This is something that should probably be titled “autobiographical fragments.” I’m not wanting to make an argument, and I do know that many of our readers are interested in, and serious about healthy food. That isn’t what I want to talk about, although it is. What I want to do is just tell a story from a perspective that some of you may not have. I’m sure that you have picked up on the fact that we are not into “health” food. Not that we are opposed to all of it, and not that we eat unhealthily, just that we are strongly antagonistic to a lot of things that are all about health. I’d like to take a shot at explaining that in a way that I am not sure we have ever made clear.
First off, I have a strong instinct for when I am being bossed around. This has never been in my life a problem with legitimate authority. I am not, and have not ever been a rebellious person. I imagine that this is a result of both nature and nurture – as my mom tells a story about me firmly telling Mr. Rogers off. She had turned on a show in the hopes of making bread in some kind of peace, and she heard me, at the age of three, telling him, ” I DON”T WANT TO BE YOUR NEIGHBOR.” This is a characteristic that I share with many in my family, actually probably all of them.
Now – back to food. This means that the question that is often overlooked by people is the main hang up for me. “Who is this person, and why are they telling me what to do?” This is why much of the current food frenzy is so distasteful to me. I cannot watch a documentary about the evil practices of some cow farmer somewhere and not want to see a statement of faith from the producer. Why? Because the cows are not my responsibility, but who I listen to is. If I were a cattle rancher, the treatment and well being of the animals would be right up there on my responsibilities. That would be my problem, because the sin would be my sin. When someone who supports the slaughter of babies in the wombs of their mothers tells me about humane cattle practices, I am morally obligated to not let them take authority in my life. They are saying, in effect, “Listen to me as I tell you what is evil and what is good.” For me to listen to them is for me to give them an authority in my life that they have no right to.
Now I know what many of you are thinking. You are thinking that if there is this evilness going on in the farms, then it doesn’t matter who told us about it, we need to not be hypocrites and acknowledge it. And I almost agree with this. Except I don’t. First of all – when people do this sort of thing, they are not the cattle ranchers, and we are not the cattle ranchers. They are asking us to listen to them as they sit in judgement over someone else. My problem is not with admitting that things are probably going wrong. Of course they are, because this is a fallen world. But our job, as Christians, is to fight sin with the tools that God gave us. This means that the sin that is happening in our own little cow farms is the sin that we ought to be up in arms about. Have I been unkind to one of my children? Have I been snarky at my husband? Have I been uncharitable, gossipy, rude, selfish, consumed by fear, envious, vain, or lazy? Is my farm honoring to God?
The people who are driven to expose the sins of farmers somewhere are people who are consumed entirely by their own sin. When they want to bring us along to expose the sins of others, we absolutely must say no. They are not the judge of the earth.
So why is it that this appeals so much to us? Why would we like to “ethically” source our meats? I’m sure I don’t know many of the reasons, but at least one of them is that it appeals to us to think that we could. We think that if we find a farm that is heaven on earth for cows, then we have done something right. But here is a sad reality. The heart of man is corrupt. A “happy” farm could be run by a man who abuses his wife. “Ethical” meat still comes to us by means of people, and people are always full of sin.
Now, I am not opposed in any way to the actual betterment of farming practices. I simply think that we absolutely must begin that by taking responsibility for our own sins which are right in front of us. One of those sins is letting people who hate God tell you what is good, what is true, and what is beautiful. God told us to not worry about whether or not the meat has been offered to idols before we eat it. Ok then, should we listen to Him? But wait! Has God seen the documentary? God has seen much more than the documentary – He sees our hearts. He sees the lives of all the animals in all the farms in all of the world, ever. God knows. Listen to Him.
I hope you can see that this is a different discussion than which foods are good for us. It is a discussion of who you are letting have authority over your consciences. Who tells you what is good? Who tells you what is beautiful? Who tells you what is true? Are you more comfortable with the ethics of the pro-abortion God haters who don’t use pesticides than a third generation Christian farmer who drives the truck with the huge eerie green tank? Then repent. Are you more comfortable exposing the sins of chicken farmers with people who think boys should marry each other than you are eating a antibiotic riddled steak with people who love God? Then repent. Are you more interested in dealing with the sins of someone you don’t know than you are in confessing your own? Then repent.
As Christians take responsibility for the sins that we are sinning ourselves, things will change. Because we will become leaven in the world, not the antibiotics we so detest. When we worship God, love our neighbors, and eat with gratitude, the world can not be unchanged. When we go out on crusades to change the world, led by whoever, we are changed ourselves – and not into the image of our Savior, but into the image of our new leaders.
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INTERESTING! I come from a home where my mother shares appr. your opinion, but my brother advocates that if we know about things we are responsible to speak up and act against injustice and to not buy our eat the fish, meat, clothes,… That this is a responsability we owe to the Creator in taking care of his creation and caring about our neighbour and caring about justice done to the poor, of which the bible speaks a lot…
Is it not possible that the two go very harmoniously and naturally together? Honoring and following our Savior and caring for His creation in speaking up against injustice, both of the unborn who are being slaughtered and the fish who have metals in them because of our pollution and many other matters!
We become like our leaders was a good point at the end.
Excellent!
I am probably what you would describe as ‘into healthy food’ (but also probably don’t fit the stereotype of ‘healthy eating’ either–for instance, I don’t buy organic because I don’t trust the worldview behind it and I do trust my dad’s knowledge of both agriculture and worldview). Thank you for this post. It is VERY needed by Christian women who are interested in nutrition. Beyond the worldview of the documentaries (I know which ones you’re talking about!), there are the blogs: My hackles raise when I see healthy mom bloggers (many of them are Christians!) promote treating food as a moral issue, with articles about protecting your food ‘convictions’ at the expense of relationships (what kind of impact could it have on one’s Christian witness to make a scene at the table of an unbelieving family member over the ingredients of the sweet potato casserole on your child’s plate?); or about ‘getting your husband on board’ (with health food that majorly impacts your finances and he’s not convinced is necessary), which seems to mean ‘remake your husband the way you want him to be’.
Oh my…there was more I wanted to say, but I left halfway through typing this to put my 2-year-old down for her nap and forgot what it was. Anyway, this is a needed post–thank you!
Very well said. May I be the salt and light in a world of darkness in my thoughts, words and actions, seeking the direction of scripture above all else and allowing the convictions of the Holy Spirit to guide me daily.
I COULD NOT POSSIBLY AMEN THIS ENOUGH!!
