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What are the advantages of organic food? How is eating organic a
healthy food choice? And how do you determine what foods are
healthy?

Organic foods are better for you for these important reasons:

  1.  Organic food is healthier – You won’t be poisoned by pesticide &
    herbicide residues
  2.  Organic food is safer – You won’t be a guinea pig for GMO
    experiments
  3. Organic food is more enjoyable – Your food will taste better
  4. Organic food is more sustainable – You will be helping the
    environment
  5. Organic food is cost effective – You get better nutrition & save
    on medical bills long term
  • A poison-free body
    Our nation is now reaping the results of four generations of
    exposure to agricultural and industrial chemicals. According to the
    National Academy of Science, “neurologic and behavioural effects may
    result from low-level exposure to pesticides.” Numerous studies
    show that pesticides can adversely affect the nervous system,
    increase the risk of cancer, and decrease fertility. It’s no wonder
    that there are more instances of cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart
    disease, in the last 75 years, when more and more chemicals were
    used to produce food.

Pesticides are chemicals used to prevent, destroy, or repel pests.
Many experts caution that they have been linked to birth defects,
neuroblastoma (an increasingly common brain cancer), leukaemia in
children, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, among other health problems.

Many EPA-approved pesticides were registered long before extensive
research linked these chemicals to cancer and other diseases.
Organic agriculture is one way to prevent any more of these
chemicals from getting into our air, earth and water as well as our
food.

By eating organically grown food, you won’t be poisoning your body
with pesticide & herbicide residues.

  •  No Live experiments
    Eleven years ago, genetically modified food was not part of our
    food supply; today an astounding 30 percent of our crop land is
    planted in GMOs. Organic is the only de facto seal of reassurance
    against these and other modern, lab-produced additions to our food
    supply, and the only food term with built in inspections and
    federal regulatory teeth.

Beef and dairy cattle are notoriously fed growth hormones and
antibiotics.  Also many toxins — such as pesticides — are
lipophilic, or “fat-loving,” so they accumulate in the animals’
fatty tissues and are then released into their milk. Toxins can
then pass into any products made from that milk, including butter,
cheese, and yoghurt.

Organic dairy and meats have higher concentrations of beneficial
fats called conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs), according to Alan
Greene, MD, author of Raising Baby Green (Jossey-Bass, 2007). These
fats may reduce the risk of eczema and help boost overall immunity,
among other health perks.

Eating organic foods assures you that you are not an involuntary
subject of a “frankenfood experiment.”

  •  Better taste
    Organic food may cost more, but it’s generally tastier and more
    nutritious (that varies with the quality of soil used for growing).
    It makes sense that produce tastes yummier when raised in harmony
    with nature. Research verifies that some organic produce is often
    lower in nitrates and higher in antioxidants than conventional
    food. That’s because well-balanced soils produce strong, healthy
    plants that are more nourishing food for people and animals.

When plants are grown in a natural environment, in organic soils,
they have more nutrients, and more nutrients means better taste.

  • Improving the environment
    Mono-cropping and chemical fertiliser dependency has taken a toll
    with a loss of top soil estimated at a cost of $40 billion per year
    in the U.S., according to David Pimental of Cornell University. Add
    to this an equally disturbing loss of micro- nutrients and minerals
    in fruits and vegetables. Feeding the soil with organic matter
    instead of ammonia and other synthetic fertilisers has proven to
    increase nutrients in produce, with higher levels of vitamins and
    minerals found in organic food.

Soil is the foundation of the food chain. The primary focus of
organic farming is to use practices that build healthy soils. If
you visit an organic farm and you’ll notice the sounds of animal,
bird and insect activity. These organic farms are thriving, diverse
habitats where beneficial insects, and indigenous animals find
these farms a safe haven.

An organic farm is the equivalent of reforestation. Industrial
farms are the equivalent of clear cutting of native habitat with a
focus on high farm yields.

Whenever you buy organic, you’re casting a powerful vote to help
transform an entire agricultural system. For example, organic cows
eat organic feed and graze on pasture during the growing season. So
by buying organic milk, you have just reduced the use of pesticides
and chemical fertilisers on millions of acres of worldwide farmland
dedicated to growing livestock feed.

  • Cutting medical bills
    When you eat organic food, you are giving your body better
    nutrition and that results in a stronger immune system, less
    illness, less chance of high risk diseases such as cancer, heart
    disease, and stroke. And the healthier you are, the less money you
    spend on medical bills.
    So although you may pay more for organic, you save money in the
    long run on health costs.  In addition, because organic farmers
    don’t receive federal subsidies like conventional farmers do, the
    price of organic food reflects the true cost of growing food.

Supporting Organic
Agriculture, production, and consumption is important. Organic food
fundamental to an optimally healthy vegetarian diet. Realising
that sometimes organic isn’t easily available, and that one can’t
all be organic all the time, but we should make it a priority. When you
use healthy vegetarian recipes, going organic will make the
meals tastier and healthier.

The more we demand organic, the more it happens. A wonderful goal would be for
everything our culture consumes to be automatically and
unquestionably organic – like it was for thousands of years, until
less than 100 years ago!

Find lists of non-gmo foods at http://truefoodsnow.org, or http://greenpeace.org.
Books to read are “Seeds of Deception“, and “Genetic Roulette” by
Jeffrey M. Smith, and “Genetically Altered Foods and Your Health”
by Ken Roseboro.

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