Organic or not organic?? that is the question

mekhala

Hi Everyone,

I have made a new years resolution but started early... to try and eat better food including organic food.

What are your views?

is organic produce a gimic.... or better for your health?

Mekhala x

jojoworks

Good morning and happy new year! Congrats on your resolutions......but why do you make a resolution to eat better including organics and then ask if organics is really better or just a gimic? Are you really not sure about "organics"? You will get a large array of answers to your question. I'm just curious as to how resolved you really are.

My answer to your question is that it depends on what food you gravitate towards that you want to use organically grown for. If its for organic candy, well then.....I don't think organic candy (as a processed food) is any better for you than conventional, mass market brand named candy. OK, that is an extreme example, but one that bears mentioning. Whether you eat organic or not, you still have to make HEALTHY choices.

I've been employed in the natural foods and organic industries for 26 years, so sure, I may be biased, but I'm VERY well informed. If you buy your produce at a store that is locally driven and has integrity and staff that care about the food they work with, chances are the food you buy will reflect their mission. If you buy your produce at a gi-normous supermarket chances are the food they're selling as organic may or may not reflect food bought from farmers who care about what they're doing. YOU need to educate yourself. Ask questions. Do some research.

I will say one thing about a tact naysayers of organic take which is that you can't trust that what's labeled as organic really is. I was responsible for our company's organic certification complicance and renewal for 10 years. I can tell you, there is NOTHING slack about that process. I moved more than 1,000,000 truckloads of product a year of 100% organic product. I had to have every piece of my audit trail for each of those truckloads intact for each and every annual inspection, including proof that each of those trucks had a clean-truck affidavit on board prior to being loaded with my product. I've read countless sections of the USDA regulated organic standards. I can assure you, mistakes may happen and bad eggs may exist, but there is nothing slack INHERANT in the system.

OK, end of rant. PM me if you have any questions I can answer for you.
good luck and HAPPY eating!
JoJo

honeybee709

I went organic in everything about 6 months ago and I feel a huge difference. My energy levels are so much higher than they were. I feel a difference when I'm at someone's house or out for dinner and it's not organic. I get more sluggish and sometimes headachy...just think of all the pesticides that are in the food that would cause that! ick

Here's a good rule of thumb to ease yourself in:

The Dirty Dozen...these are loaded with pesticides, so buy organic whenever you can
celery, peaches, strawberries, apples, blueberries, nectarines, sweet bell peppers, spinach, cherries, kale/collard greens, potatoes, and grapes

The Clean 15...go conventional with these low in pesticide fruits and veggies (it'll save some money too!)
onions, avocado, sweet corn (frozen), pineapple, mangoes, peas (frozen), asparagus, kiwi, cabbage, eggplant, cantaloupe, watermelon, grapefruit, sweet potatoes, honeydew melon

Sporty98

My family has been eating organic meats for a few years.....not exclusively, but from a local organic farmer who is a friend. We have decided in the past few weeks to focus on eat organic meats and produce (including putting in our own garden again this year). We've grown our own produce in the past, but not in the past couple of years.

I think the organic movement is really another way of saying "God's food God's way".....Why would we put all of those chemicals, pesticides and preservatives into/onto our foods and then put them in our bodies!?!? An all natural approach to whole health care is the obvious choice for improving our health!

Good luck with your new resolutions!

taletreader

I second what jojoworks said: Educate yourself. You can't expect a label to do all the work for you and separate the world into virtuous and nasty.

The studies I've seen overall seem to tend towards no large difference in nutritional content between organic and conventionally grown produce at the same quality level. I'm completely convinced that you can produce excellent food with methods that include practices that would preclude certification. Conversely, it is possible to produce highly processed unhealthy food items from all-organic ingredients. Many chemicals are forbidden from use in organic agriculture, so chances are lower they make it onto your plate (and more importantly into our soil!), but on the other hand there have been scandals of bacterial contamination of organic produce via "natural" means of, for example, weed and pest control. Also, certification standards and labelling obligations vary -- you need to read up on what is available in your specific country.

Now the above might sound as if I regarded it as a gimmick, but nothing could be farther from the truth. My shopping basket will be half or so certified organic, and I'm ready to pay more for it. Mostly because I support the production practices as at least somewhat superior to a lot of intensive conventional agriculture, AND I know that at least at the margins "organic" is a path for small farms to survive in the market. It's not the only thing I watch. In the US, I would definitely look at standards for meat, as I understand pharmaceutics are used a lot more than meat farmers are allowed under EU regulations. I look at "fairtrade" labels for coffee, tea and chocolate. But I don't expect any of those to be a panacea nor, necessarily, an individual health benefit for me.

mekhala

Thank you for your views... i wanted to spark a debate and get an overall picture of what people on MFP are thinking right now about Organics.

i think research will be a good start - some of it has already raised its head in my studies - i'm completing a degree in molecular biology with genetics - food and cancer links are invlovled.

Since doing this research for uni - i decided that i would like to know where my food comes from and go back to basics. I dont think myself that Organics is a gimik per se, but i have found a lot of sites that promise organic (then offer food that isnt organic) that are charging £4.00 that about 8 dollars for 2 chicken thighs????!!! that is just wrong. I have however found a reasonble organic box delivery scheme in my area, that i am looking forward to seeing what they have given me - they have assured me that the bananas they cannot grow organilically are grown with fairtrade ethics.

Bring on the new year with a new me - healthier mind and body.

Happy new year everyone - and thanks again. xx

nurseandi

I have heard, like HoneBee said, that you only "have" to buy certain foods organic. When I'm on my organic kicks, I ALWAYS feel better and more energetic. Unfortunately, I can not always afford it. But my New Year's resolution is also to try to eat cleaner and to atleast buy essentials organic. I find this topic very interesting and am def. going to start researching it!

mekhala

I also find it very interesting... but very frightening - is the food source that the national food agency allows to pass our lips really that bad for us?

we must have a really bad food agency to let these chemicals be pushed into our food - and sold under the pretence that they are good for you - ie, wild salmon vs farmed salmon, farmed organic salmon, etc.... its bad enough trying to choose bread on the supermarket shelves let alone anything else...!!!