Health Benefits Organic Foods

Mythbusting 101: Organic Farming - Conventional Agriculture

One of the things I like to do on my blogs is bust commonly held myths that I think matter. For example, I get really annoyed when I hear someone say sharks don’t get cancer (I’ll save that rant for another day). From now onward, posts that attack conventionally believed untruths will fall under a series I’m going to call “Mythbusting 101.” Ten years ago, Certified Organic didn’t exist in the United States. Yet in 2010, a mere eight years after USDA’s regulations officially went into effect, organic foods and beverages made $26.7 billion. In the past year or two, certified organic sales have jumped to about $52 billion worldwide despite the fact that organic foods cost up to three times as much as those produced by conventional methods. More and more, people are shelling out their hard-earned cash for what they believe are the best foods available. Imagine, people say: you can improve your nutrition while helping save the planet from the evils of conventional agriculture - a complete win-win. And who wouldn’t buy organic, when it just sounds so good? Here’s the thing: there are a lot of myths out there about organic foods, and a lot of propaganda supporting methods that are rarely understood. It’s like your mother used to say: just because everyone is jumping off a bridge doesn’t mean you should do it, too. Now, before I get yelled at too much, let me state unequivocally that I’m not saying organic farming is bad - far from it. There are some definite upsides and benefits that come from many organic farming methods. For example, the efforts of organic farmers to move away from monocultures, where crops are farmed in single-species plots, are fantastic; crop rotations and mixed planting are much better for the soil and environment. My goal in this post isn’t to bash organic farms, instead, it’s to bust the worst of the myths that surround them so that everyone can judge organic farming based on facts. In particular, there are four myths thrown around like they’re real that just drive me crazy. When the Soil Association, a major organic accreditation body in the UK, asked consumers why they buy organic food, 95% of them said their top reason was to avoid pesticides. They, like many people, believe that organic farming involves little to no pesticide use. I hate to burst the bubble, but that’s simply not true.

5 Health Benefits of Organic Food

By eating more organic food and encouraging the growth of the organic food industry, we are gaining substantial benefits to our health as well as helping to make the world a healthier place. But the benefits don’t stop there. Many people strongly believe that food grown on organic farms tastes better too.

Here are five health benefits of organic food.

More Nutritious Organic foods can be more nutritious, richer in vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids than foods grown on conventional farms. Without chemical fertilizers to help food grow, soil on organic farms must have a high nutrient content in order to produce abundantly. Soil high in nutrients grows plants that are themselves high in nutrients. Chemical fertilizers used on conventional crops produce impressive growth by swelling produce with water. On the other hand, organic food has more dry matter by weight, meaning higher levels of nutrients. It also stands to reason that the immune system of any plant will not produce many phytonutrients, many of which are antioxidants, if it is been regularly protected by the spraying of chemical pesticides. Conventional farms also harvest crops earlier, store them for longer periods of time, and process them more, meaning valuable nutrients may be lost.

Avoid Harmful Chemicals Since organic food is not prepared using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, it does not contain any traces of these strong chemicals. Food conventionally grown carries residues of the chemicals used to kill pests and weeds. These residues turn up on fruit and vegetables, and even in bread and baby food. Organically produced food is pure food. No hydrogenated fats, no artificial colors or flavors, no sweeteners and no preservatives. It contains none of the additives so often found in processed and fast food. There are no residual antibiotics or growth hormones in organic meat, no pesticides residues in organic milk, and no added starches bulking out organic baby food. Organic products are not genetically modified, eliminating another potential threat to long-term health.

Better Taste Supermarkets decide which fruit and vegetable varieties to carry based upon appearance and shelf life. Flavor isn't always the most important consideration. There are many more varieties of fruit and vegetables available from organic sources, all with different tastes to discover and enjoy. Many people swear by the superiority in taste of organic food. This may be a reflection of the food’s higher nutritive value, a result of the richer soil such it is grown in, or the fact that it is most often sold locally and fresher than what is produced thousands of miles away and shipped to your supermarket. Eating organic brings an awareness of what foods are in season, and with it the chance to experiment more with what the earth naturally provides for our part of the world from one time of year to the next.

Health And Different Benefits Of Pure Organic Foods: It is not on a regular basis that an individual has the pos...

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New Post - Health And Different Benefits Of Pure Organic Foods. -

New Post - Health And Different Benefits Of Pure Organic Foods. -

New Post - Health And Different Benefits Of Pure Organic Foods. -

Health benefits of organic food, effects of the environment / edited by D. Ian Givens ... [et al.].

This book is the result of a Workshop.

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