To Buy or Not to Buy Organic

[ginkgo]

The above is the name of an article on webmd.com. I guess it is supposed to sound like Shakespeare "to be or not to be." Now I know that they get a lot of funding by drug companies but on issues that do not involve drugs, they have no reason to lie. They get a million visitors a day.

I have seen some articles about how it does not matter if food is organic, but you have to wonder about the intelligence of people that say that consuming pesticides is not bad for you. Webmd says "Organic foods cannot be treated with any sewage sludge, bioengineering, or ionizing radiation." One definition of bioengineering is genetic engineering. So that means that conventional foods can be treated with sewage sludge and the others mentioned.

So if you had to choose between foods with pesticides, but no sewage sludge or bioengineering; or foods with no pesticides, but with sewage sludge and bioengeneering, which would you choose. Of course organic food has none of the above so how stupid are articles that say that there is nothing wrong with all the above?

The article says to also get organic meat and organic milk to avoid the growth hormones and antibiotics. Also to save money if you need to buy conventional produce, take off the skin or get the ones where you do not eat the skin.

The article is 17 pages long since each page has one paragraph. Organic Foods Picture Slideshow: To Buy or Not to Buy Organic

It does not address the nutritional value while the articles against it talk mostly about the cost and nutritional difference being negligible. The same company selling blackstrap molasses also sells organic blackstrap molasses.

Note the difference (in red) since some people on this forum think that a one word difference is not a difference-- specifically ounces and fluid ounces, spring water and distilled spring water and addictive and physically addictive as opposed to psychologically addictive.

The label on the blackstrap molasses says that a tablespoon (tbs) contains 340 mg of potassium. But a tbs of organic blackstrap molasses from the same company has 730 mg of molasses. This article says that it is the highest food source of potassium.

For you math wizards that means that the conventional has 53% less potassium and the organic has 115% more potassium. That is more than double since "100% more" is double.

I know that I am a lot more detailed oriented than most people. That is why a company that I am a distributor for used to say that camu camu fruit has 4,000 times the vitamin C content. Then they changed that when I told them that that was impossible since pure vitamin C does not have that much more vitamin C than oranges. So I told them and later showed them that it is 40 times the vitamin C content and it was probably confused with 4,000% which is 40 times more.

The article also says "One thing the experts agree on: Regardless of whether you choose locally grown, organic, or conventional foods, the important thing is to eat plenty of produce" and "Government guidelines recommend eating a variety of fruits and vegetables so you can take advantage of their diverse nutritional benefits."

I have not seen anything from them saying that you should a variety of meat like cow, pig, chicken, turkey, sheep, goose, frog, horse and rat meat. There is a restaurant in Korea that brags that it has sold more rat meat than any other restaurant in the world so check it out if you ever visit Korea.

[Beuford]

Well I've been told organic food is bad for the environment. What a joke right?

[garentee]

If you buy your food from local sources it is more than likely that the food is fresher thus has more nutritional value. Get to know your local growers if you can. It is far more important to buy locally than it is to buy organically.. That said, I raise my vegetables using organic practices but do not certify, and that is something that many growers do. Small scale producers are more likely to be a bit more careful about what they do since they do have a relationship with their customers, and their land. Ask them questions about your concerns.. which is something you cannot do in the supermarket.
Be aware that organic growers do use pesticides and fungicides just from natural sources and that they are generally safe to eat the same day...Copper is a highly used fungicide in organic fruit production as well as on tomatoes. I have many issues with the use of copper because it does affect the soil microorganisms and the worm population, yet it is still allowable as a fungicide.Get to know your farmer.....