Natural Sports Medicine Blog: organic

Showing posts with label organic. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Organic Food is No Healthier Than Conventional Food, Study Finds...

A recent study (publication date is actually today July 29, 2009); says their study finds that organic food is no healthier than conventional food. Here’s why you shouldn’t believe them...

This study seems to be impressive when you first look at the big picture. The American Journal of Nutrition, Published July 2009, lots of references and materials gathered from many studies dating back 50 years. But there’s one problem. They are simply rehashing the studies from years gone by and do not present any actual scientific research. They’ve simply gone back, looked at old published papers on same or similar topics, gathered information and then related the overall findings that fit their criteria. What’s wrong with that?

Well, where’s the actual “recent research” data on the nutritional content of conventional foods that shows how much of a given vitamin, mineral, antioxidant, enzyme, co-factors, pesticide, herbicide or otherwise and compared that to the same in an organically grown food? Answer: There is none.

And, you also can’t just “LUMP” all organic foods into 1 category because, sadly enough, people try to scam us using the organic label just like in any other business. Sure, you can feed a cow organic corn and organic soy and call the cow organically fed cow. But in nature, a cows natural diet is the flowering tops of grasses.

I can feed you organic cardboard boxes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So does eating organic cardboard boxed give you any nutritional advantage over conventional cardboard boxes? No. Why? Because we didn't evolve over hudreds of thosands and millions of years to eat cardboard boxes! It's that simple. Capish?

Then you can raise a cow conventionally and then 3 months prior to slaughter, “finish the cow on grass” and technically you can call it natural grass-fed meat.

You can eat organic cereals, but not be aware that the extremely high heat extrusion process by which most cereals are made and formed into their flakes or other shapes, kills all viable nutrient value. So it doesn't matter what it's made out of if the process kills the nutrients.

Were the organic vegetables studied picked locally after being vine ripened? Or were they picked before they were ripe and then shipped across the country while they rotted to their ripeness rather than “vine ripened”?

How about “Organic Eggs”??? I wrote about this only a few months ago. Most cartons of eggs in a health food store marked “organic” or “natural” are marked “100% organic vegetarian diet” or “fed 100% all roasted organic corn and soy diet”. So what’s the problem? It’s the diet that’s the problem. Hens don’t eat soy or corn in a natural environment. They peck and eat bugs, worms, seeds and whatever else is in those fields they run around in. Why is that a healthy diet for hens? Because it’s what they’ve evolved to eat over hundreds of thousands of years of evolution.

So, to come up with a study that says organic foods have no nutritional advantage over conventionally grown foods only raises more questions rather than providing validation of the farming practices of the American Food Industrial Complex. Hey, and don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with you eating their stuff if you choose. You should just be aware you’re being deceived and understand the alternatives (properly grown organics) have a much greater nutritional value.

You know what you do? Go find a local organic farm and that’s where you buy your eggs, milk, cheese, meats, veggies and fruit. Learn how to make your own condiments (via lactofermentation methods) like your great grandmother did.

And for those who want to find out if organic foods actually have more nutritional benefits than conventional food, you must first really be looking! Try doing some original research next time!

'nuff said

DocT

Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

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Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The Organic Scam

I know, all of you convention food folks trying to justify your existence are happy to see the title. Sorry to disappoint you, but Organic Food is healthier than conventionally grown food for several reasons. Most of what I eat is organic and I wouldn't waste my money if it truly wasn't worth it. But this isn't the focus of my current frustrations. Today I want to discuss something different...a little more in-depth into the organic food industry. You see, there’s a scam within the organic food industry that needs to be uncovered and I’m in the mood to stir it up today.

Yesterday I’m in Whole Foods here in South Beach. I’m looking through the dairy section for some raw milk and some good healthy eggs. I found the milk, but the eggs…. We’ll, herein lies the scam…

So, there are several different brands of “organic eggs” on the shelf at Whole Foods. All of which proudly advertise their hens are cage free (note it didn’t say pastured or free roaming) and they eat a 100% vegetarian diet.

I bet that sounds wonderful doesn’t it? 100% vegetarian diet. Some of them advertise 100% organic corn, or organic feed, or roasted organic feed. Some even advertise organic flax meal to enhance Omega-3 content of the yolk.

Ready for the scam?

What is a hens natural, evolutionary diet? Is it corn? Is it soy? Is it roasted corn? Is it 100% organic corn or flax seed? If you said yes, you’d be 100%.....wrong.

Naturally, chickens/hens roam grassy fields pecking away on bugs, worms, larvae and seeds. Chickens are NOT vegetarians, they are omnivore and protein is an important part of their diet. Of course, I'm only using evolution as my reference, not something more valid like the opinion of someone at whole foods or someone that sells multilevel vitamins (sarcasm intended).

Just because you give an animal (or a human) something grown with organic principles, doesn’t mean it’s healthy. Did you know that modern day corn is genetically engineered? Yep. Corn use to have a 12C molecular structure (that’s 12 carbon atoms). Modern day corn has 13 carbon atoms. But, you can take that genetically altered corn and grow the seeds in organic soils, use organic compost materials to fertilize it and end of with an organically grown genetically modified corn plant. Organic or not, it's still not healthy for you to consume.

Nor is it healthy for a cow (whose natural evolutionary diet is the flowering tops of grass) or for the hens making the eggs for your breakfast.

If you want a truly healthy egg from a truly healthy hen, you need to get eggs directly from a farm that allows their hens to run around the fields (typically after the cows have chewed up the grasses then poop it out, flies sworm and lay eggs, then larvae hatch), peck their natural evolutionary diet and extract the nutrients to live a full, healthy chicken life and produce truly healthful and nutritious eggs.

