أنت ستدفع أكثر لطعام مع أقلّ حريرة?

There is another school of thought that believes that organic food does not offer greater nutritional value over non-organic food. The point I would like to make is it is not necessarily to pay more for less calories. Just eat smart and do not blindly follow the trend.

I try to eat organic food whenever possible but it’s really expensive. So I guess the best way is to eat as healthily as humanly possible and try to avoid unhealthy food ie. minimise on processed food, and food with empty nutritional values and food with high transfat. Organic food is good as it’s free from preservatives and chemicals so if you can afford it, go ahead and buy.

It’s hard to be able to afford organic food, especially with the rising fuel prices and cost of living. We’ll normally just soak the vege and fruits longer. I think mental well-being plays a very important role in health. I used to be very picky with food- tried being a vegetarian, then tried to completely cut sugar, then went low-carb. Ultimately I find that too much restriction and inflexibility does not make us a happier person… and it inconveniences people around me- to go to places where I can find my type of food to eat. So in the end, I’m a sugar eating omnivor again :)

Hey Mun, Thanks for dropping by my Parenting blog. You’ve got to write a blog on how ways to keep fit for older aunties like me! :P

I think this is a really fascinating issue and one that I actually had a fairly in-depth discussion with a friend about recently (it was actually prompted by a discussion of the economics of corn, corn-subsidies and that favorite subject of nutrition-geeks: high fructose corn syrup.)

The irony is that for one of the first times in history - at least in the West - getting raw calories is cheaper than ever. Think about it. Some of the least expensive food is actually extremely calorie dense: candy bars, fast food and junk food. You can get a supersized combo at Mickey Dees for under $5 dollars and consume more than half of your daily energy requirements in that one meal.

Candy bars and soda are another example, thanks to that low-cost, high-calorie sweetener beloved by Iowa corn growers (along with ethanol): high fructose corn syrup. HFCS is in nearly everything because it’s an inexpensive source of sugar — much cheaper than honey or cane sugar. And because it’s so inexpensive, manufacturers can use more of it. Indeed, vast amounts of the corn surplus the government subsidizes each year is converted into HFCS, which then, interestingly enough, finds its way into the Government-sponsored school lunch program (chocolate pudding, anyone?)

Even a bag of potatos, which is about as calorie dense as any whole food, is less than $5 on sale.

What HAS gotten more expensive are foods that are minimally-processed or not raised using the modern methods for boosting yeild and size — methods like growth hormones, pesticides and non-organic fertilizers. There is a reason farmers and livestock companies use these chemicals — they increase yields and drive down the cost for consumers.

So it’s really less a question of would you pay more for less calories (since in reality, with the typical American diet, it’s actually the opposite), but would you pay more for foods that were less processed, or were raised without the methods that allow farmers and manufacturers to sell them inexpensively at the grocery store?

Empty calories are still dirt cheap, it’s nutrient-dense, organic foods that have become expensive. And, of course, this is why certain foods were more scarce 100 years ago, before the advent of chemical fertilizers and herbicides.

Of course, if you really wanted to eat whole foods cheaply you’d just grow them yourself. It’s not that hard.

Great topic.