Organic vs. Processed?

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juday3
juday3 Posts: 78 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey MFP buddies. I was wondering what everyone's take is on eating Organic vs processed foods?

For me personally I try to eat organic 85% of the time. (I don't make much money so I budget what I can afford). I come from a life style change of eating fast foods and processed foods. When I first started to get healthy I would eat low calorie sweeteners, diet soda, processed cheese and deli meat and I still lost weight. Then I switched to eating organic and lost more. Once in a great while I will indulge in oreos or chicken nuggets from McD's which would have an organic foodie scream.

So what changes have you made to adapt to a healthier life style food wise and what has worked out the best? Thanks in advance for any input.

Replies

  • inspiration
    inspiration Posts: 28 Member
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    I do not make a lot of money either, but try to buy some things organic that I know otherwise would contain lots of pesticides. My favorite switch over has been Wyman's organic frozen blueberries. I eat them almost every morning in cereal. I think the more natural you can go, the better your body can process your food. I don't buy everything organic by any means, but there are a lot of frozen vegetable and fruit options out there.
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
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    It may just be a terminology thing... but you can eat non-processed food without eating organic. I'd love to eat all organic, but it's just too expensive. However, I'm all for eating fresh fruits/veggies (I eat a mix of organic and non-organic) and home-made meals with as few processed foods as possible.

    My changes have been to cut out as much processed food as possible - that includes sugars and commonly used processed foods like standard flour and foods like peanut butters that have all sorts of added ingredients. For foods that I do buy in cans/boxes/etc. I buy the versions with as few ingredients as possible, and no added sugars or salt (ex. no sugar added applesauce, no-salt-added canned beans, peanut butter with only peanuts as the ingredient). I've started making my own versions of foods like hummus, yogurt, baba ganoush, etc. I find it's fun and very educational to learn to make my own foods, and usually it doesn't take too much effort. It's great to really know exactly what's in the food I'm eating.

    Some people think it's silly to go to such an extreme, but I've decided that I just don't want the chemicals/additives used in food processing in my body. I know I feel so much better when avoiding processed foods. I don't completely avoid processed foods, but on my good days, I eliminate probably 90-95% of the processed food I used to eat.
  • dgr8diva
    dgr8diva Posts: 3
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    I do what I can at the time. My biggest problem with "fresh food" is that I live alone, except for my yr, old. So much food goes bad so quickly. I give myself a lot of flexibility bc otherwise I can be a salf hating food nazi. When I can buy fresh and have the mental motivation to chop up stuff I do, when I'm lazy I buy cans.
  • lastchance2010
    lastchance2010 Posts: 500 Member
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    well,I don't favor one or the other, but i def transitioned from processed to organic on wutevr I could or maybe it's healthier choices like whole wheat pasta vs. white. I think that I am definately not 100% organic but I DO try to make healthier choices as far as food in general. I try my best to do wut I can and stay away from processed for my sake and my kids sake.
    I also started getting more ground turkey than ground beef as a way to cut cal's and fat and $. I don't buy the stuff that is fat free or less fat or nothing cuz when I do that...I give up REAL quick. I just make sure I keep my portions to wut they should be and I use them sparingly. I rarely eat sandwiches and when I don't feel like cookin nothing I will not only enjoy my sandwich I will enjoy it with the svg size or even half the svg size just to taste it. It more about preference i guess. I've lost about 16lbs in a month and a half which is pretty good for me considering I would have given up by now. So I hope this is gon be a forever lifestyle change! :drinker: and good luck on your journey! :flowerforyou:
  • lastchance2010
    lastchance2010 Posts: 500 Member
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    I've started making my own versions of foods like hummus, yogurt, baba ganoush, etc. I find it's fun and very educational to learn to make my own foods, and usually it doesn't take too much effort. It's great to really know exactly what's in the food I'm eating.

