DOES THE TERM ORGANIC EVEN MEAN ANYTHING ANYMORE?
You guessed it, most terms for food are completely meaningless. So it’s as good a time as any to figure out which ones to look for and which ones to ignore. I am often swayed by what I see in the grocery store. If the eggs have pictures of hens and it says they are cage-free then I can’t help but envision all those exact hens on the label playing in between laying sessions. I’m definitely wrong about all of this so let’s learn some stuff together. What does organic even mean anymore?
1. “Natural” means nothing.
Read More: How to Make Spring Cleaning Suck Less, Especially in the Summer
2. “Superfood” isn’t any particular food, it is any plant-based food.
3. A good food to eat is low in sugar (less than 10 grams) and sodium (less than 20% of your daily amount) but has good amounts of fiber
4. GMO foods are not necessarily bad
5. So Organic matters depending on how much of the environment actually gets absorbed into any particular food. For example: non-organic bananas are fine (you peel them), but non-organic strawberries have absorbed all those chemicals and pesticides right into the fruit, which you then eat. So when buying organic, pick and choose if you’re on a budget.
Related:
6. The organic label does offer more transparency, which is always the goal with food consumption
7. Getting the “organic” label can take up to five years of bureaucracy, however, which means small farms or local gardens might not have the resources or the time to apply – keep this in mind when you’re shopping at your local farmers’ market
8. Pay the most attention to how far your food has had to travel to get to you – the longer the food is away from the plant the more preservatives have been used to keep it looking delicious, and the more fuel has been used to get it to you (i.e. not eco-friendly at all)
9. “Whole” or minimally-processed foods are best
10. Buy the amount of food you will actually consume
