What to Buy Organic and What to Buy Conventional

Today when most of us blame our deteriorating health on "Food" we eat , its something to wonder about that how can something so crucial to our lives is considered hostile today. It may be either "Food like Substances" that we consume or it can be the invisible factor called "Synthetic Pesticide". Most of the food even we eat today is said to have lost its nutritional value over few decades and the soil quality in most places has lost its fertility. For many, the issue of soil erosion might not be a concern. But the fact that can not be overlooked is regarding the health of an individual and his family. We all know this that what goes in feeding the farms and its produce, comes out on your plate too. In this matter does simply eating Organic solves the problem? Does Organic food have any pesticide residues? Is everything organic always better than its counterpart conventional food ? While everyone is trying to make profits no matter organic or conventional, we all can make decisions based upon the facts.

Conventional Produce
This kind of farming when done on a large scale uses synthetic pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, chemical feeds on hundreds of acres of crop. In addition to this, before coming to supermarkets the produce is radiated to increase its shelf life. During this process all the nutrients gets broken down and loses its value. If you thought that you can ward off the pesticides by washing them with plain water then it can hardly help you. These pesticides are oil based to protect its wash off form crops during the rain. Thus it cannot be just rinsed off by plain water. The best way is to use vegetable soap cleaners which can be found in some health food stores.

Facts in favor of conventional
When small farmers(not commercial) use the conventional way of farming they do not spend much on pesticides, chemicals and fertilizers thus the produce is even healthier than the large scale Organic farming.

Facts oppose conventional
It is said that the fruits and vegetables produced by large scale conventional way that uses lot of synthetic fertilizers has low nutritional value when compared to the Organic counterpart.

Organic Produce
Ideally organic farming should focus on natural manure, natural feed and natural ways of controlling the pest. It also helps to maintain soil fertility , protects top soil and the food produced is said to have high nutritional value. As this system was used by many commercial industries it was hard to follow the original method of farming to keep the bugs,pests off the hundreds of acres and still feed everyone. They had to use something more than just natural. These include but not limited to approved pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, preservatives . While large scale industry manipulates the food no matter organic or conventional, its better to look for local or smaller farm food.

Facts oppose Organic
The best example would be dairy industry. In some states the cattles are not even grass fed but grain fed . Many small dairy farmers even argue that the commercial organic way of handling the herd of animals is unhealthy and non-friendly. Much of the commercial organic milk is imported from different parts of the world and then mixed together at the main dairy plant. Here it undergoes quality test to meet the requirements of organic guidelines. In such case, the only difference between commercial conventional milk and any brand name commercial organic milk would be the type of hormones injected(as both contains some type of growth hormones). In such case instead of paying higher price for commercial organic, you can look for any "local" milk even if its not organic . It costs similar to those organic brands. These small farms have much time to care far better for the animals without much use of any drugs or hormones.

Facts Support Organic
Though organic way of processing food or agriculture uses approved hormones or pesticides, they are considered much better than some of the synthetic fertilizers . The processing of the food is strictly controlled and less artificial additives are used.

Local Produce
If you have ever come across the term "Local" and you have not considered giving it a second thought, here is what it means. Local produce is by definition seasonal. Some stores like Whole Foods consider local as products that have traveled less than a day (7 or fewer hours by car or truck). Many of these includes milk, vegetables,fruits or can be any type of prepared food. This is not only the fresh food available but also produced in a small farm where its not heavily loaded with pesticides and chemicals. Other places where you can get local fresh food is farmers market.

Conventional Vs Organic
When it comes to choose between the two, most people prefer Conventional over Organic . The reason behind this is the "Cost Factor" . It is true that organic food is little expensive but exactly how big is the difference? The price difference between organic and conventional of few popular foods like Milk, Rice, Dairy,Vegetables, Fruits is hardly in few cents. The larger difference is in meats, breads, eggs and fresh greens. There are pesticide residues in both commercial Organic products as well as conventional produce. But some of the conventional produce contain acceptable levels of residues and these can be bought conventional. In case of prepared food, look for ingredients list for any unknown additives.

Shopping Tips:
Have you ever wondered how some of the seasonal fruits are available year around?
It is because of cold storage. Many fruits, vegetables that come from other countries or within the country, are stored in cold storage at controlled temperatures and are supplied as necessary. This is the reason why supermarkets have all varieties of vegetables and fruits year around. I have summarized few tips that will keep you on track of your budget while help you eat healthy.

-Eat Seasonal:
If you want to eat fresh and healthy then eat seasonal food. For example squash in winter, berries in early summer, melons and greens in summer, apples in fall . Even the seasonal organic food is cheaper and will retain more nutrition benefits due to freshness. This way you do not end up spending a lot of money on organic vegetables or fruits that are expensive because they are not from current season.

-Avoid high residues:
When Pesticides are sprayed on conventional produce that are grown commercially , the residues remain in the food. Some have much higher and some are acceptable. If you wanted to save money buying conventional produce then you can certainly avoid only ones with higher residues and replace with these organic or local produce. The order in which the fruits and vegetables are written starts from high to low amount of residues, but not low enough.
collards, apples, strawberries, cherries, green beans, celery, grapes, peaches, pears, tomatoes , cantaloupes, oranges, potatoes, watermelons, are some of common produce should be bought organic. If you cannot find organic then look for local. If both of the options are not available then it is better to limit the consumption .

