Myths about organic food

Organic farming is not as productive as conventional farming and requires more land to produce the same amount of food. If the world switched to organic farming, 10 million square miles of forest would need to be cut down.




A few studies have shown more nutrients in organic food. In actuality, what makes the biggest difference in nutrients is how long it sits on the shelf. After one week, spinach has lost about half of its folate.



Organic food may not always taste better…if it’s flown halfway around the world. Locally grown produce in season probably has fuller taste.



You still need to wash organic produce thoroughly under running water. All produce is susceptible to bacteria. Soil and runoff water can be contaminated with E.coli, as well as the transportation and storage of produce.



Organic companies are not necessarily small farms or eco-companies. General Mills owns Cascadian Farms, Kraft owns Back to Nature and Boca Burger, Kellogg’s owns Morningstar Farms. Whole Foods sold roughly $1 billion in produce last year; only about 16% was grown locally.

Organic is not necessarily better for you…not if it is organic chips, organic soda, or organic cookies Cane sugar is still sugar and fried chips are still fried. I have even seen organic poptarts!

Adapted from : http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/myths-organic-food

Eating Organic

I was asked to write a guest post about eating organic for one of my favorite mommy blogs. Valerie is one of the wisest moms I know. Child rearing comes so naturally to her so she has written a blog based on a book called Babywise. She recently asked if I would contribute a post on some of the babysteps we have taken. Here is an excerpt:


I did not grow up eating organic. I especially did not eat organic or sometimes even relatively healthy particularly in the early years of my marriage. There were many nights we just ate a box of angel hair pasta buttered with Country Crock. Sometimes it was burritos with canned refried beans. Oh, the memories!

It really was not until after I had my second child that I truly started paying more attention to what we were eating. Even with my son, my first child, I thought we ate pretty healthy. While I was pregnant with my daughter, I kept hearing more and more about a book called the Makers Diet. I actually heard about it from two good friends in a Babywise group on BabyCenter. It was written by Jordan Rubin, and it focuses on eating whole foods, organic if possible, in the best form possible. What intrigued me the most was the results my friends saw after changing their ways of life (it is much more than a diet!). One friend was relieved of her migraines and lost weight even though it was not planned, and her husband regained his sense of smell and was cured of insomnia. The other friend was cured of severe, unrelenting, disabling GI distress. I too struggled with severe chronic insomnia so I was captivated.

Check out Val’s blog to read the entire post: http://www.babywisemom.com/2010/12/eating-organic.html

Makers Diet: Grass-fed beef

Grass-fed organic beef is not always affordable for our family. I am really trying to incorporate it as much as I can but often it is only organic ground beef that I buy. Jordan Rubin is a huge proponent of grass fed organic beef as are many health experts. My ultimate goal is to eat primarily organic meat but it will be awhile before we get there. A 2009 study between the USDA and researchers at Clemson University in South Carolina (Go TIGERS!) found many reasons that grass-fed beef is better than grain-fed. Here is their analysis:


o Lower in fat

o Higher in beta-carotene

o Higher in vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)

o Higher in the B-vitamins thiamin and riboflavin

o Higher in the minerals calcium, magnesium, and potassium

o Higher in total omega-3s

o A healthier ratio of omega-6s to omega-3 fatty acids (1.65 to 4.84)

o Higher in CLA (cis-9 trans-11), a potential cancer fighter

o Higher in vaccenic acid (which can be transformed into CLA)

o Lower in the saturated fats linked with heart disease.

Produce PLU stickers

Do you ever get tired of peeling off those pesky stickers on produce while you wash it? Paying attention to the code can actually benefit your health.


Conventional produce: 4-digit number

Organic produce: 5-digit number starting with 9
Photo credit
Genetically modified: 5-digit number starting with 8

Examples:

4139: Conventional Granny Smith apple

94139: Organic Granny Smith apple

84139: GMO Granny Smith apple


You probably won’t ever see anything labeled as GMO because it’s optional. However, corn, soybeans, papaya, and squash are more likely to be GMO. It’s estimated that 60-70% of food items sold contain GMO ingredients. Don’t you find it interesting that the companies producing GMO foods do not have labeling restrictions but organic producers must follow strict rules to be able to label their produce as organic.

Organic vs. local

This can easily turn into a heated, political discussion, but I wonder which is the better choice:  buying local or buying organic.  I don't know the answer.  I think both can be good things.  For now, I'm going to buy organic as often as possible for things in the dirty dozen with the most pesticide exposure.  However, if it comes down to local or conventional, I'll definitely be supporting local growers vs. apples from Chili.  Here are some of the pros and cons:

Organic Pros:  no pesticides, better for children since they are exposed to higher levels of pesticide per body surface area, retained nutrients

Local Pros:  sustainable for local economy, less travel distance and possibly less resources, picked at the freshest and ripest time, high amount of nutrients retained

Organic cons:  often picked before riped and shipped from large distances, often goes bad quickly due to time of harvesting, cost

Local cons:  unknown or probably amounts of pesticides, less desirable for small children if pesticide used, often overripe

Organic on a budget

One of my biggest fears with making organic babysteps was the pricetag!  There's a reason I didn't shop at Earthfare or health food stores...it's expensive!!  We went from living in a very "earthy" town to a very southern, textile, suburban area.  There aren't many options to buy organic, let alone shop around for the best prices. 

For awhile we had really gotten into the grocery coupon craze.  I remember a few receipts where we saved over 50%!!  It was almost sickening to realize how much discounted food I would be givening up, but it was also sickening to think about how 90% of the food in grocery stores is processed or contains preservatives.

Here is one of the best blogs I have come across about the Maker's Diet and cost savings in particular:  http://makersdietmom.blogspot.com/2010/04/makers-diet-on-budget-tips-for-cutting.html.  Catherine did an amazing job of throwing out some ideas that really jumpstarted my cost savings when buying organic.  I make it a game to see how much I can save at Earthfare.  While there aren't many organic coupons, I really haven't spend a ton more.  I am still compiling a spreadsheet of what we were spending before couponing and what we were saving with coupons and what I'm spending now on a lot more organic food.  One thing I've noticed is even though I'm buying more from Earthfare I am buying less in general.  I'm not buying prepacked meals or boxes of things.  I'm buying whole foods that can be used for multiple meals.

Here are some other sites that have really helped our budget:
http://organicdeals.blogspot.com/
http://iheartearthfare.com/
http://www.thethriftymama.com/
http://locallygrown.net/