The Real Truth behind Organic Foods!
(Source: http://www.thedietsolutionprogram.com/content/2010/05/the-real-truth-behind-organic-foods/)Many people are unaware of what organic food really is. It seems that everywhere we go now, someone is promoting something that is “organic”. Are these foods worth your time and money?
It almost seems like some people are afraid of organic food. Could this be possible? Are people afraid that eating one morsel of organic food is going to somehow instantly initiate them into the organic food cult where you’re only allowed to wear sandals made from tree bark and deodorant is prohibited?
I swear I have had people say to me “Well, you can’t be that organic because you wear make-up and you don’t smell.”
What? That’s not what organic means at all! All it means is that the food or the product has been grown the way mother nature intended: without the use of chemicals, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. In other words, naturally!!
Are some people afraid of the price? Organic does not automatically mean “break the bank”. Many times when I compare the price of the organic food versus the conventional food, they are only a few cents different. In the case of the bag of organic carrots I bought today for my lunch, they were the exact same price as the conventional ones. Imagine that!
What exactly is Organic Food?
Organic food is food grown or raised without the use of synthetic (chemically formulated) pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or fertilizers. This method of farming allows foods to grown in nature as they were intended. Consider that conventional farmers in the United States spray 2 billion pounds of pesticides a year on crops to compensate for poor farming practices. Do you know where those pesticides end up? In our food supply!
Aside from pesticide contamination, conventional produce tends to have fewer nutrients than organic produce. On average, conventional produce has only 83 percent of the nutrients of organic produce. Studies have found significantly higher levels of nutrients such as vitamin C, iron, magnesium and phosphorus, and significantly less nitrates (a toxin) in organic crops.
Buy organic foods “selectively”. The following foods have been shown to have the highest levels of pesticide residue, so they should really always be purchased organic:
Fruits:
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Animal products
*Always look for animal products (meats, poultry, and dairy) that have no added antibiotics and growth hormones. Ingesting meats that have been injected with these harmful substances is equivalent to eating the hormones and antibiotics themselves. Very dangerous!
These foods tend to be lower in pesticide levels so can be purchased conventional if necessary:
Fruits:
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