"Natural"/Organic = better? (pray, preference, Roman, convention)

[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?

[MidnightBlue]

Originally Posted by MaddLlama

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]

Originally Posted by 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!

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]

Originally Posted by MaddLlama

(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.

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by Pardus

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.