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Start the eye rolling and cue the scoffing. Once again the debate over the nutritional content in Organic vs. Non-organic food has spewed itself forth onto national media sounding board. Why, here it is from the LA Times:

A comprehensive review of research comparing the nutritional content of food that was organically raised with food produced with the use of synthetic pesticides has found no significant differences between the two. Conducted by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the study is the first to bring a heated debate over the value of organic food to a rigorous conclusion. It is published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.


My Rant Measured Analysis Begins After the Jump

News flash: Organic is not magic. It will not make you healthier, more robust, or prettier. When processed, your organic foods will likely be just as fattening and sugar laden as the popular non-organic brands—it’s mostly corn anyway. Your organic apple does not contain a statistically significant increased amount of vitamins, minerals, or anti-oxidants.

It also doesn’t contain pesticides or heavy chemicals (for the most part). Which means the land it was grown on and the water under or next to that land does not contain pesticides or heavy chemicals (for the most part). Which means you probably contain less pesticides and heavy chemicals (less being the operative word). Since these things concentrate in the flesh as they go up the food chain, it also means pesticides and heavy chemicals will not affect the raptor eating fish in the stream next to that organic apple orchard (for the most part).

Still, your organic spinach may be contaminated with salmonella. And your organic, free-range, Rosie chicken may have never been outside its entire life.

Big Agriculture is big agriculture, and organic factory farms are still factory farms. They may be a bit easier on the system, but they are still causing damage, and an organic factory farm worker will still be treated like shit.

This eating healthy thing is complicated, right? No, not really. No matter how you eat, there is always going to be some asshole in a lab coat telling you you’re doing it wrong. You want to be healthy? Eat vegetables, a lot of them, regardless of where they came from—if they’re from a local organic farm, so much better, but you still need to wash them. Eat less meat. Eat less processed food. Eat less food in general. Also, get off your lazy ass a couple of times a week and do something active. There, you’re already healthier.

Eating well is about how you’re eating, not necessarily what you're eating. And until we figure that out, these stories debunking trends in food health will continue to confuse people around the world. The best way we can get healthy is to turn off the goddamn noise and be reasonable about what we stuff in our faces.