Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Read 'n' Seed 4: Third Quarter of The Organic Food Guide

For my Fourth Read 'n' Seed I read chapters 5 and 6 of The Organic Food Guide- How to Shop Smarter and Eat Healthier.

Chapter 5: Nutrition: Are Organic Foods More Nutritious?
This chapter discusses the nutritional benefits of an organic diet versus a regular non-organic diet. According to the author, organic fruits, vegetables, grains and animal products are all much healthier than the more processed alternatives. The author noted that the use of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and insecticides actually inhibits a plants ability to manufacture antioxidants and other phytonutrients. Since pesticides and various other "cides" are not allowed in the farming of organic fruits and veggies, these organic plants are able to manufacture more antioxidants and thus, are much healthier for consumption.
The same is true for organic meats- Commercial farmers put a variety of questionable products into the feed for their livestock (as we saw in class on Monday) which can lead to problems such as mad cow disease. According to the author studies have found that organically raised cattle, sheep, and pigs have lower fat content than animals fed conventional feed.

Chapter 5: Taste: Do Organic Foods Really Taste Better?
This chapter discusses the matter of taste in organic vs. non-organic foods. Not surprisingly, the author says that organic foods do taste better than conventional non-organic foods. For the most part I found this section to be more or less subjective, but what I found most interesting was the way they tested the taste of organic vs. non-organic bananas. The Copenhagen Zoo gave chimpanzees organic bananas and bananas treated with pesticides and the chimps were actually able to tell the difference! For the bananas that were treated with pesticides, the chimps peeled and then ate the bananas whereas they ate the organic bananas peel and all. I thought it was amazing that the chimps could instinctively tell the difference between organic and non-organic bananas.

So if you're looking for a little added nutrition and improved taste, consider eating organic! Thanks for reading.

7 comments:

  1. That is so interesting how they tested the banana taste. I can believe that organic food tastes better than the stuff covered with unhealthy chemicals.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sure organic food tastes better than processed food! I wish it cost less! Interesting that the chimps could tell the taste difference with the bananas!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Apparently the chimps are a quite a bit smarter than the average U.S. consumer. I agree that organic food is much better than processed food, but on a college budget that is hard to negotiate.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's crazy that the chimps could tell the difference between the two bananas. I never really knew there was that big of difference between organic and non-organic food, now I know!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am always cautious when it comes to buying organic food. Will it taste good? In class, when I saw that the banana bread was vegan, I was afraid to try it because I was not sure what vegan meant. When I finally did try it, it tasted better! I guess the chimps really are smarter than we think!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yuck! Pesticides are bad for us AND they're taking away antioxidants and nutrients from our food? EW! Who is selling us this crap?!
    And I think you're right about organic foods tasting better being subjective. I think some of it could be psychological for us humans, but the chimps-- that's impressive!

    ReplyDelete