Are Organic Foods Better Than Regular Foods?
December 21, 2010
Not too long ago, if you wanted to find a decent selection of organic products, you had to go to a specialty health food store. Now you can find organic produce, meats, dairy products and more at almost any grocery store. There is no question that organic foods have increased in popularity in recent years, but many people still have questions about these products. Perhaps the most common question is, are organic foods really better than regular foods?
This question has been debated a lot in recent years, with some people heavily promoting organic foods, while others claim they are no better than the regular foods you eat. Both sides have some evidence to support their opinion, but some of this evidence is a little misleading. The first important thing to note about this debate is nobody is saying that organic foods are less healthy or in any way inferior to regular foods. The people defending regular foods are just trying to say they have no additional benefits.
The main evidence against the need for organic foods comes from nutrient comparisons that have been made between organic and regular foods. Lab tests have found that organic foods may not contain significantly more nutrients than other foods and defenders of regular foods have taken this to mean that organic foods are not any better or healthier than other foods. If the amount of nutrients in a food was the only thing that mattered, then this would be a compelling argument against the need for organic foods, but the amount of nutrients is just one component of food.
Probably the best quality of organic foods has nothing to do with how many nutrients they have, but rather what they don’t have. Regular foods often have undesirable things added to them during their growing and/or processing phases. For example, fruits and vegetables are often treated with pesticides or other unhealthy substances. Foods can contain pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, or worse, and this information will not be shown anywhere on the food label. However, organic products have to follow strict regulations, which include not using unhealthy substances like pesticides at any point from start to finished product.
By not having these unhealthy ingredients, organic foods are unquestionably healthier than their regular counterparts, even if the foods have the same amount of nutrients. Basically every food has some things that are good for you and some things that are bad for you and products that have a lot of healthy features with few unhealthy ones are the healthiest foods and vice versa. Therefore, even if a food has a decent amount of nutrients, it can still be unhealthy if it also contains a lot of things that are bad for you.
For example, cold water salmon is incredibly healthy, because it contains quality protein and high levels of EPA and DHA, which are the healthiest Omega-3 fats. However, if you take salmon and deep fry it, you end up adding unhealthy substances, which lowers the overall healthiness of the food. While this has nothing to do with whether or not the food is organic, you can make the analogy that the organic food is the original salmon and the regular food is what you get after frying it.
To be fair, the difference in healthiness between an organic and regular food is not as big as the difference between fresh and fried salmon, but the analogy is accurate in the sense that both regular foods and fried salmon have a higher amount of ingredients that are bad for your health. Unfortunately, it is very hard to determine the actual impact on your health, because the extra substances found in traditional products may not visibly affect your body until years or even decades down the road. This makes it difficult to figure out the true benefit you get from eating organic foods.
Another issue is that the benefits of eating organic foods vary from product to product and some regular foods are not much different than their organic counterpart, while there is a big difference between others. The problem is you have no way of knowing how the regular foods are made, so you will not know what unhealthy substances they contain. One of the reasons people like to buy organic is because they don’t have to worry about all the unknown extras that might be in their food.
There is one more benefit to organic foods that is not talked about as much, which is that organic foods typically have more taste than traditional foods, especially when it comes to fresh fruits and vegetables. Regular produce can taste almost like a watered down version of organic produce and this is certainly something people take into account when deciding whether or not to buy organic foods.
While it is not possible to say exactly how much better organic foods are than regular ones, it is hard to argue that they are not at least somewhat healthier than traditional foods. If they did not cost more than other foods, there probably would not be any interest in this issue, because everyone would choose to eat organic products. Of course, they do cost more, so the question at the heart of the matter is whether or not organic foods are worth the extra cost, but that is an issue for another time.
Ross Harrison, CSCS, NSCA-CPT is a certified personal trainer, strength and conditioning specialist, nutritional consultant, and has a BA in psychology from Grinnell College. He takes a holistic approach to health and fitness and teaches people how to lose weight, get in shape, and improve their quality of life with exercise and nutrition. If you want to find out more about his services or contact him for any reason, please visit http://precisionhealth-fitness.com/.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ross_Harrison
Questions and Tips in Organic Food Buying
October 2, 2010
Right now, using only organic foods in your home and kitchen is no longer just a food fad but it has become a necessity, especially if you want to provide your loved ones healthy food. However, organic foods do not come cheap. In fact, it can become a bit expensive that going back to conventional food becomes tempting. However, this need not be the case if you know what to do.
The most common question many people ask in relation to buying organic food is where can they purchase such items at very reasonable prices without jeopardizing the quality of the organic food?
For this question, all you have to do is to research. Know who your local providers are as well as know which stores offer organic foods. You can also search for them in the Internet, and you will be given a list of websites whose physical stores are near your place.
If you find their organic foods a bit costly, then here are some tips on how you can get them at a much reasonable price.
One, know where your local farmers’ markets are located. Not only can you take your pick among the fresh organic foods that they have on trade here, but you can also get them at great discounts.
