I never imagined shaking my head back and forth like an old coot while grumbling, "Things were completely different when I was growing up!" but here I am doing exactly that. It's true, though...life is not as innocent and carefree today as it was even just 20 years ago. Becoming an increasingly technologically advanced society is certainly a good thing, but our futuristic strides have often come at a huge price to our environment, health and well-being. For the sake of simple argument, I'm going to focus on our food supply because I think that so many people can agree that it's royally screwed up. High fructose corn syrup tucked inside of thousands of common foods, pesticide contaminants on our fresh fruit and veggies, chemically-pumped meats and dairy products, and almost weekly food recalls...it seems as though the very act of eating causes us to play Russian Roulette with our lives. I'm sure that it's never really been roses and buttercups in the industry as a whole, but it's not surprising that more and more people have been losing faith in the safety of their food and are looking into other alternatives -- particularly organics -- for greater piece of mind.
I'm one of those people. I never worried about drinking mainstream cow's milk...I just guzzled away without a care in the world. Then, manufacturers started identifying that their products were rBGH-free. Hmmm, I didn't even know that bovine growth hormone was in there to begin with. Scratched my head....not so happy. Instead of feeling liberated, that small piece of information prompted me to investigate what other secret chemicals could have lurking behind the creamy veil of goodness. I ended up researching until the cows came home, did a 360 and returned right back to the farm again. My kidlets asked me why I was cutting our household off from normal milk (and shortly thereafter many other conventional dairy products, and then veggies, meat, etc.), and the easiest response I came up with was, "Daddy wants everyone he loves to fill their bodies with pure foods. Organic cows make happy, healthy foods." Then it was, "Organic soil makes happy, healthy veggies..." It went on and on until shopping in the grocery store became an exercise in utter frustration and futility. I had created such a mammoth list of "untouchables" that after a solid hour of carting my little ones around throughout the aisles of my local grocery store with nothing more than a sprig of certified organic parsley to pay for at the check out, I realized that I had become one of them...you know...ahem...an "orthorexic".
Of course you know what that is...maybe you're even a little ortho yourself. If you refuse to allow foods potentially contaminated with pesticides, herbicides or made with artificial additives touch your lips, then you are suffering from this legitimate fixation on righteous eating. No I'm not making this up! Orthorexia nervosa, as it is called in psychological circles, is considered to be a disorder in which people are obsessed with the quality of the food they put in their bodies. Not wanting to poison their temples, they may even go as far as to swear off of sugar, salt, wheat, corn, gluten, soy, yeast, dairy, and caffeine. Guess who are the most likely to demonstrate this behavior? Well-educated, relatively financially comfortable people who hear about food borne illnesses and assorted other contamination issues and are alarmed enough to seek out purer alternatives, no matter the cost. Should I check myself into the psych ward -- is there any real hope for me?? -- or am I more sane than I've ever been in my entire life? If it's true that ignorance is bliss, then I'm the first one to admit that I'm just crazy enough to prefer my presently well informed, healthy body status to my formerly stupid, chemically poisoned one. I'm sure they have a pill for what I'm suffering from, but I'll hide it under my tongue and spit it out when my crazy ward handlers aren't looking.
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