But I would add that the fear which drives many into the arms of the paranoid food crazes, has at it’s root, a low view of trust in God’s love for His world. We forget that He actually does run things around here. Remembering this, and that He loves us helps give peace over these anxieties, and frees me to eat white flour with joy and thankfulness. Oh, and sugar! Now that is just the sheer grace of God in a granule. : )
United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we’re sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
~ Casting Crowns
I have already been a fan of yours since reading both your books (and underlining just about every third sentence), but I might just love you forever for this post. Although I would like to have my family be healthy, I just cannot get freaked out by every single food issue that comes up, whether it’s if meat is ethically sourced or if I am poisoning my kids with non-organic apple juice. I seem to find myself in the minority of mothers who feel this way, and I always feel like a crazy person for not jumping on the bandwagon, but I’m glad to know there are more people out there like me.
I think you are mixing ‘eating healthfully’ with eating ‘ethically’. When you speak of how animals are treated on the farm, it affects the meat that ends up on your table in a way (because they are likely the animals who are also given GMO corn, which is bad for your health) but not in a huge way. The reason, imo, to buy grass-fed animals is because their meat is higher in vitamins & minerals and lower in saturated fat and cholesterol b/c they are eating greens, which are good for them, and us. I think eating healthfully is important because the Lord gave us our bodies and I think it is important to feed our bodies with items that are from the Lord (not a box that says ‘all natural’, I am talking about stuff from the ground or animals that eat stuff from the ground). I understand what you are saying that we need to focus on our ‘farm’ before focusing on others but eating healthfully is focusing on my farm – making sure my family has the best foods (in my opinion, fruits, veggies, nuts, grains, beans) to nourish the bodies the Lord gave us. I think eating processed food (though it tastes good) is treating something God gave us poorly. Again, your post seems to be more about eating ‘ethically’ than eating ‘healthfully’ but I just wanted to give you something to think about on the health side of it. I hope you’re doing well (I had #5 in July) 🙂
Wow! Some great food for thought here… pun intended! 😉 Thank you for your time and willingness to post on these “controversial” topics. Spurring us on!
The true difficulty with any issue is obtaining a balance in how we approach it. Being a vegetarian or dismissing the argument as not being our problem are both simplistic and/or lazy responses to a legitimate problem.
Sometimes God uses problems *over there* for our personal sanctification. We will always have sin in front of our faces, but that does not give us an excuse to stop addressing the wickedness around us. Additionally, whenever Christians stop trying to protect the weak from bullies (which is the central theme in factory farming and I’m not referring to the animals here), we fail to profess a uniquely glorious aspect of our faith.
It isn’t about who eats what, where they bought it, when they eat it, where they eat it, or how they eat it. It is about giving glory to God in everything we do, say and partake of.
Love it! Thanks for giving a new take on this hot topic.
Does this also apply to medical advice? Is your doctor an authority figure? Should Christians only listen to Christian doctors about health? And if that doctor says that white flour and white sugar are making you sick…should you listen? What if it’s a non-Christian doctor? How many have actually asked their doctor what their beliefs are?
But as to food and farming, have you heard of Joel Salatin? He does have a Christian worldview and lots of knowledge about food and farming. So, yes, why not let knowledgeable Christians inform you about what is good and true and beautiful…with respect to food, farming, and impacts on health. Without binding the conscience of others.
What Katy said. This is not a moral issue but a health one. I search for grass-fed beef because it is higher quality and more healthful, not because I care about the cows.
I’m a little confused after reading this. It’s wrong and treacherous to kill babies. It’s also wrong to feed cows nasty, genetically engineered “food” (if you can call it that) because that “food” is ridiculously cheap (thanks to government subsidies), which God never intended their bodies to digest. It makes the meat and milk from those animals very different on a structural level, from the the meat of cows fed grass and other natural forages which IS the design God intended. Neither method is perfect because we live in a fallen world. Americans struggle with more chronic disease now (maybe not more infectious diseases…maybe not), very likely as a result of flat out distasteful farming practices. We don’t die as a result of those practices – we die because of the fall. But I’m 26 and struggle with ovarian tumors, hypothyroidism, food allergies, and a host of other health issues which I’ve been able to keep under control largely due to carefulness with my diet. I’d rather die at 70 when my kids are grown than at 30 because my cancer won’t be kept under control. Just a preference…not in my hands of course.
Now, back on topic, I think Christians should be outspoken against abortion and fight against that evil with the means that we’ve been given.
On the other hand, I agree with what you’re saying – we don’t need to be vocal and obnoxious against cattle ranchers who feed their cows GMO corn. And we certainly shouldn’t go around pointing fingers at others who don’t share our passion for eating clean food. For me, it’s more an issue of applying wisdom and common sense in how I know to best serve my family, help my children’s bodies grow properly, and keep myself healthy. Therefore, I go out of my way to buy grass fed beef, grass fed raw milk, etc. Sometimes I have to buy beef/ dairy products that are subpar. It’s not the end of the world. But I don’t think that as Christians, we have to simply brush aside the very real nutritional issues involved in the debate because they happen to be brought up by confused pagans.
*But I don’t think that as Christians, we have to simply brush aside the very real nutritional ***and ethical*** issues involved in the debate because they happen to be brought up by confused pagans.
Rachel,
I absolutely love your blog, and love your books. You have been given a gift of leading many mothers and wives and women in general on a path of righteousness. I am grateful for your strong leadership position on issues of godliness and have been personally challenged by many aspects in my own life and family due to your time, energy, and investment in this generation. I really appreciate you and hope that these comments come across as curiosity and inquisitive towards helping you in our mutual aim to glorify God and help others know Him and the things of His word better.
I will admit that my husband and I are very interested in discussing ethical issues, and so these are some of the things we talked about in regards to this post, and if you have the time, I’d love to know your thoughts. I rarely disagree with much of what you write, so consider this comment of inquisition of unique exception to my overall support for you and your ministry to us! Similarly, I hope that it will be profitable in working through how we think through things biblically as some of the points/questions are aimed in a way that poses a different opinion to you but is not intended to attack or offend, but rather, to enable us to together discuss how we think through these issues as a generation seeking to glorify God well. Thus, here are our thoughts:
-Do you think it is appropriate for one’s doctrine of sin to be one’s overriding theological compass? Namely, I’ve noticed (and appreciated!) that you tend to lean towards emphasizing a doctrine of harmatology [doctrine of sin] in some of your writings (as opposed to Christology or some other guiding doctrine). Something to reflect and think about anyhow!
