Are organic foods healthier for us?

[Fedup]

I hate to tell you but those ugly tomatoes taste bland. I grow Brandywine tomatoes and was told they were the best tasting. YMMV

 

[6miths]

Brandywine is the heirloom tomato that my farm market refers to as the 'ugly tomato'. And it is compared to anything at the supermarket. And I agree, does taste wonderful.

 

[Lsbcal]

How about Heirloom tomatoes for you conniseurs?

 

[karen1972]

I don't know, you buy seeds at the store, you grow them, you don't spray them with chemicals and if you get bugs, you find natural things to get rid of them.. done.. been doing it that way for 45 years, why change now.

I have been to some organic farms, where they just put nets over everything to keep out the pests, it costs for the labor and material, which is what you are paying extra for.

The real value can be in how things are grown..ie lots of good organic farms do crop rotation and cover crops, giving back nutrients to the soil naturally which in turn leaves better nutrients in the food. The CSA I got my stuff from, just tastes better, period.

I assume its healthier because it does taste better. When your constantly robbing the soil of nutrients, you get bland, disguesting nutrient free food back. Tomatoes and Peaches are the two easiest examples... because you take a tomatoe off the vine in your garden and they taste nothing like the ones in the store, that have zero flavor half the time, same with peaches.

 

[NW-Bound]

We're down in SWFL for the winter, and not too far away from Plant City, where 3/4 of the strawberries sold in the US (in winter) are grown. We've got a little guy down the street with a fruit & veggie stand, and he has the most incredible strawberries we've ever eaten. It turns out he gets the previous day's Plant City strawberries that were too ripe to ship, but they are perfect for local consumption. It doesn't have anything to do with organic or not, or anything except being picked at the perfect time...

Some years ago, driving down Hwy 1 down the CA coast, we ran across a strawberry field with a fruit stand by the side of the road. Bought and ate some best strawberries that I ever had, and have not eaten since. So, we bought some more to take home. They turned to mush a day later.

Later, looked at the map and found that this was near Lompoc where they have a Strawberry Festival every year.

 

[RobbieB]

I buy organic from time to time and 'hormone & antibiotic" free meat too.

Sometimes it's really good (better) than the commercial stuff and sometimes it's not.

I mostly go by how it looks and feels.

I don't care how much it costs, I want to try it and see for myself. I want to see if it tastes better. That's the only thing that really matters to me, taste -

 

[Fedup]

We have both organic strawberries and non organic strawberries nearby farms. The organic strawberries are uneven size, deeper taste and sweet. The non organic strawberries are more perfect size and nice but not as deep and sweet. They are both nice, but if I can't get organic, I get the non organic, which has longer season and cheaper. Strawberry is really the only fruit that matters. Porous skin.

 

[CaliforniaMan]

I usually skip the organic produce because it costs more and offers no health benefit. And at least in my area the non-organic often is fresher and better quality, but I will buy organic when it looks better. Always has seemed strange to me when people I know who would not buy anything but organic produce, puff away on their cigarettes, drink beer, and consume sweets. A doctor friend of mine once told me all food is toxic, if you want to be healthier eat less. Probably a lot more truth in that than we would like to admit.

 

[HadEnuff]

We're down in SWFL for the winter, and not too far away from Plant City, where 3/4 of the strawberries sold in the US (in winter) are grown. We've got a little guy down the street with a fruit & veggie stand, and he has the most incredible strawberries we've ever eaten. It turns out he gets the previous day's Plant City strawberries that were too ripe to ship, but they are perfect for local consumption. It doesn't have anything to do with organic or not, or anything except being picked at the perfect time.

We also have a major tomato processing plant nearby. I-75 is a few miles away, and right on the corner where the trucks come off the interstate there are always a bunch of green tomatoes that fall out of the truck when they make the turn off the ramp. The amazing part is that very few of them break when they fall, and I've come to realize why these mass produced tomatoes are so tasteless. They take the to the plant and gas them with (I think) ethylene glycol to turn them red, but that's all they are is red. Still no real flavor. On the other hand, the vine ripened tomatoes I buy in the grocery store are significantly tastier. The negative part of this type of tomato is that sometimes the seeds inside have started sprouting. It looks like a bunch of worms, not very appetizing. But the tomatoes are still good, so I just remove the seeds/sprouts and eat the fairly tasty tomatoes. Still not as good as the ones in my garden, but not bad.

To me the defining characteristic of good fruit/veggies isn't organic or not, it's naturally ripened or not.

When my folks lived in SW Florida I was riding with my dad when I saw a truck filled with "Granny Smith Apples"...I told my dad, "I didn't know they grew apples down here", he said "those aren't apples, those are the tomatoes you will be buying up north next week"...

