Non-organic vs nothing at all

[Robthom4392]

Is it better to purchase something non-organic, or if you cant get it organic don't purchase it????


I'm asking this question because I can get most things organic but not items such as avoo and goji berry etc etc




Hope someone can help



thanks

[DebB]

I'm not 100% organic. I do the best with what our local grocery stores have to offer.

There are steps you can take, like washing the produce well, or soaking it in an appropriate solution - peeling fruits and veggies, etc.

Hope this helps. *Ü*

[sport]

I buy organic where possible but my diet would not be varied enough if I was dogmatic about it.
Right now all of my berries are non organic. I am not going to go without berries.

[Tsurugi_Oni]

I would rather starve than put that poison-laden psuedo-food into my mouth. Protest the big man!

[TheRawPilgrim]

If I can get it organic I do, if I cant's get it organically and I can't grow it myself then I buy conventional. Usually it ends up not being very much so I try not to obsess over it.

[OnMyJourney]

After watching so many documentaries lately, especially The World According to Monsanto and learning about GMO's I'm quite terrified of non-organic foods. I would literally cringe and end up throwing any non-organic foods I had in the trash. I just couldn't eat them, I was terrified to be honest. I was breaking the bank ensuring that I got EVERYTHING organic and unfortunately I had to make some changes based on finances. There are some things I do NOT negotiate on, but to keep from boxing myself in and limiting my food choices I will now buy some non-organic foods (but NEVER corn).

If you look at this list of 47 fruits and vegetables, (http://www.foodnews.org/fulllist.php) it will give you the pesticide load of each. That way you can figure out which are safe to buy inorganic and which are advised you do. It really comforts me when shopping to have this with me. If you click on the "methodology" link at the top it will give you the "dirty dozen" and the "clean fifteen" if you have trouble figuring out the hierachy in the list.

When I do buy inorganic, needless to say, it's one that's low on the pesticide load, but if it happens to not be I clean them VERY well. I let them soak in apple cider vinegar and water and peel, peel, peel!

Hope that helps!

ETA: You're safe, it appears, with buying non-organic avocados...goji berries I don't know. I've never seen non-organic goji berries. I get mine from Whole Foods, the Himalyan brand. Maybe you can find those. Best wishes!

[Aleesha Sattva]

i don't sweat it myself. i buy organic whenever possible but otherwise... i just make sure my food is raw and live. nothing else matters to me.

cause IMO... raw non-organic is still miles ahead of cooked non-organic (or even cooked organic for that matter)...

i prefer to live my bliss rather than worrying about stuff. http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x87/recyclinggoddess/smilie_meditate.gif

[OnMyJourney]

If it weren't for GMO's I wouldn't be so worried/concerned about organic vs non and would just wash well (as I normally do anyway) and be at peace about it. So it seems in reality, my real issue is GMO vs. non and not organic vs. non. But, until I learn more about pesticides, etc and have a better understanding, I try to get as much as I can locally (so I can ask these questions). Then if I have to get something non-organic I make sure that it's some on the low load end of that list.

GMOs really freak me out, I gotta be honest. I don't want that stuff resting and mutating in my body.

So this is a bit off tangent, but I have to ask while it's on my mind. Raw food diets flush out the toxins in our bodies...but do we think they flush out the pesticide resistant bacteria that are in our gut as a result of (some of ) our pre-raw/processed food (i.e. GMO) diets?

[Tsurugi_Oni]

Crops aren't sprayed to kill bacteria, they're sprayed to kill competing insects and plants, so no worries about resistant bacteria popping up. Even so the vast majority of plant fungi and diseases aren't transmittable to humans. Most of the time when you hear of GM all it means is that the plant is modified so the herbicide doesn't disrupt the metabolism of the GM plant, while it will for most other weeds.

The vast majority of gm plants are going to be commodity plants too, which don't make up a large portion of a raw vegans diet anyways.

[OnMyJourney]

Crops aren't sprayed to kill bacteria, they're sprayed to kill competing insects and plants, so no worries about resistant bacteria popping up. Even so the vast majority of plant fungi and diseases aren't transmittable to humans. Most of the time when you hear of GM all it means is that the plant is modified so the herbicide doesn't disrupt the metabolism of the GM plant, while it will for most other weeds.

The vast majority of gm plants are going to be commodity plants too, which don't make up a large portion of a raw vegans diet anyways.

Here's my concern based on all my my reading and listening of interviews of Jeffrey Smith. It appears that the antibiotic resistant marker gene (in GM crops) has the potential to transfer from the GM food we eat into our bacterial genes. This has all sorts of ramifications that make me very uncomfortable to say the least. If my gut is a pesticide factory and this stuff has the potential to integrate into the dna of my gut bacteria (and based on this one human study that I keep reading/hearing about, it has) then this has horrid health ramifications that can continue to perpetuate even when one stops eating GMO food.

[Tsurugi_Oni]

Ahhh I get what you're saying.

I mean I'm no expert, but I would bet my money that laboratory conditions for this testing is extremely tightly monitored.

I mean think of all of the possibilities out there for mishap. Nuclear facilities, public water supply, pharmaceutical pill manufacturing, some pissed off schmuck putting poison in food mix, etc. Think of all the laboratories that deal with deadly poisons and viruses everyday. Companies usually have many testing stages, and clearance levels, to prevent stuff exactly like that from happening.

A concern no doubt. But I think they overhype the potential consequences of this type of stuff. Fear mongering if you ask me.

