You Are What You Eat
I honestly believe that the pesticide residues found on fruit and vegetables are doing harm to our bodies. Although only small residues can be found in our food, this can add up over time, over the years, possibly leading to cancer or other diseases. I read somewhere once that it can take up to 2 years from these toxic chemicals to be eliminated from our body once we convert to eating organic food.
Healthy Sundae writes about organic produce:
The more fruits and vegetables you eat, the more DAMAGE you could be doing to your body. Totally counter to what we have always been told, right? Well, if you consume inorganic produce, the more you eat, the more pesticides you are putting in your body.
That seems pretty obvious and seeing we are exposed to so many pollutants in our daily lives we can at least control the level of pesticides in our bodies by reducing or eliminating how much we consume. They also write:
“But I wash my fruits and vegetables,” you say. It’s not enough. Washing doesn’t remove all the pesticides and it can’t penetrate to remove the toxins that have soaked into the food. Also, take something like a banana - just having it in a fruit bowl contaminates everything the dirty peel touches. How often have you washed your banana before putting it in the bowl or handing it to your child?
While I agree that washing isn’t sufficient, it seems a bit extreme to suggest that an unwashed banana will contaminate your entire fruit bowl. I wouldn’t worry too much about that.
Besides the toxins you avoid with organics, organic fruits and veggies have higher levels of anti-oxidants and tend to have more flavor than their conventional counterparts.
The nutritional differences in organic produce is debatable and there is evidence going both ways. As for the taste, I have a friend who insists that organic food tastes better than conventionally grown food but I can’t tell the difference.
I think it’s great to promote eating organic food as ingesting small amounts of chemicals over the long term can’t possibly for good for us but we need to be reasonable too. Most of us don’t eat enough fruit and vegetables and that should be our priority. Of course I think pesticide free is better but I’d rather eat a bowl of thoroughly washed conventionally grown fruit salad than no salad at all.
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Their article is quite condescending but they do have a good list of foods where they recommend you always go for the organic varieties.
I have a similar list of foods with the least pesticide residues.
I can understand when people are on the fence about organic food. There is alot of information for both arguements. However if you look at the drive behind each arguement and the fact that there is no one to gain anything on the side of organic it helps you make your decision. There is more and more information and scientific tests coming out in favour of organic food, especially overseas. I myself have come to realize after extensive elimination diets including one that cut out natural food chemicals like amines and glutamates that my son is extremely sensitive to the pesticides and preservatives put in/on our food. He breaks out in an aweful rash that lasts for over a month and some chemicals have brought on breathing difficulty. My son is 16mnths old. I dont need to see serveys and scientific analysis of hundreds or thousands of people. These chemicals are very harmful. What are they doing to you and I that we cant see or dont know about yet.
Penny - I completely agree. I don’t need to see medical research to know that chemicals in the environment and our food are harmful. It’s just common sense.
I hope your son is doing ok now.