 

[Winemaker]

People are so confused with "organic", as I have been gardening organic for 35 years. Organic fertilizers can be manures, blood and bone meals, dried blood, compost, and tilled under clovers and grains. Non-organic are the processed fertilizers from ammonia, natural gas, petroleum and other chemicals. The biggest difference I see is that the organics, while lower in PNK levels, break down slower. The non organics, have higher levels, and are much more water soluble, and tend to wash away. Organic pesticides can be ground up plants (pyrethins), ground up rocks (limestone, sulpur, copper and diatomaceous earth) ground up bugs (Bt), oil sprays and live bugs( lady bugs, nematodes). Non-organics are just manufactured chemicals. Rotation of crops in the garden and companion planting helps a lot, too.

All that being said, I garden organic because I have access to horse manure and I compost, not because of any health concerns. I do believe that if you have healthy vigorous plants, the use of organic or non-organic pesticides can be limited.

Your money is in the dirt, and your plants are merely the divvies and interest.

 

[donheff]

Too bad George Carlin isn't around. He'd have a great routine with free-range, pasture raised, happy cows, etc.

Consumer Report published this a while back, titled "From Crop to Table, Pesticide Use in Produce". http://www.consumerreports.org/content/dam/cro/magazine-articles/2015/May/Consumer%20Reports_From%20Crop%20to%20Table%20Report_March%202015.pdf

It identifies different pesticides in use that affect the US food supply and suggests some be avoided.

I would love to see that. The conflicting claims on organic and GMO's are enough to discourage anyone from deciding what's up and what's down. I read everything I can on the subject but lose the details so all I can go by is my subjective assessment of where the bulk of the evidence points (sort of a half-assed self organized meta analysis). So far my conclusion is that organic doesn't offer much and GMOs are fine but I could be way off the mark. Like Fedup, I buy organic when other stuff isn't available. I also have some favorite local organic producers I buy from at the weekend farmer's market. My liberal guilt leads me to buy cage-free chickens but I suspect the reality is they are as poorly treated as any other chickens. The pigs bother me even more but I have to have my bacon and pork sausage. I would go vegan if I could stand vegetables, but I can't. Of course. all of this angst is height of western privilege. GMOs and man made pesticides are essential to feeding the rest of the world.

 

[zinger1457]

It's hard for me to understand how a place like 'Whole Foods' can survive, I get price shock every time I walk in one (luckily we don't have one locally). Prices for vegetables and fruits are up to 3X the price I usually pay at my local grocer. Their prices for meats, poultry, fish are just as bad if not worse.

 

[samclem]

Does anybody actually verify that the organic stuff sold at the "farmers market" is organic and raised by the guy at the booth? I mean, the authentic looking motley "organic" produce could be the stuff he buys at a discount from the same wholesaler who sells to WalMart. Peel off the labels and get a quick doubling of the price, and none of that dirty work to actually raise the stuff.

Of course, being composed of carbon-based molecules/compounds, every fruit and vegetable is truly organic.

 

[MRG]

Does anybody actually verify that the organic stuff sold at the "farmers market" is organic and raised by the guy at the booth? I mean, the authentic looking motley "organic" produce could be the stuff he buys at a discount from the same wholesaler who sells to WalMart. Peel off the labels and get a quick doubling of the price, and none of that dirty work to actually raise the stuff.

Of course, being composed of carbon-based molecules/compounds, every fruit and vegetable is truly organic.

I have seen roadside stands where it appeared that they were reselling commercial produce. Didn't bother stopping. I always talk to the folks who are selling about where they raised or bought the vegetables. I thought I busted one fellow, he said he'd bought it in Versailles MO. He pronounced Versailles wrong! Turns out he was new to the state.

 

[gerntz]

I buy organic. Usually looks better, tastes better. Sometimes tastes way better.

I'd love to see blind taste tests on that. Don't buy.

 

[Chuckanut]

The entire area of diet and human health is a minefield of misinformation. Bad science in this area is the norm. And even if the science is good, bad reporting of the scientific findings is what we get. Sensationalism will trump facts any day of the week.

Gary Taubes (author of Why We Get Fat and What If It's All a Big Fat Lie among others) tells the story of how as a science writer he decides he wants to specialize in writing about 'bad science'. He is advised by a physicist to look into the area of human health since "there's a lot of bad science there".

All we have to do is remember when we were told not to eat foods like butter, eggs, whole milk dairy, etc. At the same time sugar bomb cereals, margarines full of trans-fats and all sorts of highly processed foods were labeled as being healthy for the heart.