It is E-X-T-R-E-M-E-L-Y rare for these healthy hens and their eggs to have salmonella. However salmonella is significantly more common in eggs from hens grown in a conventional manor. Why? Their given food they were never meant to eat, now allowed to exercise and they live in an artificial & stressful environment. This produces stressed out – very unhealthy hens and eggs that are nutritionally poorer and susceptible to disease.

So, therein lies the organic scam. You can feed any animal or any human anything organic. If that food, organic or not isn't the native evolutionary food for that species, then they will be organically sick and eventually organically diseased!

Next time you’re in Whole Foods or some other “Natural Food Store” and are about to buy eggs or some type of meat…when it says organic, ask yourself (and maybe the dairy or meat manager) if these animals were fed “their” natural organic evolutionary diet?? Or simply “An” organic diet, on foods not native to the animal???

***Healthy foods are only healthy if they (the animal that produced the food) ate foods they were meant to eat. Organic or not.

***Cows are supposed to eat grasses, not corn, not soy, not hormones, not dead diseased cow waste, not antibiotics.

***Chickens are supposed to peck bugs, worms and whatever else they want to while running around (aka: exercising) in fields. Not corn, not soy, not flaxmeal, not hormones, not farm waste, not antibiotics

***To all those expensive fancy steak houses that advertise "100% corn fed beef"...your beef is crap. It's unhealthy and I wouldn't touch it with your fork. Why don't you advertise that your 100% corn fed cows can't live past 150 days on their 100% corn diet.

***Next time you go out for dinner or to the grocery store, ask yourself if your food also ate healthfully? If yes, then buy it and enjoy it.

I also want you to be careful of the terms "cage free" & "humanely treated" as they infer something other than what they may actually represent. Remember, question everything until you get a specific answer and use your purchase power to influence your local retailers.

Anyone know of a good healthy local farm? I need some eggs!

‘nuff said

Dr. T

Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

#chiropractormiamibeach #MiamiBeachChiropractor #SportsInjuriesFixedHere #DrNarson #ToddNarson #Narson #TriDoc #TriathlonDoc #ChiropracticSportsMedicine #ACASC #SportsMedicine #SportsChiropractor #MiamiBeachSportsMedicine #SportsMedicineMiami #MiamiSportsMedicine #MiamiChiropractor #Triathlon #Running #Ironman #IFixPeopleInPain #TrainWithoutPain #MiamiBeachChiropractor #GrastonTechnique #FAKTR #IASTM #Chiropractor #FootPain #Narson #NarsonBodyMechanic #NarsonTool #DACBSP #CCSP #ACBSP #BackPain #NeckPain #ShoulderPain #RotatorCuff #ITBandSyndrome #runnersKnee #PlantarFasciitis #Plantarfascitis #AchillesTendonitis #AchillesTendonosis #GettingAthletesBackInTheGame #MiamiBeachChiropractor #MiamiSportsMedicine #MiamiBeachSportsMedicine #WeFixPeopleInPain #TrainWithoutPain #ChiropracticSportsMedicine #ACASC #ProSportChiropractic #FunctionalMedicineMiami #DrNarson #BackPainRelief #NeckPainRelief #SportsInjuriesFixedHere #LaserTherapy #RockTape #KinesioTape #KTTape #Nutrition #21DayPurificationProgram #DetoxProgram #PaleoDiet #PaleoDoc #FunctionalNutrition #Chirooractor #Chiropractic #ChiropracticPhysician #DoctorOfChiropractic #USATriathlon #USAT #TeamUSA #CorporateWellness #HappyEmployeedProfitableBusiness #HeadacheRelief #MigraineHeadacheRelief #Migraine #SportsSpecificExam #SportSpecificTreatment #WorkCompDoc #WorkersCompensation

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Resveratrol: Lessons Of A Survival Mechanism That May Help All Fruits & Veggies Help You Be Healthy

Resveratrol Resveratrol is becoming all the rage in conversations around the wine tasting circles & the gym. It’s fast becoming a popular nutritional supplement and for very good reason. Resveratrol is a phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi. I’ve also read that plants produce more resveratrol when grown in a stressful environment such as when grapes go through extreme cold temperatures, resveratrol is produced as a means of protection against the environment. It’s part of the plants survival mechanism.

So what happens when you grow your fruits & veggies with pesticides, fungicides and herbicides? You know, the things commercial farmers spray all over our food when it’s growing to protect them from bugs, pests, mites, fungus, bacteria and the like??? Well, let’s think this through for a few moments? If you artificially protect the plant, then the plant has no use for it’s own built-in natural protection. So, no or very little resveratrol.

What about growing foods in soils deplete of minerals? Yep, the fruits and veggies have no minerals to absorb therefore the fruit or vegetables they bare have minimal mineral content. The same could be said for vitamins, antioxidants and other phytochemicals yet to be discovered, just like resveratrol was recently discovered.

So, this is my back door argument for organic produce and against commercially grown produce. Organic, naturally raised fruits & veggies have the benefit of their own natural defenses working out with the environment, bacteria, fungi and harsh environmental conditions just like you and I workout in the gym. We get stronger as a response to the stress of the workout, the plants get stronger in their response to those environmental factors.

Let’s not forget where we get our vitamins, minerals, antioxidants (like resveratrol) and other phytochemicals, the foods we eat absorb them from the environment as they grow .

If you follow my logic, you’ll see the basic mechanism by which nature produces resveratrol is something common to all foods, not just the grapes used for wine. With that in mind, eat foods that used their own natural defenses to fight the elements and your body will benefit from their defense mechanisms as well. Otherwise, you’ll get nutritionally deplete foods that leave you exposed to the elements and stresses life has to offer. Wonder why you keep getting every cold that comes around?

If this makes sense to you them I’m sure you’ll start eating more organic fruits & veggies and literally consume the power of nature.

‘nuff said

DocT