Is Organic Food Actually Healthier?

ExpHub - Prashant Kirad

Is Organic Food Actually Healthier?   In a world where "organic" labels dominate supermarket shelves and social media influencers swear by natural eating, one question remains: Is organic food truly better for your health, or is it just a trendy marketing scam?   This video dives deep into the facts, science, and myths behind the organic food industry. From pesticide-free produce to hormone-free dairy, we explore what the organic label really means — and whether you're getting what you pay for. Is it worth the extra money? Or is it all just clever branding?   If you're a health-conscious shopper, a curious skeptic, or someone just trying to eat better — this video is for you!   organic food, is organic healthier, healthy eating, organic vs non organic, food myths, clean eating, GMO vs organic, natural food facts, nutrition debate, organic scam, healthy diet tips, pesticide free food, food industry truth, organic food explained, what is organic,   1. Is organic food really healthier than non-organic?  2. What are the benefits of eating organic food?  3. Does organic mean pesticide-free?  4. Why is organic food so expensive?  5. Are organic products a scam?  6. Is non-organic food bad for health?  7. How to identify real organic food?  8. Are GMOs worse than organic food?  9. What does the USDA organic label mean?  10. Should I switch to an organic diet?   #OrganicFood  #HealthyEating  #FoodTruth  #NutritionFacts  #CleanEating  #OrganicVsNonOrganic  #FoodScam  #Eatsmart

Transcript

00:00five foods you should always buy organic. So I'm sure a bunch of you saw this article a few weeks

00:04back and it was a bit alarming to say the least. So I'll leave a link down below so you can check

00:09it out for yourself but basically in a report by the CDC they found that 80% of urine samples

00:14collected from children and adults in the United States contained the popular herbicide glyphosate

00:20and you may know it by its more common name called Roundup. Yes, the weed killer, the stuff that you

00:24see your neighbors like spraying on their lawns, spraying on their weeds, trying to kill stuff

00:28and it's meant to kill absolutely everything that it touches but it doesn't always and we'll talk

00:33about that a little later in this video. Anyways, it got me thinking a lot about our food and everything

00:37that they're spraying on it and while most of the food that I purchase is organic, I don't always

00:41highlight that in my videos and the goal of this channel is to help people eat and enjoy more whole

00:46plant-based foods. Organic or not, they are always going to be the best option but I think after

00:51watching this video you might be a little bit more selective on what foods you do buy conventionally

00:56grown and what you buy organic. So while glyphosate is an herbicide, they also spray pesticides and

01:01fungicides on our food too. However, just to make it easy for this video, I will often be using the

01:06word pesticides as a blanket statement to cover all of those unless I need to be specific. So they spray

01:12a lot of stuff on our food and it's ridiculous that so much of this is still allowed and I'm fired

01:17up. I am angry and so should you be. So rather than getting mad and just, you know, being quiet about it

01:24all, I'm going to educate. It is not about trying to scare anyone, have anybody fearful about food.

01:30It is just meant to equip you with more knowledge so you can make better choices, you know, to improve

01:35your health. So it should be noted that not all pesticides are as harmful as others. There's

01:39definitely a range and even organic farming uses some pesticides. However, they cannot be derived

01:44synthetically. They have to be made from natural origins. They're generally not as harmful and they're more

01:49closely regulated. So it's important to remember that we vote with our dollars. So every time we're

01:54buying that conventionally grown sprayed food, we are telling them, this is okay with us, grow more

02:00of it please. And I don't know about you guys, but I'm not okay with it. So the reason I've chosen these

02:04five foods is not only are they high in pesticide residue, but it's also foods that I eat a lot of.

02:09So it doesn't really matter too much to me if some random food like asparagus or apricots or something

02:15is really high in pesticides. Of course, I'd prefer if they weren't, but I don't eat much of those foods.

02:19So it's much more important for me to be conscious of the foods I eat a lot of in order to minimize

02:24my pesticide exposure. And just before we get into the list, I know a lot of you are probably thinking,

02:28yeah, but organic food is so much more expensive, Derek. However, after doing a little bit of research

02:33and watching this video, I think you're going to figure out that it is definitely worth the extra expense.

