How good are organic foods?

Fruits and vegetables growing in compost including carrots, mushrooms, potatoes and lettuce

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In modern days, people seem to be obsessed about nutrition, and that is a good thing! We keep hearing of new and exciting terms such as low fat, bio food, low carbohydrate diets, gluten free, high in protein, organic food. These are interesting subjects and are worth knowing more about them. Doing so, we will have all sorts of benefits both for our life quality and our health. Organic foods are a very hot topic nowadays, and people seem to have a tendency go towards them, believing that they are healthier and better for their nutrition. But what are these organic foods? And how do they differ from other ordinary ones? Let’s find out!

What are organic foods?

Organic foods, are obtained from safer and healthier practices, both for our environment and for us. They can be both from animal or vegetarian provenience, from farms that avoid using toxic chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, that can make fruits and vegetables for example, look bigger, better, have a longer life span on supermarket’s shelves. This is obviously good for marketing and profit, but no good for us. Sometimes, we think that if we eat more vegetables and fruits, will help us live a better and healthier life, keep an eye on our weight and have a better nutrition. While that’s true, there are some things that we need to consider about in this case, because all these chemicals that were used to grow fruits and vegetables, can have of course a negative impact on our health, because they will be absorbed into our bodies and cause issues.

People understood that we need to take better care of us and everything that is around us, so when it comes to food, they started organic farming. Organic food comes from organic farms, which are paying more attention not to pollute the nature with all kinds of chemicals. They also care about the animals, vegetables and fruits they grow, trying to keep them as normal as possible, avoiding fertilizers, additives, preservatives, and genetic modifications. Using such things in our foods on the long run, have shown the possibility lead to significant modifications both to our environment and our bodies.

For example, some studies have shown that birds that are genetically modified and fed with all kinds of chemicals and hormones, are growing abnormally fast, developing muscles so fast that their bones can’t keep up, and they end up with very fragile bones, sometimes resulting in fractures just because they walk, because their bones cannot support their weight. This is good for the industry, because they get more money much faster, but it’s not that good for us, because we can put it like this – we are eating meat from “fabricated” animals, and not from grown ones like people did for thousands of years. What’s even worse, is that the chemicals will be absorbed by our bodies, and can cause hormone imbalance and other issues. Same goes for fruits and vegetables we eat “fabricated” apples and tomatoes, not normally grown ones like people used to do back in the day.

Can we do something about it?

The good part is that lately, more and more studies have shown the dangers of using dubious chemicals in our daily foods, and governments are starting as well to take legal actions and impose laws against such unhealthy practices in food industry. They encourage more and more farmers to grow organic food, which is a sign of relief for us. But not that fast, because some chemicals, additives and fertilizers are still allowed to be used in the food industry, because they are not considered as harmful as others, but still, we should reduce them to a minimum. Some countries are more strict when it comes to using such things in our foods, meaning in some countries more of them can be banned, and in some countries not that many are.

Each one of us can do something about this in order to make things to be in our benefit in this situation. For example, we can start to encourage and favor the production of organic foods, by buying more of it. The perfect example that fits this situation is Garlic imported from China. Around 80% of all garlic sold in markets, is from Chinese provenience. Many studies have shown how bad it can be, because they usually spray them and cover them in pesticides and all sorts of things, in order to speed up production, get bigger garlic and maximize profits. So in this case, avoid buying it at all, and look for garlic that’s grown somewhere locally, or at least not in China.

Always try to buy foods that are produced by local farms, because this encourages local entrepreneurs to be more serious and dedicated in their business, making it a win win situation. Our win here is that we will have in our markets more food from local certified organic producers, and also there are little to no chemicals in organic food. Another healthy practice we can do is to always wash our fruits and vegetables, because some chemicals that are used in the industry, are sprayed on them, so that they will stay in good shape and avoided by pest animals and insects.

The difference between organic foods and non organic foods

Here’s where it gets interesting. People tend to think that organic foods have a higher nutritional value. But is it really true? Yes and no. Researchers have shown that there is not a very big increase of macronutrients and micronutrients in organic foods, but that’s not the main point of organic foods. The point of organic foods is to have more natural foods, without all the dubious chemicals that are harmful both for our environment and for us. While organic foods have shown to be more healthy for us, they are also sometimes more expensive than regular ones. That’s because organic foods usually come from smaller producers that don’t have the capacity of producing as much food as other more big and systematized producers. Also, organic farming is a bit harder to do and takes more time – as the saying says: good things in life require patience. The higher price is usually when you buy from super markets, but if you buy directly from the producer, the price can be quite lower.

 

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