These are our preliminary beliefs, or pre-research feelings about organic and non-organic foods.
Jessica's Beliefs--My beliefs:
When I was younger, a “healthy” place I remember visiting was my Aunt Pat’s. She wasn’t really my aunt: she was my mom’s best friend, and we all called her Aunt Pat. I remember dreading going to her house because they never had anything to drink—unless you counted unsweetened tea, Noni Juice, and water, which I didn’t. Her daughter Leah and I were best friends, even though she was two years younger than me. She would sneak me in her room and show me 16 ounce soda bottles. “I watered these down to preserve them,” she would say. They tasted horrible, but they were better than Noni juice. Aunt Pat, however, was the woman who helped to save my mother’s life.
As mentioned in the raw footage of Sharon Winter’s interview, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, or cancer of the lymph nodes and white blood cells (which are a part of the immune system). A more in depth explanation of the cancer can be found here. My mom said that she could remember giving me a bath and throwing up in the toilet simultaneously. She was diagnosed with cancer the day after she had her son, but she did have the cancer while she was carrying my brother, David. (We are five years apart.) The doctors credit not being able to find her cancer sooner because her pregnancy symptoms masked the cancer symptoms—swelling in the lymph nodes, leg swelling, night sweats, and shortness of breath, among other things. When David was born, she fell extremely ill. She developed a high fever and was taken for an x-ray, because they thought she either had pneumonia or a collapsed lung because she was on 100% oxygen during the surgery. (She delivered David via C-section.) The X-ray showed that she had a growth, but a CT scan was required in order to determine the exact size and accurateness. From there, once she was discharged from the hospital, she had to schedule to meet with a surgeon to perform a thoracotomy to remove the tumor. The tumor was the size of a grapefruit and located next to her heart.
My mom mentions that she didn’t really get into buying organic and all natural foods until after she already had two surgeries—one to remove her spleen and part of her liver to do a biopsy. It was sometime after recovering from these surgeries, and the period between radiation, when she was told she needed to regain her strength that she started purchasing organic foods. She bought 25 pounds of carrots at a time per week, because she drank three or four glasses a day mixed with kyo green. She cut out sugar, processed foods, soda, and coffee. She used honey as a sweetener. She made her own bread, and she only brought organic and all natural foods into the house. I don’t remember any of this. However, my mom says that I used to tell her that my friends thought her food was weird. Everything looked different: the bread machines at that time only made round loafs, the ketchup was a different consistency, you had to stir the peanut butter because the oil rose to the top, and my friends didn’t like the hot dogs because they were tofu. Basically, no one ever wanted to eat over, she says.
Because I know that organic and natural foods helped to save my mother’s life—along with traditional methods and supplements—I am very pro-organic. Since my mom has been clear of her cancer, we haven’t brought much organic food home. She says that we stopped purchasing organic because it was so hard to find, it was more expensive, and the place we had to travel (a co-op) was far away. Now, though, we have been trying to purchase more organic. My mom says that she buys organic apples and whatever produce she can when it is fresh at the food store. I know that I definitely will start eating more all natural and organic foods, because I want to be the healthiest I can be. I know that cancer runs in the family, and I want to feed my body right to avoid this disease.
Because I know that organic and natural foods helped to save my mother’s life—along with traditional methods and supplements—I am very pro-organic. Since my mom has been clear of her cancer, we haven’t brought much organic food home. She says that we stopped purchasing organic because it was so hard to find, it was more expensive, and the place we had to travel (a co-op) was far away. Now, though, we have been trying to purchase more organic. My mom says that she buys organic apples and whatever produce she can when it is fresh at the food store. I know that I definitely will start eating more all natural and organic foods, because I want to be the healthiest I can be. I know that cancer runs in the family, and I want to feed my body right to avoid this disease.
My mom has been considered "cured" for 12 years, or 5 years after her last test came back normal in 1994. She has had no futher "positive" CT scans. Here are some pictures of my mom, dad, brother David, sister Kimberly, and myself. I don't know what I would have done without her.
Kat's beliefs:
I grew up in a low income household, where the five major food groups were soda, chips, cake, mystery casserole, and ice cream. Exercise was not promoted, playing sports was not encouraged, and junk food was rarely limited. I started drinking and smoking when I was only fifteen. I know what unhealthy feels like, and how poor eating habits, chemicals and artificial ingredients can compromise your immune system, energy, and healthy state of mind.
The worst thing I put into my body these days is coffee. If I buy a cup when I am out, I occasionally add Splenda, and feel guilty about it (at home I use natural sweetener). Riley and I eat Kashi cereals for breakfast and Stonyfield Farm organic yogurt, trail mix, and fruit as snacks. I read ingredients on everything; I never give him high fructose corn syrup, soda, or butter, and the only juice he drinks is 100%. We eat a lot of beans and peanut butter, and very little meat. I buy organic eggs and milk, and when I can, I buy chemical free fruits and vegetables. It infuriates me that I can’t afford to feed my little family pure food as God intended it to be eaten, without concern of how it has been treated or modified.