02:38And it's not even always that much more expensive. For instance, check out this kale I found at the

02:43store today. The organic kale was the same price and the same amount as the non-organic kale. But I

02:50will give you guys some tips at the end on, you know, how to get pesticides off of the food if you

02:54do buy conventional, how to, you know, make organic buying cheaper and all that sort of stuff. But let's

02:58get into this list. So food number one that you should always buy organic has got to be oats. So this is

03:05going to apply to other grains as well like wheat and barley, but definitely oats. We use a lot of oats

03:11around here. So versatile. I mean oatmeal, cookies, muffins, pancakes, just about every day I'm eating

03:18some form of oats. Non-organic oats have some of the highest levels of pesticide residues of any food

03:24out there and especially glyphosate. So what I found interesting when I was researching for this is that

03:30different foods have different allowable levels. So check out this list that I found here. So I'm up here

03:35in Canada should be mentioned, but this is the MRLs, maximum residue levels allowable in certain foods.

03:43And you can see oats have a much higher allowable level than most other foods. The reason why oats

03:48have such high levels is because glyphosate is often sprayed on them really close to harvest

03:53and they use it as what's called a desiccant or drying agent. So what it does is not only does it kill

03:58all the weeds and everything around them, making it easier for them to harvest, but it also kills the plant

04:03itself and dries it out. So this means that, you know, no fungus or bugs or anything like that are

04:09gonna want to eat it, but they expect you to eat it. And get this one. In recent tests, scientists found

04:15that if pesticide content were required on the ingredient label of Honey Nut Cheerios, like with

04:21other ingredients, it would actually fall above the added vitamins D and B12. There's more pesticide

04:28by weight than vitamin B12 and vitamin D in Cheerios. And let's not forget that they've told us that

04:35this stuff is safe for years. Do you guys remember a few years back when they had some advocate on

04:40live TV saying that he was so confident that it was safe that he would drink a glass of it?

04:44You can drink a whole quart of it and it won't hurt you. And then when the interviewer actually said,

04:48You want to drink some? We have some. He said, I'd be happy to actually.

04:52Not really, but I'm not stupid. But I guess they think that we are. So more and more evidence keeps

04:59coming out that's telling us that this is not as safe as we were originally told. So, you know, a

05:04couple weeks ago, it was that article finding it in people's urine. And now this that I just found,

05:09check this one out. In this very recent study by Arizona State University, they have found that this

05:13popular herbicide crosses the blood brain barrier and causes a chain of reactions which can lead to a

05:18host of diseases. One of the most common being Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

05:24Not to mention its effects on our hormones, on our immune systems, on our inflammatory responses.

05:30So after hearing about this link with Alzheimer's, I got a little curious in my studies and I decided to

05:35check out when Alzheimer's rates started to really increase. And I found this chart here that shows

05:41mortality rates for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias for West Virginia residents. And you can see by

05:48looking at it, it starts to increase at around 1998-1999 pretty sharply. Then I thought it might be

05:55interesting just to see when glyphosate started to become heavily used in that same area. Oh wow! And

06:03would you look at that just around a year before, around 1997-1998, glyphosate use seems to increase.

06:10Oh boy! Yeah, so I'm sure it's not related. Nothing to see here. Anyways, let's move on to the next one and

06:15that is chickpeas. So we love chickpeas around here. They are so versatile as well. I mean, you know,

06:21we put them in stir fries, make hummus out of them. There's even like, you know, tons of chickpea pastas

06:26out nowadays. So we're eating a lot of chickpeas around here. However, unfortunately, chickpeas, like

06:31with oats, and the same does apply to like lentils and beans, unfortunately, they have found to have

06:36extremely high levels of glyphosate residue. And this is the same reason. It's because it's sprayed on so close to

06:44harvest. They spray it around the crop to control weeds. This makes it easier for them to harvest,

06:49and the crop itself isn't competing for light, water, nutrients with any undesirable plants.

