Organic Food, Part 1

“Organic” is now a household and cultural buzzword.  We all know we should be eating organic food and using organic products, but what does that mean?  It feels like everything has been slapped with the organic label just to sell it… and it works.  Organic food is the fastest growing area in the food industry so everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.

The fact is, we may think we’re buying organic, but we’re really not.  Or we don’t need to buy certain things in the organic version.

I love Whole Foods, it’s a great place to shop, but have you ever been more confused when looking at all the produce that lines the walls?  Organic, local, conventional, natural. What do they mean and which one is best?  Who invented liquid soap and why?

We don’t have time to answer all these questions today on this post, so let’s talk Organics first.

OK so what does organic mean to you and how can you tell you’re getting it? It used to drive me crazy when I read the creatively worded packaging trying to trick me into buying something that wasn’t truly organic.

What it means to be organic:

• Made without harmful pesticides (which can impact your immune system)
• Fertilizer is made without synthetic ingredients (including petroleum and sewage-sludge based fertilizers – yes that includes what you put in your toilet and makes its way into the sewer system :-O)
• No bio-engineering (genetically modified/GMO) There is no research evidence that shows consumption of genetic modified/engineered foods to be harmful to our health, but I suspect that future research will show regular consumption of genetically engineered foods to have certain risks
• No ionizing radiation (basically kills everything including many nutrients)
• Animals are fed organic feed, have access to the out of doors and are given no antibiotics or growth hormones (and as a bonus, it usually means they’d led a happier life and are treated more humanely)

Oh and BTW, there is a $10,000 fine if food is represented as organic and is not or is contaminated with non-organic compounds – that includes being in the same bucket of water as other conventional fruits and veg have been in.  This is why you may have started seeing more segregation of fruits and vegetables.

How you can tell it’s Organic:

- Under new rules, foods will be labeled under one of 4 categories:

• Food that is 100% organic may carry the new “USDA organic” label and say 100% organic.
• Food that is at least 95% organic may carry the new seal.
• Food that is at least 70% organic will list the organic ingredients on the front of the package
• If a product is less than 70% organic, the organic ingredients may be listed on the side of the package but cannot say “organic” on the front.

- Double check the PLU #. Produce which starts with 9 means it’s registered organic. If the PLU starts with 8 it means it’s genetically modified (though many are now genetically     modified) and if the PLU starts with 4 it’s conventional and has a high likelihood of being genetically modified

- There are bugs in the leaves – OK, not a scientific or reliable way, but if there are bugs it’s a good sign that deadly pesticides were not used – not that I want to eat a bug

There’s no question that organic foods help make you healthier and feel better, but if you’re going to eat organic only some of the time and conventional (read grown with pesticides, sewer sludge and radiation) the rest of the time for financial reasons or you just feel overwhelmed with it all – don’t give up on it.

To find out which are the most important foods to eat organic, check out my next post.

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Ingrid is a board certified holistic health counselor and the founder of Full Life Nutrition LLC.  She received her training at Columbia University and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and is a member of the American Association of Drugless Practitioners (AADP).