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rainbowbutterfly
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28 Jun 2009, 3:08 am

Lately, I've decided to eat organic, but because it is expensive, I still sometimes wish I could just go to a regular supermarket. Though, after thinking about the impact on the environment and on my body, I still continue to eat organic as much as possible.
Here are some nasty ingredients that's in some of the food we eat:
Pepsi is made by chemical engineers, and has an ingredient that is found in radiator fluid.
Those goldfish crackers that kids eat have a chemical that is found in some sort of cleaner.
I think it is Reeses Pieces that has plasticizer inside of it.
Tobacco (although it isn't eaten) has rat poison.
A person who knew someone working at Burger King said that they told them not to eat there because they reuse old cooking oil over and over again.
I could imagine that these ingredients might do long term damage to your body, and maybe have a small, subtle impact on your mood.



anna-banana
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28 Jun 2009, 3:57 am

actually, organic dairy is far from eco. cows produce a lot of methane, and when they are free-range it all goes to the atmosphere and is not collected and re-used like in a regular closed cow-farm.


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Kaleido
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28 Jun 2009, 4:03 am

In my own experience of having eaten organic foods for at least a decade, (I get home delivery for them) I do feel a lot better for it but then again, I do have long term health challenges.

I do notice the difference between organic and non-organic in the taste of some foods and so did my daughter when she tried them.

Even some organic produce is not as pure as it seems though and as far as I know, there is now nowhere in the world that doesn't have some pollution in some form or other, though not up to date with that stuff these days, maybe someone else will know.



VedekMiara
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28 Jun 2009, 5:50 am

"Pepsi has an ingredient that is found in radiator fluid" - water? ;-)

I try to eat organic food as well - it's quite easy in Austria as there is a great variety of organic products in "regular" supermarkets. But maybe the ethically and ecologically best diet is eating vegan and buying locally produced food. Starting tomorrow, I will try to eat only vegan products for a week. I think it will be difficult during social events (like lunching with colleagues), but I want to know how easy or difficult it really is - although I LOVE yoghurt, ham and cheese and I don't think I want to do without meat and dairy products for ever... maybe I'll keep one or two vegan days per week - I'll wait and see!



misswoofalot
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28 Jun 2009, 7:24 am

I nearly Always buy organic. I love organic food, and it's not expensive now it's in the supermarkets. I used to have an organic allotment too.



stevecam
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28 Jun 2009, 10:37 am

anna-banana wrote:
actually, organic dairy is far from eco. cows produce a lot of methane, and when they are free-range it all goes to the atmosphere and is not collected and re-used like in a regular closed cow-farm.



I hope you are joking, right?

Those places are dangerous, an I'm not talking about what's in your garbage can dangerous, they get fed some pretty wild steroids, and they are a great breading ground for new born diseases, I guess it's ok since most diseases don't transfer across species, but do you really want to wait till we get another disease, virus or whatever crossing the species barrier, swine flu was pretty scary and that wasn't even that bad

If you live near the country, you could probably go for a drive past some of the farms, many non-industrialised farms will sell you some proper meat for a decent price, if you wanna eat meat, eat meat made the same way its been done for years


Organic food is alright, but if you want to take advantage of eating organic foods, learn how to cook and prepare as many meals as you, your wallet and taste buds will soon learn to appreciate the taste of a home cooked meal, do the same you would do for meat, look for local vegetable and wheat produce, there is always someone selling stuff, maybe your local health food shop will be able to point you in the right direction

If you are not ready to go organic yet, you might want to keep an eye on what preservatives are in the food you buy, these are what many of the chemicals made in a lab are, some of these are legal but dangerous, here is a small list of preservatives http://www.mbm.net.au/health/200-290.htm

If you are having trouble eating your vegetables, get a steamer for your vegetables, not only is it healthier to steam your veges, but it tastes a lot better, and if you are having trouble finding the right foods to eat, get some health supplements, there are more natural ones at your health shop, and some more engineered ones at your chemist/drug store
I take Swisse Ultivite Mens Formula 1, and I do notice the difference



anna-banana
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28 Jun 2009, 10:49 am

stevecam wrote:
anna-banana wrote:
actually, organic dairy is far from eco. cows produce a lot of methane, and when they are free-range it all goes to the atmosphere and is not collected and re-used like in a regular closed cow-farm.



