DON’T PANIC, EAT ORGANIC!

by Wayne Gendel

I have researched and found some interesting facts on the mineral content of organic food versus non-organic. Below are a few things I have found out. Before I report on some of the findings, I’d like to remind you that beyond studies, we need to use our God-given logic and common sense.

Organic is not always 100% pure. Sometimes the middle men can spray the produce on the way to the markets, sometimes manure is used in the soil, so to prevent e-coli wash your fruits and veggies thoroughly. Organic is virtually always better than non-organic, provided it is fresh and looks fresh.

Taste comparison.

I remember trying organic when it first started to become available and anything I tried had more taste! So compare and see the difference for yourself. If the soil is full of nutrients chemicals, pesticides, herbicides…. are not needed.

David Thomas, a researcher found past editions of “The Composition of Foods” by McCance & Widdowson, the Wisden of British nutrition that first came out in 1940. Mr. Thomas’ research refers specifically to trace elements, those necessary minerals, though in minute amounts, but absolutely needed by the body to properly function. Since 1940, there had been some stunning decline of these in all fruits and vegetables: calcium is down 46%; sodium down 49%; copper down 75%. More specifically, carrots have lost 75% of their magnesium; broccoli has lost 75% of its calcium; and sodium has disappeared entirely from certain beans.

One of the explanations for the lower nutritional content has to do with the nature of modern agri-business, which has dumped huge quantities of fertilizers, pesticides, etc. on the soil, increasing the content of the basic NPK growth elements at the expense of everything else. NPK is the fertilizer that has the three chemicals that are necessary for plants to grow. Excess of certain man-made chemicals depletes natural minerals. Commercial farmers receive a load of seed catalogues offering all kinds of newly developed vegetable varieties. They will have been specially bred to mature earlier, to resist disease, to last longer, to look better…. Environmental concerns and trace minerals/elements is hardly a priority to profiteering chemical companies.

We all know the importance of these minerals and the relationship of their lack to increased illnesses in modern society such as diabetes, asthma, allergies in general, leukaemia, eczema and so on. In the early 1900’s only 1 in 100 got cancer, today one in four for men and one in five for women have cancer. We have to eat four or five times as much to get the benefit we did 60 years ago.

A Harvard University Study from 1996 revealed that a random testing of various organic produce found 50-300% more nutrients than non-organic. A study from 1999 from Ritchers university revealed more nutrients in organic and that non-organic did not even register certain minerals that were in organic foods!

One farmer I read about added ground rock dust to his produce and the results were astonishing. Don Weaver co-authored a book called “Survival of Civilization” and came across a product called Flora-Stim. 200 or 300 pounds added to an acre of soil resulted in substantially higher brix readings. Brix is a form of sugar/minerals that are prevalent in quality produce. They tested 3 different kinds of produce grown by a farmer using the Flora-Stim product.

Here are the results compared to normal commercial grown produce.

ORANGES:	16-37% more juice, 37% thinner skin, 30% more vitamin C and 234% more minerals!
WATERMELONS:	12% more vitamin A, 20% more C, 50% more niacin, 10% more choline, 47% more natural sugars, 63% more minerals.
CAULIFLOWER:	218% more vitamins, 40% more B-12, 183% more niacin.

Below are some great places to shop locally for your organic produce. Many places even deliver for a nominal fee. We have arranged a 10% discount for your first purchase at the

Vegetable Kingdom 416-703-6447 (Just mention the Forever Healthy E-letter discount, and Bon Appetit!)

These are couple of other good places to shop:

Eternal Abundance 416-532-0164
True Foods 905-642-0556 – Delivery Only!

Lastly, please eat organic as much as possible. If you cannot eat organic, don’t panic, just do not eat the skins even if you use vegetable washes – the pesticides, waxes and the like are very hard to remove entirely!