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Boost your cancer-fighting potential by choosing produce grown without synthetic pesticides.
My husband always makes fun of me when I pass over the $3 gallon of regular milk to take the $7 gallon of organic milk. "Don't you know where milk comes from? It's all freaking ORGANIC." Well, no, not in the truest sense of the word, it's not. In the scientific world, "organic" means that the item contains carbon, or was produced "of the earth." "Organic" in the consumer packaged goods industry is a shorthand way of saying that the item was produced without hormones, chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Besides, I buy just one brand of organic milk because it tastes better, not because it's necessarily organic. But truthfully, if the prices were the same, I would buy organic every damned time without even batting an eye. The word "organic" has come to be some kind of benediction of health in my mind, even though I know that it's not always the case.
Take for example, this recent article in The New York Times about Dr. Alan Greene, who performed a three-year experiment where nothing but organic food passed his lips. After three years, he found that he's feeling much more healthy, is resistant to colds and flu bugs, and has very yellow pee (um, thanks for sharing). He credits the inherent organic-ness of his food choices, but also mentions that he had to cut back on the amount of meat he was eating in order to keep the costs down, which probably had something to do with his increased energy as well (as Chow astutely pointed out). One of the primary things I noticed when I was a vegetarian (eating distinctly non-organic fare, because I was so very poor) was the increase in energy and the immediate decrease in energy whenever I'd consume meat. Also, I would assume that Dr. Greene was eating more fruits and vegetables after going organic, too. (Don't forget about these exotic winter fruits that will keep you energized.)
Eating organic or not is a personal and financial decision for everyone, but it's frustrating to see confusing messages like "you must eat organic to feel better" coming from a health professional when really, there were at least three variables to Dr. Greene's amazing health improvement. Claiming his health benefits are all due to organic food is shoddy root cause analysis. The important take away is not "buy the $7 milk" but rather, look at the amazing stuff that can happen when you eat mostly plants. Whoops, there I go quoting Michael Pollan again. Look...turkeys!
Related:Don't eat these over-processed foods for breakfast!
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