-What do you think of common grace? Common grace is simply stating that God’s grace has in some measure been given to all humans. Do you think it would be better to say, “I am not interested in your opinion on an ethical matter because you are not a Christian” or “If this is a matter of ethical concern why have Christians overlooked the matter?” If a non-christian scientist has studied science over the course of ten years, it is ok to learn from his research and profit from things I may not know but which he does even if we are not in full agreement on theological matters? It should at least stem us to understand these issues and educate ourselves as Christians.
-I also do not think it a fair representation that only politically liberal unbelievers are those who are interested in issues surrounding fair treatment of animals. I have not seen the video you are referencing, but this was implied at least twice in the post.
-I worry that a position in which we cannot partner with those who may not be Christians on social issues could lead to a very weak social ethic. Related to this, I would have to wonder how your social ethic of “I am not a cow rancher, those are not my cows” would relate to other social issues (i.e. I am not the mother considering an abortion so it is not my responsibility, or I am not a banker so fiscal responsibility on behalf of those investing with that bank is not my responsibility). I suppose this would be guided be your understanding of Genesis 1:28 in regards to our relation to creation, and on a broader scale how one should relate to culture.
-If you do take a position that we primarily need to examine our own hearts, I was a bit concerned when the message was, “Examine your heart in how you relate to your children (but not how you relate to God’s creation). Namely, it’s ok to ask “Am I being a godly wife/godly mother?” But it is also ok to evaluate our social ethics and ask ourselves, “Am I being a godly steward of the world around me and how I relate to it?”. Different cultures understand their relation to creation and private property differently than we do. Just because we do not own animals, does not mean that we do seek to try to treat them ethically when we are able to.
Again, I hope these comments will be thought-provoking for you and would love to hear your response when you have the time.
Warmly,
Joy Price
You are one of my favorite bloggers, and I love your work! I struggle a great deal with a line between wisdom and “all in” when it comes to what my family eats. Although I have liked seeing the Christians infiltrate what was once the
“hippie market.”
Anyway, at the end of the day, it is all about the heart. God is good, and I think what we eat is a personal journey that is different for all. In my circle, it seems like Christians are the ones telling me what and how to eat and equating any downfalls with sin…that bugs me. I am learning to take this health thing one step at a time…and it’s not easy because it’s everywhere, and everyone has an opinion! I’m glad you have peace on where you stand with your family.
I was just talking about this issue with my husband, and love that you are addressing it head on – it can be a touchy subject, and a complex one. I really appreciate your perspective, but want to be sure I understand fully what you’re saying (so I don’t discover that I don’t while I’m in conversation with one of the staunch “foodies” that surround me here in San Fran).
As far as I can see, simple scientific claims about whether pesticides/hormones/antibiotics etc. are (or aren’t) harmful to humans in the trace amounts that they come to us in the food we buy at the grocery store get mixed up with ethical questions from two angles – the ethics of how the food is getting produced, and the ethics of whether it’s ok to consume the food once it’s there (i.e. being a good steward of your body, and loving your family by eating as healthfully as possible). I assume everyone agrees that it is good to eat as healthfully as possible given the facts you know, as long as it doesn’t get blown out of proportion.
I understand your point that you won’t take your cues on what’s right and wrong from just anybody, particularly those who are in rebellion on more important issues like abortion. But I do think the questions “they” have raised still need to be answered.
From the first angle, I think the questions are: Is it morally wrong to treat animals/the environment poorly (of course this raises the question of what constitutes “poorly”)? If so, and someone else is sinning by treating animals/the environment/their employees poorly, is it morally wrong to do business with them, particularly in a situation where you are directly benefiting (i.e. lower prices) from their sin?
Are you answering the question by saying it doesn’t matter at all where your food (or socks or toys or whatever) come from (even if by purchasing them, you are rewarding/reinforcing the sinful practices of the producer), or are you’re saying it matters, but is just way down on the priority list, way behind walking with the Lord in your own heart and home?
Also, if you’re taking the fact that Paul says it’s ok to eat meat sacrificed to idols to mean that it doesn’t matter where your food comes from, in that case would this be another issue where we would be called to defer to the “weaker brother” (aka someone who does feel convicted by eating meat from sad cows who were fed hormones and yucky corn and had to live in a noisy smelly dark place instead of roaming free on the pasture)? Of course in this case the weaker brother would also be responsible not to judge the stronger brother!
Thanks again for your thoughts on this issue! This blog is SUCH an encouragement to me.
Thank you for this post! Our family also has a problem with a lot of the worldview behind these food movements, and it is not something I’ve see Christian women address, at all!
I would urge caution in your lambasting of those who attempt to regulate what we should and should not eat, as it appears you wish to do the same. Whether or not one wishes to eat grass-fed beef or “ethically challenged” beef (as they would have us believe) is up to the individual.
I also find it odd that you would find it a sin to eat the beef that came from, say, a lesbian hooligan farming community. If a sinner eats and widely promotes pie, does that make pie sinful? If a lesbian raises my beef, does that mean that the beef is also lesbian? If someone sacrifices food to their god and we eat it, are we worshiping their god?
Hmm.
Obviously, there is room for adjustment. I would find it wrong to support a lesbian establishment with my money. I just don’t think their grass-fed beef is any more sinful for it.
I heartily agree with the spirit of this post, that we should be discerning about the sources of our information, and use wisdom as we filter through the plethora of food-related information that’s out there.
Reading the responses to this post also makes me think we need to be careful, lest food become a god in our lives, and/or a path to sin. If my first instinct when reading this post was to flare up and feel defensive, does that means there’s a problem in my heart? And what is going on in my heart when I buy food and feed my family? Am I becoming prideful because I hunt down raw milk or boycott anything not labeled “organic”? Am I lazy because I buy whatever is easiest and cheapest and least likely to make my kids gripe? Am I a poor steward of my money because I blow my budget on good food?
I think this is all a good place to start a good conversation and heart-examination…at least for me. 🙂
Yes. I am sitting here thanking God that I can eat anything at all.
