Is Organic Food Really Worth It? |
| Posted on Dec 05 2008 at 3:59 PM |
Is organic food really worth it? by Shane Heaton
Is the credit crunch squeezing your family budget? Are you starting to cut back on luxuries, and unnecessary ‘necessities’? Now’s the perfect time to reconsider what’s really important to you. In a world gone mad with uncertainty, the challenge is to keep your head (and your health) while all those around you are losing theirs. The trick is to keep things simple, reprioritise if need be, and build certainty in your life by focussing your energies on what’s really important.
And there are few things more important for yourself or your family than having good food to eat. Apparently some people are turning to fast food and frozen meals to try to save money. Now this really is a world gone mad! Don’t let the global financial crisis become a personal health crisis. Organic food isn’t a luxury - it’s how food’s supposed to be. The price of organics is the real price of real food, paid now, not later to clean up the environment or your health. Furthermore, more of that price goes to the farmers who grew it (not supermarkets and food processors), and in the uncertain times ahead organic farmers need and deserve your support, and we need them.
So if you (or your partner) needed any reminding or reassurance that organics really is worth it, here’s a few things to keep in mind…
Organic food contains more nutrients, as confirmed again by the largest study of its kind just released, showing 20-80% more nutrients in organics.
Organic food contains fewer pesticide residues. While government studies show residues of individual chemicals in conventional foods are low, their combined effect is almost completely unknown. Don’t wait, as unfortunately many people do, to get diagnosed with cancer before you get interested in real food. Not using pesticides also makes farming safer for farmers, their families and local communities.
Organic food contains no artificial additives such as sweeteners or colours, which a major new study has now unequivocally linked to hyperactivity, learning and behavioural problems in children.
Organic food maintains soil health and helps combat climate change by locking up carbon in the soil rather than releasing it into the atmosphere.
But best of all organic food tastes fantastic - give your taste buds a treat and remind them what food used to taste like.
Shane Heaton is the resident nutritionist for whyorgonic.org, a Soil Association website.