English in a pill – Angielski w pigułce, Lesson 8

What Is Organic Food Exactly?

If you are concerned about the scary stories that always seem to be in the news regarding the quality of our food then you may be wondering about the fuss surrounding what is organic food.

What is organic food: How is it produced?

The process in most cases starts with organically grown crops so a quick explanation: organic farming produces crops and rears cattle without the use of chemicals and artificial additives. It is farming the natural way and concentrates on producing a fertile soil. Animals reared on organic farms are housed properly they have room to move about and behave like animals. They are fed healthy food sources and not those laden with drugs and other chemicals. So in summary the answer to what is organic food is... crops and animals produced and fed with natural food and without the use of chemical additives.

You are what you eat

In the rush to produce more and more crops to satisfy growing demand producers have had to resort to using a lethal cocktail of pesticides to control disease and insect attack. Good news for their bank balances perhaps but not good news for your health, this is why you need to be informed of the advantages of organic food.

Did you know that if you consumed an average apple you would be eating over 30 pesticides, even after you have washed it? The quality of food has definitely gone down since the Second World War. For instance, the levels of vitamin C in today's fruit bear no resemblance to the levels found in wartime fruit.

Organic food is known to contain 50% more nutrients, minerals and vitamins than produce that has been intensively farmed. You will have to eat more fruit nowadays to make up the deficiency, but unfortunately that means eating more chemicals, more detrimental affects on your health eating something that should be good for you!

Also don't forget about the cocktails of antibiotics and hormones that cattle and poultry are force fed. Pesticides and hormones in food have been linked to many diseases including: cancer, obesity, Altzheimer's, some birth defects.

How can it benefit me?

Organic food just tastes so much better! It is much more rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre and retains the levels of nutrients for much longer. Your body will be more resistant to disease as it will have higher levels of the essential nutrients it needs to fight off infection. You will have more energy through consuming lower levels of toxins and chemicals that slow your body down.

Once you try some organic produce you will never go back to mass produced fruit again.

WORDS

• First-aid kit / Apteczka
• Fuss - zamieszanie
• crops - plony, zbiory
• to rear - hodować
• artificial additives - konserwanty
• fertile - żyzny
• laden - nafaszerowany
• rush - pośpiech
• to resort to - uciekać się do czegoś
• lethal - zabójczy
• resemblance - podobieństwo
• nutrients - składniki odżywcze
• deficiency - niedobór
• detrimental - szkodliwy
• poultry - drób
• to retain - zachowywać

A joke

The other day, it was my turn to prepare dinner, so I asked my wife to go over to the local market and buy some organic vegetables. She came back rather upset. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "I don't think I like that produce guy. I went and looked around for your organic vegetables and I couldn't find any. So I asked him where the organic vegetables were. He didn't know what I was talking about, so I said, ‘These vegetables are for my husband. Have they been sprayed with any poisonous chemicals?' And he said, ‘No, ma'am. You'll have to do that yourself.'"

• poisonous - trujący

„Farmacja i ja”, maj 2008