Well, it looks like congratulations might be in order to all of us health minded shoppers! Years of voting with our wallets for higher quality, more nutrient dense, less toxic foods has led to yet another rung being achieved on the ladder of holistic nutrition. According to Consumer Reports, nearly 2/3′s of Americans bought organic comestibles in 2005, and sales growth of organic food has outpaced the mainstream food industry every year since 1997. And now, as a sort of signpost for the moment, or tribute to achievements so far, Wal Mart has announced this past Spring that it will be adding 1000 new organic products in all of its stores. And in true Wal-Mart fashion, prices for these items are intended to be only 10% more than the mainstream equivalents. If money is your priority, you should know that currently organic runs about 50% more than conventional. Not a bad deal!

But money is not what drives the organic shopper, obviously. Although definitely an issue to be considered in our market based culture, the organics industry has grown phenomenally despite higher costs because there are other values known and considered. Fewer pesticides being sprayed onto food and into the environment is the most apparent. Monsanto has for years been pushing a genetically modified seed that allows for heavy spraying of it’s popular product Roundup, without damage to the plant. Use of common herbicides and pesticides by conventional farmers is associated with a marked increase in Parkinsons within that group. Then there are the sprays applied post harvest, intended to prevent the sprouting or spoilage of the produce. The current organic standards prohibit all of these practices. And irradiation of food, or the killing off of all that sustains life but creates unidentified radiolytic products (URPS), is definitely off the table as well.

And then there is the most obvious benefit: more people can afford it and, according to all the logic we employ in our decision to buy organic, their lives/health should see an improvement from it. Take that one step further, and maybe we should even expect to see improvements in the amount of $ going for healthcare.

Going too far? Well, yes. But only to make the point that there is more to good health than the purchase of organic foods.

Never confuse absence of toxins with nutrient density. And it is the nutrients we need; the poisons should not even be an issue. The problem of exposure to herbicides, pesticides, preservatives, etc., is, historically, relatively recent and entirely contrived by man and market. I whole heartedly endorse dispensing with these things. The only downside is to the grocers profit. But correction of this folly is not what goes into creating healthy bodies. It is the nutrients.

Now it is true that organic produce has tested more nutrient dense than its conventional counterparts. This is because organic plants will naturally remain higher yield and pest and disease resistant if they are healthy plants, thus making the farmers job quite a bit easier. But organic does not always mean “healthy”. There are degrees of healthiness. Take for instance the lettuce many of us buy every week for our portion of healthy, raw greens. There is the organic choice from California, chopped who knows when, with

rustformed on the bottom, indicating oxidation and loss of nutrients. If it’s the prepackaged, prewashed variety, I’m sure it’s good (I know I buy it often enough) but when was it picked and how far did it have to travel to make it to the store? From the moment it’s harvested it begins to loose nutrients. Greens, fruits, root vegetables, -this is true of all produce. So if nutrients are your priority, and they are why you’re eating at all, this needs to be taken into consideration. Compare this to the nutrient density of locally grown produce, delivered to your grocer (or you) within 24 hours of harvest..

Another thing to consider with imported (from California, S. America, New Delhi, where ever) foods is the cost to the environment in the use of non-renewable resources, fossil fuels, packaging, etc.. If we view ourselves as part of the ecosystem and see that ultimately our health and the health of our environment are inextricably linked, then we have to also acknowledge that designing a diet around foods that are harvested hundreds of miles away, packaged, stored, in many cases processed, then shipped via planes, trains and trucks, is not ideal. Exposure to exhaust fumes or xenoestrogens from plastic packaging is no less damaging when the food is organic.

Then there is the question of

processing. It is quite possible, as I’m sure you know, to have an organic product that has zero health benefits beyond calories and fiber. Therefore, it is an altered priority to focus so strongly on organics as justification for, say, junk food consumption. Organic chips are still deep fried chips, loaded with calories, carbs, and fats heated beyond molecular tolerance. They are not nourishing you. They are, however, taxing to your system to digest and metabolize, using up nutrients already in the body, instead of contributing to their stores or manufacture. The same goes for organic cookies, candies, crackers, white flours, etc.. And yes, though it pains me to say it, organic ice cream. We all indulge from time to time, but do not fool yourself: lack of pesticides and preservatives did not make Sunday’s desert good for you. Just a little less damaging than the alternative.

The lack of enzymes in cooked food is not mitigated in the least by whether or not the food is organic. Of course we prefer the absence of toxins. But that alone does not equal healthy. Raw food freshly picked and eaten contains maximum nutrients and all the enzymes necessary for it’s digestion. Your metabolic enzyme stores are not taxed, but free to do other

housekeeping chores around your body. A raw foods diet is a great way to detoxify your body, and although fresh and organic is ideal, it is from the rawness, the aliveness properties of the food that the benefit is derived.

Food from a locally grown source that, although not certified organic, is growing food with that intelligence, is surely a better, more nutrient dense choice than a processed and packaged organic food. IPM, or Integrated Pest Management, is one viable alternative to organic. Organic certification is expensive, and though I’m not saying you’d never be fooled, I think most local grower’s (local meaning

I know where you live) who want your continued business, will not be claiming organically grown when it’s not. You don’t need government certification to grow organically, and for maximum health, long term, you’re better off establishing a personal relationship with your local grocer and farmer(s) and relying on your collective education and integrity, than relying on a government which is perpetually besieged by vested interests.

Locally and organically grown also means that we benefit in the concomitant restoration of our very depleted soils. The movement westward in the settling of this country was in part spurred along by our bad farming habits which depleted soils and forced settlers to move on to more fertile areas. Especially in the East, where naturally occurring nutrients were farmed out of the soil well over a 100 years ago, adoption of organic methods would result in, locally, a start to the repair of the damage done. It will take more than our lifetime for total restoration to occur, but vast improvements can be made by recognizing the need to return nutrients to the soil( minus the toxins).

This need to look beyond organic applies to all foods: produce, meat, poultry, fish. Factory farming is not just for mainstream anymore. The past 15 years has seen certified organic farms stretching the limits of the definition by such practices as feeding organic soybeans to cows who never see pasture, and other such un-natural practices. The qualities of the flesh of the animal are very much determined by the foods they are fed and the conditions under which they are raised. Nature has already created the menu. Feeding prepackaged organic feed to an animal (cow, fish, pig, chicken) raised in a pen or other un-natural setting is going to alter it’s nutrient value to you as consumer. Exposure to sun, fresh air, clean pasture, water, etc., all build a healthier animal than the factory farmed variety, regardless of the organic label.

For centuries now, we’ve been educated away from the land and the natural world in general. It’s time now to recognize and understand our very vital connection to it. Without good, healthy soils, and the crops that they yield, the continuation of our very existence as a species is in question. In the long run, trying to live without that connection, on nutrient depleted, processed, toxin laden food stuffs, is like trying to produce a play without a stage, theatre or players. I applaud the mainstreaming of organics for its part in the unmocking of chemicals from our food supply and our environment. But it is the nutrients that sustain us, not the absence of chemicals. We need to remember this, and shop and eat and live with this in mind. And if we do this, the market will continue to respond to the publics demands, and just maybe the potential reality of less money needed for healthcare will actually become a reality.

Be Well,
Jean Franklin, PhD
PS: For more uplifting information about what is occurring on subject, read about Powell River, the

local eating capital of North America, and the 100 mile diet at http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/09/powell_river_bc.php.