“Organic foods are made according to certain production standards, meaning they are grown without the use of conventional pesticides and artificial fertilizers, free from contamination by human or industrial waste, and processed without ionizing radiation or food additives. If livestock are involved, they must be reared without the routine use of antibiotics and without the use of growth hormones, and generally fed a healthy diet. In most countries, organic produce may not be genetically modified.
Organic food production is a heavily regulated industry, distinct from private gardening for instance. Currently, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Japan and many other countries require producers to obtain special certification in order to market food as organic within their borders.
Historically, organic farms have been relatively small family-run farms — which is why organic food was once only available in small stores or farmers’ markets. However, since the early 1990s organic food production has had growth rates of around 20% a year, far ahead of the rest of the food industry, in both developed and developing nations. As of April 2008, organic food accounts for 1-2% of food sales worldwide.” -Wikipedia
Over the last couple decades we have a seen a growing trend in the organic foods business, and the reason is simply this: WE ARE FAT. Stats Canada tells us that an estimated 23.1% of us are OBESE and another 36.1% of us are overweight. Of course the most recent stats I could find were for 2004, and the startling thing was that the obesity rate had gone up from 15.2% in 2003 to 23.1% in 2004… that is a shocking 7.9% growth if my handy dandy calculator is correct!!
The rise in the popularity of organic foods is simply our way of putting our chubby foot down and saying: ENOUGH is ENOUGH — we are poisoning ourselves with fatty, synthetic foods, and now, we want to reclaim our health, and reclaim our future — and so we will pay a thick arm, and fatty leg to eat our way back to health!
With all joking aside, my main point here is that I believe sometimes the church suffers the same demise as our society. We have been stuffing ourselves so full of the puffed up, synthetic gospel, that we have become so contented and fattened, that we sometimes begin to forget what it really means to be a follower of Christ. We start fighting and grumbling over theology, and how we do church that we end up leaving Christ right out of Church.
4 Comments
January 15, 2009 at 12:43 am
Hey, just saw a link for this.. I really don’t see what the details of organic food has to do with the argument of being fat – the people eating produce that is or isn’t organic has less to do with them being fat, and more to do with the other foods that they’re eating (eg – you don’t really get fat from eating a lot of meat or fruits or vegetables)..
I definitely agree that the church can become fat through focusing on certain things… I was hoping since the whole point of the blog was about this that you would actually go into more detail on it. I think it’s pretty clear that throughout church history a focus on extremes (theology) – and on focusing only on certain goals and methods, that there can be a huge lack of balance. Not to attack denominations – because I think they can serve a purpose – but it is in self-righteousness that the very important identity and purpose of a church can become divisive. I don’t know that there is necessarily a problem in a church that is ’seeker sensitive’, or ’socially conscious’, or liturgical, charismatic….. but as you say – are we leaving Christ our of the Church.. and that sounds absurd, and is, but I agree that it happens in our personal lives and that’s where it all starts.. Just as the body can become fat, or uncoordinated when it’s parts don’t work together, so is the church.. But may we not beat ourselves, but with Grace: be filled with love for the Bride as Jesus did
January 15, 2009 at 12:52 am
one more thing… the biggest way we become fat is by doing nothing – even things that could make us grow, and be healthy if not acted on turn to fat: we can breath in, but if we don’t exhale, we die
January 15, 2009 at 1:06 am
Enoch…
there is a whole category of foods besides produce that is considered organic… basically, they just only use ‘natural’ products instead
of chemicals and fillers… so the idea of taking out the fillers and preservatives and using only natural real products is the thought here…
also… this is only part 1… but I figured any more than that and people might not read it all! so i’ve broken this down into segments!
January 15, 2009 at 1:33 am
ha, cool. yeah, I wasn’t sure if it was purposely vague. I appreciate the thoughts, and intentions. it’s definitely a good starting point for dialogue. There is technically a difference in terms of regulation between organic and natural, from working on the farm I’ve seen that how much organic is highly regulated (maybe too much – to the the point where and organic farm can produce very minimal amounts of food compared to a more natural or ’synthetic’ farm) but that’s a whole other metaphor, and another day.
The point is to be intentional, aware and not just concerned with efficiency and money…
cheers