Organic Food is Good for Weight Loss?

kshama2001

Dante_80 wrote: »

Fuzzipeg wrote: »

Less chemical contamination.

If you are talking about pesticide residues, those are closely monitored and always far below the imposed limits.
Also, organic produce suffer from pesticide residues too. Alarmingly so, sometimes.

I mean, I would get the chemical contamination argument if you were a concerned bumblebee entrepreneur, but I'm pretty sure you are not.

A couple of articles that might interest some.

The truth about organic produce and pesticides
Is Organic Food Better Than Conventional Food? Here’s The Deal.

The blog was mildly entertaining but very light on science, and hard to take seriously when using phrases like "They’re wrong. They’re also elitist and obnoxious, but I digress."

I'm saving my limited Washington Post articles for current events.

kshama2001

MikePfirrman wrote: »

Maybe, but the science is hardly sound on that. The only issue that might affect it is the amount of Round-Up, which does have antibiotic properties to it, on the microbiome -- which does directly influence weight.

I try to eat organic grains/beans and stay away from vegetable oils. I also don't eat a lot of ready processed foods. If you want to limit Round-Up, that will do it for the most part. Also stay away from mint if not organic.

Monsanto did take a patent out on Round-Up as a possible antibiotic. Obviously, it's not an antibiotic docs use, but it does kill bacteria in our guts. And when they claim there's "no shikimake pathway", they are completely leaving out the notion that the bacteria in our microbiome aren't human cells and some can uptake the Round-Up. Now how much influence this can have on metabolism is questionable, but I certainly think it can limit the diversity of the microbiome over time, which can be very concerning for our health.

If you're concerned, stay away from non-organic beans and grains and fried foods. But to buy all organic gets very pricy. IMHO, not worth it.

I don't buy 100% organic either. What I do buy organic has nothing to do with weight loss, but to avoid pesticides.

Anyone south of Boston who wants organic spearmint roots (and/or lemon balm) to grow their own, send me a message!

I'm going to rip out the whole lemon balm patch after the fall rains soften the soil - my goodness, is that stuff aggressive >.<

One of these days I'll get specifics on these super-toxic pesticides approved for organic gardening that people in threads like this keep mentioning. In my small backyard garden, all I need is Bt for cabbage worms.

http://www.bt.ucsd.edu/organic_farming.html

...Bt proteins are allowed in organic farming as a insecticide because Bt is a natural, non-pathogenic bacterium that is found naturally in the soil. Bt has also been found to be safe to all higher animals tested.

Dante_80

kshama2001 wrote: »

The blog was mildly entertaining but very light on science, and hard to take seriously when using phrases like "They’re wrong. They’re also elitist and obnoxious, but I digress."

I'm saving my limited Washington Post articles for current events.

The prose might put you off but I think the source is legit if you take the time to look at it.
Irregardless, what I said above is beyond refutation anyway (would be glad to see something to the contrary really).

But don't take my word for it. If anyone is interested in the subject at hand, a good place to start would be here.


ps: You can use a bypass paywall add-on in your browser to get over NYT, WP and other obnoxious paywalls if you like. I had no idea those existed till last year or so, they are a godsend!

sal10851

When I posted this thread I was at the beginning of my nutritional knowledge. What I have gathered is that the term organic means something a bit different for everyone. Personally I think a homegrown fruit or vegetable grown only by sunlight is what organic should really mean. I highly doubt that is the case for most organic labeled foods. As for processed foods that is the world we live in today. I eat some processed foods such as deli meats and protein bars, shakes, egg whites. Not the end of the world and I'm still losing weight. It's not optimally healthy yet I've been taken off blood pressure and diabetes medication. I used to binge on fast food most of my life so eating processed deli meats really is healthier for me.

janejellyroll

sal10851 wrote: »

When I posted this thread I was at the beginning of my nutritional knowledge. What I have gathered is that the term organic means something a bit different for everyone. Personally I think a homegrown fruit or vegetable grown only by sunlight is what organic should really mean. I highly doubt that is the case for most organic labeled foods. As for processed foods that is the world we live in today. I eat some processed foods such as deli meats and protein bars, shakes, egg whites. Not the end of the world and I'm still losing weight. It's not optimally healthy yet I've been taken off blood pressure and diabetes medication. I used to binge on fast food most of my life so eating processed deli meats really is healthier for me.

