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Speaker 1: From House Towards dot com. Hey, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: This is Molly and I'm Kristen and Kristin. If you
Speaker 1: Must Go, were recorded a podcast about Michelle Obama and
Speaker 1: the Duties the First Lady Yes, and we talked about
Speaker 1: how at the time she had just planted a garden
Speaker 1: at the White House, UH to teach local kids about
Speaker 1: the importance of planning their own vegetables, organic foods, locally
Speaker 1: grown foods, and you know, it seems like a pretty
Speaker 1: noble thing to do, but like most things, she's come
Speaker 1: under a lot of criticism for it. Right, I think
Speaker 1: people are a little angered at the fact that she
Speaker 1: is pushing organic foods during a recession when a lot
Speaker 1: of people are trying to cut their budgets. And the
Speaker 1: fact of the matter is organic food is often more
Speaker 1: expensive than run of the mill normal food. There's a
Speaker 1: stat that I've found in the Journal of Food Science
Speaker 1: that says that organic foods generally cost ten to more
Speaker 1: than regular foods, So that could be putting a pinch
Speaker 1: pinching the wallet. Yeah, so it's hard to know when
Speaker 1: you get the grocery store, like, is it worth slling
Speaker 1: out the additional you know, bucker two or there is
Speaker 1: an okay just to stick with the regular stuff. So
Speaker 1: that's our topic for today. Are organic foods healthier? Right?
Speaker 1: And this is not we're not really talking about the
Speaker 1: environmental impact of organics. Um. This is just having to
Speaker 1: do with sort of weighing the cost of if you're
Speaker 1: on a budget, are you doing yourself a disservice to
Speaker 1: not buy organic? Or is it okay to to buy
Speaker 1: non organic foods if you really can't afford it. So
Speaker 1: let's start off with what exactly constitutes organic food according
Speaker 1: to the U s d A. So the definition of
Speaker 1: organic food is not so much what it is, but
Speaker 1: what it isn't. It isn't food that's grown with any
Speaker 1: sort of fertilizers like sewer sludge fertilizers or synthetic fertilizers. Uh.
Speaker 1: No pesticides, no genetic engineering, no growth hormones, no antibiotics.
Speaker 1: And if you're buying organic meat like some Hamburger chicken,
Speaker 1: they have to those animals type to guarantee some outdoor time,
Speaker 1: so that you know, their happiness radiates through the final
Speaker 1: food product right through to the Hamburger delish uh. And
Speaker 1: all of those restrictions molly add up to higher costs
Speaker 1: in the grocery stores. With all you know, they might
Speaker 1: have to pay more to say handweed um, instead of
Speaker 1: just spraying a bunch of chemical pesticides that could kill
Speaker 1: the weeds with a lot less manpower. It's a lot
Speaker 1: more labor upfront. But going back to this question of nutrition,
Speaker 1: the jury is still out on whether or not organic
Speaker 1: foods on the whole are actually more nutritious for us
Speaker 1: to eat. Some say yes, some say no. Well, the
Speaker 1: thing is is that organic food has become mega popular
Speaker 1: in the last few years. So the thinking is is
Speaker 1: that if we're, if some many more people are eating
Speaker 1: this organic food, we should all be healthier, right, Instead,
Speaker 1: the obesity rate has skyrocketed. I mean, clearly people are
Speaker 1: not maybe not even eating vegetables to begin with. So
Speaker 1: there seems to be some evidence that as long as
Speaker 1: you're eating any kind of vegetable, that's good for you, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're if you're just treating up your
Speaker 1: normal chocolate chip cookies for organic chocolate chip cookies. You're
Speaker 1: probably not doing yourself that much of a favor. No,
Speaker 1: it seems to be you know bad Smallly, let's dive
Speaker 1: right into ten foods that you might want to think
Speaker 1: twice about buying just normal. You might want to shell
Speaker 1: out a little bit of extra money for these and
Speaker 1: go organic. Yeah, because basically, you know, if you're okay
Speaker 1: with a few pesticides in your system, Uh, there are
Speaker 1: some foods that absorb more of them than others. So
Speaker 1: there's some foods that, even when they're grown in sort
Speaker 1: of you know what we think is the non organic
Speaker 1: pesticide way, Uh, they're not as affected by the pesticides.
Speaker 1: My brother likes to say he's pro pesticide when he
Speaker 1: decides not to buy organic see a Rebel Rouser. He is.
