It's something that's playing on my mind lately. Dr Graham says it makes a BIG difference.
I have beem alarmed to read about pesticides in fertilisers plus spraying of not just fruits, but leafy greens - stands to reason, the more tender and accessible the leaves, the more they are eaten by other species. Likewise the fruits with most contamination are those with thinner skins. I eat a LOT of leafy greens, so my pesticide levels have for sure increased since cooked days.
Any comments welcome - I'd especially like to hear from those who have made a total or near-total change which they have maintained over 3 months at least?
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I'm organic for 9 months now. When I used to buy conventional, I'd often break out in rash. I recently made a mistake, and bought conventional blueberries instead of organic. I broke out in rash the next day. So these are my visible reactions. As to what's going inside, I have no idea :) I switched to raw, organic only, and also added D3 and b12 supplements at the same time. I do have more energy and my skin looks better, but it's probably the cumulative effect. Organic to me does taste better than conventional. My main complaint - everything is so unripe. :( Can't wait for summer, when I can start buying things at the farmer's market
Wow, your reaction is pretty compelling! Kind of helpful to have that reaction guiding your choices, and so quickly!
Agreed, the non-ripe issue is a prob, at least in summer some fruits will ripen. I may stick to bananas fruitwise for now.
I buy all my greens organic because they seem so unprotected from chemicals without skin. I don't buy organic bananas very often because they taste extremely bland to me, at least the ones here in Colorado. I could never go all organic because I eat too many bananas.
Thanks SNBro; I'd sort of ruled that out cos of working hours vs attention they need. Those most commonly attacked are the more tender sort that we love too, hence higher pesticides.
But for sure, it has to be the best way.
They say organic produce is much higher in nutrition. So, there's the concern about pesticides affecting long-term health, and what difference the lower vitamin/mineral intake will make!
Maybe, some people can handle non-organic a lot better. Stronger liver; stronger immune system?
I've had long-term digestive issues, and find that whenever I switch to almost all-organic from about 70% that I have more mental clarity. It's quite noticeable. Gabrial Cousens writes about neuro-toxins in pesticides affecting the brain, so I don't think this is just my imagination. Though, I know people who seem to do just fine on lots of regular fresh fruit. I do think one's individual chemistry has a lot to do with it.
Thanks Sarah - it's the pesticide effect that concerns me most. I'm finding since switching diets from a cooked "fish-vegan" (no I didn't ever call myself that, lol!) to raw, my system seems far more reactive than I ever imagined in more toxic days. I don't believe my liver is especially strong.
Mental clarity is certainly something I'd like more of. Changes have been very very slow, I take it due to toxic overload.
Thanks for letting me know your experiences on the topic.
I'm a little dubious about better nutritional value in organic shop-bought fruits, which are usually harvested even less ripe than conventional, but greens will be interesting.
Years ago I complained to my mum about organic not tasting as good as conventional fruits. Her reply, "of course not dear, they don't put the stuff in the soil to give it a taste".
I have not noticed a difference yet. I generally avoid the "dirty dozen" type stuff and buy organic greens, but I do buy conventional bananas as well as organic when I can and don't notice a difference in how I feel, unfortunately I did notice that the conventional bananas actually tasted noticeable better not too long ago. Now I'm paranoid their is a conspiracy where they switch the bananas so people who care about their health aren't getting as good quality! Haha, but seriously I was pretty bummed about that and it made me wonder if the conventional were possibly better, at least in some ways, they were also bigger. I'm sure it makes a difference, but whether or not and at what point it is noticeable is the real question. My guess is it varies from individual to individual depending on their state of health. On the one hand, a really unhealthy individual may notice and have much better luck with organic, whereas a really healthy individual may not notice OR be super sensitive and have immediate reactions because they are so clean. I'm kinda in the middle of those things right now.
Thanks StyleStacker, unfortunately the greens I love best are in the dirty dozen. Celery and spinach I eat daily. Also most days either romaine (my top fave blend for banana smoothies) or chinese leaf - a delicious green.
Interesting to hear - so far looks like one does it for peace of mind rather than overt health benefits, but it's a difficult one to get a clear answer on, I shall do my own experimenting.
I've posted the same Q at Dr D's forum as I know there are very longtermers there.
so far looks like one does it for peace of mind rather than overt health benefits
I think it should be noticed that these pesticides have consistently proven to be deleterious to human health and while people may not notice changes in general, I think there could be a lot of reasons for that and that it should be understood that these chemicals are worse for human health than most would like to think. The problem is we live in a compromised situation and most people have a hard time making certain decisions, like organic vs convention when the price, quality, and availability become determining factors. Because of our current condition we have standards for health that are based on our current abysmal situation and so that makes it kind of tricky to determine the weight of certain decisions. I have a feeling if someone ate 100% organic long enough to detox all the build up of toxins and was otherwise healthy then their would be a noticeable difference, but it probably wouldn't be overnight and therefore not noticeable by the person, but still a stark contrast in functioning.
I suspect you are right there, StyleStacker. I am mentally working my way there, I intend to research prices further.
Detox takes a very very long time, I've personally found the lfrv benefits to be slow already in terms of health changes. The last 6 months have been a bit better, the first year I noticed little difference, so must be more toxic than I thought.
Thanks for your thoughts.
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