Organic Food: Yay or Nay?

Do we know what goes into our food? The answer to that is no. We only know what goes into our food if we grow it ourselves or if it’s organic. But the thing is, nowadays things that say organic on the packaging are probably not 100% organic. All foods have some kind of connection with the industrial food chain. The industrial food chain is a chain in which food products with artificial chemicals and fertilizers are incorporated into our food. It’s not the healthiest option but it is a lot cheaper. Personally, I think we should move away from the industrial food chain and start aiming towards organic food. Although some people can argue that too expensive and not worth the money, organic food is healthier and reduces our carbon footprint.

Some people can argue that there is no difference between organic and non-organic foods but they have been proven wrong. Organic food is much more healthier for your body than non-organic foods. Non-organic foods have been coated in pesticides spray so the bugs didn’t eat the mass amounts of food being produced at the time so now, when you eat a non-organic apple, you are intaking a chemical compound called Organophosphorus which from scientific data proves that this chemical can lead to autism and ADHD. Organic food can also increase your heart health as cows grazing on grass leads to an increase CLA which is a heart healthy fatty acid that boost cardiovascular protection which makes your heart generally stronger and much healthy. From seeing all the benefits of organic food, why would people want to buy non-organic foods? Artificial chemicals are dangerous to us and the environment.

Non-organic foods have been created with artificial chemicals and fertilizers. Some chemicals from artificial fertilizers can be toxic to the environment. An example of this would be the pollution of streams, rivers, ponds and lakes. When we spray our crops with different chemicals and fertilizers because we don’t want bugs to eat them, all the excess nutrients from the fertilizer runs off into our waterways, this cause algae to bloom that is sometimes big enough to make waterways impassable. When this algae dies, it sinks to the bottom of the waterway and decomposes in a process that removes all oxygen from the water. This means that all aquatic species can’t survive in certain water areas called ‘dead zones’, so they either die or move to greener underwater spaces with more oxygen. From reading this you might think that this won’t affect you in any way but you are wrong. When the chemicals from the fertilizers get into the waterways, the fish ingest them and become infected with the chemicals. Humans who eat these infected fish can become ill and infected, completing the circle that started from pollution from the fertilizers. These fertilizers that are keeping these crops from being eaten, is making a massive impact on the environment.

Even though organic foods are much better in many ways, people still seem to be bying non-organic producers rather than organic. The answer is simple. Non-organic foods are much cheaper as they haven’t been made with a lot of effort and are made in larger quantities. Imagine you had two apples, one in each hand. One was organic and one wasn’t. The organic apple was 3 dollars and the non-organic apple was a dollar. Which one would you choose? They look the same, taste the same, are the same weight and are the exact same size, why would you want to spend 2 more dollars on the exact same product? People usually choose the cheaper products because they feel there is either they feel like they are wasting money or they don’t think there is any difference but the truth is they are eating toxic chemicals and are not getting the proper nutrients. Most people in the world are not in that top 1% that can afford more and are very privileged. Most can’t afford to buy organic products because they are more expensive. Most people have families to feed and don’t have enough money to buy their kids organic apples so the simple solution would be to buy the cheaper products.

To sum this up, organic foods has it’s positives and negatives but I think that if we overlooked the price of organic foods and saw all the benefits organic food had on our body and the environment, we would want to stop buying cheap, unhealthy non-organic foods and switch to organic. Even though it would be very hard to stop the industrial food chain, maybe we could prevent the use of chemicals and fertilizers and switch to a more organic farming method, meaning it won’t have an impact on our bodies and the environment. Next time you go into your local supermarket, try and buy more organic, healthy and sustainable products so you know that in your heart, you helped the environment and your body become more healthy.