Speaker 1: But anyway, these are the ones that pesticides really get into.
Speaker 1: Number ten on our list is meat unless you're vegetarian,
Speaker 1: Molly or vegan. But I digress. Like you said, when
Speaker 1: you're talking about those certification USDA Certification for Organics US
Speaker 1: organic meat cannot have any growth hormones or antibiotics or
Speaker 1: any unnatural substances like that that we're used to plump
Speaker 1: up whatever whatever animal, cow, chicken, pig, what have you.
Speaker 1: And that could be good for us when if we
Speaker 1: happen to eat the meat, because um, eating meat with
Speaker 1: antibiotics could create uh, antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria that
Speaker 1: could be very harmful for us down the road. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And we also when we buy organic meat, we show
Speaker 1: that we care what those animals are fed during their lifetime.
Speaker 1: And basically the label ensures that the animals themselves didn't
Speaker 1: eat anything that might have had fertilizership pesticides or fed
Speaker 1: grain that um, you know, was pure and so they
Speaker 1: don't have the chance of having disease in side of
Speaker 1: them before they're killed to become inside of us. The
Speaker 1: circle of life. Yeah, and I think, um, sorry, circle
Speaker 1: of life. Right, and along those same lines, one thing
Speaker 1: also to look out for and to consider buying organic
Speaker 1: or dairy products because these products are coming from these
Speaker 1: same animals and if they were raised with the growth
Speaker 1: hormones and etcetera, I could easily get passed along through
Speaker 1: their milk, their eggs and all of that. And this
Speaker 1: you know, if you're committed to buying these dairy products,
Speaker 1: you have to look sort of at the products that
Speaker 1: come from those dairy products. If you buy yogurt, ice cream,
Speaker 1: butter cheese, if you're really committed to staying away from
Speaker 1: non organic milk products, you've got to investigate those as well.
Speaker 1: And among those we've got eggs. Yes, eggs is number
Speaker 1: eight on our lists of things too to possibly buy organic,
Speaker 1: because this all goes back to um pesticides and chickens
Speaker 1: going to eggs getting inside of our bodies. And one
Speaker 1: interesting thing, well is the question of whether or not
Speaker 1: white eggs are healthier than brown eggs, and there is
Speaker 1: no difference. The color of the egg simply depends on
Speaker 1: the breed of the chicken. But all of these things,
Speaker 1: the dairy products, to meat, the eggs. Also, they think,
Speaker 1: you know, I wasn't just joking when I said that
Speaker 1: the animals are happy before they die. The thinking is
Speaker 1: is that a happy chicken that maybe has some room
Speaker 1: to walk around, it's gonna lay a better egg. So
Speaker 1: if you've ever tasted like a free range egg, and
Speaker 1: you really can taste the difference, then the thinking is
Speaker 1: is that the time they spend outside just go straight
Speaker 1: into the happy egg and goes into our happy breakfast exactly.
Speaker 1: And speaking of breakfast, I might want to watch out
Speaker 1: for coffee as well, because coffee can be sprayed down
Speaker 1: with all of these pesticides, and then pesticides get into
Speaker 1: our morning cup of joe. Yeah, so that's a bad one.
Speaker 1: And as a special little bonus, Kristen, if you buy
Speaker 1: organic coffee, likely it's it's fair trade, which means that
Speaker 1: the people who made it were compensated fairly. But that's
Speaker 1: you know, we're trying to focus on the health, so
Speaker 1: we'll get away from the social and environmental issues of that.
Speaker 1: But still, you know, you're treating yourself better and then
Speaker 1: hopefully by buying fair trade organic coffee, you're treating other
Speaker 1: people better as well, and probably nice on the list.
