Organics are worthy the price...sometimes!

There was study released recently showing organic foods does prove healthier. The organic good had more minerals and significantly more antioxidants. (You can read more on Dr. Mercola's site or in a British newspaper.) I had always wondered about organic food being "no different" b/c they TASTE so much better. But I'm thinking specifically about organics from the produce section.

I should point out that if food is processed and labeled organic, it is questionable whether it's worth your money (especially on a tight budget). Milk for example in it's natural state is "raw", not just "organic", so organic milk avoids some chemicals, but doesn't get you the benefits you expect when you pay extra for organic food. With animal products, organic does not mean that an animal is allowed to eat and live naturally, so it's all questionable if you are really getting your food "the way God intended." Buying from a local farmer is ideal. And food manufacturers may process the organic cereals so much, that your body can't even absorb the extra nutrients that you are paying for!

Did you know that buying process foods costs approximately the same amount as buying organic whole foods? Processed organic food may break the bank and gain little benefit, but whole, organic foods will cost about the same. It does take more time, but think of how much time you'll save when your not sick! Believe me, I know!

Would you like sugar on your sandwich?

My standards for eating out/eating with others are definitely lower than eating at home. The other day, I was fixing a tuna sandwich for my daughter(not at home) and was shocked that I couldn't get around the SUGAR!!! Mayonaise has sugar (I looked at 3 different bottles). Of course most bread has HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP--which is worse than sugar. The relish was of course sweet relish--with sugar! The actual tuna was sugar-free. What do you know! One out of 4 parts of the meal are ok! (Let's not get into mercury in fish, ok!)

The average American consumes 149 lbs/ year of sugar (all sucrose and fructose combined). We are approaching .5 lbs. /day! It's almost 20% of our calories! Of course cutting out soft drink helps, but a lot of people already do that and the AVERAGE is way too high. So, what's the real problem?

PROCESSED FOODS! You see, processed food (including fast food) doesn't natually taste good. Ever noticed how you just can't freeze some things? Then add all the things machines do to the food to make it. And of course, we want a "value", so they make as cheap by picking the cheapest ingredients available. Doesn't come out tasting great, so they add manufactured (read, toxic) salt, high fructose corn syrup or sugar, and manufactured flavorings to make it taste right again. All those things like the gums in the ingredients give it the texture it is lacking. Most of our food is sweet and salty b/c it doesn't have much of it's natural flavor any more. But with the magic of tiny portions of toxic things we create almost any other flavor. Voila, it's almost like real food again! But it won't give you real health, like the food you were created to eat.

Moral of the story: read ingredients and give your mom (or wife or husband) a hug everytime they fix you a home-cooked, unprocessed meal.