1. Want to get periods immediately before attending a religious event? Check this out for tips...
    Dismiss Notice

Are these foods really safe??

Discussion in 'Healthy Living' started by SriVidya75, Feb 27, 2011.

  1. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    17,880
    Likes Received:
    25,953
    Trophy Points:
    590
    Gender:
    Female
    Hi Vidya,

    Interesting thread :thumbsup. Really it is scary when one reads all these articles:boo:. If one believes them - and for the sake of argument, let us accept them - the water is polluted with heavy metals, the air is full of pollutants which frequently mimic hormones and send our bodies on a hormonal roller-coaster ride, foods are full of pesticides and for those who eat eggs/meats they are full of hormones, eggs are contqaminated with salmonella, fish swim in polluted waters :spin.

    The question is what can we do? Organic foods - well as you have said, standards vary and one wonders if they are truly organic. They are very expensive and beyond the reach of the middle class person in this country.

    So with circumstances being as they are, it looks pretty inevitable that our bodies are going to suffer :drowning. We cannot change that unless all of what are publishing is nonsense. But from personal experience I do not think the chances are high. Two years ago, I got a mango which was extremely bitter to taste :crazy. Had to throw it away. When I discussed this in a similar topic on another blog site, there was a reply from a person belonging to the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra who grows alphonso mangoes and exports them, saying that most growers treat the mangoes to ripen them faster and to get bigger fruit. They themselves eat mangoes from a couple of trees which are left untreated and the fruit, he said were smaller but much sweeter. A month ago, for the first time in all these decades of life, I tasted a bitter podlangai (snake gourd I think?). I can't imagine why it would if it were not treated. No amount of washing helps, because even the flesh has soaked in the chemicals. Vegetables like carrot and fruit like apples are being treated with colouring agents to make them more visually attractive :rant.

    Given that, the chances that I may die of some neurological illness or cancer are high, I have decided in the interests of my mental health (I do hope these pollutants will not reach that faculty of mine), not to give it too much of thought. Eat whatever takes my fancy and live happily while I am still alive and well. There is nothing I can change about it. I do not have enough space for a garden to grow my own produce - I live in a flat. The maximum I can grow are decorative plants and a few flowering plants which give me an occasional darshan of what that flower looks like (not enough sunshine at that floor level). My mil has a mango tree which produces fruit sweet as honey. I eat those instead of buying from the market. That is the extent of control I can exercise. Why ruin my peace of mind worrying about it?

    Sorry for this long homily :hide:. But this topic has that effect on me :rant. Thought I might suggest that you too ignore all these news items. Chemicals do not exist.
     
  2. nemesis

    nemesis Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    2,490
    Likes Received:
    2,517
    Trophy Points:
    283
    Gender:
    Male
    It is blatant farce to canvass against organic foodstuff. They are grown with natural fertilizers, natural pesticides like neem, and therefore it is the least harmful on earth.

    Organic varieties dont look as clean without any patches as the inorganic varieties, but there are reasons behind it.
    Market wants a perfect vegetable, and so the farmer needs to spray pesticide at every successive stage of the fruit growth from the flowering stage. So salt water washing or anything is not going to help it in any big way. Cauli flower is the vegetable that tops the list of pesticide usage.

    The tender coconuts which we drink: the organic ones tastes different, it is not as sweet as the commercially grown ones.

    Recently there was an issue with indian brand honey. Too much antibiotic content in it: guess why?
    Survival of the horticultural bee needs antibiotics. This are passed to their product: honey. As simple as that.

    Earlier, seeds for new saplings were taken from the farm itself. Now almost all vegetables are grown from seeds obtained from packets from companies with MNC support, these are hybrid varieties, with much higher yields. The farmers buy these hybrid(these are pricey too) and dont want to make a loss, hence the use of fertilizer and pesticide to make his agriculture a profitable venture.

    IL'ites, dont blame the farmer: he breathes the same pesticide filled air when spraying those to his vegetables. Capitalism has to believe that farming is not something akin to manufacturing.

