
Over time, and with the introduction of “Factory Farming”, soil quality diminished to the point where it is largely nutrient deficient. To combat this, conventional growers need to add fertilisers to the soil in order for produce to grow. The most common fertiliser used is called NPK – if you cast your mind back to high-school chemistry, you may recall that these letters are also chemical symbols for N = Nitrogen, P = Phosphorous and K = Potassium. The use of fertilisers artificially increases the mineral content of the soil with these 3 minerals, but somewhat omits the other 80-odd that are required for plants to grow healthily.
A soil high in Nitrogen (usually from fertilisers) will result in plants growing fast, luscious and green, but this compromises the strength of the cell walls making it vulnerable to insect and fungus attack. So the next step for conventional growers is to use pesticides and fungicides to keep their crop from harm and ready for sale.
Generally the result from conventional produce is that there are “safe levels” (so the manufacturers say) of residual pesticides and fungicides in the produce you consume. In addition, the produce is also missing the 80 odd other minerals and nutrients your body needs to function correctly.
How does this affect your body?
Well where do we start and where do we stop? There are a whole range of ways that it can affect your body, and everybody’s body will be affected differently. In general terms, when we ingest the pesticides and herbicides in conventional produce, it disrupts our endocrine system – the hormone system responsible for not only digestion, but pretty much providing all the signals for optimal function of everything in the body, from sleep, to fat-burning, to stress management, to immune function, you name it… the list goes on!!! In some cases it can also affect gut health and more.
Then when we consider that a diet with conventionally grown produce will be missing 95% of the vital nutrients your body needs, this will also inhibit the body’s ability to function correctly – including absorbing any of the minimal nutrients in the produce you’re consuming. So it becomes a compounding affect. Unfortunately the body is AMAZING at compensating for things – as an example, your body requires very specific levels of magnesium and calcium (and other minerals) in your blood for your brain to function. It’s so sensitive in fact, that if the levels change too much your brain can even just check out. So to compensate, your body will take the minerals from elsewhere in your body, i.e. calcium from your bones, so that you stay alive.
Over time, this results in what manifests as things like Osteoporosis or many other conditions and illnesses that sadly in our society are categorised as “normal ageing”.
So making certified organic produce a regular part of your diet is so beneficial for your health in so many ways, like keeping your body in a healthy and optimally functioning condition so you can still out-ninja your great grand-kids when you’re in your eighties…
This is really just scratching the surface when it comes to the benefits of having a diet laden with organic produce – and buying organic is not as expensive as the supermarket chains and media will have you think. If you’re buying organic from a large supermarket chain it will likely be more expensive than the conventional produce, but if you know where to look, you can generally find an organic produce supplier around, where you can place a recurring order for your weekly box (plus any other goodies you’re after) and not only can it be delivered to your door, it will often work out cheaper than buying conventionally grown produce from the supermarket!!
If you know of one of these legendary organic produce suppliers then send us the details – we’d love to list them in our directory.
Happy Shopping (and ninja-ing)