Speaker 1: It's kind of sad because right now we're in Atlanta, Georgia,
Speaker 1: and our state fruit, as many people know, is the peach,
Speaker 1: and the Environmental Working Group was the peach as the
Speaker 1: number one fruit with the highest concentration of pesticides. I
Speaker 1: mean it makes sense. Very thin skin, very thin skin,
Speaker 1: And that's the thing that you want to think about
Speaker 1: when you're questioning whether or not to buy organic fruit,
Speaker 1: is a are you going to eat the skin? As
Speaker 1: with a peach and an apple many times, or can
Speaker 1: you not peel the skin off? With grapes and strawberries,
Speaker 1: So those kind of fruits with the thin skins, with
Speaker 1: the skins that you're gonna eat, you're probably not being
Speaker 1: able to scrub off all of the pesticides and waxes
Speaker 1: that are that are used on the fruit. So you
Speaker 1: might want to think about buying organic with those, yeah,
Speaker 1: especially because with the peach, most of the nutritional value
Speaker 1: is in the skin. And if you're buying juices that
Speaker 1: are made with fruits from with skins, you've got to
Speaker 1: kind of look for the level they're too. So organic
Speaker 1: grape juice is probably a safe bet for kids because
Speaker 1: the skins of the grapes, you know, so thin, and
Speaker 1: so you're juicy. This is so juicy, so you'll have
Speaker 1: fewer pesticides leaking then into the juice and into your
Speaker 1: little little tots body. And speaking of tots, pato tots potatoes, Yeah,
Speaker 1: potatoes are worth the extra organic dough um because these
Speaker 1: are getting a double dose of poison. Molly sounds sinister
Speaker 1: because you have to spray pesticides on the vines potato
Speaker 1: vines above the ground and then the soil gets a
Speaker 1: dose a fungicide to prevent disease from the tubers that
Speaker 1: we then eat. And I mean, I don't want to
Speaker 1: say that fungicide is all bad. I mean without fung decide,
Speaker 1: we would have had another potato blight like they had
Speaker 1: in potato famine in Ireland. Um. And but there's no
Speaker 1: more good organic to combat a fungicide. So that means
Speaker 1: that the price of organic potatoes is worth that if
Speaker 1: you don't want fungicide in your in your potato. But
Speaker 1: according to the Environmental Working Group, sweet potatoes do rank
Speaker 1: a little bit lower on the pesticide scale than normal
Speaker 1: white potatoes that we think of. So if you are
Speaker 1: trying to scrimp and pinch and save, maybe maybe go
Speaker 1: for the sweet potato and rest a little easier with that. Um. Christen,
Speaker 1: do you like fajitas? Fajitas sec signor eat? Um? I
Speaker 1: love fajitas because I love red and green peppers. Right.
Speaker 1: But Molly, going back to that fruit thing that we
Speaker 1: were just talking about, peppers has such thin skins and
Speaker 1: you're not going to peel those peppers before you eat them. No,
Speaker 1: Do you want some other vegetables that have a high
Speaker 1: level pesticide residue, shoot, celery, green beans, and tomatoes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would bank on tomatoes because going back, it's got
Speaker 1: that that thin skin. And I have never tried to
Speaker 1: peel a tomato, and I hope that I never have to.
Speaker 1: So once again, like with the fruits and with the vegetables,
Speaker 1: it's going back to this common theme of which skins
Speaker 1: can you either peel off or which skins are going
Speaker 1: to be thicker to resist the pesticides or in whatever
Speaker 1: their harsh chemicals from seeping into the inside of the
Speaker 1: fruit or vegetable, which leads us into the next one,
Speaker 1: which is something that doesn't even have a skin. You
Speaker 1: eat it straight off you know, the ground, straight off
Speaker 1: the plant. Yeah, which is why you should probably buy
Speaker 1: this organic leafy green, leafy green spinach. Just I was
Speaker 1: so disappointed with that because I love spinach, and spinach
Speaker 1: has the highest number of pesticides of any vegetable tested
Speaker 1: in the Environmental Working Groups study on organics. Yeah, organic
Speaker 1: growers would grow Spanish by using traps, non toxic repellants,
Speaker 1: mesh nets. So it's very very carefully cared for spinach
Speaker 1: if you buy it organic. Um and then to almost
Speaker 1: round out this list. We were talking earlier about watching
Speaker 1: out for what goes into fruit juices that you're giving
Speaker 1: your kids, because you know, you want to give your
Speaker 1: kids the best, and uh, furthermore, you also want to
Speaker 1: treat your babies right with the food you're giving them.
Speaker 1: So organic baby food might be a good option to
Speaker 1: splurge on because a lot of that is just mashed
Speaker 1: up fruits and vegetables, which babies love to eat. And
Speaker 1: we want to make sure that the fruits and vegetables
Speaker 1: being all smashed and mashed are not full of little
Speaker 1: smashed and mashed up pesticides. Yeah, particularly because adults are
Speaker 1: fully grown and they can handle a little pesticides. But
Speaker 1: babies are so tiny and some tiny brain brains aren't developed,
Speaker 1: and when they eat some pesticides, it affects them more
Speaker 1: more harshly. Although I mean I turned out fine and
Speaker 1: you were full of pesticide. Probably. Um. Well, now that
Speaker 1: we've been gone over eliminated like all of my grocery
Speaker 1: list and now I'm gonna have to spend five thousand
Speaker 1: dollars on a dinner tomorrow, let's talk about ten foods
Speaker 1: that are a okay to just buy normally. Let's just
Speaker 1: go through them right quick, in alphabetical order. We got
Speaker 1: asparagus and avocado, two things that I love. Yeah, like
Speaker 1: guacamole because you know, get down into that scam pretty deep.
