Traveling

Since my girls have Spring Break, we decided to drive to Oklahoma today so we could visit some family. It's about a four hour drive (with no stops), but we take an extra hour for the kids to eat and such. 

For breakfast we had eggs. Thanks to Tom for cooking!  

Then I packed a cooler with snacks. Well, at least, I wanted to pack a cooler with snacks. Given that I knew we'd be traveling, I skipped the grocery store this week, so we had very little on hand. 

So I ended up packing:

 2 cans of coconut milk (why? I don't know. It just seemed so... Primally.)
 1 bag of celery
 1 bag cheese cubes
 1 sm bag of dark chocolate chips
 1 lg bag of mixed nuts

Yeahhh... Next time I should go grocery shopping before taking a trip. Lesson learned. 

For lunch we stopped at Two Brother BBQ and had smoked turkey, pork, and brisket. We ordered the green beans (instead of fries or potato salad), but didn't eat many since they were obviously canned. Well, the meat was good!

For dinner we went out with my grandparents to a steak house of sorts. The kids had hamburgers in a lettuce wrap. Tom and I had steak (Tom a T-bone and I had a sirloin). 

But now we're hungry again, so Tom went to Walmart and bought some Organic milk for the baby. And a vegetable tray and a rotisserie chicken for us to munch on. 

So I'd like some cake... which always seems to happen when I travel. Maybe it's the stress of it?  Well, I guess I'll have to just be content with my water. Mmmm. 

More Thoughts on Pesticides (from a reader)

 Thanks to Makovitza for this comment:

"I'm not sure about the situation in other parts of the world, but in Australia "certified organic" means a lot more than just "not sprayed with pesticides". For me the three main reasons I buy organic are health, animal welfare and the environment.

Health - as well as being pesticide-free, buying organic assures me that I am not ingesting GMO foods or any synthetic food additives (preservatives, colours, flavours etc). There have also been studies showing that organic foods can be higher in nurients and antioxidants than their conventional counterparts.

Animal welfare - certified organic animals are raised in humane conditions, with ample access to pasture, shade and shelter. Battery farming and cattle feed lots are prohibited. Organic animals are also free of antibiotics, hormones, growth promotants and preservatives (whether injected directly or given through feed).

The environment - certified organic farms must use sustainable farming methods. They do not disrupt ecosystems by using synthetic pesticides/herbicides/fertilisers or pollute local river systems with chemical run-off. The use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser is prohibited, which massively reduces the carbon footprint of organic food. Because synthetic fertiliser is not allowed organic farms must use traditional methods to build healthy topsoil, which regenerates farmland rather than stripping it. A percentage of organic farmland must be set aside for natural vegetation, to protect biodiversity. Water usage must also be sustainable, which helps to reduce the issues of salinization and riverland distruction associated with agricultural irrigation.

As I say, I don't know the situation around the world. But in Australia there are so many more reasons to buy organic than just trying to avoid chemicals. I only discovered this recently. Before that I was ambivalent - I would try to buy organic for my baby, as I reasoned that his immature system would be less able to handle chemicals, but didn't worry too much for myself. Since I learned about the ethical and environmental impacts of conventional farming and agriculture, and the fact that the organic certification prohibits the worst of these, it has become a no-brainer."

Why Fear Pesticides?

I had a commenter ask this:


"I've gone primal, but I still don't buy into the organic movement. Maybe it's its association with PC elitism, or its suspect health benefits, but I think tomatoes are tomatoes. Pesticides are good because they keep plants disease free. I understand the opposition to hormone treatments, but not the antipathy to pesticides. If science enables us to create more from less -- and we can always wash our fruit/veggies -- what's the big deal?"  Tom from NY


Excellent question, Tom!  So I've spent the last five days trying to research answers for you. Not that I don't know in my own mind the answers, but I tried to find real meaty answers (cause we're primal, and that's how we roll), but all I could find were the extremes. Either way too fluffy "so, like, yeah, stay away from pesticides!" or way too difficult and technical.

So I'm linking you to a blog: Why Organic? which has the best of both worlds, simple, yet serious. 

And also to a radio show--The Robert Scott Bell Show. He's so well informed about foods, medications, hormones.. everything! that it's always worth listening to his shows. Even if you don't agree with all he says, you will find something in every show.  The episode I link to is not an in-depth discussion, but it does some some good bits. You might--if you're interested--go through his website and see if you can find anything else of interest. 


Deciding about whether or not you're going to ingest pesticides is like, everything else in life, a personal decision, but should be a well-informed one. 


I personally believe they are the cause of a many metabolic issues. The fact that the bags the pesticides come in have huge warning labels saying to keep it away from kids, makes me worry, since they don't taste great, and kids wouldn't eat handfuls of it, I'm going to assume that even small amounts of it is harmful to children. Why would I feed my kids something that is harmful? 

Also, I would suggest you watch the movie Food, Inc. An eye-opening documentary on how food is handled, grown, manipulated here in America. I really couldn't believe how much I learned from this movie. 


Thanks for reading and thanks for the comment!