The issue is that "homegrown" seems like a difficult term to define for commercial terms and "grown only by sunlight"? So if I grow some tomatoes in my backyard but I use compost as a fertilizer, it's not organic?

SuzySunshine99

janejellyroll wrote: »

sal10851 wrote: »

When I posted this thread I was at the beginning of my nutritional knowledge. What I have gathered is that the term organic means something a bit different for everyone. Personally I think a homegrown fruit or vegetable grown only by sunlight is what organic should really mean. I highly doubt that is the case for most organic labeled foods. As for processed foods that is the world we live in today. I eat some processed foods such as deli meats and protein bars, shakes, egg whites. Not the end of the world and I'm still losing weight. It's not optimally healthy yet I've been taken off blood pressure and diabetes medication. I used to binge on fast food most of my life so eating processed deli meats really is healthier for me.

The issue is that "homegrown" seems like a difficult term to define for commercial terms and "grown only by sunlight"? So if I grow some tomatoes in my backyard but I use compost as a fertilizer, it's not organic?

Plus, the "grown only by sunlight" is a weird qualifier. My sister grows an extensive backyard garden from seed. Because of the climate she's in, she has to start the seeds indoors under grow lights. When it's warm enough she transplants them outside.

I don't think it makes her vegetables less nutritious because they started life under artificial light.

janejellyroll

SuzySunshine99 wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

sal10851 wrote: »

When I posted this thread I was at the beginning of my nutritional knowledge. What I have gathered is that the term organic means something a bit different for everyone. Personally I think a homegrown fruit or vegetable grown only by sunlight is what organic should really mean. I highly doubt that is the case for most organic labeled foods. As for processed foods that is the world we live in today. I eat some processed foods such as deli meats and protein bars, shakes, egg whites. Not the end of the world and I'm still losing weight. It's not optimally healthy yet I've been taken off blood pressure and diabetes medication. I used to binge on fast food most of my life so eating processed deli meats really is healthier for me.

The issue is that "homegrown" seems like a difficult term to define for commercial terms and "grown only by sunlight"? So if I grow some tomatoes in my backyard but I use compost as a fertilizer, it's not organic?

Plus, the "grown only by sunlight" is a weird qualifier. My sister grows an extensive backyard garden from seed. Because of the climate she's in, she has to start the seeds indoors under grow lights. When it's warm enough she transplants them outside.

I don't think it makes her vegetables less nutritious because they started life under artificial light.

I eat local hydroponic lettuce that I'm pretty sure never sees actual sunlight.

zamphir66

senalay788 wrote: »

Yes but sometimes no. So in short... maybe.

You don't think it be like it is, but it do ... sometimes.

hope516

spyro88 wrote: »

Whilst I agree with everyone saying that weight loss is about calories, I think there could be some psychological effect that could contribute.

For example, if you say one day "I am going to commit to a healthier lifestyle and I want to lose some weight", then you might start buying organic food as part of that. It might be part of your plan that you want to cut out the pesticides (or whatever it is that makes people buy organic food), and that might go along with a whole host of other things you are doing to live a healthier lifestyle, such as exercise and generally eating less.

So I could imagine a scenario where people eating organic foods might lose more weight... but not purely because they are organic foods. Maybe it's because people buying organic foods tend to be quite health-conscious to begin with... so there could be more around it to do with the mentality and psychology that accompanies weight loss.

I read a book about habits, wish I could remember the name to cite it, but generally it said what you are getting at... when we make a decision to change one habit, others just naturally follow and it even has affects in other parts of our lives that have nothing to do with the change we made in the first place.

B_Plus_Effort

Organic Food is one of the greatest scams ever pulled, just remember the easiest calories to burn are the ones you don't put in your mouth in the first place.