What Does "Beyond Organic" Mean?

Q:  Hi, I'm interested in buying your meats and have skimmed through your Web site and when I read the first question in your FAQ about organic I was not satisfied with the response.  Do you or don't you give any of your critters antibiotics, hormones, etc.?  What exactly does "we're beyond organic" mean?  Also, would you happen to know if the grass/plants they feed on are heavily sprayed with pesticides or not?  I have multiple chemical sensitivities and need to be very careful and do as much research as possible on the products I consume or bring into my environment.

I have been curing myself of Graves disease, without any medications/surgery, etc., which most doctors will never say is possible but my lab work clearly demonstrates reversal of the disease and normalization of labs.  Graves disease is thought to be at least partially caused by environmental toxins according to some of the research (if you recall the whole Bush family, even the dog, got it as soon as they entered the White House).  So to me "organic" is not at all meaningless, or "fad".  And having studied chemistry and microbiology, biology, etc., and knowing viruses or arsenic, etc., can be "organic", to state this in the discussion seems like a matter of semantics and skirting the issue of organic.

It is simply the argument against using the word "natural" which truly is meaningless.  Viruses, arsenic, etc., are natural but not necessarily good.  That's the naturalistic fallacy, that all that is natural is better, which seems more like what you were referring to in your response.  USDA certified organic, however, has a different meaning.  It actually has meaning.  Unlike saying "we're beyond organic."  And I know many wonderful farmers that are not USDA certified organic but they follow the same philosophies and are able to clearly and honestly articulate and delineate their practices, and philosophies, and so I would still readily buy from them.  So I would like to know more about your practices, please, if it's not too insulting to even ask (I read your response to the question about ethical practices).

A: Why is Going "Beyond Organic" So Important?

Food chemistry trumps everything. These three links explain why.

Organically Grown Poisonous Plants

Food Analysis

Dietary Pesticides (99.99% All Natural)

Nature's Chemicals and Synthetic Chemicals: Comparative Toxicology

Plants vs. Plant Eaters

To begin with, all living things have hormones.  And, as stated in many places on our Web site, we do not feed antibiotics nor provide additional hormones to our critters.  But let's address the bigger issues here.  The creator of the "beyond organic" term is Joel Salatin -- the farmer star in the movie Food Inc.  He laughs at the "organic" label as being meaningless because it in no way addresses the health issues Americans labor under.  It's the basic chemistry of the food items that can be either beneficial or destructive and the quantity of food ingested is HUGE compared to whatever else enters the body.  But the mob blames all its health problems on everything except the basic chemistry of the food it demands to eat.  (Right the public votes with its dollars and they insist on eating the foods they eat.  Nobody forces them to eat modern-day traditional food.)

Secondly, Graves disease is an autoimmune disorder and for over three decades now it is a well known fact that the omega-3 deficiency that plagues all Americans can literally destroy the immune system.  Additionally, immune system dysfunction can be exacerbated by toxins  --  mycotoxins produced by fungi within and outside our bodies.  And it is a known fact that the greatest toxic load in our foods is the 100% organic mycotoxins from fungi and molds.  The toxicity of agricultural chemicals don't even measure in comparison.

Your body has sensitivities because of an omega-3 fatty acid deficiency (immune disorder) and the consumption of foods with high glycemic loads (resulting in mycotoxin overloads).  As stated previously, mycotoxins make agricultural chemicals look rather benign.  Now think about the White House.  Pretty old building, probably loaded with mold and fungus throughout.

"Beyond organic" means that real issues are being addressed, not false ones. Organic is by no means an answer to any chronic disease. Organic never implies low glycemic, nutrient dense and diverse, or 1:1 balances of Omega-6 and Omega-3 essential fatty acids. Nearly all food safety issues involve organic bacteria. Plants produce pesticides naturally. Organic foods have the same fundamental chemistry as their counterparts. Organic sugar (insert name of a food) is chemically identical to plain sugar (insert name of same food).  (Please look at our Science Links for far more in-depth information.)

Just because man formulates a chemical compound from natural elements that in itself does not mean that compound is bad.  On the flip side, just because a chemical compound has been formulated naturally (mycotoxins for instance) does not mean it is good.  Now you can believe whatever you want, but if your immune system is damaged, you can be allergic to 100% natural things that in no way a human should be react to.  For instance, hay fever, which plagued me for decades, had my body reacting negatively to natural grass pollens as if they were toxic chemicals.  After I learned how to eat proper foods and my Omega-3 deficit disappeared, my hay fever symptoms also diminished significantly.  Was it because I no longer exposed myself to the pollen?  No.  It was because my immune system is functioning better now than it has for decades.

Nobody in agriculture heavily sprays their pastures with pesticides (unless they want to destroy themselves financially).  The monetary restraints disappear with city folks who regularly over apply applications on their yards and gardens.  City folks make applications that are excessive because they do not operate under the natural forces that saddle all ranchers and farmers which is to be economically and environmentally sustainable.  Plus city folks do not have to be licensed nor are they monitored.  Additionally, ag chemicals are intended to be used in food production.  They have short half lives and break down in the environment.  There are virtually no reports at the CDC for poisonings from ag chemicals, but there are tens of thousands annually from people getting sick from eating foods contaminated with 100% natural, organic contaminants. And did you know, that 99% of the detectable pesticides in plants are naturally produced by the plants?

Yes, in the big picture the organic label does not address nutrition and health.  If our nation's entire food system was organic today, the number of food safety issues would be exactly the same and the incidences of chronic disease would also be exactly the same.  So, one can either follow a false pied piper in an attempt to be healthy, or go after the real basic issues of the chemistry of the food itself.  In the latter case the only way one can get it right is to eat the same kind of foods man ate for all of time before he started inventing foods and concocting them.  For those of us who take this approach the results are astounding.  And we can prove it more ways than one.  If you doubt this, check this out:& Natural Cures.

Our approach here is that we can market our products with demeaning feel good rhetoric that has no basis in fact, or we can tell the story as it really is.  I choose the latter method because unless our customers understand the real basic issues and they themselves address them head on, they will never achieve the real goal they seek with the foods they eat -- which is to be healthy.  So, we tell it like it is and let the myth followers go on about their business.  Yes, we lose business to others who use the feel-good tactics, but in most cases those folks are not all that healthy and neither are their customers.  We care a great deal about our health and the health of our customers, but from there on it's all up to you and your beliefs.  We deal in facts; peer-reviewed scientific facts.  It's good science that got us into this grass-fed niche back in 1999 and we will not compromise our search for the truth to gain a sale.

By the way, would you like to know what your essential fatty acid balance really is?  Try this:  www.Omega3Test.com.   We have and we know.  When you take the test make sure to put "SLANKER" in the Offer Code.  You'll save some money.  You can find a link to my test here.