The Lutheran Vegan

I don’t remember if I was in high school or college, but at some point, while getting a haircut, I asked my barber which shaving cream I should buy. Consumers were being bombarded with endless ads promoting moisturizing shaving cream with Vitamin E and special additives that would reduce skin rash and make shaving a breeze for men or women. So what did Lou, my barber, say?

Get whatever is on sale, the cheap stuff, he said. Huh? The best advice from a man whose profession was cutting hair and shaving men’s faces is to buy the more affordable stuff, not the more expensive, vitamin-filled cream. It sounded so odd. 

He went on to explain that all shaving creams do the same thing – they make it easier to shave. All that other stuff, while nice, doesn’t do anything special. He told me that he used Barbasol shaving cream in the machine he used when he shaves. Nothing special. But it was cheaper than the other stuff, so he bought that. 

When I went to the supermarket, I picked up a can of Barbasol. It was my favorite shaving cream for a long time. 

Recently, I thought of this interaction with Lou when I was asked by someone why I was buying conventional bananas at ShopRite instead of the organic ones. She’d have a fit if she found out I was eating kale that week that wasn’t organic and that it came in a plastic bag.

The question of whether we should eat organic fruits and vegetables over conventional ones often comes down to cost. Why pay a dollar more a pound for organic tomatoes instead of their conventionally grown cousins? 

Is it “healthier” to eat organic? Yes. However, at times, the cost can be prohibitive, especially for people living on a budget. It makes more financial sense to eat the conventional, greenhouse-grown tomato from Mexico rather than the organic one grown in New Jersey, if it means saving a couple of dollars. If you can afford it, buy organic.

The important thing is that you are eating fruits and vegetables. Increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables we eat daily is essential, especially if you’re trying to improve your health. I remember a video I watched of the late Dr. John McDougal, when asked a question about whether or not someone could put a little salt in their bowl of soup, was doing something bad for their health, yelled back, “Just eat the food!” He said that eating a diet high in plants, especially in starch, was of greater health importance for people rather than worrying about adding a little salt to make the soup taste better.

And I’ve lived by this advice. When I buy kale at Whole Foods, I know it’s organically grown. When I buy it at Walmart, it’s conventional. It all goes down the same. And it’s all plants.