Tim Campbell
2008-12-02 18:14:10 UTC
By TARA PARKER-POPE New York Times - Published: December 1, 2008
Fruits, vegetables and animals can be 100 percent organic. What about
people?In a fascinating experiment — on himself — Dr. Alan Greene, a
pediatrician and author in Danville, Calif., decided to find out. For
the last three years, Dr. Greene has eaten nothing but organic foods,
whether he’s cooking at home, dining out or snacking on the road. He
chose three years as a goal because that was the amount of time it
took to have a breeding animal certified organic by the Department of
Agriculture. While food growers comply with organic regulations every
day, Dr. Greene wondered whether a person could meet the same
standards.It hasn’t been easy."This isn’t a way of eating I could
recommend to anybody else because it’s so far off the beaten food
grid," said Dr. Greene, 49, the founder of a popular Web site about
children’s health, drgreene.com. "It was much more challenging than I
thought it would be, and I thought it would be tough. There were
definitely days where there was nothing I could find that was
organic."
Other writers have ventured off the traditional food grid, notably
Barbara Kingsolver in "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral" and Michael Pollan
in "The Omnivore’s Dilemma." But what makes Dr. Greene’s experiment
remarkable is the length of time he devoted to it, and his effort to
incorporate organic eating into the routines of everyday living. His
findings offer new insight into the challenges facing the organic food
industry and those of us who want to patronize it. Organic farmers
don’t use conventional methods to fertilize the soil, control weeds
and pests, or prevent disease in livestock.
Organic methods often lead to higher costs, and consumers can pay
twice as much for organic foods as for conventional products. Last
week, the financial advice Web site SmartMoney.com reported that to
feed eight people an organic meal of traditional Thanksgiving foods, a
shopper would pay $295.36 — a premium of $126.35, or 75 percent, over
a nonorganic holiday spread.To cut back on the cost of an organic
diet, Dr. Greene said he had to cut back on meat. "Whenever you go up
the food chain, the costs pile up," he said. "If you don’t eat meat at
every meal, if meat becomes more of a side dish than a centerpiece,
you can fill the plate with healthy organic food for about the same
price."Questions remain about whether organic foods are really better
for you. The data are mixed. This fall, researchers from the
University of Copenhagen reported on a two-year experiment in which
they grew carrots, kale, peas, potatoes and apples using both organic
and conventional growing methods. The researchers found that the
growing methods made no difference in the nutrients in the crops or
the levels of nutrients retained by rats that ate them, according to
the study, published in The Journal of the Science of Food and
Agriculture.But other research suggests that organic foods do contain
more of certain nutrients — almost twice as many, in the case of
organic tomatoes studied for a 2007 report in The Journal of
Agricultural and Food Chemistry.Dr. Greene said he was inspired to go
all-organic after talking to a dairy farmer who noted that livestock
got sick less after a switch to organic practices. He wondered if
becoming 100 percent organic might improve his own health.Three years
later, he says he has more energy and wakes up earlier. As a
pediatrician regularly exposed to sick children, he was accustomed to
several illnesses a year. Now, he says, he is rarely ill. His urine is
a brighter yellow, a sign that he is ingesting more vitamins and
nutrients. At home, he said, the organic routine was relatively easy.
Organic food is widely available, not just at stores like Whole Foods
but at traditional supermarkets. He also shopped at farmer’s markets
and joined a local community-supported agriculture group, or C.S.A.
Because he bought less meat, the costs tended to balance out. And his
family (two of his four children still live at home) largely went
along with the experiment.On the road, though, life was more
challenging. In corporate cafeterias and convenience stores, he looked
for stickers that began with the number 9 to signify organic; stickers
on conventionally grown produce begin with 4.
When dining out, he called ahead; high-end restaurants were willing to
accommodate his all-organic request. He also found a few lines of
organic backpacking food that he could carry with him.Dr. Greene
reached the three-year milestone in October, but his diet is still
organic. He hasn’t decided whether to keep going full tilt or to ease
up in the interest of cost and convenience. In his latest book,
"Raising Baby Green: The Earth-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth
and Baby Care" (Jossey-Bass), he advocates a "strategic" approach,
urging parents to insist on organic versions of a few main foods, like
milk, potatoes, apples and baby food.The biggest surprise of the whole
experience, he says, was that many people still don’t know what
"organic" means."It’s surprising to me how few people know that
organic means without pesticides, antibiotics or hormones," he said.
