Eat Green!. Joachim, Dr. med. Mutter
harvesting. It should be noted, however, that food that is given the organic certification of the European Union does not have the same high quality as those of renowned organic farming associations such as Naturland, Bioland or Demeter.
People often argue that the world population cannot be fed by organic food alone. A study published by the University of Michigan under the co-direction of Catherine Badgely in 2007 showed that after a worldwide switch to organic farming, the organically produced foods would have about 75 % more calories. The result would be an amount of food that could theoretically feed a world population of 12 billion people.5
Does “organic” always mean healthy?
One thing needs to be clear: eating organic foods does not automatically mean that you will be healthier than “normal eaters”, because even if you buy organic and wild products but process them unwisely, then a high amount of harmful substances can be formed. For example, when you heat vegetable oil, highly toxic trans-fatty acids are formed (no matter if the oil is organic or not). Trans-fatty acids are structurally altered unsaturated fatty acids that you can’t really find in nature. They are said to be extremely hazardous to health, destroy blood vessels, make you tired and cause cancer. Trans-fatty acids are contained in most of the processed food we consume today.
Trans-fatty acids are predominantly contained in conventional refined liquid vegetable oils, especially in those containing a high amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids (thistle oil, sunflower oil, soy oil, rape oil, corn germ oil, heated flaxseed oil) but also in the crust of whole-grain bread, linseed bread, whole-grain cookies, food pickled in sunflower oil (e.g. sardines, olives) or sunflower oil containing spreads. Trans-fatty acids are also found in margarine but also in roasted seeds or nuts (sesame, pumpkin seeds, sunflower, hemp, walnuts, almonds, macadamia, flaxseed). They are also found in some fish oils, fish conserves and in roasted fish.
Another poison produced in your kitchen is acrylamide. It is formed when you bake, roast or fry carbohydrates and is hence especially contained in the crust of whole-grain breads but also in potatoes, pies, chips, peanut doodles, rice cakes etc.
About 90 to 95 % of all processed foods that you can buy in stores are pretty much unhealthy – unfortunately even in organic and health-food shops. Not only conventional finished products but also those finished foods that are offered in organic supermarkets can contain a large amount of potentially harmful substances or may have been composed in an unhealthy manner. The aforementioned trans-fatty acids are also often detected in organic vegetarian spreads and pesto. They are also contained in most whole-grain breads, wheat germs or cookies as well as nut or nougat spreads. Furthermore they contain acrylamide that – as mentioned before – is predominantly in the crust of breads, cookies, chips, popcorn, rice cakes, corn bread and other baked goods, in roasted cereals and other similar products.6
Some people believe that when eating organic food, they will have done something beneficial to their health. However, foods such as superfine flour and products thereof (such as spaghetti), or several types of sugar, are extremely harmful – no matter if produced conventionally or organically. Civilization diseases are just as much and as surely caused by organic sugar, pretzels, candy, dried fruits, ready cereal or cookies as by the respective conventional products. The blood sugar levels are also increased by these products in an equally strong manner. The unnatural blood sugar concentrations then result in the production of the harmful acrylamide by the body.
And what about animal products?
Animals are higher up on the food chain than plants and therefore accumulate many times the amount of harmful substances in their bodies. At the same time, more toxins can be found in predators and old animals than in young animals and in those species that only eat plants. Hence it is not surprising that sharks, king makerel and tuna can present with a several thousand-fold higher load of chemicals and heavy metals than sardines and herrings. The same rule applies to land animals. And not only the meat and intestines of these animals are polluted but also eggs and milk as well as all products made from these. Hence:
If animal products such as milk, dairy products, meat, giblets, eggs, fish, crabs or oysters are frequently found on your menu, then your organs will also have absorbed more harmful substances.
Animals of organic husbandry and their products, on the other hand, are much less polluted as they do not eat any conventionally produced food that is treated with chemical additives or is genetically modified. This is not entirely the case with products that have only been given the organic seal by the European Union.
A healthy diet and a slim body – an utopia?
Journals, “how-to-do manuals”, guidebooks and websites are filled with them: Countless new and old diets, “foolproof” recipes, calorie tables, classifications of allowed or harmful meals, nutritional recommendations for different diseases, daily calory restrictions, a diet respective to the moon or biorhythm or according to ancient health technics (such as Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, TCM) – this “over-feeding” of information for a healthy diet can easily confuse all that are interested in living a healthy life.
Among health guides, books about getting slim are right at the top of the bestseller lists. This has two reasons: First, there is a high demand as there are a lot of overweight or obese people. Second, obesity is one of the few widespread diseases that is seen and diagnosable easily. This is not the case with other widespread “chronic diseases” that are at least as frequent or dangerous, such as arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure, chronic hyperglycemia, loss of neurons, Alzheimer’s or cancer in the first stages. These diseases are often diagnosed too late so that the disease, until visibly onset, has between 10 to 40 years to develop undetected.
A lot of the good nutritional advice is often contradictory or not very practical. One popular recommendation, for example, tells you not to eat any carbohydrates but instead a lot of animal protein and fat – others want to reduce the fat in your diet and others in turn recommend protein abstinence or only to eat fruits. Some “experts” claim that humans need meat and milk in order to live – others state the contrary and insist that grain is the best nutritional basis. Some even demonize the consumption of meat but as an “alternative to meat” recommend soy products or lupine protein. There are people who say you should only eat half of everything that is on your plate, others tell you to eat only cooked foods. Many recommend a diet according to the blood- or metabolic type – depending on the results of a blood test, some prefer a diet that is low in gluten, milk protein, histamine, nickel or other allergens.
Last but not least there are also the official authorities responsible for nutrition or organizations of industrial nations that publish recommendations to ensure a “balanced and substantial diet” for their citizens. But most people don’t even know what the recommendations, for example, of the German Nutrition Society actually look like. This takes place also for other countries. An army of qualified “nutrition experts” and dietitians try to make their newest dietary knowledge accessible to the public through governmental institutions, media, hospitals or schools. The nutritional landscape is at every opportunity flooded with campaigns such as “5-a-day fruit & veggies” or a vast array of recipes and cookbooks. On top of that: the medical and pharmaceutical industries and health insurances have been investing a lot of time and money in research, prevention programs and therapies for decades.
They all have the best intention and claim that with their proclaimed diet, people would get healthy or at least would not fall ill. Even doctors are often not sufficiently informed about the importance of nutrition that it has for human health; a medical education does not include dietetics. While many doctors assume that the diet is a factor in the emergence of human diseases, they do not believe that a healthy diet is actually able to heal diseases. Just an example: cancer patients are often told: “you can eat whatever you like!” It’s clear that the majority of the people are confused