Organic vs Standard Growing Practices, Why?

Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food.  Hippocrates, considered the father of modern medicine, is known for this famous line.  Keeping that in mind, lets look at our medicine, uh er food.  In todays day and age, we have so many more choices than our parents or grandparents had.  From the good to the not so good choices our grocery shelves are bursting with options.  The newest choice we have in our grocery store is to buy organic or not to buy organic.  There must be a reason why organic foods have become so popular recently.  The health of our country has been on the decline in the past decade even though we spend the most money of any other country on healthcare.  So we turn to our food to see if it can become our medicine.  When we do this we seek foods with the best possible benefit to our bodies.  On top of the list?  Leafy greens, veggies of all kinds (taste the rainbow) and fruits.  I suggest take that thought process a little further and think of how that fruit or veggie was raised before it made it to your plate as a salad, chopped with love by you of course.  Organically grown produce versus factory farmed produce so whats the big deal?

First, before I go any further, I want to express that I know that buying organically grown produce is more expensive than purchasing the standard grown stuff.  I want to try to give you reasons through this article of why you might want to come off of your hard earned bucks or heck start growning a "victory" garden yourself.  In 1963, Molly Orshansky, an employee of the Social Security administration, created the nations first poverty threshold.  She tripled the cost of the FDA's "thrifty" food plan.  The amount calculated was 1/3 of the families income on food.  Currently we spend the least amount of our income than any other country in the world, 6 %.  The UK spends 9%, France spends 14%, India spends 35% of their income on food.  I'm not suggesting we spend upwards of 30% on our groceries but I only suggest that you consider this, you get what you pay for.

So what are the differences?  Well the most obviously known difference is whether or not pesticides have been used.  How important is this?  Let me say that I feel it is extremely important.  From the exposure side of the coin just how many pesticides are acceptable to feed to yourself or your child.  I know you may say, I wash my produce thoroughly before I eat it.  I'm sure that is the case, as I do this myself.  However, you are taking a gamble everytime you select, wash, chop and eat this chemically treated product.  How about Methyl Iodide?  Its considered a "highly toxic" chemical and is used in California on Strawberries.  Exposure causes late term miscarriages, contaminates groundwater, and is so reliably carcinogenic that its used to create cancer cells in laboratories.  This year the FDA approved a new genetically engineered corn which resists the poisionous herbicide 2,4 D.  This is the key ingredient in agent orange.  Remember that disaster from Vietnam?  That chemical is half of the"new" herbicide formula being proposed for use.  On top of that, keep in mind that the corn is also genetically modified.  There have been very few (if any) scientific studies on the effects of GMO plants and the human body's reaction to them.  Yet another reason to truly look at what we're putting on our plates.  Unfortunately, the corporations which make money on these copywrited seeds have fought tooth and nail in D.C. to keep from having to label GMO's.  Most of the time, its the companies which don't have GMO's who label their products.  Look for the NON GMO project verified label.  Here are just a few examples of the possible contaminants and modified plants which could make it into your cart and onto your plate.  Please do your own research to fully inform yourself of the contaminants you could be eating right now.  You could be spending a little extra money now to save yourself from spending it at the doctors office later in life.

The bug connection and phytonutrients.  You might think that purchasing a plant with some bug holes on a leaf would be a less than ideal situation but I say bring em on!  Now, when I go to a farmers market I am actually LOOKING for bug bites.  Why? you say.  Emerging science is showing that the defense mechanism of a plant when being attacked by a pest is to increase its phytonutrient chemicals.  The plant increases these as a protective measure and at the same time we benefit from this process.  These phytonutrients are the "good" things we want from plants to begin with.  They are the antioxidants we hear about all of the time from folks like Doc OZ, health mags, etc.  Antioxidants fight the free radicals we have in our bodies from the contaminants we run into on a daily basis via ingestion, breathing and less than ideal habits.  When I found this out I laughed a little.  I was like well isn't that the funniest thing.  We spend tons of time, money, effort and more to keep the bugs off of the plants but they are actually making the plant more nutritious.  Another funny from the universe.  I see how the universe has a vast sense of humor as I plod through this new and exciting path of holistic health.  I also see how the old "folk" stories about food are really are trying to tell us something.  Phillip said this last week and it applies "One for the blackbird, one for the mouse, one for the rabbit and one for the house".  I say one for the aphid and one for the house.

Farm to table is the ideal situation but if you don't have time, a green thumb or the inclination to grow your own food please take into consideration the health benefits of organic or "naturally" grown produce.  Add 2% to your food budget you'll still be under the UK's spending by 1% and under Frances by 8%.  Your body, the environment (less chemicals in the ground water), the bees (which are dying off in dramatic numbers), and small farmers will thank you.