"In stores or restaurants around the country, I would ask, ‘Do you
have anything organic?’ Half the time they would say, ‘Do you mean
vegetarian?’ "***@nytimes.com
Fruits, vegetables and animals can be 100 percent organic. What about
people?In a fascinating experiment — on himself — Dr. Alan Greene, a
pediatrician and author in Danville, Calif., decided to find out. For
the last three years, Dr. Greene has eaten nothing but organic foods,
whether he’s cooking at home, dining out or snacking on the road. He
chose three years as a goal because that was the amount of time it
took to have a breeding animal certified organic by the Department of
Agriculture. While food growers comply with organic regulations every
day, Dr. Greene wondered whether a person could meet the same
standards.It hasn’t been easy."This isn’t a way of eating I could
recommend to anybody else because it’s so far off the beaten food
grid," said Dr. Greene, 49, the founder of a popular Web site about
children’s health, drgreene.com. "It was much more challenging than I
thought it would be, and I thought it would be tough. There were
definitely days where there was nothing I could find that was
organic."
Other writers have ventured off the traditional food grid, notably
Barbara Kingsolver in "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral" and Michael Pollan
in "The Omnivore’s Dilemma." But what makes Dr. Greene’s experiment
remarkable is the length of time he devoted to it, and his effort to
incorporate organic eating into the routines of everyday living. His
findings offer new insight into the challenges facing the organic food
industry and those of us who want to patronize it. Organic farmers
don’t use conventional methods to fertilize the soil, control weeds
and pests, or prevent disease in livestock.
Organic methods often lead to higher costs, and consumers can pay
twice as much for organic foods as for conventional products. Last
week, the financial advice Web site SmartMoney.com reported that to
feed eight people an organic meal of traditional Thanksgiving foods, a
shopper would pay $295.36 — a premium of $126.35, or 75 percent, over
a nonorganic holiday spread.To cut back on the cost of an organic
diet, Dr. Greene said he had to cut back on meat. "Whenever you go up
the food chain, the costs pile up," he said. "If you don’t eat meat at
every meal, if meat becomes more of a side dish than a centerpiece,
you can fill the plate with healthy organic food for about the same
price."Questions remain about whether organic foods are really better
for you. The data are mixed. This fall, researchers from the
University of Copenhagen reported on a two-year experiment in which
they grew carrots, kale, peas, potatoes and apples using both organic
and conventional growing methods. The researchers found that the
growing methods made no difference in the nutrients in the crops or
the levels of nutrients retained by rats that ate them, according to
the study, published in The Journal of the Science of Food and
Agriculture.But other research suggests that organic foods do contain
more of certain nutrients — almost twice as many, in the case of
organic tomatoes studied for a 2007 report in The Journal of
Agricultural and Food Chemistry.Dr. Greene said he was inspired to go
all-organic after talking to a dairy farmer who noted that livestock
got sick less after a switch to organic practices. He wondered if
becoming 100 percent organic might improve his own health.Three years
later, he says he has more energy and wakes up earlier. As a
pediatrician regularly exposed to sick children, he was accustomed to
several illnesses a year. Now, he says, he is rarely ill. His urine is
a brighter yellow, a sign that he is ingesting more vitamins and
nutrients. At home, he said, the organic routine was relatively easy.
Organic food is widely available, not just at stores like Whole Foods
but at traditional supermarkets. He also shopped at farmer’s markets
and joined a local community-supported agriculture group, or C.S.A.
Because he bought less meat, the costs tended to balance out. And his
family (two of his four children still live at home) largely went
along with the experiment.On the road, though, life was more
challenging. In corporate cafeterias and convenience stores, he looked
for stickers that began with the number 9 to signify organic; stickers
on conventionally grown produce begin with 4.
When dining out, he called ahead; high-end restaurants were willing to
accommodate his all-organic request. He also found a few lines of
organic backpacking food that he could carry with him.Dr. Greene
reached the three-year milestone in October, but his diet is still
organic. He hasn’t decided whether to keep going full tilt or to ease
up in the interest of cost and convenience. In his latest book,
"Raising Baby Green: The Earth-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth
and Baby Care" (Jossey-Bass), he advocates a "strategic" approach,
urging parents to insist on organic versions of a few main foods, like
milk, potatoes, apples and baby food.The biggest surprise of the whole
experience, he says, was that many people still don’t know what
"organic" means."It’s surprising to me how few people know that
organic means without pesticides, antibiotics or hormones," he said.
"In stores or restaurants around the country, I would ask, ‘Do you
have anything organic?’ Half the time they would say, ‘Do you mean
vegetarian?’ "***@nytimes.com