I appreciated this article and those who took the time to comment. I do feel like I may have missed something – that perhaps there is something specific that you are referring to in this post that I may have not seen, read, or come across. I feel like I’m not entirely sure what you are “against”. I try to do my best to feed my family healthy food (grass fed, organic, raw milk, no nitrates, etc), . I try to gather information about what is healthy (and what is harmful) from many different sources, both secular and non-secular, liberal and conservative. I take all this information with a good healthy dose of wisdom and discernment. What I try to stay clear of is obsessing over these things to the point where it causes me to worry and/or to become self-righteous. Is there a balanced way of thinking about these things that you do approve of? Are you saying you think that concerning ourselves with the way our food is raised, fed, injected, sprayed, processed or produced is wrong? Or are there just aspects of this “fad” and its proponents that you find objectionable? Thanks again for your thoughts and for your ministry on this blog.
First of all, great post! Secondly, something that I feel a lot of folks in our present society are missing is an attitude of humble thankfulness. Here we are, food stuffing our grocery stores, and we’re getting all huffy about how it came to be there. Shouldn’t we start off by at least being grateful that there is food at all to fill our kiddos bellies with? Also, no one is forcing any of the food in question down anyone’s throats. We are incredibly blessed to have the ability to choose what we eat. I truly believe that eating healthily is important, it is part of caring for our families. However, the fact that food has become something that is breaking fellowship within the church instead of being a means of creating it is definitely a sign that our priorities have gone askew.
We were the evil chicken farmers that are lied about in certain videos….we raised meat chickens for 40 days from birth to death and we had 40,000 and we cared for them and honored God with our hard work and care for his creatures….we stayed up night after night and walked those 2 long barns keeping those brainless animals from killing each other from piling up to keep warm….they did not have one day of suffering…so if a propaganda video lied about us I don’t trust much else they have to say….truth is we as Gods human creation were given the job of dominion over the animals and no matter how hard we try to make death look good there is no way to do that…if you were raised on a farm you understand that animals die and the process is neither pleasant or pretty but necessary and right! I also believe that some seed modifications have helped save billions of lives because God granted men the intelligence to dominate all living things….my two cents…and yes I was a sinful farmer and I am still sinful and we would all be spending our time wisely loving our neighbors better… even the sinful chicken farmers…good article!
A distinction can be made between the products of sinful men and the minds of sinful men. Yes, even the plowing of the wicked is sin, but that doesn’t imply that their plowing isn’t fruitful in the very literal sense of producing a good crop.
I’m sure there are plenty of people who make food and health decisions upon the voice of some authority, but what of those who are actually interested in the facts of food and health? And let’s not lose sight of the fact that there are sinful men behind the development of modern methods of farming, processing, and preserving food. To use an analogy another poster used, if a socialist medical community desires to inoculate an entire generation of as many diseases as possible because it is their hope to save the world, does that mean I ought to vaccinate my child for every possible disease, including ones that are predominantly consequences of fornication, or ones that can be harmful, rather than helpful? Is the Christian doctor who was educated at socialist medical school X automatically going to have adequately evaluated the presuppositions of the authorities they were under who gave them the “empirically proven perspective” on medicine?
Your point, which is a good one, actually cuts both ways, for many people accept the authority of mainstream food industry that has just as many backward-thinking pagans. If we are to honor God with our minds, it shouldn’t just be about rejecting a certain group of foolish authorities, or even just about dealing with our own sins and not jumping on the bandwagon of self-righteous condemnation. It is also about searching for the truth whatever may be the subject under consideration–and I think a good number of Christian folks who have chosen certain positions within the food and health “craze” have done so because they aren’t pleased with the agenda and methods behind the industrialized community of food production. Being on the side of “nut-jobs” and “baby-haters” doesn’t mean the side is chosen because the “nut-jobs” and “baby-haters,” are promoting it; and, of course, plenty of “baby-haters” and “nut-jobs” would love for you to eat antibiotic injected meats and GMO produce for reasons conscientious Christians should question.
For an example of how the matters can be more complex than simply honoring God by not being a bandwagoner or busybody, consider the recent news that Pepsi uses cells derived from aborted babies in their research and development:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/obama-agency-rules-pepsi-use-of-aborted-fetus-is-ordinary-business
I’m not arguing that people who eat such things are sinning unwittingly, but I am arguing, WITH you in one sense, that Christians need to be thoughtful about why they think what they think and do what they do. Shunning the “bossy foodies” of the vocal minority doesn’t mean you are safe among the “bossy foodies” of industrialized food producers. In a nannyish society, everyone’s telling anyone what anyone and everyone ought to be thinking and doing. So yes, trust God’s authority, deal with your own sin, but don’t neglect going out and looking for the truth about food (or whatever else it may be) wherever it may be found.
I am a somewhat of a health nut and totally agree with you on this one! Thanks for articulating so well!
It must be exhausting spending one’s days being offended by everything. And for this article to be consistent – you would need to take offense at everything.
Facts you should know about me: I love organic dark chocolate (I’ve been munching on a bar all day), I am an abortion survivor (not as in – my mom tried to abort me and I survived, but rather I was born after Roe V. Wade, and Mother didn’t want a third child and considered ‘getting rid’ of me because the pastor at our church never preached against the sins of abortion), I have been a Christian for as long as I can remember, I have been going to church just as long, antibiotics saved my life when I was six weeks old, I worked on a cattle ranch for five years, I ‘used’ to crave junk food but I have health problems which led me to eating healthy and organic and now I only grace the fast food industry with my presence once a year – just long enough to remind myself why I don’t eat food that….actually isn’t food.
Now I’m not saying the article was condoning making fast food apart of one’s daily regime, in fact, you very clearly stated what your article was about and that is as follows: “I hope you can see that this is a different discussion than which foods are good for us. It is a discussion of who you are letting have authority over your consciences. Who tells you what is good? Who tells you what is beautiful? Who tells you what is true? Are you more comfortable with the ethics of the pro-abortion God haters who don’t use pesticides than a third generation Christian farmer who drives the truck with the huge eerie green tank? Then repent. Are you more comfortable exposing the sins of chicken farmers with people who think boys should marry each other than you are eating a antibiotic riddled steak with people who love God? Then repent. Are you more interested in dealing with the sins of someone you don’t know than you are in confessing your own? Then repent.”
And this is the only part – (*I do agree with the last paragraph as well) – I fully agree with but the buck doesn’t stop with food and I hope you would agree. What I want to know is: why the gripe with the organic food? Why the condemnation for choosing to eat organic and or natural?
So first you state that you are not a health foodie, basically not into health food. If you aren’t into health food, how much research and fact is behind this article? Is it just an opinion piece? I prefer research and fact and maybe there is, but there is no transparent foundation as to how much fact vs. opinion.
