Organic vs. Commercial produce

[Guest guest]

I have definitely had this experience, Jeff, with both commercial

fruits & veggies. They taste dead, flavorless, and are so

unappealing, I don't want to eat them. In the rare instances that I

feel I must eat commercially grown produce, I eat as little as

possible.

 

In preparation, I always bring my basket of organic fruit along!

 

These experiences let me know how fortuate I am to be living in a

place with abundant organic choices. Everything is so tastey and

full of life. Yum.

 

Tina

[Guest guest]

I don't taste much difference between organic and not organic.

 

When I first arrived to this country, this was my biggest disappointment, that

all fruits and vegetable taste flavorless. Unless it's local and in season.

Organic or not organic, if it's local and in season it taste better, but still

no any comparison with what I used to eat in Russia from my own dacha.

 

 

Tina Bystrom <bystrom wrote:I have definitely had this experience,

Jeff, with both commercial

fruits & veggies. They taste dead, flavorless, and are so

unappealing, I don't want to eat them. In the rare instances that I

feel I must eat commercially grown produce, I eat as little as

possible.

 

In preparation, I always bring my basket of organic fruit along!

 

These experiences let me know how fortuate I am to be living in a

place with abundant organic choices. Everything is so tastey and

full of life. Yum.

 

Tina

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Thanks for sharing your observations, Jeff. Here's my opinion about

organic vs. non-organic.

 

All things being equal, organic is always a better choice. Since all

things are hardly ever equal, however, I think it's a mistake to buy

organic as a matter of policy. The only comparison I've done with specific

organic vs. non-organic foods was with grapefruit this last winter. It was

a staple for me so I ate lots of it. My only source for organic grapefruit

was PCC and it was expensive ($1.59/lb!) and of low quality. The

conventional grapefruit I bought at Fred Meyer were reliably juicy, sweet

and ripe, and very cheap by comparison (3-5/$1).

 

Ripeness is much more important than whether a food is organic. Our senses

work in coordination and synchronicity with our digestive system (and the

rest of our body, for that matter). When we smell the wonderful fragrance

of a ripe mango and see its bright colors, for example, that's our

digestive system telling us via our senses that it can digest that food.

Fruit that is in a perfect state of ripeness has the most potential for

being entirely utilized by the body. Sweet, fragrant, colorful and

flavorful foods are most appealing because they are the most digestible.

 

When we eat unripe fruit, a large percentage of it cannot be utilized

because the chemical processes that convert the components in the food into

usable nutrients have not yet taken place. Like in bananas, for example,

the ripening process turns the starch to sugar. Our bodies love sugar, but

they're not equipped to handle much starch. Starch doesn't get digested,

for the most part, it either gets stored (in fat) or eliminated.

 

There is no question that organic growing practices are superior to

conventional in most cases for obvious reasons. Food that has been treated

with synthetic chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers

obviously contain substances that our bodies will not be able to use and

will have to eliminate. However, the residues of these substances on

conventionally grown food are minuscule compared to what our bodies have to

eliminate if we eat food that is biologically inappropriate, processed,

cooked, low quality (according to our senses) OR unripe. When you consider

that disease is all about the accumulation of waste in the body, it's easy

to see how a ripe, high-quality piece of conventionally grown fruit would

be preferable to an unripe, low-quality piece of organic fruit.

 

That being said, however, there are certain foods that I rarely eat unless

they are organic: Apples, grapes, bananas, figs, cherries, berries,

tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and celery. That's because the organic

versions are reliably available and usually of relatively high quality and

I'm concerned about pesticide residues on the skins of these foods (not

because these foods necessarily have more residues, but just because the

skin is consumed). But, I do eat non-organic citrus, melons, avocados,

papayas, mangoes, nuts, coconuts and durian because these foods are often

not available organically and even when they are, the conventionally grown

versions are sometimes of higher quality. Imo, it would be crazy to not

eat our #1 primary food, tropical fruit, because you can't get it locally

or organically grown. Conventionally grown, ripe mangoes are a far better

choice than, say, organically and locally grown carrots or broccoli for the

simple reason that mangoes are inherently more appropriate for and usable

by the human body.

 

I've often seen people in other areas lamenting their lack of access to

organic foods and using this as an excuse to eat cooked, commercially

prepared or otherwise unsuitable foods. Like it's better to eat organic

wheat thins than conventional mangoes. As " organic " becomes mainstreamed

and big business, we need to be alert to the fact that our organic food is

increasingly going to be produced by the same mega-conglomerates that put

out the regular crap that is available in stores, with the same lack of

concern for digestibility, flavor, ripeness, soil quality, etc. These

things should be of as much concern to us as whether or not synthetic

chemicals are used. If I lived in a place where organic wasn't available,

I'd judge strictly on biological appropriateness and ripeness.

