Since my son Louis has been told to avoid E numbers and other additives in food, I've been trying to buy organic food. Firstly, I've had a near heart attack at the difference this has made to our food bill and secondly having read all the labels, some foods that claim to be organic still have other things in them we're trying to avoid and are able to call themselves organic due to the use of certain organic ingredients.
I'm really trying to change our eating habits but this has made me think twice :-S
Anyone else going the organic route? What do you reckon?
Oh man, don't get me started on "organic" food...
As far as I'm concerned it doesn't make sense AT ALL to buy "organic" fruit and vegetables from another country.
One, because it's really really bad for the environment and two, because "organic" doesn't mean anything in the first place!!! You have know where exactly the "organic" food comes from to know if it's really better than a "conventional" fruit or vegetable.
The European Union got all kinds of labels that say "this is healthy/organic", but, for example, farmers on the "organic" route can use "biosolids" instead of artificial fertilizers and while there are regulations that say countries have to make sure they take out the toxic stuff first, not everything is on the lists. You'd better not read too much about it. It's gross, really.
There's (once again) a huge debate on this going on in Germany, especially with regard to vegetables (as some of you might have read in the papers). They found coli bacteria on "organic" cucumbers from Spain. In the end, it wasn't the E.coli bacterium that causes all those deaths in Germany at the moment (and Spain is going ballistic), but, hello?! The bacterium WAS on the cucumbers, and germs like this shouldn't be found on ANY kind of ("organic" or "non-organic") food in the first place, right?! Now they've located the deadly E.coli on bean sprouts (which explains why so many women fell ill...)
Now, I think it does make sense to buy vegetables from farmer's markets if you know they grow their stuff locally. Small markets are even cheaper than supermarkets over here, so we usually go there. And you shouldn't eat much meat anyway, so to me, it's quality over quantity. Buy less, but better.
And about those E-numbers: avoid them!! There's a whole list of E-numbers that are seriously harmful, especially to kids. E 102 comes to mind, E 104, E 110, E 122-124... (they're all colorants, yellows and reds seem to be particularly bad). I had neurodermatitis when I was a kid (and sometimes I still get it) and many of those additves are said to be the source of it, but there are worse illnesses that are caused by additives...
(maaaan, LONG post!!! And bad bad English, sorry! I just got up *lol*)
A while back, I saw an article on what fruits and vegetables are worthy of buying organic and which ones weren't. Some fruits and vegetables absorb more of the pesticides than others. Some you can give a gentle wash and you're pretty much good to go. I'll look for it today. And I think organic food in the US has to be certified by something called "Oregon Tilth" (???) or something like that.
When I was doing the Feingold program, I didn't go bananas (ha ha) buying organic. Some things I bought organic only because they were the ONLY products that didn't have colors or preservatives in them. I did switch from bleached to unbleached flour and then eventually switched to organic unbleached flour because it was a different mix that had no "barley malt" in it, but I did this because it made lovely, fluffy bread.
BBC Article Wow eat as many E numbers as you can in a day! I'd be BOUNCING off the walls. Actually I do that when I eat skittles and drink Redbull with youth club on Saturday nights. ha! ;)
Everything in moderation, that's what I say. But do I practice what I preach? No. I'm really should take better care of my diet.
Of course. One could eat exclusively organic foods and still have a horrible, unbalanced diet. It depends on what you're eating.
Different people are affected differently by certain additives. You can have a sensitivity to anything (not the same thing as an allergy.) I really don't notice a difference in myself eating "clean" or not. For some people the difference is dramatic.