Second: for myself, I always wanted to be Mr. Roger’s neighbor. And Mr. Rogers was asking politely, he was not bossing anybody around telling them they *had* to be his neighbor.
And now you admit that you don’t want anybody, especially a non Christian abortion loving junkie telling you what you can eat. Mainly, you don’t want that person taking authority in your life. Right on, but not every documentary is produced by pro choice hypocrites. So if you have a medical condition that requires the expertise of specialist who happens to be pro choice, will you choose to not see them because the doctor is going to tell you how you should live your life to cure said physical condition?
“When someone who supports the slaughter of babies in the wombs of their mothers tells me about humane cattle practices, I am morally obligated to not let them take authority in my life. They are saying, in effect, “Listen to me as I tell you what is evil and what is good.” For me to listen to them is for me to give them an authority in my life that they have no right to.”
Now I fully support the fact that babies take precedence over cows, but God gave us rules for farming and how to keep the land and I have seen pro choice non Christians do a better job than some Christians. Obviously, just because a person is a Christian doesn’t mean they don’t support abortion as there are some Christian hospitals that practice abortion.
A significant point I wish to make is: there are Biblical practices for caring for the land and animals God gave us. We can study these laws in His Word. Inhumane cattle practices are evil. Therefore, we as followers of God should not be negligent and apathetic in this area of our Christian walk. We should research, study and implement. And just because a pro choice person happens to actually, unknowingly preach a part of the Bible that we haven’t taken dominion over, this does not mean we should disregard it. They were created in the image of God as well even though they would wish to deny it.
III) As I stated earlier, I worked on a cattle ranch for five years. Although I would agree that those cows were ‘happy cows’ I questioned the non-christian’s owner’s farming practices for various reasons. This is a generational farmer by the way and I am not. There I said it. But I have raised my own cows and now I have sheep, I have owned a horse, milk goats, and chickens and currently I grow my own fresh herbs. AHH! Enough, hopefully you get that I like the farming culture and lifestyle. So ya, I got my own little farm and family and yes, I agree that we need to take care of our own little farms, but…I still have to fight abortion which does not take place in my home, and not just abortion, but all the outside evil that would try and rip my home apart. I fully believe that creating a biblical home is the first step in solving what ails us, i.e. abortion, inhumane cattle practices etc. because broken homes produce – (pun intended) broken people.
“The people who are driven to expose the sins of farmers somewhere are people who are consumed entirely by their own sin. When they want to bring us along to expose the sins of others, we absolutely must say no. They are not the judge of the earth.”
IV) Thanks. I feel so condemned by your judgments and just realized all my efforts to promote godly farming were in vain and motivated entirely by my own sin.
“So why is it that this appeals so much to us? Why would we like to “ethically” source our meats? I’m sure I don’t know many of the reasons, but at least one of them is that it appeals to us to think that we could. We think that if we find a farm that is heaven on earth for cows, then we have done something right. But here is a sad reality. The heart of man is corrupt. A “happy” farm could be run by a man who abuses his wife. “Ethical” meat still comes to us by means of people, and people are always full of sin.”
V) Hmmm…..good question. Why do I find biblical farming practices so appealing? Christ is the bread of life. A blessed people are fed by God with milk and honey. Ever had raw cream? Sure, you can have a happy farm run by a happy, God loving family or an unhappy pro choice family. I have reread this paragraph you wrote over and over and I still don’t get it.
“Now, I am not opposed in any way to the actual betterment of farming practices. I simply think that we absolutely must begin that by taking responsibility for our own sins which are right in front of us. One of those sins is letting people who hate God tell you what is good, what is true, and what is beautiful. God told us to not worry about whether or not the meat has been offered to idols before we eat it. Ok then, should we listen to Him? But wait! Has God seen the documentary? God has seen much more than the documentary – He sees our hearts. He sees the lives of all the animals in all the farms in all of the world, ever. God knows. Listen to Him.”
VI) I agree with the second sentence and the last two sentences.
Back to the second to the last paragraph: “I hope you can see that this is a different discussion than which foods are good for us. It is a discussion of who you are letting have authority over your consciences. Who tells you what is good? Who tells you what is beautiful? Who tells you what is true? Are you more comfortable with the ethics of the pro-abortion God haters who don’t use pesticides than a third generation Christian farmer who drives the truck with the huge eerie green tank?”
VII) I don’t your gripe with organic and natural and here is what I mean. Yes, I would rather eat produce from the person who doesn’t spray it. Just because the farmer is pro life doesn’t mean he has all his ducks in a row. He very well might not be treating his animals with the care they deserve. And although vegetables don’t have souls I would rather not eat them when they are sprayed with chemicals that would kill me if I breathed them in. I go to the Bible for my farming ethics and if the pro choice person takes their money and uses it to support abortions I will boycott them.
My questions are: when was the last time you had a Dorito chip and do you know whether the Doritos Co. support abortions? How about Pepsi? I love Pepsi. I drink it rarely though and I boycotted Pepsi Co. for a while till they quit “using human embryonic kidney tissue” – http://www.naturalnews.com/035276_Pepsi_fetal_cells_business_operations.html
How about your 401K in the stock market? Do you know where your money is going and what it is being invested in? What if it is funding abortion meds!
This it what I am lamenting about; to be honest and consistent dear author of bossy food, please don’t just pick on organic food. You’re not doing anybody any justice by your biased article. I support organic and natural food and most of the people that raise it that I know of are Christians that confess Christ. You don’t have to put your trust in organic, but your other option is the USDA which is run by the FED. And we all know how moral the FED is.
So go ahead and eat what you want and God bless you, but please, quit condemning my choice to support organic and natural farming.
Jonah 4:11
I’m not clear what you are advocating either. Are you saying that we need to address our own sin before we consider addressing the sin “out there”? Are you advocating that non-Christians are without particular wisdom or at least trustworthy information because they are unrepentant sinners?
My question then is, when would a Christian ever consider speaking out against social problems or any matter “out there”? If all personal/family sin needs to be abolished first, it won’t ever happen.
Who is more credible (i.e., who should we listen to)? A sinful Christian or a sinful pagan?