 

Thanks again for starting this thread Jeff.

Nora

 

 

 

Jeff Rogers wrote:

 

> I just wanted to share something. I've been eating predominantly

> organic for well over a decade. I've known from experience that

> organic has tasted better and I have even felt better from eating it.

> It has also occured to me that it has been a very long time since I

> had done comparisons on some foods such as greens.

>

> On my recent trip to the east coast I was delayed at the Dallas

> Airport, stuck in the airport for an extra 6 hours before finally

> being sent to the airport Hyatt with the rest of the passengers from

> the Seattle flight. I was given two meal vouchers (totaling $14.00)

> for the hyatt. I had already used a voucher at the airport and

> fortunately found a sufficient supply of commercial bananas to hold

> me (my own organic supply had been used up hours earlier). At the

> Hyatt I ordered a double size field greens salad to use up the

> voucher. There was nothing organic in the entire hotel and no grocery

> stores within 15 minutes by cab (according to hotel staff). The salad

> was very rich looking. Lots of deep greens. In the room I tried some

> bites of it. I couldn't eat it. Besides a little spice in some of the

> greens, it had no flavor. The flavor I was use to from salad greens

> was missing. It was quite bland. I was amazed at just how plain that

> were. I could not bring myself to dontinue eating it. It did not

> taste natural. Even the texture was different. At least the earlier

> bananas tasted reasonable.

>

> Has anyone else had similar experiences comparing commercial and

> organic produce (minus the whole Dallas airport thing?)

>

> Jeff

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

jeff wrote;

> Has anyone else had similar experiences comparing commercial and

> organic produce (minus the whole Dallas airport thing?)

 

hi everyone...

i've had experiences both ways

in fact i purchased a head of locally grown organic lettuce last week,

most of which, i threw out

it was huge in size, almost 4#'s, and only 1.29 but the outer leaves

were tough and the inner leaves were blanched and rotting

i would guess that it was fed too much manure causing it to grow out of

proportion

i went back to joe's garden (not organic) and got a more normal sized

head of lettuce for .99 and found it to totally edible cept for the

outer leaves which were beat up from handling...

the brix was slightly higher than the organic lettuce i threw out

 

so i feel it depends on how the produce is grown more than if it's

organic or conventionally grown

(and there are no nutritional requirements for organic produce)

 

for one thing, many farmers simply don't feel the cost of organic

certification is worth the $ return

and other farmers don't agree with how the gov't is degrading organic

requirements

may just farmer's that sell locally just label their produce " no sprays "

 

i find those terms, organic and conventional, interesting...

everything was organically grown until recent times so i think

organically grown food should be labeled ''conventional'' and non

organically grown food should be labeled something else but big $

industry rules

 

in general, i feel we are way better off eating organic cuz of the

sprays...

we know that the ''cides'' (pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc) are

bad for us and the planet

but i wonder how bad conscientiously applied non-organic fertilizers are

for us

 

looks like another good day for watermelon...

norm... : ))~

[Guest guest]

>> but i wonder how bad conscientiously applied non-organic fertilizers are

for us

 

 

 

organic or non-organic fertilizers are all bad for our health when it was used

too much, because of nitrate.

 

 

 

http://www.agroecology.org/people/joji/research/nitrate.htm

 

 

 

By the way watermelons, melons and cucumbers accumulate a lot of nitrate, not

only green veggies.

 

 

 

kelpguy <kelpguy wrote:

 

hi everyone...

i've had experiences both ways

in fact i purchased a head of locally grown organic lettuce last week,

most of which, i threw out

it was huge in size, almost 4#'s, and only 1.29 but the outer leaves

were tough and the inner leaves were blanched and rotting

i would guess that it was fed too much manure causing it to grow out of

proportion

i went back to joe's garden (not organic) and got a more normal sized

head of lettuce for .99 and found it to totally edible cept for the

outer leaves which were beat up from handling...

the brix was slightly higher than the organic lettuce i threw out

 

so i feel it depends on how the produce is grown more than if it's

organic or conventionally grown

(and there are no nutritional requirements for organic produce)

 

for one thing, many farmers simply don't feel the cost of organic

certification is worth the $ return

and other farmers don't agree with how the gov't is degrading organic

requirements

may just farmer's that sell locally just label their produce " no sprays "

 

i find those terms, organic and conventional, interesting...

everything was organically grown until recent times so i think

organically grown food should be labeled ''conventional'' and non

organically grown food should be labeled something else but big $

industry rules

 

in general, i feel we are way better off eating organic cuz of the

sprays...

we know that the ''cides'' (pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc) are

bad for us and the planet

but i wonder how bad conscientiously applied non-organic fertilizers are

for us

 

looks like another good day for watermelon...

norm... : ))~

 

 

 

 

 

 

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