Posted on 09/03/2009 6:13:03 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
When I first started writing my upcoming book Organic Manifesto a year ago, I fully expected to have lots of information about how organic foods are healthier for you because they are more nutritious. The more research I did, the more I realized that nutrition is the least of our worries. Aside from the fact that the nutritional content of just about ALL of our food has declined over the past 50 years, we are, as a rule, overfed. And good nutrition is available from many sources in our diet.
So I wasn’t surprised in the least when a report was released last week by a British research team saying that a review of studies showed that organic foods aren’t more nutritious than chemical foods. As it turns out, there are some significant flaws in the way that analysis was done, as reported by Rodale.com and others. But beyond that is a larger point: The quest for more nutrition should be the last reason to eat organic foods.
What’s the first reason? The REAL reason we should eat organic foods? The real reason to eat organic food is that the thousands of chemicals used to grow chemical foods are causing horrific health and environmental problems. In my book (due out in March 2010) I discuss multiple well-documented studies from reliable sources showing that chemical pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and the GMO’s used in chemically based food production, are implicated in, if not causing, the following health problems: diabetes, obesity, cancer, autism, Parkinson’s disease, male sterility, genital deformities, female infertility, miscarriage, infant deformities, ADHD, hormonally caused gender confusion, asthma, allergies, accelerated aging, and smaller penises in boys, amphibians, and other wildlife.
I have also discovered (and reveal in my book) that the chemicals used to grow so-called “conventional food” are responsible for the majority of our climate-change problems, the majority of our water-pollution problems, the majority of our plant and insect disease problems, and the majority of our economic woes.
Sounds crazy, but it’s true. You’ll have to wait until the book comes out to find out the details. But in the meantime, for your sake, for your kid’s sake, and for the planet’s sake, keep on eating organic!
Great advice.
But, he’s a Farm Boy and had cows as a kid. I think he just sees them as work. He wouldn’t have to care for it. Heck, I take care of all the pets and critters around here as it is. What’s one more USEFUL member of the family?
I guess the politicians are right. You aren't willing to the jobs that our day laborer friends are. ;)
btw, the tomatoes around here were terrible. There was some fungus or something.
I stopped eating beef a long time ago, but not because I don’t like it or was afraid of the product. We just had a supply of pretty much free venison from a friend who is single and loves to hunt, but cannot eat all he gets. He still gives us his smallest deer each year, now that we’re just feeding the two of us. We usually make burger with a little pork for fat, but keep the tenderloins, of course! :)
Anyhow, now when I have straight beef, I get ill. Is there any truth to the idea that if you don’t eat red meat on a regular basis, you lose an enzyme you need to digest it?
Otherwise, I have a cast-iron gut, LOL!
“There was some fungus or something.”
Both late and early blight were monsters this season with so many of us having a cool and wet spring into summer season. The early blight got me on some plants, but I have had customers coming in with leaves, stems and fruit full of the late blight. That stuff kills a plant within days and has moved to some potato crops as well, which is bad becuase WI grows almost as many taters as Idaho.
Worst I’ve seen in years, but it was a perfect weather storm for it this season; happens every decade or so.
Garden List Ping-worthy?
I have no idea, I don't eat anything unless it had a mother. :)
Has she ever considered how many people would be hungry or dead if all agricultural production were 'organic'? Let's not even mention either, that 'organic' is in no way, shape or form chemical-free.
Glenn Beck might really be onto something in his theory that the banning of DDT in the 70's was just a plot to kill lots of people without all the messy politics and finger-pointing. Go all organic and get negative world population growth. Isn't that better for Mother Earth according to the enviro-whackos?
Also, the entire article struck me as a bald attempt to sell a book. Probably not a coincidence that Van Jones is going around accusing white America of purposely spraying poisons on colored folks and diverting all of our nasty toxins into the neighborhoods of colored folks.
Sorry for the rant, but I feel a bit better. ;-)
That was one of your better rants, LOL!
“Go all organic and get negative world population growth. Isn’t that better for Mother Earth according to the enviro-whackos?”
You and I both know that EnviroWackos are almost always members of Zero Populaton Growth, as well. As is our current President...however, it doesn’t apply to him because he’s reproduced twice. But the rest of us better keep it zipped, LOL!
Maria Rodale has kids.
Jerks.
That's unfortunate. We have work to do if many people hanging out on a conservative forum agree with the organic pimping. As has been pointed out, chemicals are chemicals. Whether or not your body metabolizes that chemical is important, as well as how.
I have a friend with a PhD in entomology, as well as a degree of some sort in chemistry, that has taught me alot about insecticides and fertlizers. There is much to be learned if you will keep an open mind.
“There is much to be learned if you will keep an open mind.”
Amen to that. I work in a garden center, and I HAVE learned a lot over the past few years...from the Chemical Guy who I thought was an uber-Greenie, but is just someone who really knows his stuff and can combat any disease or insect organically or inorganically.
He, too, says it doesn’t matter one whit because most chemicals SOLD FOR HOME USE break down into their basic componenets in the end and the average gardener never uses enough for it to ever reach the groundwater level.
If you’re not set on cow milk, there are dwarf breeds of goats bred for milk production that could produce more than enough for your average family’s needs and they are probably easier to feed and would require a lot less room.
Yeah, eating enough eggs will kill you dead also. I calculated it once in science class, if I remember right, about 25-30 eggs in one sitting would kill the average person due to cholesterol poisoning. So, I figure that hard-boiled egg eating contest in Cool Hand Luke probably would have ended differently in real life!
I quit eating soy products a few years ago, unless they are fermented.
The organic fields sit right next to the conventional fields and benefit greatly from their insecticides and other chemicals.
“As I’ve said here before, I have yet to meet a liberal organic farmer.”
What planet do you live on?
Earth. And I've been to MANY family farms who grow organically. The last one was a family who was conservative, religious and home schooled their kids, which is typical.
Maybe, but informed use will get you everywhere. Nobody is talking about blind faith. Why do you want to spin the discussion?
"I'll take nature any day."
Who doesn't like nature? Another distraction to the discussion. You are aware that there are toxins in nature, aren't you? Of course you are.
If you want to eat organic as much as possible, more power to ya ... just don't act like you're holier than the rest of us. 'Organic' is a term with lots of wiggle room. Organic gardening uses chemicals too ... I have several on the shelf in my shed. They will kill you if you use them improperly. Malathion is safer than a couple of the certified 'organic' chemicals that I buy.
If you have broadleaf weed killer drifting 10 miles away, you have a very irresponsible aerial applicator spraying on a horribly windy day, which is a no-no. Either that or some sort of weather inversion, and that kind of situation is very rare. Let's have an intellectually honest discussion, if we're going to have one.
I have had many problems with reproduction/fertility health. After much research I decided to switch to some organic products, as well as natural skin-care products that do not contain xenoestrogens. Since then my problems have not been cured, but they have been releived. The more I continue with this diet the better I feel. I have also eliminated sugar substitutes and MSG from my diet. I don’t care what scientists/doctors/experts/government studies say. I know how I feel. I know the difference it has made for me and my family.
You “friend” in entomology can take do all the tax-funded studies he/she wants.
Also, my pop used to tell me that keeping an open mind can be very dangerous. If you keep an open mind, somebody just might fill it with something (i.e. health reform, globull warming, etc.).
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