Signed, Confused Christie
I knew when I read this first paragraph, it would be interesting to see how many comments this post stirs up and sure enough! A double digiter. (Probably tripe, by the end.) You sure know how to blog, lady. 😉
When you said this: “When someone who supports the slaughter of babies in the wombs of their mothers tells me about humane cattle practices, I am morally obligated to not let them take authority in my life.” I sighed with happy relief. Let me tell you- I get down right crotchety when I hear people talking about animals/trees/food/whales/rainforests and the like and making articles/books/documentaries/movies about them when human life is at stake and no one cares about the aborted babies or the sex trafficking or the murders or the _________every other human misery we are fond of creating___________.
I am at the point where if it is said by the public or media or “rights” groups at large, it is precisely FOR that reason that what they say is probably not worth my listening. Or at the very least, not with them as the sole source of information.
Great post. Period.
You are so right.
We started on our healthier foods journey when my oldest child was seven. She was having behavioral issues, and no amount of spanking, punishing, reasoning, or (even) praying made one whit of difference, until I used my brain and realized a correlation between her fits of rage and consumption of certain foods.
My eyes were opened then to much of the true garbage that sits on our grocery store shelves in the name of nutrition. I cannot, before God, have a clear conscience AND just blindly feed my children poisons and “foods” that we have NO IDEA further down the road what the lab reports will say about their deleterious effects.
It’s been nine years for us. I won’t say food is an issue of fellowship, but we have learned how nastiness in our foods affects our bodies, and we have learned to adapt in “social(fellowship) eating” situations such that we don’t have to be exposed to large amounts of ingredients we avoid in our daily lives.
I find the Christian community is rife with ignorance about what’s really in the foods church bodies encourage so much consumption of, and this ignorance is willful too much of the time. That(could it be gluttony?) cannot be considered UN-sin, anymore than the lifestyle of the theoretical lesbians raising grass-fed beef is un-sin.
Food IS an idol in too many of our lives, anyway. How many followers of Christ are morbidly obese, on blood pressure medicine, diabetic, on antidepressants? All of these things can be food-related. Surely, what’s behind the curtain of our food supply might not be so innocuous?
I do see your point about not allowing people who spurn righteousness to have authority in our lives. However, your knee-jerk response to information itself sent me for a loop. This type of response is not the thoughtful speech I expect from you!
I have told my husband that it is a very tricky place to be, concerned about the foods we eat and yet needing to work alongside (seemingly mostly)”liberals” in order to exact change in the system itself. He and I have agreed that the solution is for more followers of Christ to get involved. Yes, there are more “urgent” things to be involved with too, but the food issue is one that hits MY family table three times a day. I would be wrong not to address it as significant as well.
I appreciate the discussion you’ve generated.
~April
Hi all-
Thanks for all the comments- I can see that this is a topic that could use more fleshing out. I’ll probably come back to it in a while.
Not impressed by this blog post. Sure, Cows are not your responsiblity, but feeding your family is your responsibility. And if someone, more knowledgable than I, has some downright correct scientific information that will help me feed my family in a better way, then why can’t I listen to this person and make a better choice? Why did God create scientists, medical professionals, professors of theology, etc? Maybe these people have some iota of knowledge that I don’t have and they can help me (by common grace given from the Lord) to make a better choice with my food or with my dish soap or with my organic cotton bedsheets.
Yes God tells us what is true, what is right, what is commendable to think about such things. And to meditate on His Word. Yes I want to be a true disciple of Christ and live my life loving God with all my heart, soul and mind, and to love my family/neighbor/friend as myself. And if I love myself enough (not trying to be crazy here, just healthful) to want to learn about healthy eating practises, then I love my family enough to educate them too and encourage them to choose an apple over a bag of chips.
What if I was a pro-life christian farmer, lovin’ my Lord, and raising organic pigs and making videos about it? What if God called me to share my gift of organic farming/healthful eating with the rest of the world via video? Would you watch it only then? And then only agree with my ideas because I’m a christian? What about common grace?
Yes I totally agree anything can become an idol – food, eating healthy, knitting, homeschooling, etc. And us Christians do have a tendency to be pushy about our convictions/interests. Please clarify your post without sounding bossy. And maybe choose a different example.
First off, Mr. Rogers doesn’t count as a legitimate authority?!?!? What is this world coming to? =)
This is my first time to your blog and I always like hearing unique perspectives on subjects, so thanks for that.
I agree with you in that any of these controversial issues that we take a firm stand against (or for) can become a idol.
I have definitely mellowed out over the years in regards to my intense stance (after I felt like my intensity was getting in the way of relationships.) I also knowingly eat unclean food when it comes to appreciating other cultures through their food or accepting someone else’s hospitality, because those values become more important than my health at the time.
And I’ve also felt convicted recently that when I dole out health opinions on Facebook or my blog, that I may have a bossy, know-it-all tone and I don’t want be this way. So it’s a good lesson to learn.
In other words, I’ve come a long way…
But I still haven’t lost my convictions.
So I part ways with you when it comes to what seems to be a very restrictive (almost religious?) view that we can only take advice/wisdom from Christians. Have you thought this through to the end? It may mean shutting out anyone who isn’t a Christian. I had a wonderful homebirth with a non-Christian midwife and learned so much about the body God has made and how amazing his creation of life and the birth process can be. It sounds like you would say that I shouldn’t have put her in that position of authority in my life…
All Truth is God’s Truth whether the people sharing it know it or not. So I definitely agree with testing it to Scripture and receiving confirmation from the Holy Spirit, but just because the messenger doesn’t acknowledge God doesn’t mean the truth they share is void. My God is bigger than that.
And finally, I personally feel a specific two-part calling:
to be a witness to and help make spiritual connections for non-Christians who respect God’s creative order (despite not giving Him the credit) but are turned off by how His people selfishly and ignorantly trample His Creation,
and
to be an exhorter to Christians who care so much about sexual purity, spiritual growth, feasting on God’s good Word, etc. but miss the disconnect of (or stubbornly eschew conviction about) polluting their temple with crap food and passing that same disconnect, disease, and gluttenous mindset onto the next generation.
If we shut out non-Christian voices of Truth, neither of these things can happen.
Here is a post I wrote called “The Sugar Manifesto” about sharing some similar thoughts with our church: http://shesourceful.com/2012/07/01/the-sugar-manifesto/
There is just a lot of evidence out there that food (and our heart posture towards it) matters to God.
My 2 cents. Thanks for being bold and sharing your thoughts. I love a good discussion!
=), melanie
I think the key to getting this post is in the title, “Bossy Food.” If you like organic, grass-fed, all natural, etc., then good for you! I believe Rachel is going after those that become bossy with their food choices by judging others.