    I also started making my own hummus...but yogurt? :noway: how do u do that? I love to know... and baba ganoush? OH YUM! :love: Do you have a recipe(s)???
  • CocoFire
    CocoFire Posts: 53 Member
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    I certainly try to eat organic foods when I can afford them. You can get organic processed foods-- so keep that in mind when you are looking for a healthier choice. Organic doesn't always mean less calories. Organic is especially important when you are buying fruits and vegetables. It is proven that people who eat organic have less detectable traces of pesticide residues in their systems. Any sort of substance engineered to kill things isn't good to have loitering around in your body. When you are buying organic processed foods (like cereals, pastas etc.) you are also getting less of those harmful substances in the foods you're eating, but the exposure for some of the pesticides is a bit less direct unless they are the more persistent pollutants.

    Also the heavier you are, the more of these pesticide residues you have in your body if you don't eat organically. That's because the body doesn't know what to do with these man-made substances. The system we have to filter our bodies of pollutants isn't set up to be able to deal with pesticides (volatile or semi-volatile organic compounds). So your body encapsulates these compounds preferentially in fat cells and stores them in your tissues. Scary. I must be a walking bottle of roundup!

    What you are really paying the extra money for in some cases is knowing that wherever your food came from is a healthier place to live. In general the overuse of chemical fertilizers & pesticides along with the whole system of monoculture food production and genetically modified plants is not only changing our ecosystems in unsustainable ways, but is also feeding a whole system that is unhealthy. You have to wonder what the long term effect of seeds genetically modified to contain virus and fish dna is. And think about what happens when those mutant seeds cross pollinate into other wild populations of plants. Do you really want to be exposed to virus dna when you eat an apple off your own tree?

    I'm also careful to look for non-GMO labels. I don't want to be eating genetically modified foods if I can help it at all.

    For ethical reasons I try to get grain-fed beef and cage-free farm raised eggs as well. I want to feel good about my choices when I eat my healthy pollution free food. I want to know that the farmer who is feeding me is not exposed to unnecessary chemicals while producing my food. And I want to know that I'm not supporting a food system that is about abusing this beautiful earth we live on.

    In 2011 I'm going to begin an organic permaculture garden here so that I can know where some of my food comes from. (Especially my greens... it's scary how many E.coli outbreaks there are. E.coli comes from fecal matter-- poo. Why is there poo in my salad?!?)

    Check out these movies to learn more:
    The Future of Food
    FOOD, inc.

    If you're really intrepid follow the current legislation that will dictate how accessible good, healthy, clean, organic foods will be to us in the future by reading about the Food Modernization Safety act of 2010.
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
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    I've started making my own versions of foods like hummus, yogurt, baba ganoush, etc. I find it's fun and very educational to learn to make my own foods, and usually it doesn't take too much effort. It's great to really know exactly what's in the food I'm eating.

    I also started making my own hummus...but yogurt? :noway: how do u do that? I love to know... and baba ganoush? OH YUM! :love: Do you have a recipe(s)???

    Yogurt:
    http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2009/10/how-to-make-homemade-yogurt-2/

    Baba Ganoush: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/baba-ghanoush-2/Detail.aspx
  • juday3
    juday3 Posts: 78 Member
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    Check out these movies to learn more:
    The Future of Food
    FOOD, inc.

    If you're really intrepid follow the current legislation that will dictate how accessible good, healthy, clean, organic foods will be to us in the future by reading about the Food Modernization Safety act of 2010.

    I have checked out FOOD inc. and was blown away. I look forward to seeing The Future of Food. Thanks for sharing!
  • juday3
    juday3 Posts: 78 Member
    Options
    I've started making my own versions of foods like hummus, yogurt, baba ganoush, etc. I find it's fun and very educational to learn to make my own foods, and usually it doesn't take too much effort. It's great to really know exactly what's in the food I'm eating.

    I also started making my own hummus...but yogurt? :noway: how do u do that? I love to know... and baba ganoush? OH YUM! :love: Do you have a recipe(s)???

    Yogurt:
    http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2009/10/how-to-make-homemade-yogurt-2/

    Baba Ganoush: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/baba-ghanoush-2/Detail.aspx


    WOW! Thanks for these recipes. I look forward to giving them a try!
  • Grokette
    Grokette Posts: 3,330 Member
    Options
    Hey MFP buddies. I was wondering what everyone's take is on eating Organic vs processed foods?

