What Are The Benefits Of Eating Organic Foods?

[MaryMouse]

Yes I agree with that. Grandpa usd to always say moderation in all things is good.

As far as growing organically. Well it happened purely by chance for me. I started when I was a kid. My parents had no time for us kids and told us so. Which was great for me, as I was left to my own devices. So I came up with the $$ for my own seeds. I certainly didnt have any $$ for fertilizers, sprays or additives. Heck I was just lucky to have seeds, and grandpa who did have time for my nonsense, and projects would turn a small patch of soil for me. The rest was up to me. So over the years I just learned to do without all of that. I lived by the saying,"shop at home first." I started seeds in all sorts of makeshift containers, still do for that matter. I figured out the hard way how to ammend the soil and such. And basically still do it all to this day, without all that stuff. I dont know if I just have good luck, but my yeilds are crazy good. For example: you figure 5 fruits a plant is standard. I get 10 or more. Plus most of my fruit is twice or more the standard weight. So I would be scared to mess with my system or add chemicals cause what I do works.

All this really came from the fact I didnt have alot of $$. I am not against any other type of farming or gardening, this just works for me personally.

 

[OldGuy43]

Arsenic is a naturally occurring substance. Tobacco is a natural product too.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Organic was originally coupled with a philosophy and farming techniques that were about respecting resources, nature, and balance. Since you will now find many corporations following the letter but not the spirit of organic, you can easily find a non-organic product that is more in the spirit of 'organic' than a product labeled organic. Confusing? X)

There are some fruits and veggies that are strongly recommended that you do buy organic due to the amount of pesticides found in them. Meat gets a bit touchier, same as terms like 'free-range', 'cage-free', etc. That is why establishing a good consumer relationship with a local farmer or farmers is often considered best among those who embrace the spirit of organic.

I recommend the book, "the 105 Healthiest foods on Earth", to anyone looking for a good but quick read that covers topics such as these. Yeah, the title is gimmicky, but the author is down to earth, either does his research or states when he is spouting opinion, and puts in a lot of his voice to help keep the read light and interesting. It is just an overall introductory book however, and not meant to be an in-depth guide.
http://www.amazon.com/150-Healthiest-Foods-Earth-Surprising/dp/1592332285/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

One of my friends and coworkers is having a lot of surgeries done on her heart. She has been working really hard to improve her attitude about life, and her health (has drastically reduced what she smokes with help from an E-cigarette, is trying to eat healthier, etc). She is no nonsense, and is always asking me, "well, the docs say this is good for me, but why is this good for me?" I am really proud of all the progress she has made, and picked up the above book for her as a present, because it gets into the 'why' of it all. She has been pouring over it at work breaks, and always reads me out loud bits that show why something is 'good' and what it is good for.

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

My understanding of some benefits are that for people with health problems organic is best.

This is because a person's body is not competing with their own health problems on top of pesticides etc. to be healthy.

I've read a lot of testimonials that organic food causes less health problems to an already stressed system. (If this makes sense) I'm not the best at explaining things.

 

[PotterWatch]

Quote:
I'm not sure what that has to do with the topic at hand.

 

[OldGuy43]

Quote:
I'm not sure what that has to do with the topic at hand.

Sorry, I thought the connection obvious, but I guess not. My point is that all 'natural' things aren't necessarily good. Some other examples are opium, marijuana, cocaine, oil (Yes, petroleum is a naturally occurring substance. That fact is often overlooked.) There's a list of some more here:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/lawn_garden/poison/poison.html

 

[PotterWatch]

I don't recall anyone saying natural=good all the time. What we have said is that we think putting poison on/in our food isn't good.

 

[MaryMouse]

Well I dont really know about formal studies, but I can tell you that when the garden is in full swing around here and most of our food we consume is out of it, we feel better. Even my die hard chicken wing and pizza loving DH admitted to his friends, he feels better on the home organic garden diet. He even told them he will not grumble at us about it anymore. But thats just us personally.

 

[Fred's Hens]

We market garden organically. Our customers prefer our product, and they have a choice and they choose to buy our vegetables. Beside the reality of superb, just picked freshness, they just don't want their vegetables doused in 1-naphthyl methylcarbamate. Our customers rave about the great flavor. I garden this way much more for the challenge and sustainable nature and my respect for our soil than some huge philosophical point to make. We're also on a well and I have to drink the water from under our soil.

My wife and I are NOT organic freaks. We honestly grow so much of our food we just the buy rest and don't worry about it. Simply put, we would prefer more of our food to be purer, but unless we grow it? It isn't going to happen for us. There's no "whole foods" type store for 80 miles, and I wouldn't know where one is even at that far away.

 

[Royd]

I'd say that there are a couple of sides to the whole organic movement. A man stopped by, the other evening, as I was working in the garden, and asked how I got my garden to grow so well. I told him, "Lots of horse manure and lots of organic matter." I reached down, grabbed a handful of soil and let him smell it....He said,"You are building soil."

For those of us, who feel tied to the earth, that is what it is all about. Using nature to our advantage, while replenishing and building up our resources. The benefits are numerous. From lots of good physical exercise, an ever increasing bank of knowledge, and a spinach omelette, with everything only minutes old.

For some, who do not have access to land, and must buy what they eat, it's about trying to put the healthiest food in your body...For others, it's the chic thing to do.

As for selling with an organic label, I'd never do it, simply because I don't want to jump through all of the government hoops, just so that they can extract some money from me.