Oh yes, and don’t believe everything you hear from food documentaries…
Rachel – Though there is much here to discuss, maybe it would be helpful to amplify your last paragraph when you come back around again to this subject, especially the sentence about worshiping God, loving our neighbors, and eating with gratitude.
Great article. 🙂 You really stepped into it by using health food as your example!! I see the fangs come out if you touch upon that sacred cow.
I agree with Brittany…..I took this post to be more about not making food a god or an idol. To not just believe everyone “out there” who says anything about food and jump on the bandwagon. If you do jump on a bandwagon, just be sure that said bandwagon doesn’t become a replacement for God or the Bible or Jesus’ death on the cross. I have seen it first hand. Unwittingly, followers of Jesus slowly creep down the slope to “Jesus plus _______” (insert non-GMO food, grass fed beef, organic, raw etc. into the blank) equals my salvation. They wouldn’t say it that way, I am not sure they truly believe it deep down in their hearts. But their actions and words sure appear to many to be that way. And to the fellow Christian it invokes guilt and a feeling of that other person being “holier than thou” and in the unbeliever it evokes feelings of “wow, those Christians are wackier than I thought”. Yes, God said to honor Him with our bodies. Does He mean become obsessed about food? Or does He mean other things like not sinning? And the hours a Christian spends pursuing health and perfection in food in a sinful world where we are all going to die anyway….could they perhaps be hours used to tell others about Jesus and serve them?
Just wanted to say that the questions I asked in my comment were amply answered in your dad’s more extensive blogs on the subject (blog and mablog) – just in case other readers/commenters might be interested.
There is a lot in this post that I agree with, and a lot that I disagree with. However, I needed to hear it.
I am a health-food kinda gal. I’ve experienced the health effects that eating the standard American diet has – namely, that I am almost non-functional from fatigue. So diet is very important to me, and I am very into eating healthfully. When I don’t, I pay. (Though you were speaking more about ethical eating than healthy/clean eating.)
But this article spoke to me in another way – because, you see, I am a “birth junkie” – someone who is interested in issues relating to childbirth. Almost everything that you said about food issues relates to issues in the birth world. While I believe the issues are important, I have also realized that I am standing shoulder to shoulder with people who hate God, who want homosexual unions mandated, and who don’t care about babies being butchered in the womb. I am finding this more and more repugnant as time goes by. Not that I consider the issues to be unimportant, but simply, as you said,
“Are you more comfortable with the ethics of the pro-abortion God haters who don’t use pesticides than a third generation Christian farmer who drives the truck with the huge eerie green tank? Then repent. Are you more comfortable exposing the sins of chicken farmers with people who think boys should marry each other than you are eating a antibiotic riddled steak with people who love God? Then repent.”
It all applies, and you’ve given me lots to think about. I’ll think about it while I’m eating my organic, locally purchased smoothie made with all-natural ingredients and non-GMO organic wheatgrass. 🙂
Thanks for tackling the hard stuff.
I love this subject because I am all for eating organic, non-gmo food when possible because the cooking and feeding of my family is my responsibility. I want to use my brain to make the best choices, and not stick my head in the sand. But, on the other hand,I’ve seen how easily our thinking about food can become distorted.
For example,one of the more interesting new healthy ways of eating – the paleo movement, which is based on ‘evolutionary biology’, is never the less being embraced by otherwise conservative Christians. It appeals to the idea of eating ‘natural, the way God made food’, but many Christians are not thinking this through. What is natural for animals – raw food only, no dairy as adults, no grain, etc… – doesn’t make sense for a Christian to embrace if you believe that God made us to have dominion over the earth. Just because an animal can’t cook its food, drink milk past childhood, plant and harvest grain, or come up with a delectable recipe doesn’t mean that animal has a superior way of eating that humans should duplicate.
I don’t want bossy food from Monsanto or McDonalds any more than I want it from Whole Foods or the Farmers Market. I want to be educated enough to feed my family yummy and healthy food, and grounded solidly in Christ so that food or health doesn’t become an idol.
I realized that in my previous comment I actually wrote “the cooking and feeding of my family.”
No, I do not cook my family. I cook for my family. Geesh.
I must respectfully comment that your post is really missing the mark.
I know that for many vegans and vegetarians food sourcing is more or less just an ‘ethical’ issue. So in that case, your post would be right on. However, indeed this issue with food sourcing goes far deeper than greedy farming practices.
This is an enormous HEALTH issue — namely our children’s health! One of the most pressing issues in food sourcing is the accelerating allergy rate among U.S. children to “real foods” and the subsequent gut dysbiosis. Wheat. Eggs. Dairy. Pork. Nuts. Foods that have sustained thriving cultures for thousands of years are now suddenly poisonous?
I recently moved to the U.S. from Europe where food allergies are simply unheard of. Yet in the U.S. it is impossible to host a play date or birthday party without several of the children being allergic to whole foods such: wheat/gluten, dairy, nuts, eggs, etc. Why is this???
Our farming practices are intricately linked to personal health. When we feed our pigs and poultry GMO soy, eat GMO corn products, drink and eat dairy from cattle fed GMO corn, eat processed products with GMO sugar and hybrid wheat – the resulting foods are highly allergenic and destroy the intestinal health of our bodies – which is the strength of our immune system.
All health begins in the gut: from ear infections to eczema to allergies to ADD to Autism and on to other autoimmune diseases. The MAJORITY of American children have one or more of these problems.
There really are no shortcuts. When’s God’s perfect design is manipulated for our own conveniences (birth control, abortion, cheap food, greedy agriculture and farming practices, toxic vaccines for easy disease prevention etc, etc) there will always negative consequences.
If this is something that you would like to learn more about, the list below should provide a good starting point as to why American children are so allergic to foods and saddled with so much gut dysbiosis, autoimmune disease and behavior problems. Check You Tubes and Podcasts as well and then decide if these people being bossy or merely evangelizing:
1) Robyn O’Brian, Allergy Kids and The Unhealthy Truth (TEDx You Tube)
2) Seeds of Deception and Genetic Roulette by Jeffery Smith
3) Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Natascha Campbell McBride
4) Weston A. Price Foundation on Fertility, Baby and Children’s Health
5) Pottenger’s Cats and Nutritional Degeneration
6) The Healthy Home Economist videos
7) The Nourishing Gourmet on frugal cooking
8) The Vegetarian Myth by former Vegetarian, Lierre Keith
9) Nourishing Traditions and Nourishing Traditions for Baby and Child Care by Sally Fallon; also Wise Traditions Conference London 2010 Vimeo, Introduction to Traditional Diets
10) Folks, This Ain’t Normal by Joel Salatin
11) Back to Eden Film
12) Rethinking Reproductive Health via Weston A Price.org
Here’s the Good News: God’s design is truly beautiful and perfect! We are all tangled in the web of our fathers’ sins, but God promises to cover and protect those who fear Him with His steadfast love. And He will bring about a New Heaven and New Earth! Praise!
