Ignorance is Bliss, or is it?

I am currently reading one of my health books for the third or fourth time and came across some disturbing truths about Genetically Modified Foods and the Herbicide Roundup, along with other helpful tips about what to do and not to do to stay alive and healthy for the longest time.

You may be thinking, why read the book over and over again? Wouldn’t one run-through do it? And I say back to you, would it? How many times have you read or heard things that may have disturbed you and, in the next second, gone back to eating your sandwich?

My theory is that the whole “ignorance is bliss” thing is a sort of brainwashing we have been subjected to. We are so busy and have so many important things to do. And what can one person do to change it? And now we have to think "are the things we read really true?" Or "Could it really be true?" Or "It’s probably not as bad as they say it is..."

Knowing all of the things that go on behind the scenes of food production is so disturbing and disorienting that it feels much better to “ignore” the information and go about our business.

So, the reason I read this over and over is to remind myself and arm myself with the laundry list of what these farming practices are doing to our food supply, how pervasive it has become, and how to avoid falling for the marketing designed to disguise the awful truth behind the production of the specific food item I am considering purchasing.

For example, Eggs. There are so many advertizing claims around this food product including Vegetarian Fed, Organic, Free-Range, Cage-Free, Brown, Omega, B, D, and E added. Or how about this one: No Hormone and Antibiotics added. When I read that I think “thank goodness” and then “that actually means that the other varieties may have hormones and antibiotics added.”

Vegetarian Fed means that they are fed grains, which is not their natural food — insects are — and those grains are most likely from fields treated with Roundup and grown from seeds that have been genetically modified to be “Roundup ready.” Roundup ready means they can spray the fields with Roundup and it won’t kill the plants you want, only the weeds. That means Roundup is all over the grains that are fed to the chickens (and cows, pigs, etc.) which is then part of their meat and eggs which you are eating and therefore ingesting Roundup with your meal.

Here's another one. It turns out that Free-Range, which sounds good, only means that it is legal to keep the chickens in a warehouse their entire life and still call it free-range as long as a door to the outside is open for only 5 minutes a day.

My oh my, that all sounds a bit deceiving.

The safest and most truthful choice is Pasture-Raised. A Pasture-raised chicken is out there pecking and scratching and doing natural chicken things. The eggs from these chickens are truly different in all respects, most of all in taste. Their yokes are a deep yellow-orange color. They are simply better. Don’t take my word for it; check it out for yourself.

Look for Pasture Raised chicken and eggs. And please, reread this little post as many times as you need!

Jan OHan