Organic Junk Food?

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A mistake made by many people is to assume which foods are OK to buy and eat based on the labeling. "Oh! It's OK for me! It's organic!" is a phrase I hear quite often. I want to shed light on what "organic" really means and what the other labeling terms mean as well. You must believe that food companies are businesses and in a booming market such as Organics, the label is worth its weight in gold. This doesn't always mean that everything organic is best for you! Understanding the difference between the labels is the key to keeping integrity in your diet and ensuring the best health benefits as we currently understand them.

In order for USDA to uphold its responsibility to the people there are labels and regulations on the food at the market. This helps the consumer identify how it was grown, from where, etc. Below are common terms you will see at the store and a brief explanation of what it means. .

• Conventional: Grown with use of pesticides, herbicides and insecticides as well as oil-based synthetic fertilizers.
• All-Natural: Derived from a natural source, not synthetic but still processed, grown conventionally, preserved and sometimes chemically broken down (extracts, chemical isolates) 
• Organic: Grown from sustainable methods without the use of pesticides, herbicides and insecticides or synthetic fertilizers. An organic food can still be cooked, processed and preserved and contain chemical isolates and extracts as long as the source was organically grown and derived..
• Raw: Uncooked, freshly removed from the living source. Unprocessed. No alterations from its living state.Example: A fresh Apple.
• Fresh: Recently harvested, picked and unprocessed.
• Fresh Frozen: Frozen shortly after harvest.Vitamins and minerals are mostly intact, digestive enzymes are lost.
• Frozen: Could be cooked or raw and just frozen to preserve. Nutrient quality will vary.
• Boxed (Processed): Things like Mac N Cheese, Hamburger Helper. Mostly empty calories (no worthy nutrients)
• Canned: Preservatives are guaranteed, most vitamins and minerals lost, not worth much more than empty calories.

I have located the offical USDA Organic Foods Production Act which provides in depth definitions between page 1-3 on many commonly misunderstood terms. 

In order to reach a clean diet, I choose to look for purely raw organic foods first and always. Second best is raw conventional (wash the produce well!)

You can see how a label or "organic" might not necessarily mean it is premium nutrition for your body, can be digested easily or if you will even get any benefit from it at all. Even worse, there is potential to receive negative impact from the cooking and preservation process.

Check out this article for an athletes perspective on the reality of junk organics from BodyBuilding.com. If found it helpful.

Organic Junk Food