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Dr. Oz: Organic is “Elitist” & “not much difference” Between Grassfed & Feedlot Beef

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There are sources from all over that seem to want to bad-mouth and discredit the importance of eating sustainable, organic food.

It seems perplexing as to why anyone would want to do this, but some of the biggest motivators against the sustainable food movement are big, powerful corporations selling toxic foods that don’t want this segment of the market edging out their profits.

Those who truly care about their health are snobs?

It’s irksome and tiring hearing conventional authorities of health, agriculture, and medicine continue to behave in such a juvenile manner by using these terms to describe supporters of the real food movement.

In a recent TIME Magazine article, Dr. Oz elaborates as to why you needn’t spend ridiculous sums of money on organic, when it’s really no better than conventional.

 

It’s been said over and over again, that if you buy organic food this somehow makes you an “elitist” or a “snob”. Dr. Oz is the latest in a long-line of “authority” figures to make this claim.

Oh really? I’ll tell you just how non elitist my family is, and we do eat organic, sustainable foods: My husband and I both come from modest, middle-class backgrounds. We attended a state college here in Boise, ID (Boise State University) and worked our way through school. We both worked part-time 20-hour-a-week jobs, and lived off of about $1200 a month for rent, groceries, and other bills.

Like many others, when we graduated we had credit card and student loan debts.  Although my husband was offered a good job in Spokane, WA in 2000 including a sign on bonus and moving expenses, we spent most of it paying student loans, bought a car and some furniture since we had practically none. I worked part-time through this span of my professional career as a technical writer. Shortly after moving, I became pregnant and the work I was doing continued to lessen. After our son was born, I stopped working. We moved back to Boise to be near family since he was born 9 weeks premature because my appendix ruptured and we needed support.

For the first 5 years after my son was born, I didn’t work. In 2006 I worked part-time for the YMCA, then migrated into my current self-employed status of writing and health coaching. In 2009 my husband was laid off from his job. We used our retirement money to start a solar business. Like many other small businesses, we struggled to make ends meet. In 2011, our business partners decided to leave the state without any notice or arrangements, and left us with tens of thousands of dollars in debts, and all the tasks associated with closing down the business. We will be paying those debts off for years.

My husband is now employed full-time again, and we are stable, but money is always tight and we do the best we can. I continue to work full-time hours with part-time pay. But I love my job because I spend all my time educating people about the ways to eat and live well, and to avoid bad advice from “medical professionals” like Dr. Oz.

Each month we prioritize what it is we need to spend our money on, and it amounts to this (and in this order):

  • healthy food
  • rent
  • monthly bills and gas
  • a little extra money for other items including occasional eating out or clothing, household items (last month it was a new tire for $200), and other miscellaneous that budget and save for
Our budget for items like clothes, vacations, entertainment, and hobbies is few and far between. And it’s the same for many people: ordinary folks who have families and who are on one income, singles with one income, people who have had their income reduced or their jobs eliminated and who are unemployed or work part-time while they look for something else, college students, and those who are retired and on a fixed income; these are the people who make up the bulk of our population.
There are people in these demographic populations who want to be healthier, want to avoid toxic chemicals, and desire to consume more nutrients in their food. Does that make them snobbish? Apparently in some figurative universe that is so. However, in the real world and for real people: To eat healthy means to do without extras, to save wherever you can, and to find the best deals available.  So yeah, last time I checked, people like my husband and all the others I described are not the highfalutin, elitist, types. 

Organic and sustainable too expensive?

Another myth that should be dispelled right here and right now is that it’s too expensive to eat healtier. I’m here to tell you that finding good deals on locally-raised, sustainable food is not only possible, it’s done by many and our family does it regularly. If you know what to look for, you can find some great deals.  The mainstream health and food industries are not only fond of saying it’s snobbish to eat healthy food, but that since you can’t afford it, you might as well buy their toxic, chemical-filled foods (which by the way, aren’t as cheap as they’d like you think).
If you continue to insist that the only way to buy organic food is to shop at Whole Foods, you will indeed be disappointed. Chances are things will never change for you. Products sold at stores such as Whole Foods are by and large overpriced and you are not getting your money’s worth in many cases because you don’t even know for certain if the food is what it says it is on the label. Read 8 reasons I won’t shop at Whole Foods when it opens in Boise, Idaho (they are now open and I haven’t shopped there once). If you say you can’t afford to eat better, maybe it’s time to change priorities and make it happen.
By supporting local, sustainable farmers in your own community who are transparent in their farming methods, you can likely find a way to afford the food you want – especially if you are willing to do without all the luxuries and extras you think you need.
To say that buying organic food is no better for your health than conventional or is not worth the money spent is ignoring long-term health effects of eating healthy to decrease the risk of developing degenerative disease and illness.  Eating healthy now will save you medical costs later. It’s that simple.
Read Is cheap food really cheap? The hidden costs of industrial food. Look at the comparative analysis of several processed foods versus a real, whole food free from chemicals and other toxins typically found in industrial food from Windy Ridge Poultry, in Alfred, NY.  This poster was created by a farmer who uses it at his farm booth at the farmer’s market each week.
It’s quite amazing how expensive processed and mainstream foods are.  And, you won’t get anything for your money besides toxins, chemicals, and health problems. You are also donating tax dollars for government subsidies which go to big corporations for these “food-like” products.

