"Natural"/Organic = better?

[MaddLlama]

Natural and organic foods seem to be very popular now (and I admit to liking a lot of "natural" brands of food), and their biggest claim is that they're healthier for you since they contain fewer chemicals than other produce and packaged food. But, is this necessarily true? Sometimes the natural foods are lower in fat, calories and cholesterol, but other times they're equal to other brands (Like, the Aunt Annies boxed mac & cheese is pretty much the same, nutrition label wise, to the Kraft brands).

Is there a nutritional reason to "go natural", or does it come down to environmental and personal preference?

 

[Smoke]

Is there a nutritional reason to "go natural", or does it come down to environmental and personal preference?

I'd be interested to know.

We buy a limited number of organic foods, but not really for nutritional reasons. John prefers the taste of organic milk (all milk tastes nasty to me), and we buy cage free eggs because I don't like thinking about how chickens are often treated, etc.

 

[Pardus]

Well i can tell you from working in a supermarket, those toilet paper rolls that come in recycled paper, they all come held together by the same amount of plastic.

It's all marketing.

 

[Hema]

I think that they are healthier because they don't have all the chemicals. A while ago my dad grew some tomatoes organically and they were the sweetest tomatoes I ever ate in my whole life!

 

[Booko]

Be very wary in the U.S. the term "natural" as it has no meaning whatsoever. You can put "natural" on a jar of Cheese Whiz if you like.

Frankly, I avoid brands that use "natural" because it tells me they want to lie to me about their product and I'm not playing their silly marketing game.

"Organic" actually does have a meaning. Certified Organic (look for the green oval) is even better.

I can tell you this -- I feel much better the more organic food I eat and it is tastier too. My liver is already on overload -- the last thing I need is to give it *anything* more to detox.

Odds are my little hospital episode a couple of weeks ago was due to eating non-organic food at my Mom's for several weeks. Funny, but I have most of my episodes when I'm at her house, even though I'm not getting anything I'm allergic to.

Some caveats, though. It's still important the stuff be fresh. You've probably seen organic areas where the food looks iffy? Well, it's lost many nutrients by then.

Also, buying local is better. The food is fresher and will have more nutrients, even if it isn't organic.

Also, I don't care for GMOs. I don't care if they are "safe" for us -- environmental studies have pointed out that many of them are not safe for the native wildlife, especially some beneficial insect populations.

As for fruits and vegs, some things are more important to have organic than others. I don't eat conventional strawberries, ever. Aside from the fact that almost all of them are GMO these days, they should be thought of as "pesticide sponges." I am less concerned about melons.

The time of growth when pesticides are sprayed and the ability of the plant to absorb the pesticide is everything. If it's sprayed when flowering, then the fruit will contain the pesticide. It isn't just a surface thing where you can wash off much of it.

If the rind or outside is fairly impermeable (like melons) and it's sprayed after flowering, it's less of an issue.

 

[Pardus]

I think that they are healthier because they don't have all the chemicals. A while ago my dad grew some tomatoes organically and they were the sweetest tomatoes I ever ate in my whole life!

Until you can see it with your own eyes, it's safest to assume they are only doing the least they have to to qualify for what they are claiming.

 

[Booko]

(Like, the Aunt Annies boxed mac & cheese is pretty much the same, nutrition label wise, to the Kraft brands).

Uh, ML -- boxed mac and cheese is not food. :cover:

Honestly, even though Velveeta is lousy "cheese" it would taste better if you just cook and drain the pasta, then stir in some cubes of Velveeta until it melts. You'll never eat boxed again.

If you want to do it the real way, make a white sauce (not hard) and drop some real shredded cheese into it. That is real mac & cheese. I know that sounds like a lot of work, but really after you've made a white sauce about 3 times you don't even think about it any more.

And then you could actually give it some nutritional value and use whole wheat pasta.

Ooh, I haven't made pasta alfredo for a very long while. I need to make some almond milk and I have plenty of Romano about the house. It's still too high in carbs for me, but I don't do it often.

*heads off to soak almonds*

 

[MaddLlama]

Be very wary in the U.S. the term "natural" as it has no meaning whatsoever. You can put "natural" on a jar of Cheese Whiz if you like.

I know, but that's not really what I'm talking about. I'm talking about things you can buy at a store like Whole Foods, or a brand like Kashi and Nature's Place.

What I'm asking is if it's necessarily healthier to buy Kashi granola bars over Quaker Oats, or Nature's Place oat cereal over Cheerios.

 

[Booko]

Until you can see it with your own eyes, it's safest to assume they are only doing the least they have to to qualify for what they are claiming.

