Whole Paycheck
500 Words on Thursday | Written by Lee Schneider
The reason they call Whole Foods “Whole Paycheck” is that while walking its hallowed aisles you can find the most expensive red peppers that ever lived, and also the most expensive salt, and even the most expensive yogurt imaginable. Some of this is justified. The peppers, for example, listen to Mozart as they grow and watch “Baby Einstein” videos. The salt comes from the tears of extremely pure Buddhist nuns living at high altitude. At least, I think so. I’m not really sure, because I’ve been a little fuzzy of late as we try to feed two people on less than $150 a week, and that means we’ve been subsisting solely on Whole Paycheck’s organic carrots, organic apple peels and organic hummus parceled out a teaspoon at a time. Can you hang on a minute? I’m having a dizzy spell again. Ok, I’ve had a sip of organic water and I feel better.
Is it worth it to eat organic? Worth the money? Worth the hunt for the store that sells organic? Worth the travel woes when there is absolutely nothing to eat in a hotel and a Cheeze Doodle is staring you down at night in a strange town?
I can back away slowly from a snack food vending machine in a hotel. But what about a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that suggests organic food has no nutritional benefits over ordinary food?
Whole Foods, can I have my money back?
Not so fast. Let’s look at the data. The researchers reviewed 162 scientific papers published over the past 50 years. They found the nutritional value of organic food wasn’t all that different from the cheap stuff.
“A small number of differences in nutrient content were found to exist between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs, but these are unlikely to be of any public health relevance,” said Alan Dangour, one of the report’s authors.
Bummer. I might be trying to justify my purchase of organic broccoli costing, by weight, the same as a handful of diamonds, but I have to ask: Did those researchers ask the right questions? Should we only consider nutritional value? People argue that organic tastes better, and research studies show that some organic foods contain more antioxidants associated with preventing heart disease and cancer. But there’s one argument in favor of organic that I really can’t get around.
How many different kinds of pesticides would you like to eat for dinner?
A study conducted at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health and Community Medicine found that children who ate conventional food carried “significantly higher” metabolites derived from pesticides than children who ate organic. The conventional food kids were, you’ll pardon the expression, pissing pesticide derivatives.
Monsanto, the company that makes RoundUp, the stuff you spray on weeds, also made Agent Orange, the stuff sprayed on Vietnamese, and partnered in 1967 with IG Farben, the German company that made Zyklon-B, the stuff Nazis sprayed on Jews in the gas chambers of the Holocaust. Monsanto does a brisk business making the pesticides sprayed on your supermarket produce. Suddenly that non-organic supermarket carrot starts to look pretty sinister. How did it get so orange, anyway?
The good news is you don’t have to buy organic everything – conventional onions, sweet peas and avocados are ok – here’s a full cheat sheet from Dean Karnazes’ blog in Runner’s World.
In the meantime, I am prepared to make you an offer on that tiny container of organic shaved Parmesan.
One way to avoid muchfood-borne garbage is to become a vegetarian. Well, “what is a vegetarian?” you may ask. For starters it is not a vegan. Vegetarians enjoy a huge variety of foods: cheese, milk products, soy, all kinds of vegetables, fruits, pasta, Morningstar Farms soy-based products, all kinds of baked goods, candy, soda, coffee, chocolate, cake, croissants, booze: gin, beer, wine, spritzers, all kinda tasty stuff, and many vegetarians eat eggs. What you DON’T eat are chickens, seafood, beef, pork, lamb ,water buffalo, snakes, lizards and stuff like that. You will generally enjoy better health, lower cholesterol, less heart disease, less diabetes, less stroke and mostly you won’t get fat. As long as you view it as a sacrifice or denial of some kind, it often fails.
I’m chuckling about your whole Foods Commentary. I remember walking in one day really desperate for a snack-decided I would be healthy and grab an apple. To my shock at the checkstand it was around $3.50-one apple! I justified it to myself by saying I was eating well, but REALLY?
As far as the nutritional value, a Nutritionst told me something I will never forget. Plants have innate ways to ward off many pests naturally, it is this inner battle that makes them stronger, and therefore more nutritious. By lending them a “hand” and spraying the with pesticides, we are weakening them. Makes sense to me. I am with you rather not eat the chemicals!
Looking forward to the next blog! Thanks
The whole organic pitch is just another way for clever marketing types to suck more money out of poor consumers who think they’re getting something special. Isn’t it amazing how they created a way to get you to pay more for everyday items? It’s all about margin dollars, baby!
I can’t taste any difference, and if the produce is fresh and looks good at the regular supermarket I’m all for it. There have been times when I’ve been known to shop at a whole foods – but usually only to get items that are hard to get otherwise, like certain produce in the off season, or fresh fish. Actually, my preference is to buy from local people if I can – like a local farm stand or weekend farmers market. Short of that I’ll save my money and go to the supermarket!
Dear Lee,
As always, I enjoy reading your 500 Words and love the way that you observe the world around us – and ourselves-.
As you may remember, I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and despite this is the most cosmopolitan city in my country, few people here are familiarized with the term “organic”. Most may say “organic food does not have pesticides” but that’s basically what the majority of people know about it.
I’ve recently been to San Francisco and was amazed to find that everywhere I went there was something organic: not only the food but also the shampoo, the deodorant and even the bed sheets!
After an “organic stay” in San Francisco I stayed in Santiago de Chile and Lima, Perú, where, same as in Argentina, there is little knowledge about organic if compared to the US. I mean, most people in these countries (and I am sure that in many others too) live a regular, “non organic” life and I think that we are ok.
Having said this, I believe it is possible to eat healthy and be eco conscious without becoming a frequent customer of Whole Foods Market. But let me make this clear: I love their carrot and ginger soup!
Also need to be aware of the horrible effects spraying fields with pesticides has on nearby communities.. this is an informative film:
http://nosenfantsnousaccuseront-lefilm.com/bande-annonce.html
Thanks for commenting! And thanks for pointing out that this is a bigger issue than just one person making one purchase at one store.
Thanks for your comments, Cintia. Even when I travel in the US it’s easy to find myself in a town with no organic or even healthy choices. San Francisco, certainly it’s ok there, and NYC and Southern California are ok. Beyond that… you take your chances … or take your own food with you.
You’re certainly right about organic costing more. I agree also that some things just don’t have to be organic. Organic toothpaste? Not significant. Organic vodka? That’s getting ridiculous. I do have the feeling at Whole Foods sometimes that I am being “taken” and paying a premium for some things. Buying local is always the best bet – farm stands and farmers markets are a great choice.
Thanks for commenting! We have been buying apples at Whole Foods only rarely – I can’t see paying that much. Have had to switch to bananas, which are cheaper, but which are also not local. Whole Dilemma!
Marshall, thanks for pointing this out. There’s no sacrifice in eating well.
But of course… Just read about a controversial pesticide about to become the pesticide of choice for strawberry growers in California.. many scientists (chemists, biologists) say it is too dangerous for the workers who work with it and the nearby communities.. it is carcinogenic, will cause disease, etc… others say it is safe at certain concentrations…… http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127910253