I'm one of those guys that, for years, has kept the processed food industry alive. Pizza, white bread, soda, etc - my idea of switching to healthy food was eating rice crackers instead of Lays. I'm not a fat guy, but I was clearly headed to a day when that would be my station in life. And then I got married...
For a million reasons, that was a great thing. But one unexpected reason that was a great thing was that the woman I married wanted to switch to organic foods, and after losing a bet that I was sure I'd win, my pennance was that I had to agree to go along with her.
I was done for. I was going to be eating organic food, and only organic food. This would be hell on earth.
Only, it wasn't. And you have to believe me - this is a change every single one of you needs to make TODAY. Here's why:
1: IT TASTES SO MUCH BETTER. I mean, I love my crap food. You could pipe trans-fatty acids directly into my bloodstream and top it up with MSG, and I would have told you that was fine by me. But organic foods have made me realize what I'd been missing all those years.
Remember how tomatoes used to taste? You could eat them raw and they were great, juicy, tomatoey. But now? Ugh. They're orange, puffy, bland, they taste like ice, because we've GM'ed the hell out of them. But the organic tomatoes... they're like tomatoes used to taste.
2: IT KEEPS SO MUCH BETTER. I've had an organic apple in the fridge now for three weeks and it's as perfect as they day I bought it. No tainting, no getting soft, it's perfect - wax-free, pesticide-free, and the store bought apples I used to get would rot inside a week.
3: YOU CAN SMELL THE DIFFERENCE. I used to know a woman who had emigrated from Africa, and she wouldn't eat meat out here because she said "it smells terrible." And she's right, our meat stinks. I didn't know that, of course, until I started eating organic meat. No steroids, no antibiotics, no blood. Processed cows are stunned with electric shocks and their muscles produce all sorts of crappy chemicals when that happens, which eventually rot the meat. But organic cows are killed differently, and are drained of much of the blood that usually sits in your meat and rots. I swear to you, I could rub this stuff on my chest and go to work, and I wouldn't stink.
4: IT'S LOCALLY GROWN/MADE. No, really. Local fruit and vegetables, frozen food prepared by small, independent food producers, even regular grocery products made by small local companies out of all-natural, all-organic ingredients. My dishwashing liquid is made by a company 50 miles away out of only natural ingredients. My baby's diapers are made by a company 150 miles away, that ensures they're biodegradable. My corn is grown by a farmer just outside of town. My bagels are baked by a small bakery 10 miles from my home.
Now I know what you're thinking - that this dude has suddenly turned activist vegetarian and spends all day every day overpaying for food and driving all over town to get it.
Wrong.
I use an organic food grocery delivery service named SPUD (or Small Potatoes Urban Delivery Service).
These guys let me order my food online, from a database that changes every week depending on what foods are available locally, what's in season, and what their suppliers can produce. I order my food, and then on Thursdays they send out their trucks and drop a pair of large plastic tubs at my door, packed with icepacks and my food. I come home from work and my weekly delivery is waiting, fresh as you can imagine.
The tomatoes taste like tomatoes did twenty years ago, before we GM'ed them to hell. The fish is fresh out of the water. The meat is ultra-lean, all-organic, and comes from a facility less than 100 miles away. The bananas are fair trade. The corn tastes so fresh it's like I just cut the stuff off a plant myself. The food is all locally grown/prepared, it's all fresh, and it's SO incredible that I felt I just had to let as many people know as possible.
What really shocked me is that even the prepared meals are locally prepared, flash frozen, and prepared by independent companies. For example, we get frozen lasagna from a catering company 40 miles away, veggieburgers from a small food processing firm 55 miles away - and all delivered to the door.
And that vegetarian lasagna... let me tell ya, when the wife prepared it I had no idea it was meat-free. I could have sworn there was meat in it, until I'd almost finished and realized the 'meat' was mushroom and eggplant! Best lasagna I've ever tasted, and I probably wouldn't have tried it had I known it was vege only, because I am a carnivore - always have been, always will be.
Now, I know people will say "that's fine for you, if you can afford it, but most of us can't", and to that I say - NEVER!
I'm a cheap bastard, and I don't have a lot of spare coin, and price was what really bothered me going in for this change. I thought it would be hellaciously expensive, but here's the reality: We're spending maybe $90 a week on groceries right now, and when we shopped at supermarkets, we'd spend $180 plus. Seriously.
The reason we're saving money?
First of all, when you buy food that isn't processed, you save a fortune. For example, if I buy a frozen vegetarian lasagna through this service, it's $9 for a tub of the stuff. That seems like a lot of coin, but that tub provides three full meals, at $3 each. If I buy a one-person vege lasagna from the store, it's $5 - and it's crap! If I make a vege lasagna from scratch, from standard ingredients, I'm going to spend at least $9, go through all the work, and it won't be any better. So in this case, I'm actually saving money by going organic.
Of course, not everything is cheaper. The meat is almost double the cost of the regular stuff, but it's worth every cent. The difference between the stuff I used to buy and what I get now is like Big Mac compared to a New York steak.
The second reason we're svaing money is that when you know your next load of food is coming on a given day, you look at what's left in your fridge and you EAT IT. You don't push it to the back and let it rot, you know more apples are coming, so you better eat those apples. You know more fish is coming, so you have fish for dinner that night.
I swear to God, we're saving a fortune, and we're eating more.
And what's more, we're both healthier. I'm thinking clearer than I have in years, I sleep better, I breath better, both of us have noticed that our allergies have subsided - and that's just in the first two months. I can't wait to see the changes in us after a year of chemical-free food.
And what's more, this delivery company we use actually donates a portion of their profits to third world charities, and they note how far each food product has traveled to get to their warehouse and give you 'care points' when you buy stuff that is local to you, in thanks that you're reducing the dependence on gas and trucks to move products around. Those care points can then be used to reduce the cost of your future bills.
Unfortunately, the company I use only operates in Washington, British Columbia and Alberta right now, but it's rapidly spreading, and I know there are similar companies starting up all over the US.
Find one and, if at all possible, make the change, people. I swear to you, it's the best thing I've done in a long time.
UPDATE: I remembered that one of the things that made me concerned about switching to all-organic was the concept of everything costing more, so I thought it might help some people on the fence if I related some prices for certain things. Please remember that these are Canadian prices, so they vary a little with US food pricing:
1/2 dozen fresh multigrain bagels, baked 20 blocks away: $3.80
Whole grain organic cereal: $3.50
500mls of organic half/half milk (from a dairy farm 60kms away): $1.95
350g of organic butternut squash and gorgonzola tortellini: $4.04
350g of organic spinach riccota ravioli (made 30kms away): $3.83
1/2 dozen large organic eggs (from a farm 100kms away): $2.85
2lbs of fair-trade bananas: $2.50
1lb of organic roma tomatoes: $2.95
3 crowns of organic broccoli: $2.05
7 organic bartlett pears: $3.45
As you can see, it's a little more expensive most of the time, but here's the thing: it lasts longer, so you throw less away.
One other thing, if you're unsure you can afford a total changeover to organic food, try switching to organic non-wheat breads, like flax, and move to organic fruit and vegetables. That change alone will see you lose weight and get healthier, without killing your budget.
Or, heck, just pick one single food to switch to organic on and see the difference for yourself. Buy some organic apples (they taste incredible!) or organic eggs (don't be freaked out by the pale color of the egg yolks - they're SUPPOSED to be that way), and if you don't taste and feel the difference immediately, I'll be shocked.