Health Benefits of Eating Organic - Research Paper Example

Health benefits of eating organic Over the last few years a major trend in healthy eating has developed: organic food has become a big business. There are now lots of farms and markets that sell organic products and there are whole organizations out there that certify produce as organic or not. Lots of supermarkets have gotten in on the fad and have started whole sections of their stores selling organic products; they advertise it heavily and it brings in significant revenue. Countless magazines articles have written about organic food, and celebrities have bragged about which organic food dishes they like best. A whole industry devoted to the promotion of organic food has sprouted up like the green sprouts of an organically grown carrot. Why the sudden attention paid towards organic food? What is it about organic food that makes it so incredibly popular and has captured so many peoples’ imaginations? The answer is simple: organic food is very nutritious, chemical free and it is a way of taking back your diet from the Big Agro—the huge agriculture companies that have come to dictate our diets to us and in some ways our whole lives. The organic food movement represents a real shift away from this domination. It is also a way of empowering people to make healthy choices about their bodies and the world around them. As the middle class expanded more and more throughout the 1980s, people got richer and more affluent. They became more educated and the had more money in their pockets to spend as they saw fit. The result was that they wanted more choice. In the past people used to simply buy what was available to them in the supermarket, now however with more time and more education they have demanded more choice and more control over the products that they want to buy—especially when it comes to something as important as food, what everyone needs to live and what can affect our health so profoundly. Instead of simply buying what the supermarket has on sale, consumers these days will read the labelling, look at the nutritional information, and even do research about food companies. There is a real impulse to buy ethical products, products that are environmentally friendly, and products that don’t harm the world around us. As Mark Bittman recently wrote in the New York Times: There’s plenty of evidence that both a person’s health — as well as the environment’s — will improve with a simple shift in eating habits away from animal products and highly processed foods to plant products and what might be called “real food.” (With all due respect to people in the “food movement,” the food need not be “slow,” either.)1 There are numerous health benefits, both personal and relating to the environment, to eating an organic diet. There are many pesticides, for example, that are linked to cancer in humans and that are present in a lot of food grown on big commercial farms that don’t get the loving care of an organic farm. The idea of poisons on food may sound repulsive but for many years few people knew that they were being used. People simply trusted companies to tell them the truth. These days people are more sceptically about the products they buy and they are better informed. Children are very vulnerable to these toxic chemicals and must be protected from them. Many non-organic foods may also be genetically engineered which may also be bad. If we eat a diet only of Frankenfoods—food altered in a lab—who knows what sort of changes our own bodies may undergo. Again this is important for young people who are still growing. Additionally, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that organic foods are more nutritious than other types of food. They have more vitamins and other nutrients. The spend more time under the sun and less time being driven and shipped huge distances to far away market places which diminishes the quality of the food. Another important point is that farmers take care producing this produce instead of simply trying to grow as much as possible of a middling quality vegetable in order to maximize profits. Organic farmers care about the health of their consumers and take a lot of steps to ensure that organic food is very healthy and good for the people who eat it. This is all part of the package of today’s organic food movement. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons to eat organically is the main reason why we eat food in the first place—for flavour and because it’s tasty. Eating organic food is a lot like tasting food for the very first time. When you look at the disgusting food on offer at the supermarket (often rotten and off colour) and you compare it to something grown locally that hasn’t been shipped halfway around the world, you begin to understand what it’s like to live again. People should trust their tastebuds more—tastebuds are often correct! People need to know exactly what they’re putting into their bodies. Another very important aspect of organic farming is that it is good for the environment. This is another new fad that many people consider to be very important. Beginning with the film “An Inconvient Truth” by Al Gore, people began waking up to the idea that the environment was very important to their well being. Organic food taps into that same anxiety, promising to meld diet and environmentalism together for the good of both. The pesticides used on big commercial farms are not only bad for human beings, they are bad for the earth and the soil that is such an important part of farming. Buying non-organic food is almost the same as actually putting poison into the earth. Non-organic farmers use a lot of fertilizers which throw off the chemical balance of the soil and results in less nutritious food. Balance is very important to preserving earth’s equilibrium and it is easy to lose it. It is important to trust in nature’s processes and not manipulate them for capitalistic gain. The earth can grow all the food we need without being distorted and ruined by new chemicals made in labs and untried and untrusted. As one proponent of organic foods recently put it: "What you end up doing is destroying these micro-organisms that have evolved for millennia to produce healthy plants and then what you end up doing is getting into the cycle of needing more of it," Telford said. "You produce unhealthy plants that can no longer battle pests so you need more pesticide." Telford said the initial incentive for people to eating organic food is the health benefits, and one of the biggest trigger points to eating organic foods for women is becoming pregnant. "They do it for their personal health and their babies," she said.2 Personal health is a key term here. Over the last few years people have come to take a lot more responsibility for their health. They exercise a lot more and many even have personal trainers. Part of this process involves thinking hard about dietary choices. We know more about health and nutrition than ever before and because of this the market has created a lot of opportunities for people to take charge of their own diets and the foods that they put into their mouths. This is definitely an important development in human history. If we take charge of the important things in our lives—and what can be more important than our health?—we can do anything we want. There is another aspect that is even more relevant to organic food and that is self-empowerment. Not only are people more healthy when they eat organic food, but they are empowered because they are making choices that affect and improve their every day lives. This too has added benefits. As they take control of their diets they begin to look differently at the rest of their lives, they begin to see how they can improve things by taking charge of all other aspects too—for example, their relationships and situations in their workplace. Organic food does have its critics. These people some times laugh at people who buy organic food and call them names like “granolas” and “hippies.” Some say there is no evidence of added nutritional value in organic food.3 But this doesn’t include chemicals and additives which can certainly distort the health values of food. People must be very vigilant when they by foods. The rise of the organic food movement is a great example of how quickly our lives can be changed by interesting fads. It is also a great example of how our lives can be changed by economics. Choice is a good them and empowering people to make healthy choice in their lives is a very good thing. References BBC News Online. Organic 'has no health benefits.' July 29, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8174482.stm Bittman, Mark. “Eating Food That’s Better for You, Organic or Not.” New York Times. Mar. 22, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/weekinreview/22bittman.html Jason, Dan. The Whole Organic Food Book. New York: Vision, 2001. Ryan, Rosalind. “The real health benefits of organic food.” Daily Mail. Aug. 1, 2009. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-84663/The-real-health-benefits-eating-organic.html Tzavaras, Mary. “Health benefits outweigh the costs.” Inside Toronto. Aug. 12, 2009. http://www.insidetoronto.com/article/73964 Read More