Organics are popping up all over the place. You can buy organic food, organic mattresses, organic clothing and even organic chocolate, wine and vodka! Organic has become the newest marketing label, but what is organic and why should you choose it?

For some people, the thought of vegetarian food – new recipes, learning about nutrition, new choices and meals for a family – is a little overwhelming. Many worry that they will not get the nutrition or variety in food that they need. Unfortunately, that ‘balanced diet’ that we have been taught to eat has turned to many people eating very unhealthy, processed, chemical-laden diets of convenience-- ‘near foods’, instead of healthy, whole foods. Eating-based ailments such as obesity, heart-disease and type two diabetes are at an all time high and many people are waking up to the fact that the food they are eating is not only depriving them of nutrition, but actually making them sick.

As seekers committed to a path of enlightenment, there are many practices for us to draw upon in our awakening process. We want to participate in activities that contribute to the development of our increased sensitivity and consciousness. Often religion teaches practices that neglect or even harm our animal body, believing it to be spiritual. We are awakening to the fact that actions which devalue, oppress and harm the animals on this planet – ourselves included – are not a sign of kindness, spiritual maturity or compassion, but rather a lack of sensitivity and awareness of the internal experiences and sentience of other life forms.