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GAF, are Organic Foods a scam?
- Thread starter threetri333
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It's cool, serotonin is organic.
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
"Organic" is not purely marketing:
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=ORGANIC_CERTIFICATIO
all the others are though. Ugh, gluten-free. Suddenly everybody has a "gluten allergy," under the guise of wanting to lose weight.
AbsolutBro
Member
Tubers and other root vegetables will generally be safe from most common crop destroying bugs by their nature. Carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, ginger, radish, etc., etc. Because the bulk of what you eat is below the soil. Onions especially.
Things like bananas or oranges (or most citrus really) will be safe from anything but borer insects. Your biggest culprits are soft fleshed fruits (tomatoes especially) and lettuces or any kind of green like collards, kale or spinach.
I had no clue they used DEET as a pesticide on organic foods. The problem with the term of "organic" is that it's fucking arbitrary. DEET is not a naturally occurring substance, and the government recommends against coming into contact over a certain level of DEET because it's harmful. Yet, it's acceptable on "organic" foods. Fucking LOL.
Not in my body.
ElectricBlanketFire
non-organic
(Today, 02:54 PM)
Sorry to hear that bro
thesoapster
Member
Some organic food tastes better to me...others it makes no difference taste-wise.
triplestation
Member
fucking gimmicks everywhere
i love watching the hipsters being ahead of the curve
i love watching the hipsters being ahead of the curve
I agree. The Penn and Teller Bullshit episode about organic foods was fantastic. I personally always find the logic behind the labeling 'Organic' to be flawed or non-existent.
Sorry, I didn't mean to say it was 100% marketing, though recently it seems as though some foods are just slapped with an organic sticker and a higher price point.
I shit you not, I saw a bottle of juice on sale at a store the other day that said gluten free and I nearly lost my shit.
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
lol
Devolution
Member
Just look for the actual certification because anyone can put ORGANIC in a title without having to actually go about the standards. From my own personal experience a lot of Organic grocers are overpriced but taste better. I've found the solution is to hit up your local farmer's market. Cheap, delicious and you're sustaining local farms.
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
Yes.
The pesticides used in the production of normal food were only defected to the same levels as the organic equivalent in all food sampled in the study anyway (it's in the article). Also, contrary to popular belief, a lot of organic food production uses pesticides, but they use "organic" equivalents that contain naturally occurring sources of the same substances that keep the insects away or kill them as the commercial ones (reason being that these substances do work).
The main difference is that thanks to differences in concentration, the organic crop needs more frequent spraying.
Organic yields per hectare are really crap and the produce has a shorter shelf life, so any benefits are swamped by the increased land use.
Locavorism isn't the answer either, because not all climates are suitable for growing certain types of food or produce. It is actually cheaper in terms of carbon emissions per kilo of produce to grow certain crops in New Zealand, then put these on refrigerated ships and ship them to England than for Londoners to get them from English farms. The difficulty of growing them in the UK swamps the emissions from transport.
Of course, you can solve that issue by curtailing your diet to include only things that can be grown sustainably in the local area. Of course this means no mangoes for Vancouverites and the entire city of Tokyo starves to death.
That's a hell of a claim to make based on gut feelings.
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
Not really a claim. An opinion. On an internet message board. Processed foods and shitty chemicals not affecting humans at all is a crazier claim.
AbsolutBro
Member
Admittedly, DEET has the most controversy of all the 'organic' pesticides (and for good reason).
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
I don't know how much you know about organic food (i'm not an expert)...
Devolution
Member
Well I don't know what they sell in your guy's stores but a lot of "Organic" stuff comes without sugar, hfcs and hormones.
Um, yes they are marketing terms, but that doesn't make them any less true. What are you trying to say, that products that are advertised as gluten free aren't actually free of gluten?
I tend not to buy 'organic' processed foods on purpose so I'm not sure what benefits they hold. I was strictly talking about fruits and veggies.
If you're looking to cut out HFCS then finding 'organic' stuff might be extremely beneficial. Although, HFCS is certified organic anyway isn't it?
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
Trust me, I'm not even that crazy about it. But once we had our son the shift was easy. Especially here in America. In Japan with the food standards being different, we're much more lax.
My son's favorites.
The organic thing isn't a ripoff per-se it's just an over simplified term put out there so people aren't confused when they're shopping. It's so you can think I want "organic" I don't want any of those "chemicals", are people gonna do the research to see what specific "chemicals" are being sprayed on their foods and the studies and long term effects if any?.. no, I don't do it nobody does. It's easier to understand chemicals bad organic good.
CrudeDiatribe
Member
Problem is the food that is flown. I'm happy to buy bananas, but I feel guilty buying kiwis.
