Organic Food a way of population control?

It seems recently organic foods have become a "trend" and it is socially acceptable to jump on this bandwagon. Since this is relatively new, do we really know the actual long term effects of this stuff? Will eating it make us live longer?

Since organic food is pricey(ex. Whole Foods) is it a way to seperate what the rich and poor eat?

Seems like it is a big industry and growing.

www.cnn.com...
www.plunkettresearch.com...
en.wikipedia.org...

This one is interesting and shows what big food makers have organic food sub-companies...

www.certifiedorganic.bc.ca...



[edit on 23-3-2007 by umf]

I don't think its a form of population control, however it is definitely a huge market that corporations would want to get their greedy dirty hands on. As for it being better or worse, that is probably not as identifiable. However, I would say in general it is healthier than the processed crap we get from McDonalds and the like.

Instead of buying organically you can go to your local farmer and pick it up from him. Whether or not its organically grown may not be important to you, but you will know where it comes from...

I hope that helps your understanding.

As someone who eats organic foods: I have lost more weight eating organic than the regular junk at the corporate stores. Not to mention my health improved GREATLY within a short time. To be frank with you organic food sales is not a form of population control and is by no means a new idea. Organic food is food that is grown without pesticides or herbicides and not to mention it is non-GMO (genetically engineered) so what you get is the original plant not a franken-food.
For those who do not know about GMO's look up this: "The Future of Foods" it is a movie made by Jerry Garcias wife on GMO foods and what they are doing to us and the enviornment around us. If anything GMO's are a form of control not organics.
Lastly: corporations are trying to get their greedy hands on organics by passing new laws that alter the ogranic produce laws. So organic is not really organic anymore if you buy from corporations. Also, Cascadian Farms is corporate owned: General Mills bought them out in 1997. So one corporation has already dug in.

Organic is just a bandwagon that major corporations have hopped on because it allows them to overprice their products and bring in more customers.

Organic food is the better way to eat, but really if you grow it yourself or get it from someone you trust. What's really killing us is the food we buy at the supermarket.

On top of all this, virtually every grocery store in America sells a vast array of foods that promote chronic diseases. Foods made with white flour are very common. That includes most breads, cookies, crackers, pastries and pastas. And this one ingredient -- refined white flour -- strips the body of essential nutrition, leaving it deficient in B vitamins as well as minerals like magnesium and zinc. These are precisely the minerals that children need in order to build healthy nervous systems and avoid behavioral disorders later in life. These are also the same nutrients that pregnant women need to be able to give birth to babies that don't have birth defects.

Every grocery store in America sells foods containing cancer-causing chemicals (sodium nitrite), heart disease promoting ingredients (hydrogenated oils), and drinks that promote osteoporosis and bone loss (carbonated soft drinks). It's almost like a disease store, not a grocery store, since most items on the shelves are actually "disease in a box" rather than real food.

In Washington these days, there's a lot of talk about "protecting Americans." But I say that if we really want to protect Americans, we need to start banning the food ingredients that are killing Americans. We could save hundreds of thousands of lives each year right here in America if we just banned hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, and the refining of whole-grain flour into unhealthful white, bleached flour.

And if we told Americans the truth about their foods -- if we gave them honest nutritional advice and dietary advice -- we would help people make better decisions that would eliminate chronic disease in their own life, and, for expectant mothers, allow them to give birth to children without birth defects. We need honest food labeling and we need to outlaw toxic ingredients like aspartame, monosodium glutamate, food additives and chemical preservatives like sodium nitrite that directly cause cancers of the digestive tract.

Everyday groceries contain ingredients that cause heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis and other chronic diseases

thank you for your insight everyone.

I think maybe you're confusing organic and GM foods. Organic foods are certainly good for you - they are natural foods with no chemicals. I agree that they are used as a marketing ploy though and are more expensive to buy. The main problem with organic foods I think is that they are chemical free, but may have been transported some distance (polluting the planet in the process). I don't know a lot about genetically modified (GM) foods, but generally I don't like the idea of them. Fruits and vegetables have grown successfully and fed us well for hundreds of years without us tampering with their make-up.

what the hell do you think humans ate before we invented food processing?

and what about animals? i've never seen a deer with a hot pocket.

"organic" food just means food that hasn't been artificially processed. it comes out of the ground that way. of course we know the long-term effects of eating it, because we fricking ate it for all but the past 100 years of our evolution!

Originally posted by The Parallelogram
what the hell do you think humans ate before we invented food processing?

and what about animals? i've never seen a deer with a hot pocket.

"organic" food just means food that hasn't been artificially processed. it comes out of the ground that way. of course we know the long-term effects of eating it, because we fricking ate it for all but the past 100 years of our evolution!