“Grassfed is not much different than feedlot”

Dr. Oz said, “Nutritionally, there is not much difference between, say, grass-fed beef and the feedlot variety. The calories, sodium and protein content are all very close. Any lean meats are generally fine as long as the serving size is correct–and that means 4 to 6 oz., roughly the size of your palm. A modest serving like that can be difficult in a country with as deep a meat tradition as ours, where steak houses serve up 24-oz. portions and the term meat and potatoes is a synonym for good eating. But good eating isn’t always healthy eating, and we’re not even built to handle so much animal protein, since early humans simply did not have meat available at every meal. Sticking with reasonable portions two or three times a week will keep you in step with evolution.”

This statement is laughable on so many levels, it’s hard to know where to start. Grassfed beef most certainly is head and shoulders above feedlot beef. It comes from cattle that are healthy and living on pasture, where nature intended, and are not injected with hormones or administered antibiotics. If the farmer is conscientious about the health of the animals, environment, and people who consume the meat, they won’t use GM feed for their cattle either.

Nutrient levels in grass-fed meats are naturally higher as a result of good farming practices: fat-soluble vitamins A, D, & E, minerals like iron and zinc, Omega 3s, and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). These nutrients “virtually vanish” in the feedlot environment from lack of exposure to sunshine, fresh air, grazing, and nutritive soil according to Eat Wild.

Feedlot meat’s unbalanced nutritional profile of Omega 6 EFAs

Feedlot meat is also higher in inflammatory Omega 6s, which people in developed countries such as the U.S. have in excess,  and which causes chronic health issues and inflammation that contribute to Metabolic Syndrome, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.

Contrary to most conventional medical advice, lean meats sold on the conventional market are not healthy for us to consume.  Read Deceptions in the Food Industry: Lean meats to learn more about why this is true.

Read Health Benefits of Grass-fed Products from Eat Wild, The Amazing Benefits of Grass-fed Meat from Mother Earth News and The Health Benefits of Grass-fed Beef from Body Ecology.

Organic is not more nutritious

Dr. Oz persists in the idea that organic is no better nutritionally than conventional. These ideas have been refuted againagain and again by various studies.  Even the Stanford study tried to say the same thing, and yet found nothing new. The results were just a compilation of previous studies, and it was revealed that the funding provided to Stanford for this effort came largely from big agricultural and biotech interests.

To say that buying organic food is no better for your health than conventional or is not worth the money spent is ignoring the long-term health effects of eating healthy on the risk of developing degenerative disease and illness.  Eating healthy now will save you medical costs later. It’s that simple.
Remember, just because a bunch of mainstream sources who receive funding by big agriculture, health, and biotech entities tell the same lie over and over again, doesn’t make it true. Always follow the money.

GMOs, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, and other toxins

Some of  the most obvious benefits of eating organic food are that they are grown without antibiotics, hormones, herbicides, pesticides, GMOs, and other harmful chemicals.  But Dr. Oz also doesn’t seem to be concerned about these issues with conventional foods nor that they are treated with chemicals, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and are genetically-modified. It’s especially ironic that he’s taken this stance when not so long ago, he allowed Jeffery Smith from the Institute for Responsible Technology to come on his show and talk about the dangers of GMOs right before the California Right To Know GMO labeling ballot initiative would be voted in.

He also allowed conventional scientists and other “experts” to come on the show, who demanded that Jeffery Smith leave the stage before coming on to talk about their viewpoint (which is pro-GMO). If Dr. Oz were a thinking person, he would have told those other scientists that it was his show and they should all be able to share the stage together (he’s had Jeffrey Smith as a guest in the past, with conventional scientists sitting there on the same stage refuting the information he provided).

Dr. Oz, who endorsed GM labeling and revealed that his wife worked on the Proposition 37 campaign to label GMOs, and has stated that to be safe, we should stick with organic foods:

In fact, he said that he prefers to be “cautious” at the end of a segment on his show filmed in October of this year (2012) titled GMO Foods: Are They Dangerous to Your Health? “Right now we have no way of knowing which foods have been genetically modified. I believe you should have that right,” he said. Wow, how much more inconsistent can you get, good Doctor? It’s clear that he’s trying to be all things to all people.

Read Busting myths about GMOs (genetically-modified organism)s if this topic is new to you and learn just how dangerous these substances really are. Also read Stanford study on organics: manipulating consumers into buying GMO products.

