Organic food. When plastered onto food labels, it can seem like just another generic marketing term, like “natural” or “heart-smart.” Isn’t anything that comes out of the ground “organic”? In fact, the answer is no. Organic foods are tightly regulated and controlled by U.S. agricultural agencies, and the organic label certifies that the food has been grown or raised (in the case of meat and dairy) without any synthetic chemicals – no petrochemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, dyes, or growth hormones.
The organic-food movement is just now gaining widespread attention in the U.S., which means that scientists are behind the curve in studying its potential benefits. Studies have already shown that organically grown fruits and vegetables have a higher vitamin content than their industrial counterparts.
So they may be healthier, but will organic foods help you lose weight?
There’s no hard data yet, but there are some logical connections which suggest that the answer is yes. Consider that the average person is exposed to hundreds of thousands of different synthetic chemicals – not only from the food we eat but also from our skin-care products, shampoos, conditioners, cosmetics and household cleaners. These foreign toxins clog up the liver, our body’s natural filter, and reduce its ability to burn body fat. A stressed liver contributes to fatigue and mood problems, stimulating further weight gain. On top of that, the toxins themselves need to be stored in fat tissue, so the more toxins we ingest, the more fat our bodies must produce. French physicians have also reported that cellulite is formed when indigestible toxic substances are squirreled away in small pockets of water and fat, held in place by hard connective tissues. Cleansing the system with raw organic foods and vegetable juices can rid the body of these stored toxins, allowing the liver to burn fat more efficiently and reducing the appearance of cellulite.
Industrial meat and dairy production introduces yet another set of weight-inducing chemicals: growth hormones. The chickens, turkeys, cows and pigs on commercial farms are regularly pumped full of synthetic hormones to fatten them up for a higher meat production per animal. Therefore, you may be getting more than you bargained for with that twenty-pound Thanksgiving turkey. These hormones, which are also found in any non-organic dairy products (milk, butter, cheese, etc.), are thought to have the same fattening effect on the human consumer, and they can certainly disrupt our natural hormone balance.
It’s important to point out that in addition to their effect on weight gain, high levels of synthetic agricultural chemicals contribute to a host of chronic and terminal diseases: cancer, chronic fatigue, immune disorders, Parkinson’s disease, infertility and heart disease. Taken as a whole, it seems that we can’t afford not to switch to organics and reduce our exposure to chemical toxins.