    For me personally I try to eat organic 85% of the time. (I don't make much money so I budget what I can afford). I come from a life style change of eating fast foods and processed foods. When I first started to get healthy I would eat low calorie sweeteners, diet soda, processed cheese and deli meat and I still lost weight. Then I switched to eating organic and lost more. Once in a great while I will indulge in oreos or chicken nuggets from McD's which would have an organic foodie scream.

    So what changes have you made to adapt to a healthier life style food wise and what has worked out the best? Thanks in advance for any input.

    The most important thing to remember is to eat Whole, Unprocessed foods............Stay away from the Processed, packaged foods.

    Also, try and buy farm raised meats from a local meat market or straight from the farmer.

    If you choose to buy organic, at least buy these fruits and veggies organic. They are the most heavily contaminated produce.
    1. Celery
    Celery has no protective skin, which makes it almost impossible to wash off the chemicals (64 of them!) that are used on crops. Buy organic celery, or choose alternatives like broccoli, radishes, and onions.

    2. Peaches
    Multiple pesticides (as many as 62 of them) are regularly applied to these delicately skinned fruits in conventional orchards. Can't find organic? Safer alternatives include watermelon, tangerines, oranges, and grapefruit.

    3. Strawberries
    If you buy strawberries, especially out of season, they're most likely imported from countries that have less-stringent regulations for pesticide use. 59 pesticides have been detected in residue on strawberries. Can't find organic? Safer alternatives include kiwi and pineapples.

    4. Apples
    Like peaches, apples are typically grown with poisons to kill a variety of pests, from fungi to insects. Tests have found 42 different pesticides as residue on apples. Scrubbing and peeling doesn't eliminate chemical residue completely, so it's best to buy organic when it comes to apples. Peeling a fruit or vegetable also strips away many of their beneficial nutrients. Can't find organic? Safer alternatives include watermelon, bananas, and tangerines.

    5. Blueberries
    New on the Dirty Dozen list in 2010, blueberries are treated with as many as 52 pesticides, making them one of the dirtiest berries on the market.

    6. Nectarines
    With 33 different types of pesticides found on nectarines, they rank up there with apples and peaches among the dirtiest tree fruit. Can't find organic? Safer alternatives include, watermelon, papaya, and mango.

    7. Bell peppers
    Peppers have thin skins that don't offer much of a barrier to pesticides. They're often heavily sprayed with insecticides. (Tests have found 49 different pesticides on sweet bell peppers.) Can't find organic? Safer alternatives include green peas, broccoli, and cabbage.

    8. Spinach
    New on the list for 2010, spinach can be laced with as many as 48 different pesticides, making it one of the most contaminated green leafy vegetable.

    9. Kale
    Traditionally, kale is known as a hardier vegetable that rarely suffers from pests and disease, but it was found to have high amounts of pesticide residue when tested this year. Can't find organic? Safer alternatives include cabbage, asparagus, and broccoli.

    10. Cherries
    Even locally grown cherries are not necessarily safe. In fact, in one survey in recent years, cherries grown in the U.S. were found to have three times more pesticide residue then imported cherries. Government testing has found 42 different pesticides on cherries. Can't find organic? Safer alternatives include raspberries and cranberries.

    11. Potatoes
    America's popular spud reappears on the 2010 Dirty Dozen list, after a year hiatus. America's favorite vegetable can be laced with as many as 37 different pesticides. Can't find organic? Safer alternatives include eggplant, cabbage, and earthy mushrooms.

    12. Grapes
    Imported grapes run a much greater risk of contamination than those grown domestically. Only imported grapes make the 2010 Dirty Dozen list. Vineyards can be sprayed with different pesticides during different growth periods of the grape, and no amount of washing or peeling will eliminate contamination because of the grape's thin skin. Remember, wine is made from grapes, which testing shows can harbor as many as 34 different pesticides. Can't find organic? Safer alternatives include kiwi and raspberries.

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