Is organic food better for you?

[bobirving]

We buy organic food almost all the time. Fortunately we have an organic farmshop almost on our doorstep, so it's dead easy and creates much fewer food miles. We're lucky!

I think that the arguments in favour of organic food are as follows:
it contains less (or no) pesticides, reducing the build-up in the body;
organic growing is more sustainable since there is no input of petro-chemical fertilisers and the natural fertility of the soil is maintained - some conventional farms run on little better than hydroponics. The argument that you cannot feed the world from organic farming is wrong - sooner or later we will have to, when the oil runs out.

organic farming protects biodiversity.

[tonygowland]

Rebecca, being organic doesn't mean that you can't give your animals medicines to treat illness. It means that you can't routinely give them antibiotics and growth hormones. See http://www.soilassociation.org.uk/we...5!OpenDocument

However it appears that your animals have a healthy lifestyle and don't get ill. Great.

[Rebecca]

Hi Tony,
Thanks for the link, but I am unable to access it. What I said was .....
"Organic can mean allowing an animal to suffer because you cannot give him or her the necessary medicine". Note the CAN.

Please see the attached link from Univ of Fl (paragraph 5) where it clearly states that an animal given antibiotics CANNOT be sold as organic.


http://fycs.ifas.ufl.edu/newsletters...anic-mean.html

[Cornelian]

Is organic food better for you? Well, for me it is - mainly because of all the exercise I put into growing it, the emotional satisfaction of providing much of my own food and knowing it has the least possible impact on the environment. It also benefits me by forging closer links into my local community by sourcing products, bartering with like-minded people, and by building up the health and fertility of the soil in my garden.

And, oh yeah, it tastes great, too. LOL

I came late to the organic movement. Buying it in is prohibitively expensive, but I can grow it myself, and the satisfaction that brings is enormous. I just have an ordinary surburban yard, but I can still grow my own food.

[Corey]

think we need both for the time being. We are in transition its whether we make it through the transition of terraform our own dieing planet or not. After the transition one or the other will make or break depending on how much of the population is left and how much of our ecosystem is left.

Personally I would prefer organic I have had fewer health problems since switching. Although its been difficult on the extreme poverty income. All of my money been going to rent phone and organic food and non organic to supplement the nutritional needs.

[mcgrill]

I am a bad cook. So I prefer eating out. I had good salad there.The problem is that when I am eating out, then how I can find that the food I am having is organic or not.

[FabianPattberg]

I have no idea mcgrill. That is also a problem I have. And I usually get a blank face in response.

Does any know any good organic food directories for restaurants?

[Kathryn]

This is a really interesting point; I too reconsidered my stance on which is better, not just for me, but the planet as a whole.

I would travel a good 40 minutes in the recent past to buy certified organic food at a little shop that only added a 10% increase to the wholesale cost. Essentially, a lot of the stuff I bought from there was cheaper than conventional foods!! Anyway, apart from being on a poverty income, I was more than happy to do this, because the health giving factors of organic is top priority.

However, I did always contemplate the given vitalty/energy available in foods transported all the way from the other end of the country. As we all know, the life giving force is most potent when first picked, and slowly lessons in time. So just how sustaining is an organic apple picked in (say) Queensland, Australia, in comprison to a non-organic apple picked in my local area and available to me pretty much on the same day? Furthermore, the carbon emmisions pumped to get the apple from 'A' to 'B'. And the further carbon emmission output from myself to make that 40 minute drive every week.

Absolutely, I agree with a previous post (cannot remember name!) located in Tasmania; growing your own is THE most ideal. For all the reasons that person mentioned . . . . I'm very slowly on my way to being self-sufficient (in the food growing area of my existence, anyway!).

To quote from Tim Marshall, organic leader in a recent 'Digger's Club' magazine:

When is comes to chosing the food I buy, organic is actually my fourth choice. I would choose local and seasonal prodcuts, ahead of organically certified products, particularly if those products have travelled long distances. I feel that our diet needs a diversity of foods, all of which I would consider ahead of organically grown food. Climate change is the issue and organics is part of the solution. Organics is an integral part of the solution to climate change, but it is a means to an end, not the end itself

Unfortuantely, where I live, there are no certified organic food suppliers. For myself, I feel I am doing better for the 'greater whole' to support local produce first and foremost, until my growing productivity increases!! Financially, this sits better with me too. I tell you, it's REALLY hard to live the 'community' ideal when the area you live in is simply NOT!


Kathryn