Help, Struggling with organics, grass fed, and GMO

[livinlovinlaughin]

I am sickened to know how bad most of our food is for us. I am starting to make more things from scratch to avoid additives in processed foods. I do not have a huge food budget but we make sacrifices to afford certain organics (the "dirtiest"). I have been avoiding buying and feeding DS meat and chicken while trying to find the best deals on grass fed beef. I am still confused on chicken...should it be organic to avoid it having been fed GMOs? I need you input please. I am really struggling and feeling sick over what I feed my family. I understand that we can only do the best we can with the knowledge we have. But what is good enough? How much is too much when it comes to cheating and serving non-organic or GMO containing foods? I just do not know. Does anyone else struggle with this? How often do you eat out? (maybe once a week for us but vacation is a different story) What do you do choose when you eat out? What are your thoughts on the topic? Please excuse my ramblings. I thought this would be the best place to find support with this struggle and ideas. Thanks.

[ArcticRose]

Whoa! Slow down there...

The key to making these sorts of changes is to do them gradually. If you try to make all these changes at once.. you'll go nuts!

Pick one thing that you feel is most important, like cutting out high fructose corn syrup. Start working on that. Once you feel like you have a comfortable grip on what is ok and what isn't in that category, move on to another one, like cutting out all additives. It sounds like you have already taken these steps.. that's a great start!

Some things will take longer to get the hang of than others. And some you can start working on a little at a time while doing the others.. like buying organic produce. I tend to buy whatever I can find and afford that's organic, but don't sweat it if I have to buy some that's not. Organic produce is just too expensive in my area to do 100%.

Start watching for deals on grass fed critters (I've found craigslist to be a BIG help with this) and buy what you can when you can. Make it a goal to someday only have grass fed meats, but don't cut all meat out of your diet until you do. If you are concerned about what the animal was fed, don't eat the fats, that is where most of the toxins are stored and where you will get the most that are absorb-able by you.

Many of the problems that result from eating the average toxic diet come from extensive, as in over time, consumption of 'bad' stuff. You can't fix in one day a whole lifetime of habits! You are already doing more than most people do. Give yourself a big pat on the back for what you do and don't make yourself sick over the things you can't do yet.

Oh, and as for eating out.. we eat out a couple of times a month. We try to avoid places that heavily lace their food with msg, but other than that, we don't worry about it. Two or three meals a month are not going to cause irreparable harm.


And that is my two cents!