[Amii]

If that's the case then I'm f*cked because I can't afford organic food at all. It's not a case of being cheap, it's about physically not having the money. I can barely afford enough non-organic fruit and veg to meet HALF the daily recommended calories.

Just wash the stuff thoroughly, it's the best you can do if you can't have non-organic.

[DeniseM]

There were times in college where I had to eat raw on a grocery budget of $10 or $15 a week. No way was I affording organic! My diet was 100% conventional produce back then, and I'm still here to tell about it :) I don't recommend doing that for the long haul, but a few non-organic raw items definitely won't kill you, especially if they're foods you really love.

If you focus on conventional fruits with rinds and peels, you can minimize the amount of pesticides you ingest. OnMyJourney gave you an awesome link there. Avos should be fine to buy conventional.

[WestVirginiaRaw]

The way I see it...I can eat fresh non-organic or I can eat frozen/canned/processed non-organic. Which is the lesser of the evils? I can't really afford organic and it works out because my local grocery has very little in the way of fresh organic stuff and usually what is there is in bad shape because it sits forever because nobody buys it where I live.

[joya]

I'm with OnMyJourney on this one. I always buy organic... everything. I won't buy it if it is not organic. Of course, if I'm someone's house and they offer me food, or if I'm out to eat... I will eat, knowing it is not organic.

Someone once said (I forget who) that they "vote" by buying organic, and that really stuck with me. Every time I opt for the (yes, more expensive) organic product, I am letting the corporations/producers know that organic is important to me. It is not only for my personal health, but for the health of our earth and her soil. My husband often jokes that I would love him more if his middle name was "Organic"... heh, but he seems to have come around (at least a little bit) to my perspective on this.

Of course, no one will argue that pre-processed junk food that is organic is better to eat than non-organic fresh fruits and veges... but if you CAN buy organic, I strongly urge that you do.

I watched Future of Foods several times and GMO is frightening and not what I want to put in my body or the bodies of my loved ones.

Just my 2 cents.

[dottywine]

If you want to be political, it makes sense to ONLY buy organic.

If you're just in it for the health, there's no reason to be obsessive about organic/non-organic. If you buy something that's not organic and you're still concerned, wash it very well (vinegar, oil, and water works well).

[Revvell]

If you want to be political, it makes sense to ONLY buy organic.

Not true. What do you think is killing so many people? All this crap on our food is one MAJOR cause!




If you're just in it for the health, there's no reason to be obsessive about organic/non-organic. If you buy something that's not organic and you're still concerned, wash it very well (vinegar, oil, and water works well).

JUST in it for health? ONLY in it for health and no, if washing it was really all there is to it....

What it comes down to is, do what you can do. Worrying about what you can't have is more harmful than blessing what you do have. Eat as much raw, organic as possible. What's not possible is just not possible.

[Evie]

Ok, I truly believe in eating organic. But, when money is short or supply is limited in organic... there are the foods which have low pesticides ratings. I truly try to stay away from foods with high pesticide ratings. Check out this link for more information. It helps you understand which foods may be ok to eat non organic. http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php
Avocados are listed as one of the "clean 15." So, don't stress if I can't get organic ones. Hope this helps.:)

[dottywine]

Uhm... I really don't understand your objections.

Buying organic for political reasons makes sense. Someone who wants the organic world to prevail and Pesticides, man-made bacterias, GMOs, etc, to fail. You are supporting companies that have the same values as you. At the same time, you could influence your loved ones to follow suite. Maybe it would make only a small dent, but more and more people are doing this and companies are trying to find ways to kind of lie about how "natural" they are. And hopefully that means one day, they actually WILL be.

Buying organic for health reasons (which is why I buy organic) is also good. If you wash your non-organic foods very well, it can help remove some of the things you're trying to avoid on the food. Of course, this won't do much for damages INSIDE the food, but at the same time, just because you buy something organic does not guarantee that you are avoiding the same things inside the conventional version of the food. Sometimes they grow in the same soil or the soil they're using has already been damaged. What about wind blowing things into the organic fields, including the GMO seeds? What about insects and animals that have been infected? Etc, etc. Basically, when it comes to being organic for health, you do the best you can. Its better than being ignorant.


Not true. What do you think is killing so many people? All this crap on our food is one MAJOR cause!



JUST in it for health? ONLY in it for health and no, if washing it was really all there is to it....

What it comes down to is, do what you can do. Worrying about what you can't have is more harmful than blessing what you do have. Eat as much raw, organic as possible. What's not possible is just not possible.

[Revvell]

Uhm... I really don't understand your objections.



Everything you say is true yet, EVERYTHING I do is for me and like a pebble in the water, it emanates out. "I" come first then the political and all that other stuff is handled.


You are supporting companies that have the same values as you.

That's right! By taking care of my health. My health is my first value.


At the same time, you could influence your loved ones to follow suit.

Yes, when they see how healthy I am. "Trying" to convince people to do something politically, especially if they have no personal interest is futile. IF they see someone improving their health and feel to follow suit is easy. No "convincing" necessary. Either their fire is ignited, or its not.

What, if anything, others do politically is no business of mine.

[dottywine]

That's cool, Revvell. I was just responding to the OP. Some people buy organic for political reasons or whatever personal reason they have.

[Revvell]

That's cool, Revvell. I was just responding to the OP. Some people buy organic for political reasons or whatever personal reason they have.

Of course they do.