Are The Organic Foods On Your Platter Serving Your Needs?

Rate it!

Currently 3.166667 /5 Stars.
1
2
3
4
5

What about locally grown fruits and vegetables?
Local food means that it is grown close to where it was purchased, it could be in your garden or community or within a certain proximity to your home. Fruits and vegetables can be grown locally with little effort and you can get the same benefits as a certified organic food. This food is likely to be cheaper and fresh than packed produce in the super market.

Organic food and our environment?
Organic farming is less damaging to the environment as it reduces the chemical load dumped into the soil and water. It helps to sustain diverse ecosystems, and thus it has a positive impact on our environment.

For those who have the ability to have a small vegetable patch in their garden we recommend growing basics such as tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, zucchini, beans and salads which are easy to grow and can be grown in container gardens as well. Our purchases and demand for chemical free foods in turn encourages poultry and meat growers to use natural feed for their animals instead of growth hormone additives.

The choice of course lies with us and whether we have the ability to try and grow our own patch of fresh, organic produce sufficient for our family or take our chances with chemicals on our platter to save a few bucks. The more we demand and live the organic life the greater will be the desire of large scale farmers to follow best practices for organic farming that is good for us, for business and the environment.

By Geetanjali Kelkar
PhD Dietitian, NutritionVista.com

References:

Niggli, Urs et al. (2009). "QLIF Integrated Research Project: Advancing Organic and Low-Input Food."
Dangour AD, Lock K, Hayter A, Aikenhead A, Allen E, Uauy R.Nutrition-related health effects of organic foods: a systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Jul;92(1):203-10.
http://www.apeda.com/organic/

NutritionVista

User Comments

17 August, 2010 | Rajani | Reply

I feel if we buy veggies and fruits from the local market, clean and store them properly and use them before they are stale should be fine. Eating a clean and nutritious dense meal should be given more importance than organic foods.

17 August, 2010 | Kanika Jain | Reply

Dear Rajani,
Cleaning and storing veggies and fruits properly and using them before they get stale are definitely good steps that one can ensure at home level.But one cannot be sure of what kind of chemicals these are being exposed to before they make way to our homes.For instance,few weeks back there was article in one the leading newspapers on how oxytocin is being used indiscriminately by farmers.Blindly using such chemicals on veggies or fruits by them will surely affect our health in some way or the other in the long run.

Thanks and regards,
Kanika Jain
Dietitian
NutritionVista

17 August, 2010 | Poonam Vaswani | Reply

Hello Rajani,
You are absolutely right about buying clean, fresh vegetables and preventing them from going stale. These steps will ensure that your food is free of micro organisms, thus hygienic. Fresh fruits and vegetables will retain their nutrients too, but, here the concern is of harmful chemicals which are added to crops and the health implications of consuming these chemicals over a long period of time.

16 August, 2010 | Vijayalakshmi | Reply

Hello Usha
Yes there are /maybe people who will pay money for falsification of information, but there are many honest producers.So it takes some effort to identify them, to sift the wheat from the chaff to to say.On another note recent reports on the amount of pesticides added to vegetables and fruit produce is absolutely shocking. People are in a quandary to eat or not to eat fresh produce. Either which way it could harm you.To that extent, even if a farmer is not 100% honest about organic produce we can be sure it will be way way lower than those in the commercial market and health wise people will benefit.

16 August, 2010 | Usha Antony | Reply

Honestly how organic is organic? I heard a lot of farmers pay money to get that certification in India and charge people more for the same fruit & vegetable produce which would cost less in the local market.Is that true?

14 August, 2010 | Sujani | Reply

Where are organic vegetables available in bangalore? Greens esp. - Namdhari's says they don't use pesticides but I doubt.

16 August, 2010 | Geetanjali Kelkar | Reply

Namdhari has a few products that are organic. But there are many other brands available in Bangalore like Navadardhanam that sell a range of products other than vegetables. Check out HAL market that sells produce from farmers.

16 August, 2010 | Sujatha | Reply

If they claim not to be using pesticides then it should be true. A brand like Namdhari's cannot and should not make false claims.

Lookout for farmer's market. Usually they grow produce like tomato, carrot and greens and sell on daily basis.

14 August, 2010 | Poonam | Reply

It certainly is a good idea to eat organic foods if you can afford them. I have carried out food safety testing on a variety of food products and almost every single food product that was tested contained some amount of organochlorine pesticides like DDT, BHC etc (even though they are banned for use in foods). The residue was higher in high fat foods. They get absorbed by the fat molecules in food and then get stored in fat cells in the body and can cause serious diseases over a period of time. The increase in the incidence of cancer can also be attributed to a large extent to the use of such pesticides.

Post Comments

Contact Name:

E-mail:

(Will show your Gravatar icon)

Comments:

Notify me when new comments are added

User Rules

Dear User,

This is to inform you that this part of the site is moderated, and your comments will be published after the approval of the moderators. Your text comments can be modified or deleted at any time. All comments that are posted are moderated by paid employees to ensure appropriate behavior and monitor and prevent abuse and disrespect of users and readers. The moderators also ensure that all questions asked are forwarded to and responded by employees in a timely manner and by the appropriate and qualified employees. The moderators are the dietitians listed under "The NV Dietetic Team"

All users are by default considered as non medical professionals, unless explicitly stated. If you are a health professional giving medical information as a platform user, please list your status as a medical professional so as to be clearly identified.

Please note - We recommend you not include any personal data and will remove all advertising for a site or product.

All platform users and moderators must behave at all times with respect and honesty. If comments are inappropriate moderators may intervene and if a platform users is banned they will be warned or notified before being banned.

Please note regarding response time - The moderator’s is notified automatically with details the instant a comment is posted.

'The information provided on the NutritionVista.com website is designed to complement, not replace, the relationship between a patient and his/her own physician.' The minimum age for the use or participation in these platforms is 18 years of age and is strictly adhered to. By posting a comment all users of this platform undertake to disseminate only information that is true and correct in light of their knowledge.

Tags: Cancer, Cancer Diet & Nutrition, Children's Health, Eat Healthy, Health Hazards, Healthy Foods, Nutrition, Nutritional Myths, Oral Cancer

© 2007 - 2024 NutritionVista.com. All rights reserved. A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. All articles and content written by the Nutritionvista.com team for NutritionVista.com are the sole property of J.L.S Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. Content may not be copied without express permission to do so. If you want to link back to an article, please ensure a working link to the article title is used and is functioning at all times.