Does Organic Really Matter?

YES! It does. Despite all the pushback from modern agricultural systems and special interest groups promoting the safety of conventionally grown foods, eating foods grown as naturally as possible is, at the very least, the most responsible thing we can for our one Earth. We humans are extensions of nature – we literally, physically, and biochemically would not be alive on this planet without nutrients and nourishment from Mother Earth.

In my clinical endeavors to “do no harm” and personal efforts to be useful in this life, I learn and teach about the vast damage resulting from contaminated food. Evidence shows strong links to environmental chemicals and dis-ease. We destroy nature with chemicals, and we’re sick, too.

Implications of our toxic food system have resulted in lawsuits against big companies who contaminate us with their problems (chemicals) and solutions (medications) in the “interest” of feeding the masses.

Herein lies a moral conundrum in my field of work and life: I am taught to “be inclusive” – meet people where they are socioeconomically, without causing overwhelm, guilt, or shame for buying commercial foods raised with pesticides, toxic personal care products, home and yard environments, and more. Our modern world supports cheap, easily available, affordable, and alluring consumption. Those who prioritize natural ways of growing, living and co-existing with nature are labeled with diminishing words and treated like outcasts. Yet fostering natural rhythms helps humankind and nature – evidence of this is growing, too.

Like humans, plants – and the pests, critters, microorganisms we endeavor to obliterate when growing at mass scales – are resilient, designed by nature to withstand contaminants. Collard greens mop up glyphosate and, thus, are sown to leach glyphosate from soil before planting the next monocrop. (What happens to those collards?) Some fish possess inherent detox systems that help filter methylmercury from their flesh. (Are those “wild harvested” fish safe to eat?)

A large-scale sweet potato farmer once told me, “A sweet potato is a sweet potato,” justifying that a sweet potato always develops into a sweet potato (GMO or not). Her statement was alarming, seemingly a learned and coercive way to succumb to a system fixated on high yields (not high quality) – and a shallow excuse not to change. Sweet potatoes grown with pesticides yields nutrients and contaminants.

“USDA Organic” by definition, also means non-GMO. Sometimes, non-GMO is a good choice, like with soy products sprayed at every stage of growth. But there is no commercially available non-GMO wheat. Why? Wheat doesn’t need to be genetically modified to withstand pesticides, and regularly is sprayed with glyphosate before harvest. So “organic” wheat is the only viable option to reduce toxic load and environmental destruction.

Turns out, “nurture” – our environment – plays a larger role in our health than genetic risk. The nutrients and contaminants we consume are largely responsible for turning genes on and off, while genetic risk plays a much smaller role in ailments, symptoms, and diseases. Let’s return to our innate ability to be well by eating real food raised harmoniously with nature. On a large scale, that means “organic”. And know your farmer! Many are growing food more organically than USDA standards, with thriving ecosystems at the core of their values. It may be your body and your choice, yet Earth is for every living thing.