Organic or not?

[scrabbler1]

The only thing I buy from my local health food store is organic (brown) rice. I have been buying it for about 10 years. I like its taste and texture better than processed rice although I sometimes eat the latter anyway.

I am always reminded of that line from Woody Allen's "Sleeper" in which Allen plays a health food store owner who wakes up 200 years in the future only to find it pretty weird. When the doctor who revived him tells him that everyone he knows has been dead for nearly 200 years, he replies, "But they all ate organic rice!"

[braumeister]

There is, AFAIK, no agreement whatever about the meaning of the word "organic."

Do I go for things labeled that way in the supermarket? No.
Do I buy things at local farmers' markets? You bet, but not because they are necessarily more "organic."

[In-control]

The rule of thumb that I use is, if it is a vegetable and I eat the exterior skin leaf etc.... I buy organic. If I peel the skin off I do not. I try to eat Wild caught fish and especially like canned herring, Brunswick or Bar Harbor brand. I have noticed a difference in the way that the food makes me feel as Organic food has been documented to have more micro-nutrients due to the fact that it has to defend itself against bugs and disease. As far as pricing is concerned where I shop the organics are ~ 30% more. I feel that I am worth it - after all YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!!!!!

I recommend a very good movie called "Food Matters" See the below link.

Welcome | FOODMATTERS®

Enjoy and eat well.

[donheff]

I like genetically modified foods. Notice, no smiley there.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by In-control I recommend a very good movie called "Food Matters" See the below link. Welcome | FOODMATTERS® Enjoy and eat well.

IMO, that is just fear-mongering, not a 'very good movie' at all. I said "IMO", but if I took more time, I'm sure I could make that a fact based statement, rather than opinion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by donheff I like genetically modified foods. Notice, no smiley there.

Agreed.

-ERD50

[Westernskies]

All food is by definition, organic...If it wasn't you couldn't eat it; otherwise there would be a breakfast cereal made with shredded rebar nuggets and crunchy concrete...

The "organic" label is just another feel-good marketing scam designed to dupe the consumer into paying more for the product, IMO... YMMV

[Purron]

I worry more about salt and sugar (including high frutose corn syrup) content than an "organic" label.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Quote: Originally Posted by In-control I recommend a very good movie called "Food Matters" See the below link. Welcome | FOODMATTERS® Enjoy and eat well. Quote: Originally Posted by ERD50 IMO, that is just fear-mongering, not a 'very good movie' at all. I said "IMO", but if I took more time, I'm sure I could make that a fact based statement, rather than opinion. -ERD50

OK, that was easy:

Food Matters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quote:

Controversy The alternative treatments advocated in Food Matters have failed to establish any credibility among the scientific or medical community. Despite claims to the contrary, none of contributing producers/authors have any recognised scientific credentials; Andrew Saul is an editor for the controversial Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, which was rejected by the National Library of Medicine due to substandard content.[2] He refers to himself as a doctor,[3] however he has no medical training and holds a PhD which he received from Greenwich University, an unaccredited diploma mill. Saul is also a known supporter of Max Gerson, whose controversial cancer therapies are considered scientifically unsupported and potentially hazardous.[4] Ian Brighthope is a Melbourne physician who claims to be a professor, however he holds no PhD (or recognised equivalent); a requirement for professorship in Australian universities. The remainder of the contributors are entrepreneurs, journalists, marketing experts, public speakers, nutritionists and holistic therapists.[5]

-ERD50

[Khan]

I tend to grow a lot of my own stuff and buy from locals; some 'organic' some not.

[tmm99]

Khan,

Home grown is the best, isn't it? Especially tomatoes :-)

[Fireup2020]

I try to buy local produce. Organic is not always noticeably more expensive, so go that route when comparable. We do not use any commercial pesticides in our garden, and that is some of the best produce out there!

[WhoDaresWins]

I am a healthy eater. Not strictly organic though. I try to be a locavore, buying at markets with frozen free range, antibiotic free meats and fresh vegetables. I am anticipating all the farmer's markets starting up next month. I have become a devotee of raw milk cheese from a nearby farm, local breads, jams, vinaigrettes, etc. I always buy organic milk, though. And wild seafood...won't touch farm raised at home. However, if I am at someone else's home or in a restaurant, I appreciate whatever is served.
I grow my own tomatoes and herbs in containers and supplement from the summer farmer's markets.