In light of all Dr. Oz’s conflicting statements that never seem to agree with one another, it’s pretty clear that he’s being paid off to say the things he does, and that depending on what day you turn his show on your television, you’ll get a different answer.  He pretends to be holistic in his approach to health, but in the end, his advice ultimately serves the interests of the powerful and rich who aren’t concerned about the health, well-being or future of the world’s citizens. The things he says are not just false and irresponsible, but reckless. And the fact that he has such a massive following of people who hang on his every word for health advice makes him dangerous.

I think this should go without saying, but if you are in doubt…at best, be deeply suspicious of his ability to tell the truth – no matter how many of your friends and family are his faithful fans.

More information on real, sustainable food for your family:

What are traditional foods?

Food budgets – Using creativity and prioritizing for healthy eating 

Waste not, want not: Tips for saving in the kitchen

12 replies on “Dr. Oz: Organic is “Elitist” & “not much difference” Between Grassfed & Feedlot Beef”

It is a problem of partial truths being used to conceal, confuse and divert people from discovering the whole truth. Unfortunately unless directly health challenged and with some understanding of the natural world, it is very confusing, even for those who profess to understand and are reputably eating so-called Paleo. The following slice of email interaction with a customer explains. Customer:Yeah, I know your prices are comparable, it’s just that at the moment I am only buying stuff on sale and I try to only get meat if it is $3/lb and under.
Reply:on prices/ our $20 bag of ground contains 5.5lb at cost of $3.63 lb face value
Because I always discount by giving soup bone etc price is actually about $17.50 times dry aged shrink value of about .88 therefore comparing apples to apples your price is actually less than $2.8 per lb.
If u factor in just the naturally, proven added Omega.3,s not to mention other health benefiting nutrients u are getting u r burger for free
Eg proven 3750mg of omega 3,s of the higher orders similar to Krill or highest quality fish oils at an average cost of $1 per 150 mg =$25
Therefore health benefit is over double the value of specials less than store bought from away
All the best frank
By the way the healthiest best is still the Bone broths

I totally agree with you that grass fed beef is far superior than feedlot beef but, I’m confused about something. Grass fed has a higher CLA content (which is an omega 6), but then you say feedlot is higher in omega 6s (which can cause health problems). Can you explain this? So which is it?

Erin – your body needs the right balance of Omega 3s and 6s. The processed, rancid oils that contain Omega 6s are to be avoided. CLA from grassfed cows is not a processed fatty acid, it’s essential to health, so it’s fine to consume.

The SAD diet ratio of 6 to 3 is anywhere from 15/1 and up. In a balanced diet with real foods that contain the correct nutritional profile such as grassfed beef, the ratios are going to be much lower, closer to 4/1. If you remove the processed and highly rancid forms of Omega 6s from the diet such as canola, cottonseed, soybean, peanut, sunflower, safflower, corn and others (olive oil is excluded as this is a healthy oil and is primarily an Omega 9), and add in the healthy fats that contain a balance of Omega 3s and 6s, you will see improvements, not decline, in health.

You are wrong about Whole Foods. Not completely, but wrong enough. They do a lot to support local and sustainable farming, as well as support the developing communities they source from. They also provide a lot of good jobs and benefits, as well as purchase and promote sustainable energy.
Disclaimer: I do work there, and it isn’t perfect, of course. But it does provide some scale to farmers who otherwise would be still trying to fit sales and distribution in their already long work week. I also feel like it’s important to make sure employees are paid really good wages for industry standards. I enjoy my job and I know where most of that money goes and we are not making a higher profit percentage than any other grocery store. Those prices you pay are not marked up extra high for our benefit, it’s for our vendors.
If you have access to an independent grocery store that only buys local or you grow all of your own food or have a year round farmers market than good for you. But don’t act like Whole Foods is the enemy.

Kali – I feel the reasons I outlined in my article about why I won’t shop there are justified. I know for a fact that WFs has caused plenty of small local farmers to go out of business because they simply couldn’t compete with a big chain. Here’s another post written by a fellow blogger, shortly after my post came out, about the same thing in her own community.

http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/whole-foods-the-walmart-of-healthfood/

I’m definitely not impressed by the statement they make about GMOs on their own web site (you can read the statement in the link provided above). I don’t appreciate the advertising all over the store which implies that a large percentage of the foods sold there are local and organic, when most of the products are anything but. Someone I know who lives here in Boise and just started working at the new store reported that everything in the deli and hot bar is brought in from somewhere else. That’s certainly not local, and that much of it is not organic.

WFs biggest vendors are anything but sustainable or organic food producers, and that they can be bought by the big GM giants. Just look at most of the cooking oil used in the store for pre-made foods and a lot of what’s sold on the shelves – canola, soybean oil, and cottonseed oil. Those are all GM (even if it says they are organic, contamination is eminent, and that is something that many people just don’t acknowledge), and they are pervasive throughout the store. What I want to see is merchants taking a stand against these products. If we don’t take a stand against them, that’s all we’ll continue to get.

Most of their produce is sourced from China. Ugh. I don’t even want to discuss that. It’s just wrong.

To me, Whole Foods is undermining small farmers, farmer’s markets, and local, established health food stores that are trying to support their community.

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