Organic Foods, are they better??

Last night on TV was the show called Bull Shit by Pen and Teller. Has anyone ever seen this show? They take a topic and tear it apart from both views to show that the one side is so off base with injections of wit, sex and flash. Last night’s topic was organic foods, which is the new buzz word for healthy foods. Back in the “80’s the buzz word for healthy food was “natural”.

I always asked what is not natural about an apple? Natural applesauce? I wondered what that was suppose to mean, did the food manufactures put a non-natural apple in there? Aren’t apple’s natural by nature anyway? Obviously the most health conscious want to stand out in front as being the elistist on food for your health. They know more than the average person on healthy nutrition. So now the buzz word is organic.

The show did a great job of doing taste tests of different fruits to determine if the organic foods taste better than the heavily preserved and pesticide laden product found in the those regular grocery stores.

It was very funny to watch these people that only buy organic foods one after another pick the non-organic food as having better flavor and taste. They were very surprized to find that it is not the taste difference that is important in the organic farming ways. What these health elisist don’t know is that pesticides do not have an effect on the quality or taste of the product. Their job is to kill all those unwanted bugs that eat the flowers and fruit of the trees, plants and bushes. They actually help create a more productive crop as oppose to an organic crop where the yield can be much lower, depending on what type of pesticide the organic farmer uses. Yes organic farmers use pesticides also that are labeled organic.

One “expert” in the taste test described how it helps rid the plants of nitrogen containing substanced that cause cancer. I guess he is not aware that nitrogen is one of only 3 nutrients required in the soil for the plant kindom to grow and produce flowers which produce our desired organic foods. hmmmm. The other two being potassium and phosphorus.

Organic foods are to be related to the decreased use of pesticides. All foods are grown the same way, apples off of trees, blueberries from blueberry bushes, tomatoes from tomato plants, onions and potatoes are root vegetables as are sweet potatoes so it’s not the growing method that makes it organic, it is organic to grow foods, it’s the human influence of throwing chemicals all over the trees, bushes and plants, the runoff into our water reserves instead of our soil. We miss many nutrients by not preparing the medium that these plants grow in, that is one of the more important aspects of growing our foods. The second being is when it is picked. This affects the taste, if picked too soon, it will not have the taste since the carbohydrate content is not at it’s highest.

Have you ever had a mango, pear or apple from the store and then one from your neighbor’s back yard? What a difference in taste, A store bought mango is far from ripe and when we leave it out to ripen on the counter, it has to be watched closely since it will turn and spoil sooner than the fruit picked straight from the trees of our neighbors or own back yard. That is one of the many differences between organic and non-organic.

A tradtional farmer needs to constantly replenish the soil, add fertilizer and organic or standard pesticides to protect their production crop, where as the backyard farmer can use thier own raw peelings, eggs shells and coffee grinds to composte and replenish the soil.

If you want the best tasting produce then start your own garden, learn how to create composte, or go to the local farmer of the farmer’s market where is was just picked the day before. Don’t throw all of the produce in the refigerator, some vegtable and fruits need to be refrigerated to keep them fresh and crisp. Let it ripen on the counter and enjoy it over the next 3-5 days. Buy the organic produce if you are going to eat the skin or bake it, if boiling it then most of the chemicals will leach out into the water. Happy eating those tasty foods.

Dieting pet peeve # 100

Welcome to the diet world where half of the USA is on a diet and the other half is making money off of them. That is not my pet peeve, well it is one of them but my biggest pet peeve is what people really think about dieting. What is the first thing they do to diet? They restrict the food they normally eat. Yes, restricting is the means by which everyone decides is the key factor to losing weight. So what is the first thing that happens when a person restricts? They crave that food or desire more food. It is all they can think of, when will they get to eat next, what will it be? Not more of the same vegetables that are raw, not even cooked in a sauce or butter. Have you ever tried to cut out just one food from your diet? I know a common diet that everyone tries, the low carb diet. so now breads are not allowed. So what do you think happens to your body when you restrict breads? I could get into a whole biochemical effect however I am talking about mentally, what happens to us? Don't we miss the nice yeasty aroma of bread. It tastes so good, it is so satisfying to the body, it's a comfort food for some people. There is nothing better than fresh baked bread. We start to crave this bread we have denied ourselves all for losing weight. So how long will this last? For some strong willed people, mostly men, it can last for months and they do lose weight, which is usually water and muscle mass to keep our blood sugars at a normal level. Now when they go back to their normal diet, guess what happens? opps, the weight starts coming back on....The same goes for other diets on the market, once we go off of them, we go back to our diet and we start to gain the weight back. It is such a bummer, you have worked so hard at losing that weight, avoiding all your favorite foods, munching on carrots until you feel like you have grown rabbit ears so no wonder we go back to our normal diet habits That is what we know and enjoy so the weight loss cycle continues. we lose some and then we gain it back. Restriction is not a method to lose weight, eating well is a method of losing weight. but that is so much easier said then done. When you think of eating well, what comes to your mind? salads, low fat ice cream, low fat potato chips- oh man, there is another pet peeve- low fat products= ok, so the foods have lower calories and they can be taste-less but you think they are good for you, right? did you know that when you start eating non- processed foods, you can eat a whole lot more? Are you aware that if you eat more often, it will increase your metabolism and give you more energy? Have you ever tried those two techniques? Here is your challenge from me- for two weeks, I want you to eat 4-6 small meals a day and avoid processed foods, such as low fat foods, sugar free, just eat real foods. Drink your water- either 4-16 oz bottles a day or 50% of your body weight in ounces. Let me know how you do.