The worst thing I put into my body these days is coffee. If I buy a cup when I am out, I occasionally add Splenda, and feel guilty about it (at home I use natural sweetener). Riley and I eat Kashi cereals for breakfast and Stonyfield Farm organic yogurt, trail mix, and fruit as snacks. I read ingredients on everything; I never give him high fructose corn syrup, soda, or butter, and the only juice he drinks is 100%. We eat a lot of beans and peanut butter, and very little meat. I buy organic eggs and milk, and when I can, I buy chemical free fruits and vegetables. It infuriates me that I can’t afford to feed my little family pure food as God intended it to be eaten, without concern of how it has been treated or modified.
I have such gratitude for life, and I want to maintain that by continuing to take care of my mind, body, and the earth. For so long I lived with the horrible attitude that I couldn’t change me, or the world, that I am now passionate about all of my habits being positive.
I want Riley to grow up respecting himself enough to make wise choices, with thought to the consequences of poor ones. I also want him to believe in his heart that his decisions matter, and will not only affect his tomorrows-- but also the future of our communities, and our land. I want him to realize he can make changes in an unfair world and grow up with clean air and good food, the all natural kind, not the kind some scientist invented so he could fill the huge pockets of greedy businessmen. How did something so simplistic become so corporately complicated?
I think society feels like they can’t make a difference; they just go with the flow and accept what is handed to them; they feel helpless and overwhelmed. I am going to strive to keep from slipping into that pool of pollution. I want to do what I can, and by informing myself, I am definitely taking a step in the right direction.
*I promise to keep an open mind during this project, and to accept what my group mates have to say without slant. I believe everyone’s voice matters and hope mine did not come off as judgmental; everything changes when you see the world through a Mother’s eyes.
I want Riley to grow up respecting himself enough to make wise choices, with thought to the consequences of poor ones. I also want him to believe in his heart that his decisions matter, and will not only affect his tomorrows-- but also the future of our communities, and our land. I want him to realize he can make changes in an unfair world and grow up with clean air and good food, the all natural kind, not the kind some scientist invented so he could fill the huge pockets of greedy businessmen. How did something so simplistic become so corporately complicated?
I think society feels like they can’t make a difference; they just go with the flow and accept what is handed to them; they feel helpless and overwhelmed. I am going to strive to keep from slipping into that pool of pollution. I want to do what I can, and by informing myself, I am definitely taking a step in the right direction.
*I promise to keep an open mind during this project, and to accept what my group mates have to say without slant. I believe everyone’s voice matters and hope mine did not come off as judgmental; everything changes when you see the world through a Mother’s eyes.
Olivia's beliefs:
I do believe in the idea of health benefits from sticking with organic foods, but I am not so sure that these benefits are enough to outweigh the benefits of inorganic foods. I don't think it's feasible for an average middle class family to afford to live off of purely organic foods. For some families, it is difficult to even afford to prepare healthy meals, let alone organic meals.
I am also curious to know about how much food is shipped from our country to other countries that are in desperate need of help with obtaining food. If there is a large number of countries that we export food to, is it really necessary for us to go the organic route and put all of those people at greater risk for starvation, when inorganic foods make it possible to produce enough good to help?
Finally, I cannot help but wonder if it is even possible to know if you are really eating purely organic food. There have been so many strains of GMOs introduced into our foodchain, and the seeds from these plants get mixed up so easily in other fields, that half the time farmers are not even aware that this has happened. Large corporations, such as Monsanto, cannot control the transfer of their genes to other crops. Unless individual crops are tested (a task that is too daunting to even imagine, given the size of the corn fields that exist in Iowa alone, according to "Omnivore Dilemma"), there really is no way to tell if you are actually eating something that is organic or not.
These reasons keep me from completely siding with those who believe organic foods are the way to go. I believe our dependency on GMOs and the careless ways in which they are used at this point in time has destroyed any possibility of our country managing on organic foods alone.
I am also curious to know about how much food is shipped from our country to other countries that are in desperate need of help with obtaining food. If there is a large number of countries that we export food to, is it really necessary for us to go the organic route and put all of those people at greater risk for starvation, when inorganic foods make it possible to produce enough good to help?
Finally, I cannot help but wonder if it is even possible to know if you are really eating purely organic food. There have been so many strains of GMOs introduced into our foodchain, and the seeds from these plants get mixed up so easily in other fields, that half the time farmers are not even aware that this has happened. Large corporations, such as Monsanto, cannot control the transfer of their genes to other crops. Unless individual crops are tested (a task that is too daunting to even imagine, given the size of the corn fields that exist in Iowa alone, according to "Omnivore Dilemma"), there really is no way to tell if you are actually eating something that is organic or not.
These reasons keep me from completely siding with those who believe organic foods are the way to go. I believe our dependency on GMOs and the careless ways in which they are used at this point in time has destroyed any possibility of our country managing on organic foods alone.
