Our Thanksgiving Feast

We love to spend the holidays together, but this year we’ll be a little scattered. On Thanksgiving Day I’ll be curled up in a quiet house with a draft of my upcoming book and a steaming bowl of organic jambalaya. Cheryl will drive in from her families’ home that evening, and we’ll give our thanks for our healthy families and all our blessings by toasting with our favorite $10 bottle of organic wine.

But most of our Thanksgivings look a lot like yours. Our traditional family dishes, many from recipes passed down from generation to generation, probably taste and smell and entice like the holiday meal you’re preparing for your family, with perhaps one major difference – our goal to eat only organic food.

Over three years ago, I made a pledge to myself, my family and my world – a promise to choose organic foods, in order to avoid foods produced with toxic synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, synthetic hormones, genetic engineering, or cloning. As I wrote for my Organic Journey, “By choosing organic foods for our families, we teach quietly and profoundly. We teach our kids about healthy nutrition, at a time when obesity is overtaking many American children. We teach our kids about justice, as we choose to pay fair prices to the farmers who grow our foods without the use of persistent synthetic chemicals. We teach our kids about respect for our planet, as we take steps to save the wildlife our children love. We teach them to one day be fathers and mothers themselves, creating an inheritance for their children.”

I was surprised by the recent article at SmartMoney.com. Reporter Stacey Bradford estimated that an organic holiday meal can cost 75 percent more than a comparable non-organic menu. For holiday meals you can expect to pay a little more for organic foods, but I think she missed the mark about staying on budget and buying organic foods. I just did an interview with Tara Parker-Pope of the New York Times that discusses how to get all the values of great organic food without paying more than you would to eat conventional food. When that article is out, I’ll link it here. But back to Thanksgiving …

When my mother hosts the holiday meal this coming Saturday, she caters to an extended family of mildly strange eaters: some eat everything; some are vegetarians; and some (one crazy guy in particular) eat organic. She and my father will be roasting an organic turkey for us to share. We’ll all bring something to their table. Cheryl makes her organic Cornbread Casserole from a family recipe as well as an organic stuffing that everybody loves, plus organic whole wheat French bread. Other members of the family add their favorites and together we celebrate with thankful hearts.

We here at DrGreene.com hope that you can enjoy your holiday favorites while buying organic food that helps keep your family and our planet healthy.

From our house to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

PS – Several of your holiday essentials, such as mashed potatoes and apple pie, are on my list of essential organic choices that families should consider. Read Dr. Greene’s Organic Prescription.