Thank you for putting my thoughts into perfect form, and saving me the time of having to do it myself!

You hit the nail right on the head. I don't even understand the point of this thread- the author must be confused about what organic foods are.

I'm actually employed by Wholefoods (one of the top
10 companies to work for). Besides having great food,
we do a lot for the community and the environment.
It's awesome to be part of that company.

I suppose it could be a form of population control,
in that,
lower income families have to buy the crap they
sell at other supermarkets, which is less healthier,
thus slowly killing them (basically).

I don't know if ya'll have Publix supermarkets where
you live, but they already see the growing trend towards
organic and all natural foods (there is a difference
between the two), and most have a "greenwise" section
devoted to those foods. Get used to this trend.
Wholefoods just bought WildOats, one of our only
competitors, and I'll bet money that you've never
seen a Wholefoods commercial on TV.

It's a shame our food costs so much, but you're
buying the best. EVERYTHING in the store is either
organic or all natural (and there's different % organic
and blah blah).

In my eyes, Wholefoods, and the movement towards
organic and all natural foods is a GOOD thing.
For us as humans, and the environment.

organic food originally would have been found in ma and pa businesses, and because it has become a very popular trend, big businesses are losing big bucks, therefore they are forced to compete at a new level with higher standards are more regulations....typically...though it's never certain how many loopholes they can get around before being awarded with an organic label by the USDA

The only conspiracy is the multibillion dollar organic food industry [successfully] convincing people their products are better for you and the environment than their competitors.

The organic industry has spent big bucks making inflated and unsubstantiated claims, using junk science and paid shills, all to separate you from your money. The organic industry is laughing at you all the way to the bank.

Do you have any links for that?

To me, its the other way around.
I don't see the organic food industry "making inflated and unsubstantiated claims, using junk science and paid shills", rather the competition. I'm curious, what makes you say that?

Originally posted by dave_54
The only conspiracy is the multibillion dollar organic food industry [successfully] convincing people their products are better for you and the environment than their competitors.

The organic industry has spent big bucks making inflated and unsubstantiated claims, using junk science and paid shills, all to separate you from your money. The organic industry is laughing at you all the way to the bank.

It's already proven that the public is being poisoned with dangerous chemicals found in standard grocery products. Currently, the only thing we can do to improve our health is to either buy organic or grow our own food. The FDA and USDA are well-known lyers who cover-up their evil agendas. You need to educate yourself with the articles at NewsTarget before you toss around completely untrue statements like that.

Go ahead... it can only make you wiser and healthier unless you have something you're trying to coverup.

www.newstarget.com...

Eating supermarket crap is one of the worst things you can do to yourself, most of it is processed to oblivion till it's no more nutritious than the excessive amount of plastic that it's wrapped in.

I stopped eating all animal products, bleached and refined grains, and all processed foods except for some rye crackers, wheat tortillas, and a bit of salad dressing. Otherwise i've been eating mostly organic stuff, and lots of it locally grown. In about 2 months I lost almost 60lbs and i can think better, my brain works better when it's not clogged with chemicals and preservatives.

The conspiracy is that organic is just out of reach of the impoverished, the ones that could really benefit from it.

Another thing i've found is eating mostly organic and no animals or processed stuff, i don't have to eat nearly as much as i did before. I don't have any data but i suspect it has a lot higher nutrient density, but either way, i feel more satisfied after eating the same amount of real food vs. crap.

It's easy for me to get, I live about 500' above an awesome mom and pop place that has all kinds of good organic stuff in stock at low prices. I don't even go to the supermarket for food anymore at all.

I save money to buy organics by not having a car, i walk/run/skate/bike everywhere in town and if i leave town my motorcycle gets 45mpg on or offroad. I don't have a cellphone, a home phone, and i only buy something if i absolutely need it, and not merely want. If you're going to be eating mostly organic for personal well-being and good health, then it only makes sense to save money by walking instead of driving.


For me, quitting meat was a big step, i've always been a voracious carnivore, top of the food chain. If i can do it, you can. For me, I quit when i saw the quality of meats above supermarket grade, choice and select grades, becoming the same as the low grade crap on sale at the supermarket. As a chef at a fine dining establishment, i'd cut lots of different meats daily and had to pay attention closely to the quality of the meats, and what i saw of a constant decline over the past several months, spanning all my meat products, turned me off from eating meats altogether.

BTW i lost the 60lbs by a change in diet only, and not by a change in activity. In fact, i was a bit less active during the time i lost the weight. I still walked everywhere (in a mountain town with nothing but steep hills and stairs) before i changed my diet, but didn't lose weight no matter how much exercise i got until i quit eating crap.