Fast/feast...I get it, but for a lack of a better term...different places in the journey call for differing levels of consumption. Many on the SAD can barely choke down a salad with iceberg lettuce. Others can eat different percentages of raw foods and feel great. Personally, I ate a very healthy vegan diet for a year and still felt toxic. I went raw and still felt poisoned. I cut out nuts and made a couple green smoothies each day and I am suddenly benefitting tremendously. I am off sugar and anti depressants. Now I am feeling greedy! I want to get off coffee ( biggest addict ever!) and lose 10 lbs. I am very sensitive. I think juice would "zap" me. I also still have some emotional eating going on and smoothies have a bit more going on than juices. Maybe a few months from now I will be asking about a liquid juice diet. I can see where it could be preferred by some, as well as periodic fasting. For some this way of life comes in increments. We are all in different places and each of us can hopefully be of benefit and encouragement to someone. Hopefully!

februarygirl

I have to agree that some times non-organic is tastier and fresher. I usually sample the leafy greens like spinach and lettuce before I buy, and there have been times when the flavour is really nasty or very little flavour at all. I know that certified orgnic farmers have to jump through hoops to be certified, but maybe they use too much water or a particular type of organic fertiliser that either makes the produce grow too fast, or changes the flavour in some way. I've found that some produce is tastier from the supermarket, and that really upset me, as you'd think that organic would be super tasty.

I've also found that organic shops try to sell the old stuff before bringing out the fresh (naturally), or that they re-stock their shelves on a particular day. So, it's a good idea to check out when they do re-stock, or if the produce looks abit dated, to then ask them to grab you a fresh bunch from out of the cool room. I do this whenever I find a problem with flavour or freshness, and they're usually pretty good about it, especially when I tell them that I eat the food raw. I don't think they'd be so accommodating if I cooked though.

Also, I've found lately that supermarket produce is almost as expensive as organic, and in some cases more so. At the moment, avocados are dearer than organic where I live.

The main thing for me are the poisonous sprays on any produce that I can't peel. So, I don't have so much of a problem buying non-organic food that I can peel.

I always go for the fresher and my own observation is that non organic is fresher, always available. My health has not suffered a bit.

I have an organic shop here which has some very good/fresh and very tasty organic food.

But the supermarket on the other hand i can see where you are coming from madinah, you look at the lettuce, cauliflower, broccolis etc its disgusting they are half brown and withered by the time they get there that i end up having to choose the non organic type if i cant get access to the organic shop.

[www.amlaberry.co.uk]

Luckily for me here the organic produce is very fresh and nice looking, no different than other produce. It's shipped from far away at this time of year though, but so is the non-organic. I've never been to a store where the organic was wilted and brown, why would anyone buy that? Weird.

Its horrible coco, as always i go for organic where possible of course, i don't know if its been sitting there for some time but often the sell by date is still days away and the produce looks awful.

The cauliflowers here especially.

[www.amlaberry.co.uk]

Even though food prices are rising we in Canada are partially buffered due to high competition and price wars. I think the standards for produce are particularly high here as well so no one would tolerate wilted sad looking anything. Even food in the bargain bins is often just fine, a little over ripe at times but never terrible looking.

I wonder if the nature of organics means that they decompose more quickly than chemical laden foods. I wouldn't doubt that conventional produce is sprayed and coated with who knows what to delay spoilage as well. Wouldn't shock me at all.

I really don't know coco to be fair. The bananas here are so annoying nothing is ripe so you have to workout how to buy produce in advance so that there ripe for when you want them which makes my morning fruit smoothie a pain at times. I don't know if its like this elsewhere but its annoying lol.

But its the greens im meaning, the prices in the UK here aren't that different from non organic were talking say 60p-1£ difference on whatever product at the most. Yeah it mounts up overall but if i can buy organic i will but not when its wilted, aging and sad like you say.

Im going to try take some pictures show what the average organic green looks like in UK shops because it is horrible. Maybe the demand isn't there overall so it sits for a while but i don't believe that either as i shop most days for more fruits and vegetables. The tomato's and fruit, bell peppers generally always look great but the greens is a different matter.

[www.amlaberry.co.uk]

Unless I can grow it myself I do not believe that organic foods are what they claim to be, everything is "chemical laden foods", I go for the fresh organic or not and grow the rest indoor.

Yes, we all know your opinion on this, you can stop beating us over the head with it now.

If your uncertain about the amount of pesticides in your food. You can at least peel off the skin to remove any that would linger on the outside. I'm on a budget, and can't always get access to organic, especially in the winter, so I have to compromise.

can't wait to start growing my own garden this spring!

