Organics 101

There is a lot of confusion about organic.  Should I buy organic and is it actually worth the cost?  Organic is more expensive and so you have to take the pros and cons and weigh them and decide if organic is for you.

First here are a few reasons that organic is better for you:

Studies are finding that food grown without artificial fertilizers in organic soil are much more nutritious.  They have more flavanoids, carotonoids, vitamins, minerals, etc.  They also tend to be better varieties.  The red delicious apple is a  mealy, tasteless variety grown because it looks pretty in the grocery store and travels in trucks from Washington to New York without looking haggard (but it sure tastes haggard).  Organic varieties tend to taste better.  If you aren't willing to make the switch to organic here is a list of what is called "The Dirty Dozen".  These tend to not just have pesticide residue on them that can be rinsed off, but tend to absorb the pesticides and should be a priority to avoid, if you choose to start down the organic produce path.  They are: potatoes, strawberries, celery, apples, pears, nectarines, peaches, spinach, raspberries, cherries, grapes, bell peppers.  Also any produce grown in latin America tends to be very heavily sprayed and should be avoided.  Why are pesticides bad for you? For one they contain carcinegens.  They are also causing nerve damage in animals that are exposed to them, so it may do the same in us.  There are some veggies and fruits that don't contain high amounts of residue and for health reasons don't need to be totally avoided.  They are: bananas, kiwis, mangos, pineapples, asparagus, brocoli, cauliflower, peas, onions, and corn.  As for milk, and other dairy products, organic is wiser because of the high levels of animal byproducts (since the madcow scare animals are not fed their own byproducts but those of other species to add protein to their diets to make them plumper or faster producers), high levels of antibiotics (the animal production industry is the number one money maker of the pharmaceutical industry) and the growth hormones.  Of course the FDA says these are acceptable practices and so you must use your own judgement and gut instincts on this one.

Beyond health issues their are also ethical and environmental issues to consider when thinking about organic.  For example, bananas of course come from latin America and are very heavily sprayed, and although their is virtually no residue in the part we eat, the heavy spraying is killing songbirds and causing all kinds of health issues for the people living near the farms and especially the workers who are getting cancer and all kinds of diseases from their job.   Another consideration is that the manufacture of chemical fertilizer and pesticides is a very very energy intensive process and produces so much carbon, that to eliminate their use would be a great stride towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Also in order to assure high yeilds farmers tend to overspray their crops and the excess gets into groundwater and streams and rivers and flows to the sea where it is killing ecosystems in a frightening way.  The Gulf of Mexico has so much runoff that huge areas of it have become hypoxic.  The fertilizer causes great beds of kelp to grow (not natural to that environment).  The kelp creates so much oxygen it has killed all the fish.  It is called the dead zone and is growing larger each year.  The same thing is happening in streams and rivers and we don't know yet exactly what the ramifications will be, but in nature we are part of a web and for the whole chain to be healthy each part needs to be healthy. 

Another ethical consideration is the fact that the large producers of commodity crops such as corn and soy (used mainly in the feed of animals and to create processed foods) are extremely heavily subsidized which is leading to very high food prices which is having disastrous results in developing countries where people can no longer afford to buy bread.  I try and opt out entirely of the "industrial food chain" for this reason.  By supporting local farmers you are supporting local farmers world wide, which is a large part of "think globally, act locally."  

Another important consideration is the treatment of animals.  Laying hens are packed into crates so tightly that they never stand.  They are under such stress that their beaks are cut off so they don't peck each other to death in their unnatural surroundings.  Pigs tails are cut off so they don't chew their tails off, due to stress.  And cattle are packed in so tightly and stand in deep piles of feces, becoming terribly ill, hence the common occurrence of unnatural diseases like e coli in our food chain.  (That feces is a huge pollution/carbon problem too). They are fed unnatural diets which cause them pain, and are kept alive to slaughter weight through heavy doses of antibiotics and large doses of growth hormone (without the combo they would certainly die before they became big enough to be made into a Big Mac or Applebee's sirloin).  Dairy cows are given huge amounts of hormones so they can constantly lactate and have high cases of painful mastitis.  The life expectancy of all these animals is low and as far as their quality of life, animals having joy in their sphere of creation, well I don't think they experience this.  I avoid fast food chains at all costs because they are a huge customer for the cruel meat industry.

Another important point is not all organic is great.  I mean, if you buy organic Asparagus from Chile in December, it has been flown and trucked using excessive amounts of fuel and so what is the point.  By eating fruits and vegetables in their seasons, as advised in the Word of Wisdom, you will be able to buy from a much more local producer.  

Also, soon you are going to see organic Coca Cola and organic Otter Pops.  Please.  Organic high fructose corn syrup? Give me a break! Organic processed foods are a joke.  Laugh at the absurdity, but don't buy.

Another consideration is many, many producers have opted out of the government's labeling system altogether.  It is very expensive to get organic certification, and some sustainable farmers aren't willing to pay that fee. When you meet a local producer (whether you are buying grass fed beef, or free range eggs, or peaches at the farmers market) you can ask them how they raised their product and it may be raised far more ethically and organically than anything that bears the organic label.  This movement, the local movement, is sometimes called beyond organic.  The people that eat locally from growers and producers they can talk to face to face are called locavores.

And don't forget, you can grow your own food.  My sister who lives in Arizona, where the soil may actually be worse than the clay in my backyard, told me her friend was trying out square foot gardening in one of those plastic splash pools, and producing quite a bit of food!  Go for it.  At least try a potted tomato and a bit of basil.

So, the biggest obstacle to buying organic is price.  Here are a couple of things to think about.  Because the cost of oil is so high, food prices are rising like mad.  The cost of producing the pesticides and fertilizers is skyrocketing (because they use so much oil in the production and distribution).  The cost of shipping the food across the world and country on refrigerated airplanes and trucks is skyrocketing.  This means that soon the costs are going to be similar between conventional products and organic.  Second, 10 years ago most American households were on a tight budget, just like today, but tight budgets or not, every household has been able to find an extra $100 to add cellular service and tivo to their budget.  The point is, it is a matter of priorities.  If you are cooking with whole, organic foods, the price may even out anyway, because you aren't buying canned and boxed items.  Anyway, it is something to think about.