1. It’s good for your health …
The average Australian consumes 2kg of food additives each year, many of which are linked to food intolerances, allergies and behavioural difficulties in children. The consumption of these additives also puts enormous pressure on our liver and kidney, two essential detoxifiers of the body. By buying organic produce, you are eliminating these harmful chemicals and ensuring your body has the greatest potential to maintain good health.
2. It’s good for your children …
Help your children grow to their full potential by giving them the purest food possible. Minimise the risk of food intolerances, allergies and behavioural issues. Exposure to pesticides can impact on children’s cognitive development. Pesticides tend to accumulate in fatty tissue and can end up being stored in bones, so can be very difficult to eliminate.
3. It’s packed with nutrition …
Conventional farming methods are stripping the soil of its nutrition. The nutritional content of fruit and vegetables has been steadily declining over the past 50 years, with some varieties containing only 50% of certain nutrients than they did 50 years ago. Some of the key nutrients that are being lost are calcium, magnesium, manganese, iron and phosphorus, amongst many others. With the popularity of GMO crops comes even more problems. According to research by De Dell Seed Company of Canada, there is a huge difference in the nutritional content between GMO and non GMO crops. As an example, non GMO corn contains 437 times the calcium content and 56 times the magnesium content of GMO corn.
4. It’s filled with all important phytochemicals …
Most people just think of the nutritional content of vegetables and fruit, but another just as (if not more) important health benefit is the phytochemical (or phytonutrient) content of food. These are the chemicals that are produced by the plant as part of its defence mechanism. Not very healthy for predators, but super healthy for humans. These chemicals have hundreds of different actions in the body – anti inflammatory, anti oxidant, anti cancer, anti depressant, anti anxiety, anti microbial, anti viral, support for all our organs – kidney, liver, digestive system, brain etc. The list goes on and on. Because these phytochemicals are the plant’s defence mechanism they not produced in anywhere near the amounts when the plants are sprayed with pesticides because they don’t need to – the pesticides are doing the job for them.
5. It’s good for the environment …
Each year, Australian agriculture uses over 29,000 tonnes of herbicides, pesticides and fungicides, ending up in our soil and waterways. By buying organic, we can drastically reduce this environmental pollution and help save our marine life.
6. It helps to protect our bees …
The global decline in bee populations has become so serious that the United States Environmental Protection Agency is introducing new requirements for labelling pesticides which are suspected of contributing to this decline. The European Union has already imposed a 3 year ban on these pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, and the Australian Government is currently reviewing their use.
The global bee decline is a serious agricultural risk, threatening food supplies worldwide.
Buying organic foods ensures the survival of these essential little helpers.
7. It helps protect farm animals …
By buying organic meat, you are ensuring that there are no antibiotics, growth hormones and drugs being fed to the animals. They are also treated more humanely and fed the food they are supposed to eat!
8. It helps protect native flora and fauna …
Because they use no pesticides, organic farms have up to 50% more plant, insect and bird life than non organic farms.
9. It supports your local economy …
By buying organic at markets, you are supporting your local growers, thus helping your local economy. The added bonus is that you are also reducing the carbon footprint by decreasing transport.
10. It tastes great …
Do you own test – buy some organic strawberries and some non organic strawberries and see which taste better! Organic fruit and vegetables are packed with flavour, so do yourself a favour and add some flavour.
These are just some of the many reasons to buy organic. They are more expensive, but they will definitely last much longer in the fridge, so there is less waste. If you can’t afford to buy organic, why don’t you grow your own?
To make buying organic produce as inexpensive and easy as possible, you could search for a local cooperative. They are community based organisations that supply and deliver organic produce to local areas.
By Andrea Southern, Naturopath, Clinical Nutritionist, Herbalist.
References
http://www.apvma.gov.au/news_media/chemicals/neonics.php
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-20/nrn-pesticide-bee/4899272
http://grist.org/food/2011-08-02-not-your-grandmas-strawberries/