Healthy Food?

Which Fruits and Vegetables Are Healthy Foods?

We all know that eating the right kinds of fruits and vegetables can be healthy. Unfortunately, in the commercial produce industry some of this healthy benefit can be compromised by the application of pesticides and herbicides to fruits and vegetables. We don’t know all the effects of the many chemicals currently in use, but considering what we do know about organic chemical compounds in general (organic in the benzene sense, not in the natural sense), a healthy dose of caution about conventionally produced fruits and vegetables makes sense.

Sustainable Agriculture vs Conventional Commercial Farming

A lot has been written about sustainable agriculture, so I won’t address most of those arguments here. However, it is interesting to note that one of the arguments presented by proponents of conventional agricultural techniques centers on economics and productivity. In short, they don’t accept the idea that sustainable agriculture can produce enough food economically. They seldom acknowledge the fact that the two main reasons fruits and vegetables produced by conventional, commercial agriculture are relatively cheap are government subsidies (which sustainable agriculture does not receive) and the economies of scale. In other words, we pay the price behind the scenes anyway, and if big commercial farms were to adopt sustainable agriculture, the price of organic food would drop.

The Importance of Organic

The smart, adorable little girl in this video can inspire any of us to educate ourselves about the effects of the chemicals applied to conventionally produced fruits and vegetables. I think her simple, clever experiment with sweet potatoes adds beautifully  to the already-compelling case that we can all benefit from consuming organic fruits and vegetables that come from sustainable agriculture. Check it out (it’s short):

 
One of my favorite parts is that when Alise saw for herself how chemicals affected her sweet potatoes, she asked an expert (the “produce guy”) and hopped on the internet to learn more. That’s when she found out about Bud Nip, or Chlorpropham, a chemical that’s used to inhibit growth – in this case to keep buds from growing out of our fruits and vegetables. Alise’s results are illuminating.

Alise makes an excellent case for sustainable agriculture.