Is Organic Better?

Can eating organic food make a difference? I believe the answer is yes. As the owner of WorkingWell, I’ve noticed that just about everyone is curious, interested and hungry for information about food. Me included.

Because of my work, life feels like a living experiment sometimes. I’m always testing out health-related information. I muse about all sorts of things and recently one of those tangents had to do with organic produce.

I almost always buy organic beef, chicken, and eggs but I hadn’t realized that I had stopped purchasing organic vegetables. I suppose I got myself thinking that the cost can be prohibitive and if I was going to make decisions about what organic foods to buy, it was going to be the ones that involved animal products (because of the decreased toxins that are stored in their fat and therefore, my fat cells).

Like many of you, I have certainly been disappointed with the quality of the organic produce I’ve purchased. The experience left such a bad taste in my mouth (pun definitely intended) that I turned my back on the idea of investing dollars organic vegetables.

Last week, on a whim, I decided to take on a challenge. Cycling over to The Big Carrot (one of Toronto’s hot spots for organic happenings), I decided to purchase only organic food for dinner that night. I made beautiful chicken, raw veggie and hummus wrap with super, nutrient-dense sunflower sprouts for my guest and me.

I was sincerely not expecting to notice a difference in taste and quality but… I absolutely did. Not only was the meal satisfying – leaving me with a sense of being nourished – the thought of one particular organic ingredient had the power to get me out of bed 20 minutes earlier than usual the morning after. That organic food was… the glorious red bell pepper (pictured above).

This pepper was so delicious, that upon tasting it, I remembered why it was called a sweet bell pepper, and my brain felt instantly alive. It felt like the nourishment from this food went straight to my brain, and I really liked that. The peppers I was becoming accustomed to were like memories of bell peppers to me, but the decline in their tastiness has been gradual, and I didn’t even know I had forgotten what they were supposed to taste like.

Eating 100% organic food that evening gave me a pleasurable, joyous and delicious experience. I’m on a mission to test out the organic vs. non-organic food concept further.

As I was making organic, free-range eggs this morning, I deiced that the next study will be a side-by-side comparison of organic versus non-organic eggs. So far the score is 1 for team organic 0 for team non-organic.

It’s easy to get lost in a sea of research about which is the better choice.  In this challenge, I am letting my taste buds be the judge. Perhaps you’ll join me in this experiment to find the foods that nourish.