Speaker 1: It's fine. And you got the good fats. Good to go,
Speaker 1: says bananas, because I've got a skin. Yeah, you can
Speaker 1: peel off that skin. There you go. Broccoli cabbage, which
Speaker 1: is kind of surprising because we heard about the leafy greens,
Speaker 1: which you're bad, But maybe because cabbage is so much
Speaker 1: thicker if you think about the comparison between a cabbage
Speaker 1: leaf and spinach leaf makes a world of difference, a
Speaker 1: lot of difference. Kiwi the most adorable, named fruit, perfectly fine,
Speaker 1: Mango also adorable, named adorable and delicious. We have onions, papaya,
Speaker 1: and pineapple. Yeah, and all of the mean pineapple. Nothing's
Speaker 1: getting through that skin. Oh no, not even like my
Speaker 1: dulk tonight. I'm not getting into there. Sometimes. So those foods,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't need to really splurge for the
Speaker 1: organic version, but if you do have a particular favorite,
Speaker 1: like let's say all you eat is pineapple, then maybe
Speaker 1: you do want to buy the organic because the last
Speaker 1: item on these ten foods you should buy organic list
Speaker 1: was your favorite, right, Mollly. The one thing I will say,
Speaker 1: the one thing that I buy consistently that is organic
Speaker 1: is the oatmeal that I eat in the morning. I
Speaker 1: eat it every morning for breakfast Monday through Friday, whenever
Speaker 1: I get into work. Just kind of depressing to eat
Speaker 1: your breakfast in a cubicle. But it's okay. At least
Speaker 1: it's organic because I'm eating it every day and it's
Speaker 1: a little bit better for me, so therefore it's worth
Speaker 1: this blarge to you. Yeah, I mean, and it's not
Speaker 1: too much. It's just oat meal. It's not like the
Speaker 1: difference between buying say, regular and organic steak, just a
Speaker 1: few cents more. But I think that you know, to
Speaker 1: go back to an earlier point we made, Kristen, is
Speaker 1: if you're trying to make your grocery list and now
Speaker 1: you feel disheartened because so many delicious foods we need
Speaker 1: to buy organic, the most important thing is that you
Speaker 1: do eat vegetables, that you do eat things that are
Speaker 1: sort of found around the borders of a grocery store. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, like unprocessed foods as opposed to the stuff
Speaker 1: that's in the middle that you know, it's all loaded
Speaker 1: up with preservatives and other weird we don't even know
Speaker 1: sort of things. We don't know where they came from. Right,
Speaker 1: And maybe before you started question whether or not you
Speaker 1: should buy it organic or non organic, she started looking
Speaker 1: at grocery lists like you said, and start figuring out
Speaker 1: ways to add more pump and more fruits and vegetables,
Speaker 1: whether they be canned, frozen, fresh, and get healthier in general,
Speaker 1: because like we said, I mean, is an organic chocolate
Speaker 1: chip cookie that much better for you than normal chocolate
Speaker 1: chip cookie if you eat a package of them. Probably not, No,
Speaker 1: But we endorse vegetables, vegetables and fruit. So there we go.
Speaker 1: Now she had accomplished. Yeah, now I know what to
Speaker 1: do when I go in the grocery store and I
Speaker 1: don't have to blow my budget out of eco guilt.
Speaker 1: Sounds good. If you want to learn more about organic food,
Speaker 1: you can head on over to how stuff works dot com. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a great article that might strike you is familiar
Speaker 1: when you see it called ten Foods that you Should
Speaker 1: Buy Organic by Martha Barksdale. And if you have any
Speaker 1: questions or comments or just want to chit chat, Feel
Speaker 1: free to send me in mallya line at mom stuff
Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com. For more on this
Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, is it how stuff works
Speaker 1: dot com. Want more how stuff works, check out our
Speaker 1: blogs on the house. Stuff works dot com home page.
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