Whitney said: My husband and I aren’t totally sold on the whole organic/raw food thing, for several reasons that would take too long to explain. Can you pursue a whole foods mentality with what you find at a normal grocery store? I look for all natural ingredients, low sugar, whole milk, etc, but it seems to me that I should be able to make healthy food from there. Am I totally off base? I’m not from a rural setting at all, and it just seems strange to me that all the bad foods aren’t in stores. Can’t I buy “normal” chicken, milk, butter, and eggs, and it be good for my family?
My response: You can certainly buy whole foods in the average grocery store, and limiting the majority of your grocery purchases to whole foods is a HUGE improvement over the way the majority of us eat. My biggest issue with the grocery store is that you simply cannot get good meat. Even if you pay out the nose for organic or “free range,” it is barely any better than the foodlot meat. In fact, it’s probably still foodlot meat, but without the antibiotics and hormones. Michael Pollan goes into the different sources of meat in great detail in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
For example, at the grocery store you can get Egglands Best eggs, and they are better than conventional eggs because the chickens are not given antibiotics or fed animal parts. But they are still not raised outdoors and do not eat their traditional diet of grass and bugs and worms. You can buy organic meat in the grocery store, but it is probably not grass fed or raised outdoors, and you will pay such a high price for it that I don’t think it’s worth it. That’s where you can get a much better deal if you find a farm.
Likewise, your milk will not be grass fed unless you are going to a Whole Foods. But you can find hormone-free whole milk, which is at least something. Also, the organic milk in the store is usually ultra-pasteurized, which rather defeats the purpose. Trader Joes does have a reasonably priced organic whole milk that is pasteurized, not ultra-pasteurized so that’s a safe bet if you have a TJs.
You can definitely buy normal chicken, butter, eggs, whole milk and eliminate the processed snacks and stuff and be eating better than 90% of Americans, but I still think it is a compromise. I really do think it’s worth it to get outside of the grocery store and see what else you can find.
It is DEFINITELY a process, and you are DEFINITELY headed in the right direction. Keep it up! :-) Cooking from scratch and getting the processed crap out of the house is a HUGE step.
** UPDATE IN THE WORKS… stay tuned.
I totally get how Whitney feels… I’m hours away from a good meet/egg/milk farm… and I mean hours and hours. We do have a few wonderful, local fruits/veggie farms and that helps tremendously but sometimes I think it’s just a matter of working with what you have available to you.
Absolutely. If I lived hours away, I’d have to deal with the grocery store too. But check around. There are coops that bring farms to cities and such things, but it could be cost prohibitive.
Jo-Lynne, I always learn so much from you. Keep these random questions and answers coming – I love this feature!
I am right there with Whitney. The whole getting-everything-from-a-farm idea sounds wonderful, but it can’t happen for us. We even visit my brother and his fam, and they eat your ideal diet on their farm, so I’ve seen it up close, but frankly, this kind of eating is no longer practical for the average American. If I had the money and the time, I could perhaps drive around the countryside, find various farms, pay through the nose for GREAT food, and drive it all back in time to cook all day to eat this way — but economic times are hard, and few people have the luxury to pay for Trader Joe’s prices or the gasoline to drive to Joe’s farm every week 2 hours away. I’m doing my best at WalMart and Aldi. I agree, J-L, that just cutting out the JUNK, preservatives, additives and hormones is a great step. What I want to know is this: when will the Real Food producers do more to get their food to us, their consumers. So many of us are ready to eat it, but it’s not really available. What do you think? Will this distribution process improve?
Mary Kathryn, I feel your pain. The problem is not with the real food producers, though. The problem is the government subsidizes the cheap corn and soy that make up most junkfood. So it’s more affordable than fresh whole food.
There is a lot of money to be made in processed foods, and the big food companies are in control. The problem is we as a nation have prioritized cheap convenience food, and the way to make it cheap is for big companies to mass produce it. A very few companies own something like 90% of the food production. Read The Omnivore’s Dilemma. It is truly eye opening.
I know that not everyone can afford to do it, but those who can should. We vote with our pocketbooks, and as long as we buy the crap, they’ll keep making it.
We pay hundreds of dollars in prescriptions and medical bills b/c of the way we eat. So we are spending it somewhere. I’d rather spend it on food.
Please know I’m not preaching at you. I’m talking in generalities and expressing my frustration with the system.
The one thing I wish everyone could take away from these discussions is that even if you can’t delve wholeheartedly into whole foods for everything, there are so many improvements that can be made. Just by not buying convenience junkfood, we are helping ourselves out so much. Making meals from scratch, staying out of the fast food chains, those are things EVERYONE can do.
I resonated with both the question and the answer. BUT we tend to eat more flexitarian and buying meat is a VERY rare occurrence so my problem w/ beef is nonexistant
Don’t buy/drink cow’s milk, either. So… I can do fairly well at a *normal* grocery store. We don’t have access to a Trader Joe’s, unfortunately. But we did just get another whole-foodsish store that seems to be reasonable with good selections.
Just wanted to throw this out there….the other day I was at Wegmans and picked up organic grass-fed beef…so they carry it as well.
And of course, it was Reduced For Quick Sale AND I had a $1 Wegman’s beef coupon!
Interesting. We’ve been shelling out $8.99/pound for organic meat for the past few months. I’m going to ask around and do some research to see if I can find a farm in my vicinity, but I don’t have particularly high hopes. Southern Arizona isn’t exactly a mecca for whole foods and farming (unfortunately).
We’ve begun purchasing our meat and eggs from a local rancher. We split a side of beef with another family and it is processed for us at a local butcher. I grew up eating local, farm fresh eggs, too.