This is especially so in the U.S., where agribusiness is continually trying to water down the meaning of "organic" even more than it already is.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

When it comes to coffee, from what I've been able to find out, it seems that the growers in many coffee regions don't generally use pesticides and fertilizers anyhow because they can't afford them; in these cases, being "certified organic" really only says that the coffee farmer in question has a large enough operation that he or she can afford the certification process.

 

[Halcyon]

Here's a funny fact for you that i picked up during my first job testing pesticides.

"Organic" fruit, because it goes untreated with pesticides, is prone to be attacked (nibbled) by insects. This allows a certain fungus to get in (i really wish i remembered what it was called, but this was about 4 years ago and my memory is rubbish). You won't notice the fungus on the surface of the fruit because its hyphae grow into the soft pulp of the fruit, and in doing so excrete an extremely potent carcinogen.

Personally, i just buy non-organic fruit and wash off the residue. Some pesticide soaks into the fruit itself and can't be washed off, but generally insecticidal pesticides aren't harmful to human beings, especially in the small amounts we find in food.

 

[Hema]

Until you can see it with your own eyes, it's safest to assume they are only doing the least they have to to qualify for what they are claiming.

I don't doubt that. Lots of companies lie to get their goods sold. My husband used to work at a cosmetics company that manufactured a hair gel that claimed to have aloe in it, but it didn't!

If foodstuff really is genuinely organic though, I think that it's healthier.

 

[Booko]

What I'm asking is if it's necessarily healthier to buy Kashi granola bars over Quaker Oats, or Nature's Place oat cereal over Cheerios.

Look at the nutritional information first and especially the sugar amount. You may find off the bat that the big brands tend to jam stuff with sugar. That might put you off of the stuff right away.

Then look at the kinds of sweeteners they use. Not all of them are created equal. Refined sweetners like high fructose corn syrup and white sugar are always going to be metabolized very quickly and spike insulin levels. Brown rice syrup, honey, barley malt, and dates are often used as sweeteners in the natural brands, and overall those are better.

Honestly the best way to get granola bars is to make your own and toss in a bit of protein powder to boot, because granola bars are all carbs, and some of them are about as nutritious as a candy bar. You can find recipes all over the net for that sort of thing, and you can store them in a freezer if you make bulk.

I'm about to experiment with some protein bars for Eibhlin. She has to have something she can take to dance competitions that needs no refrigeration, and I'm finding Bar Clif to be okay but more expensive and I have to drive places to find them. Better if I just make my own. I have a deep freezer after all. Might as well use the thing.

 

[Booko]

Some pesticide soaks into the fruit itself and can't be washed off, but generally insecticidal pesticides aren't harmful to human beings, especially in the small amounts we find in food.

They aren't harmful depending on what body mass you have and how many other toxins you're exposed to. In my case, they are noticably harmful. But as you say, some fruits and vegs I guy conventional, and in the case of others strictly organic. That seems to work pretty well.

I'm growing a lot of my own stuff and canning these days anyway, so many of my tomatoes are organic anyway.

As for organic stuff, it doesn't mean I can eat it anyway. I'm having a hard time finding a non-corn-polluted organic brand (Muir Glen has citric acid) but no difficult time finding conventional store or Mexican brands without citric acid. So the choice is kinda made for me there, unless I really want the work of making my own tomato paste from organic tomates, which is frankly more than I care to do.

 

[Pardus]

I don't doubt that. Lots of companies lie to get their goods sold. My husband used to work at a cosmetics company that manufactured a hair gel that claimed to have aloe in it, but it didn't!

I've had to perform alot of actions during work which have laid heavily on my conscience, most of which were also illegal.

Tho i have been told that British companies are less dodgy by someone who worked over there for a few years.

 

[Mathematician]

Natural and organic don't mean the same thing. As Booko explained, natural can be thrown around on anything. Look at juices. It will say "natural," but then the ingredients will sing a completely different tune.

 

[MaddLlama]

Natural and organic don't mean the same thing. As Booko explained, natural can be thrown around on anything. Look at juices. It will say "natural," but then the ingredients will sing a completely different tune.

Yes, but there are some brands that are, for the most part, natural. The kinds of packaged foods you can get at the health food store, or in the "natural" part of the grocery store. Most major chains have them.

I'm not talking about advertising gimmicks or slimy marketing to ride to coattails of a fad. I'm talking about products that actually are more natural and use fewer chemicals than major brands.

 

[rojse]

I love the loaded emotive qualities behind the words natural and organic.

 

[Ever learning]

Well as for the so called organic stuff they are selling in the supermarket, it has me worried on what is realy in there. However i can taste the difference in fruits and vegetables my friend grows organically in her garden,tast´s better than the store bought crap.

 

[Valjean]

I think it goes without saying that foods free of potentially harmful extraneous toxins are preferable to untainted foods. The question is mainly one of how harmful these agricultural chemical residues actually are and how much more we're willing to pay for comestibles free of them.