In a recent issue of Organic Insider, I discuss the decision by the Non-GMO Project to place potatoes on its High-Risk list.
Joining soy, corn, canola and a few others, this is by no means a prominent distinction. Rather, it is something that every crop should seek to avoid because it means that the likelihood of consuming a genetically-modified version of this crop in the U.S. is extremely high.
The more time that you spend in the organic industry, the more you learn about what is truly going on and what you find is pretty scary.
While I try to remain as optimistic as possible, the reality is that the organic industry is under a constant existential threat from genetically-modified organisms (GMOs).
Even though organic food has never been more popular, nearly 80% of the food on supermarket shelves contains GMOs and organic remains less than 1% of all farmland acreage in the U.S. While 64 nations around the world require GMOs to be labeled, the U.S. does not. Why?
Because the ag-biotech industry has “purchased” agricultural policy in our country, by spending $572 million on campaign contributions and lobbying from 1999-2010.
When I was at Expo West this past Spring, I was talking with Jerry Zeifman, president of Health Matters America, a distributor of various organic foods, and asked him what he eats for breakfast.
Jerry, who looks looks about 10 years younger than his actual age, told me that he drinks smoothies filled with superfoods and uses organic herbal tea as his base.
Immediately, I thought to myself, “Using tea in a smoothie? Yeah, that makes total sense. Why didn’t I think of that?”
While I had been making the exact same smoothies as Jerry, I was using Brazil nut milk instead of organic tea.
I have since cut back on nut milk and make it about twice per week but am now incorporating tea a majority of the time, thanks to Jerry.
If you walk into the supermarket and are confused about which organic eggs to buy, it is important to understand a few things.
First, not all organic eggs are the same. In fact, there are massive differences in organic eggs, particularly in regards to how the birds were raised.
Second, don’t select a carton of organic eggs simply because it has the nicest, most attractive packaging. That doesn’t tell the whole story.
Whenever I get asked the question of which are the best tasting organic foods, my response is always the same: the Biodynamic ones.
For quite some time, I have been wondering why exactly Biodynamic tastes so delicious, so I went digging for an answer.
THE BASICS
To understand why Biodynamic tastes so good and different from the rest, let’s first discuss its origins and then define it.
If you are ever asked why you eat organic food, particularly from a skeptic, there is a very easy answer — you don’t want to get cancer.
In July 2017, the State of California announced that:
Whenever I think about a lot of the food that I ate growing up, it isn’t overly pleasant. It was the standard American diet with all of the processed, fast food that most of the country still consumes today.
Fortunately, my childhood took place before the emergence of GMOs (mid-90s) and growth hormone milk (late 80s), so I escaped some of the really bad things when my body was in its crucial stage of development.
One food that I fondly remember eating, and loving, at family dinners was potatoes. And it wasn’t just the insides of the potatoes. I particularly loved eating the skins. Yet, little did I or my parents know just how toxic they were.
When many people think of the most important foods to be eating organic, potatoes do not immediately come to mind as quickly as apples, grapes, or spinach do. But they should and here’s why.