06:55But interestingly enough, the more that they use this herbicide, the more glyphosate resistant weeds

07:03there are. And yeah, just like almost as if you can't beat mother nature at her own game. So I know

07:08organic chickpeas can be pretty expensive when you buy them in individual cans. So one thing that we do is we

07:13buy like cases of organic chickpea cans from Costco. That's one way to bring the cost down. And of

07:18course, another one is to buy them dried like this and cook them yourself in like a pot or instant pot.

07:24Like a pressure cooker is perfect for cooking these. And this jar of organic chickpeas cost me less than

07:31five dollars. So I think that's not too bad. Food number three is strawberries. So I love frozen

07:38strawberries year-round and fresh strawberries whenever they are available. However, this is one

07:43food I always make sure to buy organic, and that is because strawberries consistently have some of the

07:50most amount of pesticides on them compared to any other food. And I'm not talking about like the levels.

07:55The levels are high, but the most variety, like the most different types sprayed on them. Non-organic

08:01strawberries tested by scientists at the Department of Agriculture in 2015 and 2016 contained an average of

08:077.8 different pesticides per sample compared to the 2.2 pesticides per sample for all other produce.

08:15And now what's interesting is that they test this stuff to see if it's like safe on humans or whatever,

08:19and they come to their conclusions. However, they never test all of these different chemicals together

08:25to see what the result might be on human health. Anyways, just an interesting thought. California data

08:29showed that in 2014 nearly 300 pounds of pesticides were applied to each acre of strawberries, an astonishing

08:37amount compared to about 5 pounds of pesticides per acre of corn. 300 pounds of pesticides per acre for

08:44strawberries versus 5 pounds per acre for corn. It's incredible, those numbers. That is a lot of pesticides.

08:52So they're spraying a lot of different stuff on conventional strawberries, and one that stuck out to me was one called

08:56Carbondasm. I'm not sure if I'm saying that right, but this one has been shown to affect male fertility,

09:03obviously in a negative way. But, you know, that one jumped out at me. You can find this information on a

09:09website called What's in Your Food, and they list all the different pesticides and herbicides and fungicides

09:15and stuff that are in each food. You might want to check it out. I'll put a link in the description box.

09:18And, as if it couldn't get any worse, strawberry growers use massive amounts of what's called

09:23fumigants. And these are chemicals that they spray over top of the soil just before they plant to

09:29basically sterilize the soil and the fields so that there's, you know, no fungus, no bugs or anything

09:35like that that is going to try and attack or, you know, or harm the strawberry crop. However, I wonder if

09:41this is one of the reasons why they continue to have to use more and more pesticides on this stuff to keep

09:46it growing. I don't know. So if you're going to buy strawberries, get them organic. Frozen or not,

09:53just make sure they're organic. So number four is spinach. So this definitely applies to other leafy

09:58greens as well, like kale, like green leaf lettuce too. But some of the information I have in here is

10:04specific to spinach, so that's why I've chose to highlight this. So if you've ever tried to grow your

10:08own greens, you will know how much the bugs just love them. We have selectively bred these plants to produce

10:14big, beautiful, nutritious, and tender leaves. But in the process, many have lost their natural defenses

10:21and are susceptible to bugs. So in traditional farming, they need to heavily spray these in order

10:27to control it. This is the reason why, on average, spinach samples had 1.8 times as much pesticide residue

10:33by weight as any other crop tested. So we eat lots of greens around this house and so should you, but they

10:39should definitely be organic. So saving the best for last, number five is tofu. So if you're anything

10:45like me, you guys eat a lot of tofu and this is one you definitely want to make sure is organic or

10:51non-gmo at the very least. So it's the same deal with soy as it is with oats, chickpeas, lentils. They

10:58are heavily sprayed close to harvest. So this is one of the reasons why they have such high levels of

11:02pesticides and in particular glyphosate. One thing that they've done to soybeans is they've genetically modified

11:08them to be resistant to glyphosate. You guys may have heard them called roundup ready seeds. Basically

11:14what this means is that they've been genetically programmed to withstand the spraying of that weed

11:19killer. So they can spray as much of that stuff on it as they want and the plant will not die. And

11:25like with oats, they have very high allowable levels of pesticide residue on it. So check this out. From

11:31the exact same chart, you can see how high the levels are for both oats and soy compared to the

