The organic food industry wants you to have information on healthy eating diets. People think that they are buying healthy when they buy organic food. And they are. The healthiest food that you can get is from the organic food industry. Think about it.
Pick up a generic grocery store apple, and compare it to a locally grown, organic apple. Same variety of apple, but an incredibly different way of growing the apple. Every day, science is proving that the organic food industry is important if we want to eat healthy, but do you know anything else about organics?
1. Who Eats It?
Everyone can and does. It is not just for the rich anymore. Organic food, contrary to popular belief, in most cases is not any more expensive than your standard, generic food. There are even some local non-profit organizations, like Growing Power, out there making an effort to get wholesome, organic food to those who are not fortunate to be able to afford it for themselves.
2. How Many?
According to the OTA, nearly 80% of all American families buy some form of organic foods. This is in spite of the fact that organic food sales only make up about 4.8% of the food sales in the United States. This means that families may not be buying a lot of organics right now, but more and more families are adding it to their grocery lists.
3. Who Benefits?
Everyone does, ultimately. But pregnant women, unborn children, and newborns may be getting the most benefit from organics. Studies show that fetuses and newborns may be harmed from even very minor levels of pesticides and hormones. Organic food does not contain either of those things. While straight off the shelf, store-bought are soaked in them.
4. What About Milk?
When it comes to organic milk, not all cartons are equal. Make sure that your organic milk states that it comes from grass fed. Just being certified organic DOES NOT guarantee a grass diet. Which means that they can still be grain fed and unhealthy. Milk from unhealthy cows is unhealthy milk. Also do everything in your power to get unpasteurized. It is harder to find, but it is worth it. The pasteurization process not only kills the enzymes that help us to digest the casein in the milk, but it also alters the casein to be indigestible anyway.
5. What About Crops?
Thanks largely in part to the big agriculture monsters that run the country, only about 1% of the crops in the United States are considered organic. And only .6% of American crops can be labelled organic without genetic modification. If you can get to a farmers’ market, and get a really cozy relationship with one of the farmers, they will often brag about their organic practices. Do not be afraid to ask where their seeds come from. Just because their practices are organic does not mean they are not using Franken-seeds.
Some more fuel for the organic fire. I hope that it gets you as impassioned and excited about the topic as I feel. The more people who not only support organics, but fight for them, the more options we will have in the grocery store and the cheaper prices will be. The sooner we overthrow the agricultural industrial complex, the better the health of the nation will be.