Food For Thought

I have strong Midwestern roots, having been born and raised in the Chicago area. Yet even as a city boy with a public school education I learned a little about farming. In the rich farmland of Northern Illinois, corn was the major crop. As one headed either west or south from the city, it was all that one could see. Knee high by the Fourth of July I was taught. For some, the sign of a good crop was measured that way.

Once the corn crop was harvested the farmers often planted a crop of soybeans. The crop usually matured by late fall and was simply turned under by the farmer. Why would a farmer plant a crop, then till it under one might ask? To simply add good, natural nutrients back into the soil. Such measures helped to insure another good crop the following season.

Times have certainly changed in the past twenty or more years. Soybeans are now grown for profit, not fertilizer. Natural fertilizers and soil enrichments have been replaced with a variety of chemical substitutes. Chemicals are used to insure product growth and increase the crops productivity or yield. Additional chemical products are used to insure against plant disease or insect infestation. With the exception of organically grown foods, chemicals are used to produce nearly every grown food we eat.

Animals grown for human consumption are not much different. Be it a cow, pig, sheep or chicken, chemicals are used in a variety of feed products to unnaturally prepare the animal for market purposes. A plumper chicken breast or a tenderer, tastier strip steak are quite often the by-products of such procedures. But hey, it looks good and tastes good! Isn't that what the market demands?

Never thought much about this until my wife and I began traveling out of the country. Spend a week on a Caribbean island or in Europe and you begin to notice a change. After a week or more of eating organic foods and consuming meat that has naturally grazed in fields or eaten organically grown feed, you'll notice a difference. Your body not only feels better, it shows in your complexion. There is a decided difference.

The FDA claims none of this should be concerning to us. After all, they're the Government, and they know best. Yet, time is the real measure of acceptance here and frankly, in my opinion, we haven't traveled far enough down that line to accurately gauge the results. Certainly changes in the younger generations are apparent to me. Can the same chemical that was used to grow the corn stalk two feet higher be ultimately responsible for abnormal body growth or obesity? What long term effect does the chemical preservative in the slice of bread you ate for lunch have on your ultimate health and longevity? Believe me, the FDA doesn't know.