    Thus we make statements in the budget that India is self sufficient in food production, but one must also be aware of the inconvenient truths.

    That i am from a farming background will give credence to my post i believe.

    Kindly support organic farming.
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2011
  3. mimur9

    mimur9 IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    7,310
    Likes Received:
    2,478
    Trophy Points:
    370
    Gender:
    Female
    I would like to share a simple hint which was given by an expert in Door Darshan, long time ago.

    "Buy leafy vegetables which are partially eaten by caterpillars , Buy vegetables or fruits which has holes in it as they tend to have low pesticide effect" and i follow this".
     
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2011
  4. navs23

    navs23 Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    1,410
    Likes Received:
    635
    Trophy Points:
    208
    Gender:
    Female
    Interesting thread!

    A valid concern(thanks to Reader's digest), but is it really worth the worry? I used to worry a lot before but realized that everything that we use, starting with the toothpaste, soap or shampoo(all contain the 'bad' sodium laureth sulphate SLS) that we use first thing in the morning to the food that we consume is contaminated one way or the other.

    As Satchi pointed out, The water that we drink is contaminated too and there is a lot of controversy about the presence of chromium and other metals which might be carcinogenic. We use filters, but I really do not think even a high tech filter will be able to filter Chromium or Lead 100%. There is another controversy about how much "pure" bottled water really is considering that the source of water is contaminated as well. The air that we breathe is saturated with tons and tons of air pollutants, secondary cigarette smoke and chemicals. While it is good that everyone wants to become as natural and organic as possible, are we not possibly over analyzing everything from a health perspective? Organic is not completely natural unless labelled as 100% Organic, it can still be derived from Genetically Modified products and might be a health risk(another controversy). The web and media these days is full of false controversies and wrong hypothesis. People do case studies on a small group of people and conclude that something is bad for the health. There is one website which even talks about the danger of consuming even a drop of milk and I really have not heard of anyone losing their health by drinking milk so far.

    Human body has an amazing capacity when it comes to flushing out unwanted chemicals or toxins and repairing damaged cells. So, the best thing would be to eat as naturally as possible, keep on fit and healthy so that the body is strong enough and has the resistance and immunity to do it on its own. It is also best to feed more on antioxidants which would repair the cell damage and reduce free radicals and other problems caused by the pollution.

    Great tip Mimur :thumbsup

    When Organic Isn't Really Organic - TIME
     
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2011
  5. nemesis

    nemesis Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    2,490
    Likes Received:
    2,517
    Trophy Points:
    283
    Gender:
    Male
    It is due to the tolerance which is built into the human system that saves us from the carcinogens and the toxins. I dont think the toxins are entirely flushed out, some remain in the body and cause long term troubles.

    GM is entirely a different perspective to the argument, but that doesn't make organically grown foods worse than their inorganically grown counterpart. If time permits, i will update this thread clearly with the procedures in organic farming. The smell from the pesticides and chemical fertilizers and the skin diseases one gets from handling these are reason enough to advocate the promotion of organic farming.


    PS: A broker offered to capture the entire mango trees in the farm, but i refused it because he will spray pesticides right from the flowering season. He was worried about the yield though.

    *appearances are often deceptive*
     
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2011
  6. rsmadras

    rsmadras Bronze IL'ite

    Messages:
    109
    Likes Received:
    31
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Female
    Hi dear friends, really good thread.... i need the help to get rid of big confusion persists regarding jaggery... i see in many articles it contains lots of chemicals and of course sugar. i ve 5.5 month old baby giving him jaggery(panankalkandu) instead of sugar thought im giving him the best.
    i saw in some articles chemicals in jaggery and sugar to make it white, leads to kindney problem.
    now im confused he urinates often past one week. plz help me how i could feed him organic... really stressed after knowing these.
     
  7. mimur9

    mimur9 IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    7,310
    Likes Received:
    2,478
    Trophy Points:
    370
    Gender:
    Female
    Hi - its better not to give such products to babies. Even honey is not safe as it has traces of antibiotics used in honeybee cultures. Leading brands also didn't fail in the test.
     

Share This Page