06 Oct, 2008
Ask the Coach: Which Organic Product to buy ?
Question
Following reading your article last week, I am interested in purchasing organic foods to improve my health. As the economy is putting the squeeze on my purse strings, which items would you choose if you had to purchase only one organic food product, vegetables, cereals or meats?
Answer
The higher up the food chain you go from, soil, to plants, animals to humans it is more important that the item below you was raised in a healthy environment. This is because any weakness or defect in the health of any earlier link in the chain, (soil- plant- animal-man) is carried onto the next and succeeding links, until it reaches the last, namely, man.
When we eat a vegetable, the quality of the nutrients and minerals you obtain can only be as good as the soil from which it came. The same applies when we eat protein. Protein derived from the Greek word of First Importance will only be of the quality on which the farmer raised and fed the animal. Factors that could influence its quality is whether it was Free Range- i.e. did it have freedom to exercise in a field, strengthen its ligaments and muscles and improve the quality of the meat. The quality of the protein decreases severely if the animal was raised in a factory, receiving no sunlight or whether it was fed anti-biotics, anabolic hormones to make it grow better or feedings that it could not digest like grains. Cows like humans have problems digesting grains and when they can’t digest them, there bodies become inflamed and over-weight.
So our bodies take on the form of all the cereals, fruits, vegetables and proteins we eat. We are literally Are what we Eat. For this reason, the best option to purchase is organic, free range proteins. These are the building blocks of the body and this is where your priorities should lie. Invest in your health and inevitably your future, it will be like any harvest in that you