[tmm99]

I really like the pasture raised chickens I get from my CSA's. They definitely taste different from commercially raised ones and the meat is firm, like the chickens I used to eat when I was younger. Now when I eat commercially raised chickens, I notice this greasy film on the meat (thus in my mouth) and the meat is rather flabby and joints very loose... (Sitting in a congested pen with no exercise and not much sun makes these chickens kind of like ... me...)

[Bestwifeever]

30 years ago DD's pediatrician was worried about the hormones and antibiotics that were being fed to cattle for milk and beef. Those seemed like good things to avoid for young children--and imho it was better to err on the safe side (not much of a down side if the pediatrician proved to be wrong--so we maybe were out a few bucks).

For myself and DH, however, who cares--we're all going to die anyway and with all those pesticides and synthetic preservatives and additives, etc. we should be mighty well preserved.

(This thread puts me in mind of a girl I knew in college who smoked, did major drugs, drank like a fish, etc., but turned up her nose at some random food and said she didn't put those toxins in her body.)

[veremchuka]

Sometimes I'll buy organic produce in the grocery store especially if the price is competitive. But that's only in the winter and not that often because I grow most, not all, of my food and I do it organically. I still am eating food I grew last year that was pickled or in cold storage or frozen. I understand why organic costs so much - it is labor intensive.

I prefer to not eat food that is processed and refined or doused with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or genetically modified. Of course the rates of so many different cancers, autism, all sorts of auto immune diseases, et al that are rampant in societies that eat factory farmed food is just a coincidence of course.

I am never sick, look 10 years younger than my age, have as much energy as I did 25 years ago and I emit a beautiful blue glow. What more could I ask for?

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by veremchuka Of course the rates of so many different cancers, autism, all sorts of auto immune diseases, et al that are rampant in societies that eat factory farmed food is just a coincidence of course.

No need for that stodgy old "scientific method" when we can run on hunches and internet rumor. There's a Nobel Prize (a real one, not a Peace Prize) waiting for the person who can show that autism or autoimmune diseases are caused by stuff in food--no takers yet.

[veremchuka]

I guess these diseases are air borne, blowing in on the winds or from bad spirits that live in the trees and rocks? You are what you eat. GIGO as the old DP saying goes, eh.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by veremchuka I prefer to not eat food that is processed and refined or doused with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or genetically modified. Of course the rates of so many different cancers, autism, all sorts of auto immune diseases, et al that are rampant in societies that eat factory farmed food is just a coincidence of course.

Please present some evidence that cancer rates are 'rampant'.

I'll go first:

Cancer Trends Progress Report - Incidence

Quote:

All sites combined: Overall incidence was on the rise from 1975 to 1989, with non-significant changes in rates from 1989 to 1999. From 1999 to 2006 incidence has significantly declined. Among men, from 1975 to 1992 rates rose. From 1992 to 1995 cancer incidence among men significantly declined, with no significant change between 1995 and 2000. From 2000 to 2006, incidence trends among men resumed a decline. Among women, from 1975 to 1979 rates were stable then rose from 1979 to 1987 before stabilizing again through 1998. From 1998 to 2006 cancer incidence among women has significantly declined.

Some rise and fall there, but "rampant"?

Cancer Trends Progress Report - Trends-at-a-Glance (doesn't copy/paste well, you'll need to read it).

-ERD50

[veremchuka]

There is no need to present evidence. If you need that then you are not paying attention. It's pretty obvious that the standard American diet (SAD) is unhealthy. I stopped trying to persuade or argue my points long ago. I don't try to convert anyone, what I see is pretty obvious to me. Everyone around me when I worked was sick all the time or suffering with allergies. I used to eat a poor diet a long time ago and started to develop health problems and it was pretty obvious to me why. I changed my diet and for 30 years I've been free of illness and degenerative diseases that people my age are saddled with. Maybe I'm the exception, maybe I'm lucky or maybe I'm on to something. YMMV.

[veremchuka]

Sorry posted to the wrong thread!