I hope you are joking, right?

Those places are dangerous, an I'm not talking about what's in your garbage can dangerous, they get fed some pretty wild steroids, and they are a great breading ground for new born diseases, I guess it's ok since most diseases don't transfer across species, but do you really want to wait till we get another disease, virus or whatever crossing the species barrier, swine flu was pretty scary and that wasn't even that bad blah blah



not all animal farms look this way, I don't know where it is that you live but EU standards are quite high. there's a reason why swine flu originated in Mexico and not Belgium.


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stevecam
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28 Jun 2009, 11:14 am

anna-banana wrote:
not all animal farms look this way, I don't know where it is that you live but EU standards are quite high. there's a reason why swine flu originated in Mexico and not Belgium.


I really doubt that

How could you possibly see anything good in those places

Have you seen any animals from those places in real life?



anna-banana
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28 Jun 2009, 11:20 am

stevecam wrote:
anna-banana wrote:
not all animal farms look this way, I don't know where it is that you live but EU standards are quite high. there's a reason why swine flu originated in Mexico and not Belgium.


I really doubt that

How could you possibly see anything good in those places

Have you seen any animals from those places in real life?


I'm a vegetarian so I'm against animal cruelty too. but you need to be realistic- people will always eat beef.

so do you choose
a) quality life for cows, free-range and releasing their gases to the atmosphere, thus polluting the planet
b) keeping cows in quality farms, collecting the methane that can be turned to energy, thus fighting climate change and making the world better to all of its other inhabitants


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stevecam
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28 Jun 2009, 11:30 am

Have you seen how sick the animals get in there?



anna-banana
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28 Jun 2009, 11:39 am

stevecam wrote:
Have you seen how sick the animals get in there?


so what would you choose? a or b?


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Testify
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28 Jun 2009, 11:50 am

Blind studies have shown that organic food tastes identical to non-organic food, and the increased costs of production make it an inefficient source of food.
It's also a bit smug of westerners to demand a lower yield of food while so many people in the third world starve.



Kaleido
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28 Jun 2009, 2:59 pm

Testify wrote:
Blind studies have shown that organic food tastes identical to non-organic food


Yes on a one taste by one taste basis, but not if you go organic over a few months and then try some non-organic stuff, some foods taste metallic or bitter after that, honestly *nods*



psych
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28 Jun 2009, 3:03 pm

Testify wrote:
It's also a bit smug of westerners to demand a lower yield of food while so many people in the third world starve.


im not demanding a lower yield, im demanding a less toxic yield. <1%* of GM crops and hopefully less pesticide residues & other contaminants.

*or <10% GM by US organic standards IIRC.

If you look at the bigger picture, yield isnt the only factor in the equation. Aggressive non-organic farming can have many negative impacts on 3rd world people and their environment.



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28 Jun 2009, 3:27 pm

psych wrote:
Testify wrote:
It's also a bit smug of westerners to demand a lower yield of food while so many people in the third world starve.


im not demanding a lower yield, im demanding a less toxic yield. <1%* of GM crops and hopefully less pesticide residues & other contaminants.

*or <10% GM by US organic standards IIRC.

If you look at the bigger picture, yield isnt the only factor in the equation. Aggressive non-organic farming can have many negative impacts on 3rd world people and their environment.

What does GM food have to do with anything?
Similarly, saying that I oppose organic farming doesn't mean I support destroying the earth with pesticides, but it is a fact that organic farming requires more labour (and therefore increased value), and provides lower yields; both of these drive up the price of food, which is why organic food tends to only be popular amongst people wealthy enough to piss away money on unnecessary things.
Studies suggest organic farms yield 20-50% less food per acre than non-organic farms, so if all food was organic, we'd be in for some serious problems.
Norman Borlaug, nobel-winning agriculturalist, says that organic farming could sustain about 4 billion people. Obviously, that's not good enough.



cc469
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28 Jun 2009, 4:31 pm

Well going organic on the stuff that has the biggest ill effects due to well , unorganic cultivation will do the greatest effect sadly for me the only sm I know of that sells organic is ratehr far from here so for a bell pepper it's not worth it overall but I would pay premium and I am short on money this is obviously a preference