Organic food or not?

[greenskeeper]

"organic" foods is the next bottled water gimmick.

The majority of "organic" foods are grown with pesticides.

[Jeff Yeager]

I follow the research about organic foods pretty closely, and with the possible exception of produce where you eat the outside "surface" (e.g., lettuce as opposed to banannas) and maybe milk, there's not a lot of science to support that organic products are better for your health than non-organics (nor is there much in terms of consumer regulations as to what claiming to be "organic" really means).

That said, many of the people in my readership audience simply can't afford the higher costs of organic foods, period; they can hardly afford the cost of food at all, so the question becomes the healthiest value for their limited dollars.

So my advice to them (which is also how I eat/shop in my own life... I don't buy organics)is: 1.) It's better for your health (and WAY CHEAPER) to walk/ride your bicycle to the market and buy a pound non-organic chicken than it is to drive your SUV to the market and buy a pound of organic beef; 2.) You can always grow some organic produce - even in a container (e.g. herbs) where you *actually* know how it was raised (and you same money) as opposed to trusting a "raised organically" label.

Of course the beauty of point #1 is that you get some indesputably healthy exercise (for FREE!) making the self-powered trip to the grocery store, PLUS you save on gas/car-wear, PLUS you save even more by using those healthy activities to mitigate the (possible) downside of not buying organic. "Eating healthy" is relative, and it certainly doesn't need to cost more in either the short term or the long term.

Stay Cheap!
-Jeff Yeager
The Ultimate Cheapskate

[siggy_freud]

Thought I'd share my thoughts, however unscientific.

My GF and I buy organic whenever possible. The organic milk we get from Costco lasts twice as long as the regular stuff, so that helps us get the most from our milk. No more throwing away unused milk, and no more having to run to the store JUST to get a gallon.

We had been eating organic beef for about a year. One day, Costco was out, perhaps due to a delayed shipment, so we picked up a small (for Costco) package of non-organic. We both eat our meat well done. Let me tell you, after eating that non-organic, we just felt terrible. Not food poisoning terrible, but just . . . bad. I liken it to eating very healthy for a year, and then having a couple of big macs. They tasted fine, but within an hour or so after we just felt . . . well gnarly is the only way to describe it. I know it's anecdotal and completely unscientific, but I'll gladly pay a few more dollars to not feel that way and still be able to enjoy a burger every now and then.

Studies shift all the time, and I guess I'd rather pay slightly more and have no benefit then to pay less and come to find over the course of 30-40 years there ARE big benefits to eating organic that I missed out on. This is assuming that we'll never find that long-term exposure to pesticides and hormones has positive effects .

[Ramose]

We had been eating organic beef for about a year. One day, Costco was out, perhaps due to a delayed shipment, so we picked up a small (for Costco) package of non-organic. We both eat our meat well done. Let me tell you, after eating that non-organic, we just felt terrible. Not food poisoning terrible, but just . . . bad. I liken it to eating very healthy for a year, and then having a couple of big macs. They tasted fine, but within an hour or so after we just felt . . . well gnarly is the only way to describe it. I know it's anecdotal and completely unscientific, but I'll gladly pay a few more dollars to not feel that way and still be able to enjoy a burger every now and then.

Could this be a form of the placebo effect? You thought what you were eating was less healthy so you felt less healthy after consuming it.

[siggy_freud]

Could this be a form of the placebo effect? You thought what you were eating was less healthy so you felt less healthy after consuming it.

Certainly possible, however it wasn't until after that experience that I really felt organic to be more beneficial. But like I said, I'd rather pay more to feel better, even if it's a placebo effect, than to risk it actually being less healthy.

[elessar78]

Thought I'd share my thoughts, however unscientific.

My GF and I buy organic whenever possible. The organic milk we get from Costco lasts twice as long as the regular stuff, so that helps us get the most from our milk. No more throwing away unused milk, and no more having to run to the store JUST to get a gallon.

I don't want to burst your bubble but that has nothing to do with being organic. Milk generally lasts a long time BUT the smart grocery stores put it out on the shelves with only two weeks so consumers buy more when the jug goes bad. I think from cow to spoilage is about a month, don't quote me on that but it's a long time.

[siggy_freud]

I don't want to burst your bubble but that has nothing to do with being organic. Milk generally lasts a long time BUT the smart grocery stores put it out on the shelves with only two weeks so consumers buy more when the jug goes bad. I think from cow to spoilage is about a month, don't quote me on that but it's a long time.

I never claimed that it lasting longer was a byproduct of it being organic. It's just a reason I do buy organic. When I buy the organic stuff in mid-September, its expiration isn't until the first week in November. When I buy regular milk at the store, it expires in 1-2 weeks, vs 6.

Most expiration dates on food are a means to sell more, and not actually an indication that the food is no longer good for consumption. However with Milk, the dates tend to be rather accurate.

[bennkar]

I'll add (late apparently) that I generally don't worry about organic, though I certainly grow fruits in my back yard that way. I read one of the worst offenders for pesticides was ketchup, so I tried organic. Turned out it tasted so much better than regular ketchup, I use less of it when its used, so the cost per usage comes out almost the same as regular. Not sure if that helps much, but I think its interesting how organic food can taste so much better.