Why organic for me? What caused me to start this journey of growing my own vegetables and learning how to control my health through true nutrition and real food? I started connecting the dots.

After breaking my addiction to nicotine and cigarettes (June 2010), I resolved to start taking better care of myself. Discovering through facebook friends posting links about genetically modified food, I delved further than the quick article and opened up a door to the simple, yet effective way to change so much within my life in regards to my health.

One of the most beneficial aspects of facebook is the variety of people I've met online and have become friends with. Friends of friends who have shared articles they found interesting and have opened my eyes to the truth hidden behind slick advertising and my own disinterest in looking beyond my immediate comforts to see the larger global picture. Like a lemming, I have blindly believed that the FDA, USDA, and FTC would protect consumers from anything bad, that they wouldn't allow chemical companies to introduce harmful compounds and formulas into our food. I cared more that I could buy foods cheap and that were easy to cook rather than what was healthy for me. I noticed the warning label about aspartame on the cans but never researched it further to figure out what it meant. I didn't like how certain conglomerates were conducting their business but never took the time to find out what other products they made so I could stop trickling my money up to their coffers with my purchases.

Our votes in the ballot boxes are only a small part of our strength. The largest way we vote is with our wallet. Every time we buy soda with aspartame, we support Monsanto. When we buy seed from the large commercial companies that have colorful displays in the store, our money trickles up to Monsanto. Companies we've loved and trusted for years, such as Burpee, are now owned by companies or are subsidaries of companies of Monsanto. Even if we buy organic seed from them, we're supporting the large corporation. For the same amount of money, we could order our seeds from a small seed company and plant heirlooms to enjoy the diversity. Did you know there are several colors of cauliflower, asparagus, and carrots? That the heads of iceburg lettuce are the nutritionally worst of the lettuces but used because it's so easy for the machines to pick them at harvest? The same with garlic, tomatoes, eggplant, and the list goes on. That the majority of food grown on this planet is used to feed animals who will eventually become our food? But rather than feed them nutritious grasses and greens, they've taught the animals to eat fillers like corn and soy. Why? Because it's easier to grow, cost effective, and subsidized by the government.

Follow the money. It's always about the money with corporations. Look at who the owners are and follow the trails.

These are documentaries that I have found illuminating on the subject of Monsanto and genetically modified food as well as pesticides:

The Slow Poisoning of India http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-slow-poisoning-of-india/

We Feed The World http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/we-feed-the-world/

Poison on the Platter  http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/poison-on-the-platter/

Patent For a Pig http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/patent-for-a-pig/

The World According to Monsanto http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-world-according-to-monsanto/

The Future of Food http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-future-of-food/

Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/sweet-misery-a-poisoned-world/

Genetically Modified Food: Panacea or Poison? http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/genetically-modified-food/

Life Running Out of Control http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/life-running-out-of-control/

Controlling Our Food http://documentarystorm.com/controlling-our-food/

I tried to not watch or read just anti-GMO items. I watched Can GM Food Save the World? http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/can-gm-food-save-the-world/ but it was so clearly slanted that I could not believe there wasn't a giant Monsanto logo at the end. India's issues with BT cotton was never mentioned, indeed none of the issues of India were brought up. The film says that less pesticides are being used with Roundup Ready crops when in fact it is completely the opposite and study after study has proven that. There is even a crop that can only start germinating AFTER it has been sprayed with a certain pesticide, insuring the farmer not only has to buy the seed but has to buy and use the pesticide/herbicide and that means more money to the chemical company. The issue of having more food produced than is needed to feed the world was never broached, only that they need to produce all this soya to feed the animals to be used as meat or dairy producers. Rather than interview anyone who has studied and is learned on the subject, they did spot interviews with the general public who clearly did not want GM food but weren't able to offer up "acceptable" reasons for "Jimmy" the narrator of the film. It reminded me of the commercials put out by the corn refiners (i.e. High Fructose Corn Syrup people) back in 2009 and 2010 where they tried to show people that HFCS was perfectly fine and people were just against it but didn't know why. The issue of the GMO crops royalties and patents was not addressed except in passing and certainly not on what the effects are on farmers.

Pills, pills, every day there are new pills...do we really need all these pills, these expensive pills? Why do pharmaceutical companies spend twice as much on advertising their drugs as they do on research? Why are so many people on so many drugs and do we really need them? Why are there efforts to eliminate holistic medicines and herbs? Repeat after me. Follow the money. It's always about the money.

Big Bucks, Big Pharma http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/big-bucks-big-pharma/

Think bottled water is better than municipal water and better for you? Think those plastic bottles all get recycled? Do you know what the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is? That there are many of these swirling garbage patches out in the oceans? No?

Tapped http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/tapped/

Am I a big conspiracy theory junkie who believes everyone is out to get me? No. But I can think and I can read and I can connect the dots. Logic doesn't require a college degree. A business, by its very nature, is out to make money.

Benefits of coconut milk and coconut water: http://www.drgranny.com/health-nutrition/benefits-of-coconut-milk/