Things that can be bought conventional are Bananas,Grapefruit, Pineapples, onions, cauliflower, peas, eggplant, avocados, asparagus, beet root, wheat flour, rice .

Another major food source is animal fats, even butter. Fats in animals, humans (adipose tissues) are the storage compartment for all the chemicals residues and toxins that we all ingest from food, medicines, pollution, water . Fats like butter has the condensed amount of these toxins. Thus to avoid the ingestion of these toxins, organic variety of animal fats should be preferred.

-Buy local Dairy & Meats :
In a very commercial farm even if organic ,which has more than 500 cattles, it is difficult to maintain disease free animals . For this they require some approved drugs, hormones . The terms are very deceiving when it comes to "rsbt free" or "no Hormones" or no antibiotics. The key to buying best milk is what cows are fed. Not all the milk found in your supermarket has same amount of good fats called conjugated linoleic acid(CLA). More the green pasture cows are fed, higher this good fats are. The (CLA ) is reduced with the grain fed diet which is the case with commercial milk in supermarkets. If possible local milk should be preferred. Many local small farms rely upon green pasture for cows and hence resulting in milk with higher CLA. Fat free milk or products should be avoided as this very essential good fats are removed from it which also helps breakdown of milk protein. The best type of milk should be non-homogenised, local, Organic. If local Organic is not available then local conventional is fine too. The next best option when none of the above is available is to buy commercial organic.

When it comes to meat , the grass fed animals from small local farm should be chosen compared to any regular meat. Organic ,kosher would be better to buy instead of looking on price tag. While organic meat is very expensive, you can certainly look to buy whole chicken, other less expensive parts instead of buying pre cut, removed skin variety. It hardly takes few minutes to clean it yourself. The other meat variety in health food store remarks as "all natural", cage free which is better than the commercial varieties.

When it comes to fish, wild caught should be preferred. Farm raised kind of fishes are raised on antibiotics, which should be avoided even though they are cheaper in some cases. Look for whole fishes that are wild caught and less in price. You can certainly get it cleaned the way you like from them. Try avoiding huge sea fish to avoid mercury ingestion.

Some eggs that are very expensive might be because they have fortified omega-3. This is obtained by feeding hens flax seeds. If you are looking for healthy eggs just look for cage free and organic which costs less than those with omega 3. Flax seeds are very inexpensive to find thus you can buy them separately and use in your daily food by grinding them. Flax seeds naturally are very good source of omega -3.

-Check ingredients list for unknown additive:
Always check the ingredients list on both conventional and organic food. It is not always necessary to buy organic cookies or organic cereals, but important is to look at the ingredients list. The good thing about organic food is that they are produced under some strict guidelines and hence cannot use any artificial flavors. They need to look for natural alternatives. In conventional products the use of term "natural" is very deceiving. Not everyone honestly uses natural flavors. Some do contain hydrogenated oils , palm oils otherwise known as trans fats. Some conventional foods does have all natural ingredients and no artificial ingredient. If a conventional food has no other artificial ingredient then its fine to eat. For example, regular potato chips should have only potatoes, oil, sea salt. Some additives to avoid are artificial flavors, Mono Sodium Glutamate(MSG) and preservatives.

-Shop from small market or health food store:
Many supermarkets carry organic foods now. Stores like Whole foods market carry local food too. If you can find farmers market near your area it is the best place to buy. Non homogenised milk can be found at Whole foods market. Do not go for brand names just because you saw their heavily marketed advertisement. To make the food cheaper they add heavy food preservatives and additives which is not required to list in ingredients. Always look for products made on small farm, small industry where much "food " rather than "food like substance" is produced.

Conclusion:
Weather it is Organic or Conventional its always a personal choice based on budget, necessity and availability.Though organic kind of farming remains the original method from history but as it was taken over to feed everyone, the question still remains if organic farming could help sustain everyone. In countries like India, majority of the farms have no choice but to do organic farming. They cannot pay expensive fees for organic certification and neither can buy expensive chemical fertilizers. While it is always good to be a little educated about most important element of life and about how it is processed, we can certainly make the choice based upon it. The children are at most risk to the residues and this is the reason why many prefer organic just for kids. The argument continues between advocates of organic and opponents but a common man still thinks no matter what type of food it is, one who is getting all full meals to eat is fortunate enough today. It is said that each night 7 out of 10 people living on earth sleep without food because of poor food supply and thus not enough for all. Many die of malnutrition or starvation. Finally those who does have option to eat healthy and fortunate enough to find local food can enjoy the benefits.

References:-

Pollution: The Food We Eat by Claire Jones , Steve J. Gadler , Paul H. Engstrom -

http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/global/ray.htm-

http://environment.about.com/od/healthenvironment/a/organicfarming.htm-

http://www.ecoworld.com/features/2004/06/26/organic-farming-in-india/-

A Field Guide to Buying Organic- Luddene Perry and Dan Schultz-

Organic Inc-Natural Foods and How They Grew by Samuel Fromartz