Agreed nate8snow, although a lot of the nutrients are in the skin or near the skin that's the only issue really.

[www.amlaberry.co.uk]

For me, organic fruits and vegetables taste better than their commercial counterparts. In addition to the chemical pesticides in commercial produce, there is the chemical fertilizer used, as well as GMO.

But if you can't afford organic, then eat fruits that have a skin you can peel, say like a banana. Grow you own greens or sprouts. Some fruits, like persimmons and figs, don't need a lot of pesticides, as they are pretty hardy while on the tree.

Avocado too, they are not heavily sprayed.

I thought it did not matter, the spray goes thru the skin anyway

madinah Wrote:
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> I always go for the fresher and my own observation
> is that non organic is fresher, always available.
> My health has not suffered a bit.

I think that you have a point because sometimes organic produce is just too expensive for a person's current budget. I always buy organic lettuce and other greens and herbs, as well as organic carrots. Those seem just a bit higher than regular ones. But to me it's silly to refuse to buy any produce rather than fear conventional. I mean, even with residue, I still think eating fresh produce is better than eating more cooked food. However, if cost is not your concern, aside from freshness, it's good to support organic farmers because of environmental concerns.

madinah, the spray has not been shown to go through the skin in more than trace amounts, and it depends, the thicker skinned something is, the less trace amounts make it into the fruit as tested, where as the thickest skinned items seem to have no real trace inside...

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Oh, mirror in the sky
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Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Organic tastes much better than non-organic simply because of the chemical taste in most non-organic foods. Especially in high water content produce. I can taste a faint burning, chemical taste.

It also makes sense that to some people non-organic would have more 'flavor' since most of it is grown to appeal to the sweet tooth of the average consumer. It is well known that our current produce has a much higher sugar content than it used to have. An organic carrot or orange is typically not as sweet as a non-organic one.

I dunno, i agree with everything you just said, except the best carrots ive ever had where organic, I dont remember though if they where "sweeter" or I just found them the tastiest ever... I dont remember what I specifically considered tastier about them...hmmm...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

The carrot and orange thing isn't true, it's the same variety being grown with or without chemical sprays. That doesn't affect the sugar content. They have been bred to be sweeter but that's all of them, not just conventional.

Not always true, coco. At least not in my area. Non-organic are huge orange sugary things whereas the organic ones are small yellow-orange fruits. A huge difference. Carrots that are organic are small and slender and the non-organic carrots are huge and fiberous.

I believe with most apples it is true though. And bananas... organic bananas around here used to be significantly different than non-organic... they were smaller, wider, intense flavor, clearly a different species. (Like the ones that used to grow in my yard when I lived in Africa.) Then dole bought up a lot of organic farms and now the organic bananas look and taste just like the non-organic.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2011 06:09PM by RocketShip.

I agree with you Curator. I think organic is much yummier because of the flavor rather than sugar. I suspect that you enjoyed the carrot flavor of the organic rather than the watery/sugary flavor of non-organic.

I remember the first time I juiced organic apples. OMG it was delicious! I was zapped with the freshest, yummiest apple flavor ever. I had been juicing non-organic.

Rocket, I have to say when it comes to carrots, what you describe seems more the product of soil type they are grown in than variety, as all carrot varieties in existence these days are highly hybridized, they have been grown by man for just far to long, just like broccoli and cauliflower, you would not even recognize the plants they originated from... interestingly, the same as cabbages... they where just bred specifically to enhance different traits in various parts of the world...

the closet carrot to the originals that exist today that are safely edible by most people are I believe the black/dark purple heirloom varieties, and even those are highly cultivated... Soil type makes a huuuuuge difference in the flavor and size and shape and texture of a carrot...ive grown a LOT of carrots, and seen this effect between various garden beds... its not the variety that changes it, its how its grown, but I think the organic probably tastes better to me, cause they tend to taste closer to my home grown that I miss so much...

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Curator Wrote:
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> Rocket, I have to say when it comes to carrots,
> what you describe seems more the product of soil
> type they are grown in

Yes, one free of chemical fertilizes.

yeah, but I never used chemical fertilizers at all in any of my gardens growing up, and I had some in the boxes with the newer lighter soil who where just like commercial carrots but tastier,looked the same and had the same texture roughly, and the ones growing in my other box which had more clay in it, where more tough, but I liked their flavor more...

I do think the chemical fertilizers would effect the flavor and stuff a lot too, just saying the composition of the soil does as well

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?