Why you should consume organic food?
Let thy food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.
– Hippocrates
In the modern world, what could be more important than your health and well-being? The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought the topic of ‘health’ and ‘immunity’ to the forefront. Be it a newsroom or a common household, focus on increasing immunity has gained major attention. People have now realised that immunity is the strongest armor against the dreadful attack of several diseases, health problems and infections.
But, How do you build your immunity?
Immunity cannot be built by will or overnight. There is no drug that can make us immune from all the diseases. It is built by the food that we eat, by the balanced intake of macro and micronutrients present naturally in various foods, if grown in accordance with nature.
Unfortunately, current conventionally grown food lacks the micronutrients in it because the soil in which it is grown is devoid of essential micronutrients. Due to the continuous application of inorganic fertilizers in the same piece of land, the organic characteristics of the soil is lost. Hence the crops grown in it lack essential micronutrients. As a result, these micronutrients are now being taken as food supplements. Wouldn’t it have been nice if all our nutrient requirement could be fulfilled by the food that we consume and the need of supplementing them through the external and synthesized sources become irrelevant? But How?
The answer is – Organic Food.
One of the best way to build a strong immune system is the intake of healthy, nutritious and natural food. Food that is grown in nature, food that is hygienic and safe to consume. In organic food, along with the external hygiene, the internal and intrinsic hygiene of food is also ensured. You are not only avoiding the harmful chemicals that have potential to cause life threatening diseases like cancer etc., but also getting replenished by the nutrients present in plenty in the organically grown food. Several researches in the European countries have shown direct link between immunity and organic food.
Along with better immunity, there are several other benefits that are linked with organic products.
Benefits of organic food
- Health: Consumption of organic products saves us from the exposure of poisonous chemicals used in the conventional farming. These chemicals have the capacity of weakening your immunity and triggering various unwanted changes in the body. The changes could be in the form of imbalance of hormones that control a lot of functions (including the physical growth and mental health) or triggering the uncontrolled growth of the cells, also known as Cancer. Some of these chemicals have also been linked to trigger psychological disorders like depression and lifestyle diseases like Diabetes and High Blood Pressure. In organic products, the use of these chemicals is avoided at any stage of production and preparation. It starts with soil with natural characteristics and ends in your plate, which means that it is from “farm to fork” and the food is never exposed to any chemical. Besides, researches have shown health benefits of consuming organic food.
Organic food contains higher amount of certain micronutrients (Vitamin C, Polyphenols and flavonoids) and minerals, as well as have higher dry matter content than the conventional ones. Moreover, there is a lower level of pesticide residues, nitrate and some heavy metal contaminations in organic crops compared to conventional ones.
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2. Taste: Organic food is generally grown with traditional profile of the soil through the traditional methods and hence it is found that the taste of the organic food is much superior to conventionally grown food. There have been some studies where it has been found that babies have liked organic baby food better than the conventional baby food.
3. Environment: Traditional agriculture is hit as science and mankind bring out modern ways to improve it. But the addition of synthetic chemicals in the ecosystem, in the form of fertilizers and growth enhancers do more damage than good as it destroys the quality of soil and the produce, putting ours and the environment’s health at risk. To counter all the corrosion, adopting and continuing sustainable organic practices is the only answer.
Chemicals sprayed in the fields ultimately get into the water (either the groundwater or the rivers), which affects the aquatic life and create larger uncontrollable harm to the whole environment. The organic characteritics of the soil is hampered, resulting in more dependency on chemical inputs year-by-year, for the same yield.
Organic itself means that the origin is from the living beings and the natural characteristics of soil is being conserved. Hence the use of organic products help in reducing the negative impact on the environment.
4) Socioeconomics: Due to various diseases, arising from the use of the chemicals and pesticides, there is more health burden in the society. A weak society creates more stress on the health infrastructure. Besides, there have been many cases where farmer suicides have been linked with the use of chemical pesticides. From a financial standpoint of the farmer, Organic is the only sustainable farming method. This is specifically true for the small land holders where the new-age machines could not be of much help. Hence, most of the times the small holder farmers are dependent upon the incomplete knowledge and end up spraying a lot more chemicals than needed. In the organic farming there is no need for any external agri-inputs and the farmers can generate natural inputs in their fields itself hence breaking the dependency on any external inputs and money. So even from a financial standpoint, organic practices and products can create better wealth for the whole society.
The world is moving at such a breakneck pace that we, at times, forget to pause and reflect upon our action. This, in turn, has turned progress into a precarious weapon of self-destruction, something that puts the sustenance of all the living entities and the ecosystem at stake, and what is the better example than the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is struggling with. Organic Products are not just a current fad adopted by the affluent, but it is a way of life. The way food has always been. Load your home with organic food and stay fit because ultimately health is the only wealth.