Dear Rachel,
This post makes me “long to pelt [your] house with copies of Nourishing Traditions, with important parts highlighted.”
Just kidding. I don’t have any copies of Nourishing Traditions, but that phrase of yours is what I always think of when I’m in a situation where Christian women are getting worked up over something the Bible doesn’t address directly.
Thanks for your helpful comments, as always. 🙂
Its sickening when we see the media over here in Aus getting worked up over chicken rights, and pig rights! When with the very next breath they debate whether the unborn is really human & whether we should legalise gay marriage. Its sick. I am also very aware of what my family eats. We arent health food people here, but ive noticed that certain additives irritate my childrens skin. Just using wisdom here & not falling for the media’s ‘set ups’.
Hi — I would also like to kindly add whatever we believe about Veganism, Vegetarianism or Weston A price or Paleo diet dogmas regarding the health of our environment (aside from the health of our bodies and communities) God did command us right away in Genesis that we are to be good stewards of the earth. I love how the Back To Eden film (available for free) illustrates what this might actually look like.
Also since I am a big fan of the work of Weston A Price and Sally Fallon my personal experience has found how God’s perfect design is manifest when we respect that natural order of things and are good stewards in our farming practices — because this comes out in life giving foods for our babies, children, pregnant mothers and communities! Our physical health also effects our mental health (low B-12 levels leads to depression, etc) which in turn effects our spiritual health….
Everything is connected so tightly: how we care for our environment and animals, the quality of our food, health of our children, the strength of our families and communities. We really can not separate the environment from physical health from mental health or from spiritual health.
Again this leads us back to the tangles web of our fathers’ sins – but honoring this deep connection between how we steward the environment, our animals and the physical and spiritual health of humans can either lead to despair at the impossibility and fallenness of it all or it can give us cause for great joy as it merely points to the perfection and awesomeness of God’s creation.
As a side note, I would also like to add a few other meaningful passages in the Bible beside the Genesis command to be good stewards that have given me encouragement to make wise food sourcing a priority (which can never really be good enough!!) in how I can care for my family: 1) Proverbs 31 ” she gets up at night and provides food for her family, bringing food from afar” 2) the story of Daniel and his friends not eating the king’s food – in fact there are many examples in the Bible exhorting the Israelites to not eat many of the foods eaten by ungodly cultures. In our case, I would liken these foods sourced from big agribusiness and fake food companies like Monsanto, Conagra, Kraft, General Mills, etc.. The products these companies put on our grocery shelves destroy our children’s health and local economies. How can this be Godly or Biblical?
I would also like to add a very politically incorrect statement that when many women started trading the duties of caring for the home and feeding their family for outside employments, we shirked our power as healers of the home to big pharmaceutical companies and big agribusinesses to “feed” and “heal” our families. These institutions do not have the health of the family in their best interest. Their best interest are their shareholders.
I think as women seeking to live a godly life in caring for our families we really do need to consider cultivating the return of the family garden, being conscientious about what foods we feed our children, and how to prevent disease and treat illness in life affirming (and affordable) ways.
Is it no wonder that our culture no longer respects the domain of the home?
Healthy, life giving foods take time and care to grow, procure, and prepare in order to properly nourish. God’s ways are not our ways, and it just as babies need at least two years to breastfeed for best immune support and emotional bonding, so does proper food procurement and preparation require us to slow down and re-evaluate our priorities:
The Homemakers Project.com
Why French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billion
The Art of the Commonplace by Wendell Berry
The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and ‘Women’s Work’ by Kathleen Norris
Weston A Price Foundation on Fertility and Women and Children’s Health
The Study of Epigenetics
Dr Suzanne Humphries
Whenever we try to manipulate God’s design out of fear or for convenience (birth control and vaccines are my favorite examples) there are always negative far reaching consequences that span generations. There simply are no short cuts in life…..
Hoo boy. First, well done and well put. Second, to echo C.S. Lewis, “Logic! Why don’t they teach them logic in these schools?” I don’t see anywhere where you made the ‘either/or’ logical fallacy, but boy do the responses jump on that. And straw man. And many others. Things that make me fondly think of 8th grade logic.
Anyway, well done Rach– you most definitely touched a very tender spot for Christian women and it is a reminder that discernment is a very precious gift, but one that we must be constantly seeking to improve in Christ.
“who you are letting have authority over your consciences. ” I think you have hit the nail on the head! Though there are probably good reasons why I might not want to gorge myself on pasta all day long, one of those reasons should not be because of the instruction from oh say, the evolutionist who tells me I shouldn’t because we were originally hunter gatherers and not farmers and so my body doesn’t know what to do with grains! Thanks Rachel!
So if a non Christian tells us one thing that is true, we should ignore it because the other things they tell us are untrue? Likewise if a Christian does something that is not good, we should call it good and support that industrial because we share truth on the most important matters? I disagree because the bible tells us that “the righteous man cares for his animal but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.” I’m not saying I don’t agree with some of your thoughts here. That of loving our brother, being gracious and being circumspect in who we listen to. However, I for one will continue to attempt to care for the animals AND the humans in a kind, loving way as a steward of God’s earth.
I would love for you to revisit this topic in a future post. I normally hear myself saying “Amen, Amen!” to everything you write about, but this time I was scratching my head a little. I think I would like to address your first paragraph–why do you eat healthily and why are you not opposed to health food? What motivates you? It sounds like you aren’t opposed to people being interested in health food, but are opposed to them taking their orders from the wrong people and/or ignoring their own “farms” whilst judging farms elsewhere. If we aren’t to be motivated by documentaries and people with poor agendas, does this mean we aren’t to be motivated at all? Or is there another way to re-examine and think about what we put into our bodies? How important (if at all) is it to eat more food and less of the food-like substances we are offered?
I get what your saying and I agree with you! I get sick of the self-righteousness that goes along with pursuing a healthy lifestyle. I agree with eating healthy and looking for healthy foods but also disagree with people who have an agenda about it…