Organic Food

[slayadragon]

I certainly think that if people are getting a lot of environmental toxin exposures (e.g. by living in a house with a lot of mold toxin or in an area with really problematic outdoor air), reducing or even eliminating toxins in the diet is likely not to provide much of a noticeable difference.

Undoubtedly it's only because I'm in a really clean environment that the elimination of dietary toxins made such a difference.

GMO labeling was defeated in California, but there now are ballot initiatives getting close in Washington and NM. This WSJ article makes it seem that Monsanto actually is going to end up negotiating it too.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323644904578272152056196778.html

My belief is that while avoiding non-organic produce is important, that is much less important than avoiding the toxins in Roundup contaminated things (which would be soy, corn, alfalfa, sorghum, canola and sugar beet -- or the flesh or milk of any animal that ate these things, e.g. all non-organic milk and meat). A lot of the pesticides in produce can be washed off, whereas the contamination of grain and milk/meat obviously cannot. (Though sprouting/soaking grain is generally a good thing.)

If I were thinking about putting some extra money toward less toxic food, I for sure would start with organic grains since those are pretty cheap and are really problematic when non-organic. Then I would do milk (still pretty cheap) and for sure eggs (which are really scary when non-organic and also pretty cheap). I don't think it's a good idea for CFS patients to eliminate all meat from their diets, but cutting way back and just eating organic (not humanely treated! that's not the same thing and in my opinion is a diversion to keep people from focusing on the real problem) may still be worth it. For produce, organic is pretty cheap at farmer's markets in summer. But if I found that I couldn't afford it, I would buy non-organic and then wash it really well using soap (diluted Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, unscented).

 

[slayadragon]

For instance, these chicken, turkey and beef hot dogs are only $5.99 per package, and the beef ones are 100% grassfed. This is a much better thing to eat than any cut of supermarket meat, in my experience and opinion. So I don't have a lot of belief in the argument that organic meat is something that people just can't afford.

https://store.applegatefarms.com/A556B4/applecart2004.nsf/xpStorefront.xsp?SessionID=DE1XS7JB8A

 

[caledonia]

For instance, these chicken, turkey and beef hot dogs are only $5.99 per package, and the beef ones are 100% grassfed. This is a much better thing to eat than any cut of supermarket meat, in my experience and opinion. So I don't have a lot of belief in the argument that organic meat is something that people just can't afford.

https://store.applegatefarms.com/A556B4/applecart2004.nsf/xpStorefront.xsp?SessionID=DE1XS7JB8A

We recently did a taste test of these type of hot dogs, as my BF has been on a hot dog kick for quite awhile and I've been trying to improve his diet. Anyway, he thought Applegate was tasteless and ate them only because there was nothing else to eat. However, he thought the Trader Joe's dogs were quite good. His favorites from the normal brands are Johnsonville or Nathan's, so if you know those brands, that's high praise.

I've also tried out nitrate free bacon, and Applegate was again a tasteless loser.

But anyway, good tasting nitrate free organic grassfed alternatives do exist; it's just not Applegate.

 

[Lotus97]

According to this person, even if a product is organic it doesn't necessarily mean it's non-GMO

http://blogcritics.org/tastes/article/can-gmo-food-be-organic/

Until recently, I assumed GMO food could not be called "organic." The U.S. and Canada both prohibit 100% certified organic food from containing GMO ingredients. However, contamination of the crops may cause organic feed to contain some percentage of GMO ingredients. At the Straus Family Creamery in California, for example, Farmer Straus spent nearly $10,000 tracing back the ingredients in his organic supplies, to remove the GMO traces. Basically, the problem is that GMO crops spew pollen into the air, as all crops do. This pollen cross-breeds with organic feed, which pollutes and corrupts the organic farms.
It is a normal practice for organic farmers to save their seed for the next year. With GMO crops growing nearby, however, the organic crops become infected with the GMO seed. When the farmer saves his seed, he is then infringing on Monsanto Corporation's patent. Monsanto issued policies about patent infringement and their methods of enforcing patent law on these seeds. In these policies, Monsanto takes the position that their patented seed is desirable, and therefore the farmers who normally save their own seed are taking something away from the company.

 

[golden]

If you buy 'Organic' produce from the supermarket, I seem to recall it means it contains only 5 pesticides!!! (echoes of 'science' here too)

Plus plastic wrapped produce is bad.

I am so glad I read this thread. I have been subtely pushed into supplements when I knew it wasnt for me.
(edit : not by PR but by my well meaning perrin practitioner/naturopath and advice from a Doctor)

When I was at my best was from a organic macrobiotic diet. All veg tasted bitter to me that wasnt properly organic - the bitter was the pesticide - as is the lack of flavour in the produce from the bad farming methods.

I grew up doused in pesticides being surrounded by farmers fields. One year the plane overshot and my garden was drowned in a red powder!

 

[golden]

http://daviddilworth.com/env/how-can-i-find-genuine-pesticide-free-food/

actually this article suggests organic produce can have upto 17 pesticides...

 

[Lotus97]

Note that I've yet to hear of an "organic" supplement brand. So pursuing an all-organic diet really would involve dropping all supplements and perhaps all drugs too. Which I actually have done. I just don't feel like taking any of those pills any more. They feel really poisonous to me. It took me a long time to posit that maybe the problem was that they weren't organic though.

Paradise Herbs, Frontier, Eclectic Institute, Madre Labs, Navitas Naturals and Herb Pharm all sell a lot of organic/wildcrafted products. Some of these brands do have some products that aren't organic so read the label.