ORGANIC OR CHEAPER SUPERMARKET FOODS DURING A RECESSION?

We all know that organic foods are more expensive, and there is no visible difference between the two, so why should you pay more for organic, when money is tight during the ongoing recession?

1. Let’s start with eggs. So-called barn eggs come from chickens held in cages where the animals never see the light of day, and they become depressed, so the food is poor quality, most notably that they are deficient in omega3, an important nutrient in your diet. I suggest that this is cruelty to animals and factory farming should be banned. If you or I were cruel to an animal, there would be a fine. But factory farming is big business, and it will not be easy to get it stopped.

2. What about milk? People have been drinking milk for thousands of years, there was never a need for pasteurisation, but when factory farming was introduced, cows were kept in sheds all the year, the animals became depressed, and sick, the milk was infected. The mistake is keeping cows in sheds, because they get depressed, again, this is cruelty to animals.

A farmer in the Midlands is hoping to start a farming system with 8,000 cows in sheds, producing poor quality milk, just to make a profit. These cows can expect to live 6 years, whereas cows eating grass in the fields for 6 months every year live for 9 years. I remember drinking raw milk on my grandfather’s farm when I was young, it tastes better. I now drink 12 pints of raw milk a week for my health. I had cancer 3 years ago, and raw milk is helping me to recover. Pasteurisation and homogenisation destroys the healthy enzymes in the milk. You can get raw milk at local farmers markets, but supermarkets are not allowed to sell it.

There is a farm in Sussex selling raw milk to 500 customers, who are buying it because it helps with allergies.

3. Supermarket vegetables are deficient in nutrients and supplements because of modern farm practices, and may contain pesticides. They cannot put the slurry on the fields, in case it runs into a stream, causing pollution. Instead, they use chemical fertilizers, again, big business. Supermarket vegetables have been tested, in some cases, vitamin C, magnesium, zinc, iron, etc were found to be as low as 15% of their normal values. You cannot tell by looking at a cabbage, for instance, whether it is deficient, but organic produce is much better.

Even better if you can grow your own!

Phil Stilliard
Cancer Survivor and Health Aficionado