Five Finger Discounts
Organic Chicken
What’s wrong with this picture? Why is the 2008 chicken so plump? How come chickens grow so much faster these days?
Well, the answer is an easy one. We now inject chickens with tons of hormones to plump them up quickly and antibiotics to fight disease and infections that occur as a result of their deplorable living conditions. Journalist Michael Pollan, a food expert featured in the movie Food, Inc. says the chicken has been “re-engineered through breeding and diet to produce the breast meat consumers want. Compared to 50 years ago, chickens are now raised and slaughtered in half the time and grow twice as big.” The problem with that is that when people need to use those same antibiotics because we are sick, our bodies will be immune to them.
When I began purchasing organic chicken breasts I noticed 3 things that were very different from the conventional chicken breasts I was used to buying.
1. They are MUCH smaller.
2. They are VERY expensive.
3. They are soft and tender.
However, I also realized that we don’t need a 10 oz. chicken breast. A 5-6 oz. breast is big enough for a person to enjoy without overeating.
The price is steep now because the demand for organic chicken is still low. People look at price first and then realize they are better off with conventional chicken. Eventually, as more and more people realize the importance of organic food and their health, they will switch over. When people start to buy more organic food and less conventional, the prices will eventually drop as more companies will switch over as well to try and keep their businesses going.
Without the hormones that stiffen up the chicken breasts, the meat is so much softer. It actually tears when you hit it with the mallet/meat tenderizer. I like very thin chicken breasts. I used to pound away on conventional chicken breasts and it handled my beating without a problem. Now, I have to take it easy because the tender meat separates from the breast easily leaving me with tiny bite size pieces if I’m not careful.
I suggest you think twice about the antibiotics and hormones that you are putting into your body by buying conventional chicken instead of organic. Paying a little more now for healthy food will save you a lot of money on your health bills later. And more importantly than your health bills is your overall health. You only live once, so take good care of your body and feed it right.
YOU have a choice, as you aren’t a chicken:)
Tags: Conventional, Food Inc, Organic
One Response
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
If you’re interested in eating more organic foods, one of the things that you may have trouble getting past is the price tag. After all, organics tend to be a lot more expensive than chemically treated products. The best solution to that, especially if you have the space, is to grow your own organic vegetable garden.