I have no idea if the author of this article is correct. My take is that the scientist is on to something that needs more study. But, that is hard, expensive and takes time. The news cycle won't wait that long.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Probably 25 - 50% of our weekly groceries are organic from Costco and Grocery Outlet for reasonable prices. Often the per pound price is no more than non-organic at the retail markets anyway. I try to buy organic from the EWG's dirty dozen list, produce with the most pesticides, and don't worry about the rest as much. We stock up on organic meat from Costco once a month or so and freeze it in a chest freezer. We usually use a convection oven for cooking beef, chicken and fish so we can cook it up without defrosting.

 

[Lsbcal]

It's hard for me to understand how a place like 'Whole Foods' can survive, I get price shock every time I walk in one (luckily we don't have one locally). Prices for vegetables and fruits are up to 3X the price I usually pay at my local grocer. Their prices for meats, poultry, fish are just as bad if not worse.

I occasionally compare some prices from Whole Foods and Safeway. Safeway is often the winner but the margin is not all that high.

 

[Fedup]

I don't like to buy a lot of vegetables from Whole Foods. Only meat and Turkey. Even for beef, it's not all grass fed because grass fed meat is too chewy for my husband. He eats beef more than I do. I buy my vegetables from Sprouts. Same with Bristol farms, I only buy fresh seafood and meat there, but their vegetables are just awful. But Albertsons have the most variety of vegetables that I eat, at much more reasonable prices.

 

[Winemaker]

Most beef is grass fed; but some are put into pens 30-60 days before slaughter and fed corn to fatten up. DW and I, DM get a call from our farmer before we get our annual beef. He double checks with us each year to make sure our Angus had the right marbling from previous year, and adjusts the "corn time". Only had 2 "bad" beefs since '91, they were too lean, no flavor.

 

[Bestwifeever]

In our mid-sixties, DH and I probably aren't going to see our health go downhill or uphill if we choose either organic or not organic. We have bought meat and fish from Whole Foods and Costco, and we also use a butcher downstate--I have no idea the status of that meat--because we like the way it tastes vs supermarket meat. I think the use of hormones in meat and dairy animals (which would still affect us I believe) has been pretty restricted for several years. Bad science, good science, who's to know which is which? Sometimes you just have to go with your gut

Our kids buy 100 percent organic (as I understand it, anyway) for our grandchildren who are very young and obviously still developing. IMO doing so can't hurt them and may have benefits, and I don't fault them for it. Not my call anyway.

 

[exnavynuke]

That doesn't ring true for me... The pesticides naturally in food have been tested by regular consumption for thousands of years.

Thousands of years ago people ate all "organic" food and exercised tons... and lived to the ripe old age of mid-30's....

 

[Midpack]

It's hard for me to understand how a place like 'Whole Foods' can survive, I get price shock every time I walk in one (luckily we don't have one locally). Prices for vegetables and fruits are up to 3X the price I usually pay at my local grocer. Their prices for meats, poultry, fish are just as bad if not worse.

I occasionally compare some prices from Whole Foods and Safeway. Safeway is often the winner but the margin is not all that high.

+1.

• Prices for produce at our nearby Whole Foods are about the same as the local grocery stores, and WF produce is generally better, with better selection.
• Meats, dairy and cheeses are definitely more at WF, but far better and more selection.
• Other canned/package goods are mostly higher but better quality, and their store brands, 365, are competitive.
• While their prices for prepared foods are indeed higher, the prepared foods are far better at WF.
• The only products we almost always avoid at WF are cleaning and personal care items, when I have looked, they're much higher than anywhere else around.

I suppose it depends on the WF near you, and your other grocery alternatives. I buy groceries weekly, probably hit WF about once a month.

 

[mpeirce]

I have one use for store bought organic produce: when I'm looking over something (beans, zucchini, etc.) and the "regular" ones are nasty (bruised or whatever) I will often check out the organic version. Sometimes they look good and I'll buy them. So basically, since they usually come from another source, they might be in better shape than the non-organic.

Otherwise, I almost always by "regular" produce at the grocery store.

In season, I will go out of my way to visit various farm markets (Ohio is full of them during the late summer and early fall). There is about two weeks in May/June when the local strawberries are available - heavenly! - and we grown our own tomatoes (also way better than anything store bought) and local sweet corn from a farmer I know is vastly superior (I even dump the low-carb eating for a few weeks each year to enjoy the sweet corn...)

Oh yeah, answering the OP - organic? it doesn't matter me to.

 

[mpeirce]

+1.
I suppose it depends on the WF near you, and your other grocery alternatives. I buy groceries weekly, probably hit WF about once a month.

Our WF isn't nearby so I rarely go there.

Also, our local Kroger tries pretty hard to compete on quality with WFs. It's a high end Kroger and they do a pretty good job for my needs.

On rare occasions I'll seek out WF for some obscure cheese or whatever, but even then the local Kroger has a pretty good cheese monger.

I like WF's meat department, but we buy most of our meats the Costco and it's also high quality and much cheaper.