I can afford to buy locally-grown food, so I do (and purchased from the farmer's market, it's typically priced competitively). I was pretty startled to find that eggs from free-range hens taste better.
AbsolutBro
Member
The thing is that, in terms of taste at least, youre getting more of a benefit from the produce being fresh and not refrigerated for weeks than you are from it being organic. Cold storage tomatoes, organic or not, will always taste like mealy crap compared to a fresh tomato.
Non GMO and hormone free is pretty important, and foods that qualify usually fall under the organic umbrella.
While its not a be all end all solution, and other factors are just as if not more important than simply being organic, I'm curious as to the dietary habits of people flat out calling it a "scam".
While its not a be all end all solution, and other factors are just as if not more important than simply being organic, I'm curious as to the dietary habits of people flat out calling it a "scam".
I didn't say "Processed foods and shitty chemicals not affecting humans at all." I think the obesity epidemic is directly tied to that.
However, I did reply to your opinion. On an internet message board. That's the whole point of this thing.
Indeed.
Better off just hitting a farmer's market. Or hell, going to the farm and picking it yourself.
Nothing better than strawberries right off the vine. Organic or not, that sun warmed strawberry is going to be miles better than anything you'd find at the store.
Why?
SteveWinwood
Member
where are my inorganic foods
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
You probably don't want to know lol.
Obesity was under my umbrella of "illness", definitely.
AbsolutBro
Member
And this is why many people say the term organic is meaningless. Organic does not mean chemical free. In many cases it actually means MORE chemicals, just different ones.
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
Which is why organic/all natural soda producers use organic sugar/organic evaporated cane juice.
I beg to differ:
Fuck.
Checkmate.
Wouldn't it be possible to have non-GMO HFCS?
Devolution
Member
Not sure about HFCS but much of the "organic" brands I tend to scout out whether it's ketchup, stock, sauces, etc tend to not utilize that, transfat or unnecessary sugars.
Well that would explain why I never see it.
It's either people who are try to live a self sustaining lifestyle and super support local growers and agriculture, or its bachelors downing frozen dinners, Dominos and processed foods. I wonder the split...
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
(you guys should try this btw, unique taste)
that1dude24
Member
of course not, how else would i consume food without getting all those scary chemicals in my body?
HFCS doesn't occur in nature and undergoes a pretty complex stuff.
You can have organic corn syrup, but not HFCS.
milanbaros
Member?
Very good post. 'Buying local' and 'organic' can be more harmful for the environment. The CO2 used in transport is something like 7% of total related to food production. It can be incredibly more environmentally efficient to grow the food where it is best suited then ship it over. Same for organic, can be much better to get 50% higher yields and feed more people than having to chop down rain forest to accomodate people who want their food low yield organic.
Come to think of it, we do usually buy 'organic' ketchup and mustard specifically because it tastes less sweet than the normal stuff. I can't speak to the health benefits, but man most of the stuff people put on food is either salted to hell or sickly sweet... unless it says 'organic' on the bottle.
It's hit or miss though, lots of organic stuff is just as shitty as the non-organic stuff. For example, I tried 'Organic' coffee the other day and it just straight up tasted like dirt. It was the worst coffee I've ever tried.
I see, thanks for the info.
Like the hat?
Banned
It's not a matter of being "better" nutrition wise, it's a matter of eating fewer pesticides and such
I don't really bother with buying organic stuff at the supermarket though, for reasons pointed out in this thread.
I don't really bother with buying organic stuff at the supermarket though, for reasons pointed out in this thread.
Bright Side of Life
Member
I find farmer's market/specialty store (like cheese shop/butcher) food superior to all foods one can buy so if that stuff is organic (which usu it is) then yes. But if it's supermarket food that has "organic" stamped on it, I tend to think those are a scam.
This is why I buy low carb/sugarfree/no added sugar stuff, everything else is too sweet for my tastebuds.
Again, organic produce still uses pesticides, just organic ones which may not be safer than synthetic ones.
Devolution
Member
They put unnecessary sugars in fucking chicken stock now. It's beyond ridiculous. As far as coffee goes I'm in Portland. It, Seattle and SF don't fuck around about getting/having the good stuff.
AbsolutBro
Member
I grow the majority of the produce I eat without pesticides of any kind, but I admit Im in the unusual position of having space to do that. What I dont grow I usually get from one of the two farmers markets in my area. What little I buy from the grocery store is generally things that cant grow in my area: bananas, avocados and citrus being the biggest culprits.
In terms of GMO vs not, I do grow many hybrid plants though this year I made an effort to grow more heirloom plants than not.
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