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All Organic?

Is all organic really all that it claims to be? I've been purchasing most of my food items from organic stores lately due to my allergy to fruits/veggies that have been exposed to high amounts of pesticides... I've been wondering though is it really all that better for you? (I know it's not better for my wallet!) I understand that high fructose corn syrup and preservatives aren't very good for you but people have been consuming them for years. My thought/wonder is have people had any serious health issues due to these things? Or why is there such a war against them? Do they have negative effects on your body? What is all the hype! I've looking articles up online but never really found anything very solid to go off of. I take everything I read online with a grain of salt. I've noticed that when I consume organic fruits and veggies, my allergies aren't as irritated but I haven't noticed a difference with anything else such as bread, eggs, milk, etc. Hmmm...I have noticed that frozen foods that I've purchased organic vs. non have a significant difference in the amount of fat and sodium contained! I found that to be intriguing and awesome! Thoughts on organic eating?

Tags: organic, preservatives

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Comment by Keem on August 16, 2012 at 8:56am: I also take things with a grain of salt. Honestly, you have no idea if what you consume is REALLY organic--or is it just regular produce that they put a special sticker on so they can charge more for it? You never know with some places and I'm sure it's not tested regularly in ALL supermarkets.

If you like all natural stuff for allergies, you also might want to look into quercitin to help--or nettle tea. Both are supposed to be excellent and if you did both, you might get great results and not have to worry about organic as much if it's only from allergy reasons that you're eating it. (I've also heard that dairy products contribute to sinus congestion, so if you try giving up that for a few weeks and see improvement, you might go in that direction)

I've tried organic eating and never felt any different physically and also never lost any weight JUST from doing that. (only a lighter pocketbook-as you said) I've also tried clean eating and well--it was just plain HARD to do it in an "all or nothing" sort of way-like if you eat out or if you get invited to someone's place for dinner, what they serve may not be organic or clean eating foods. What then? I didn't stick with clean eating long enough to tell if it helped anything physically. I think I did it for a couple of weeks. My stomach wasn't flatter at all during that time and I didn't lose weight just because of it.

Comment by Karissa Kroblen on August 16, 2012 at 10:04am: That's what I've thought too...because sometimes I've purchased "organic" fruits/veggies at Trader Joe's and I have allergic reactions to it...clearly not organic...I can just tell with my allergies! So I've been very disappointed :( I've found that Whole Foods seems to have the best products and I "believe" their labels best. Oooh I've never heard of quercitin or nettle tea, I will definitely try to find those! My allergies drive me nuts so anything that might help!

Clean eating seems VERY hard, and I totally agree with going out to someones to eat. I feel SO rude if I'm trying to eat organic and they don't have organic meal options...l have to stray from my eating regime and it makes me feel bad. I haven't noticed a flatter stomach either :( SIGH. Maybe we've been duped lol

Comment by Lynette S on August 16, 2012 at 11:25am: I used to have terrible fruit/veg allergies for the same reason, organic helped sometimes but still wasn't fool proof. It didn't affect me with cooked fruit & veg, only fresh.

I started on an allergy medicine regime (don't know what else to call it) of flonase & allegra, added local honey (good for allergy relief), and slowly added skinned fruit to my diet. As my resistance went up with the skinned fruit, i began leaving parts of the skin on. Now, i rarely if ever get a reaction with organic or non-organic. Good luck!

Comment by Almost There on August 16, 2012 at 11:54am: How interesting. I've never heard of people being allergic to traditionally grown produce, but here are two BTL'ers. You learn something new every day. Please take my opinion with a grain of salt since I am a chemist....

Organic does NOT mean that the produce has not been treated with pesticides. There is just a very short list of "old school" chemicals that they are allowed to use. As Lynette mentions--if something has been treated, most of the chemical will end up in the peel--so make sure that you WASH everything and peel most things--even if they are truly organic since you don't know who handled the items, where they were stored, etc. even if they didn't use pesticides (and trust me, they are making enough $$ that they will not be willing to risk their "organic" certification). Rather than focusing on "organic" perhaps you can focus more on "local". Have you looked into a farm share? You might find that fresher produce that has not been transported across long miles and stored for longer periods of time might not aggravate your allergies as much. I think those tend to be pesticide free too.

Comment by Karissa Kroblen on August 16, 2012 at 4:07pm: Hmm you do have a point...I figured organic didn't mean pesticide free, just maybe less used? I haven't tried taking the skins off but I will definitely now! It's strange because some organic veggies I'll have an allergic reaction to and some I won't...hopefully peeling them will be the determining factor. I know there are a few local farmers market but I'm not sure if I like the product I see most of the time. Sorry to sound like such a city girl but its always dirty and in the back of a dirty pickup truck...then again as you mentioned I don't know where the fruit from stores has been but i think it's the image. I'll try looking local.

And Lynette, I've never thought of using honey for allergies! Interesting...

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