Two, it is also advisable that you become a member of a co-op that deals in organic farming or become a member of a buying club. There will probably be some initial fees at first, but the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. You can also allot some time to help in the farming, and when it comes to harvesting the crops, you will almost certainly get a good discount. As for the buying club, what happens is that your club will buy organic foods in bulk, earning a good discount in the process, and then the members will divide the items between them.
Now, if you do not want to join any groups like the co-op or buying club, then simply buy your organic produce in bulk. This will also give you good discounts. Buying seasonal organic produce will also give you organic foods at a discounted price.
The question that comes to mind though when you buy in bulk is where will you store the organic foods? Of course, you can store them in a freezer just like you would normally do with conventional foods. Not only will it preserve the food for about six months, but it is also very economical.
Lastly, be on the lookout for any organic food coupons. There are brands that offer coupons, and you can find them in newspapers. They are even posted in the store fliers as well as included in the food packages. Save them and redeem them for organic foods.
Organic farming question?
August 9, 2010
Since they don’t use pesticides (supposedly), how do they get rid of the bugs? Do they smash them, catch & release, put them in jars, eat them, or do they cheat? I’m guessing they sneak out at night when no one’s looking and use chemicals. You ever wonder how many Mexicans it would take to pick bugs off of every plant, every day of the growing season on a large farm?
Just curious, I tried to grow organic, but whenever I picked the little gremlins off they would just go right back! I tried taking them over to my neighbor’s garden but that caused friction. I don’t want to hurt the bugs because I think I can be arrested for cruelty by the OFGC (Organic Food Growers Commission) and the EPA.
Interesting and informative answers all, thank you! I see organic farming isn’t for me, too much work involved. Since pesticides haven’t been shown to harm consumers, I’ll stick to that.
there are many things organic farms to do control insect pests. Many use plant/biologically based insecticides such as Bt, neem, spinosad, etc. Crop rotation, creating lively healthy soil (this can take up to 15 years to do) by applying compost, green manures, rock powders, etc., also are effective. plants grown in great soil are healthy and healthy plants do not attract pests and diseases. Sickly plants do.
Trap cropping-plant a crop intended to attract pest insects about 2 weeks earlier than the main crop. the trap crop is destroyed along with the pests. this can be very effective at long term control but requires keen observation and timely eradication or you can make the problem much, much worse.
Exclusion using row covers is very effective.
Attracting in beneficial insects is very effective but you cannot use any insecticides as most organic ‘cides are broad spectrum and this will take a new grower about 3 to 5 years to achieve a good healthy population of beneficial critters.
Hand picking can be very effective but is not really useful for the big industrial organic farms. On my small farm this is used a lot.
Rotating livestock and crop lands together. Graze livestock on fallowed land and they will often break plant pest cycles
With organic there is no magic bullet but rather a complicated set of strategies used to control (but not eliminate) pests and diseases. it takes many years to become proficient at this kind of growing.
baby food recipes, any idea?
July 25, 2010
my son is 6.5 months (28wks) and has been on solids since he was 14wks old, he has been fine on them and i done all my research before starting him on them early, i’d spoken to my doctor about it too who also suggested trying him, he was fine so i carried on (this is for anyone who wants to lecture me on starting early)
so i’ve been giving him organic baby food jars (which contain natural ingredients to preserve the food) he never really took to the proper food ones like bolognese, pastas, chicken dinners, cottage pies etc, he only liked the puddings and fruits which i didn’t blame him as the foods tasted horrible, now he’s on 2/3 jars of food a day and he still doesn’t enjoy the foods so i’m thinking about feeding him proper food like making my own stuff so it tastes better and he might enjoy it better.
What kind of foods can i make for him? I’m worried about salt and sugar levels in foods i eat, even although i eat healthily, some things do have alot of sugar/salt bad things for babies to digest basically. He is also on finger foods so anything i could give him in his hand would be great too (i know fruit and veg sticks, i’ve tried rusks and he loves them, i just want more variety for him)
Brittney he’s got 5 teeth.
Go to netmums.com they have great recipies, also read up on annabel karmel, i used her foods with both my boys, they are healthy and easy to cook, and you can freeze them.
Do you think that Organic or Intensive farming the best method of fulfilling the food needs of the UK? Why ?
July 25, 2010
unfortunately it has to be both,
the UK has for far too long taken farm land to build on, this has reduced the available land to farm & so the production required from it also goes up to feed the growing population.
for far too long the uk had a very complacent meat & potatoes kind of attitude to food which gave us a very poor worldwide reputation both as consumers and chefs.
with the advent of mass production, transportation, storage & advertising that has happened to the uk food industry primarily since the end of WW2, but mainly in the last 20 years
there is also a huge requirement for products that cannot be grown in the uk due to climate which need to be imported from overseas so even if they are organically grown they could be from unsustainable sources or have a huge carbon footprint due to the amount of energy it takes to package & transport the goods to market where ever it may be.