11:38other foods. And get this, as if that's not enough, Health Canada, the regulatory body that is supposed

11:43to be looking out for our health, is actually trying to increase the allowable levels of glyphosate and

11:50other pesticides allowed on our food. And you can just imagine the repercussions of this. Like it's

11:55obviously not going to be good for our health. It's not going to be good for the health of the fields and

12:00the soil and all that. But we could become a dumping ground for high pesticide level foods from

12:07some other countries around the world. And not only that, we might have trouble exporting our grains

12:12to countries that have actual reasonable limits on pesticides that are allowed on their food,

12:18like Europe for instance. And this doesn't only affect soy eating vegans. First of all, most of us eat

12:24most of these foods. But if you think about what is being fed to the livestock, we know that a lot of

12:29them get a lot of GMO soy, corn, oats, different grains, and these are the most heavily sprayed foods.

12:36So then, you know, the animals, the cows, the livestock are eating this, and then people are

12:40eating the livestock, and it's just a whole mess. And then the livestock, they're getting sick,

12:46this can't be good for them. So then they're having to give them more antibiotics that, oh god,

12:49it's terrible. Alright, so just to conclude about the soy, not all non-organic soy is going to be

12:55genetically modified. A lot of the time, the soy that you'll see in the store that's conventionally

12:59grown has a little non-GMO label on it. So definitely look for that if you can't find

13:04organic soy, because that is going to be a little bit less sprayed, but organic soy is definitely

13:10going to be your best option. So I'll put links to the stuff I discussed in the description box down

13:14below if you guys want to check it out further. And definitely check out the ewg.org website,

13:19the Environmental Working Group. They do some amazing work, and they're the ones responsible for the dirty dozen

13:24list, and the Clean 15. So those are, you know, foods that have the most pesticides and the least

13:30pesticides. So definitely check that out if you're interested. So I just want to be clear, I love

13:34farmers, and I appreciate what they do so much. I don't want this video to be, you know, me bashing

13:39farmers. This is more bashing the system. I understand that farmers have, actually I don't understand,

13:44but I know that they have a really hard job, their margins are really low, and a lot of the time they are

13:50forced and pressured in to these more industrial farming practices just to make ends meet. So what has

13:57to change is the system. The system needs to change. We need people who are in charge of these things that

14:02are not being influenced by, you know, the industries and the companies that they're trying to regulate.

14:08And we also need people that know the dangers of these chemicals that are being put onto our food,

14:13because I don't think that the people who are trying to increase the levels here in Canada, for instance,

14:19actually know the dangers of these things. They couldn't, or else they wouldn't do this.

14:23But let me show you guys how you can get some pesticides off of conventionally grown produce.

14:29Baking soda and water. This is the best way to remove pesticide residues from produce. So just throw a

14:36bit of baking soda into some water and you want to let it sit there for a little while, because what happens

14:40is the basic pH of the baking soda actually helps to break down the acidic components of the pesticides.

14:47So giving it a little scrub is also going to help, and then make sure you rinse it after.

14:51So to conclude this video, I just want to say I obviously don't have all the answers, but as I

14:55continue to research this topic more and more, it's becoming pretty clear to me that the direction that

15:00we're going is not a good one for the future. We need to start focusing more on sustainable farming,

15:05regenerative farming practices, and we need to get away from these highly sprayed monocrops. And you

15:12see them using these in highly processed foods, calling it the future of food. And I don't know

15:17about you guys, but I'm just not seeing this as the solution. But hey, I might be wrong. You guys will

15:22have to let me know in the comments down below and let me know what you thought of the whole video. And

15:26do me a favor and hit the like button, because this is the kind of video that doesn't get a whole lot of

15:31love from the algorithm. As you guys can imagine, certain advertisers or whatever might not like

15:35the content in this one. So do me a big solid, hit the like button, even share this video with like

15:40family or friends or on a, you know, Facebook group or whatever. It would mean a whole lot to me.

15:44So thank you guys so much for watching. Definitely subscribe if you haven't already,

15:47so you can see more from me. And I will see you soon with another video.

15:52How do you even make a tinfoil hat? I don't think I've ever had to do this.

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