctors believe that too many antibiotics at too early an age is part of the reason that kids are more likely to be allergic: their immune systems aren’t being given the “microbial environment” that they require" according to Raging Hormones.
We drink whole milk because I’ve learned is that when they take the fat out of dairy, they have to use additives – including powdered milk – to preserve the original body and texture. Plus, your body needs the fat in whole milk to be able to absorb fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K.
We drink pasteurized milk because while pasteurization kills harmful bacterias such as E. coli, it also destroys vitamins and healthy enzymes and bacterias. Many organic milks are actually ultra-pasteurized, which involves heating the milk to extremely high temperatures to extend the shelf-life – and it pretty much destroys anything beneficial in the milk. Jo-Lynne has a wonderful post on the different types of pasteurization. When I can, I buy from a local dairy that offers minimally pasteurized milk.
If organic is too pricey, at least pick up milk that’s labeled rBGH-free, rBST-free.
I'll stop here since most of you have probably stopped reading already. But there's more to come!
disclosure: i am NOT an expert on this in any way. this is just a few things i found and how i processed it. but the people in those books are, so read for yourself. i attended a lunch today sponsored by stonyfield – i was not compensated, but i did receive a gift bag. with coupons for free organic yogurt! score!
