We have all heard a lot of about oatmeals and how it can help to lower LDL “bad” cholesterol level and protect the heart but how about organic oats? Same goes with breakfast cereal as it is always considered the best preparation that provides energy, vitamins and minerals needed for the day. So what makes these organic offering so special compared to the non-organic type? Can they really offer the extra benefit that the conventional cereals packed in boxes seen in supermarkets and convenience stores can’t provide? There seems to be a lot of question marks and thoughts lingering in our mind on whether getting the organic types are really worth it? We shall discuss more in details surrounding this subject.
The organic servings are different from the conventional and regular meal judging by the way on how the crops are grown, harvested and processed up to the packing stage. Crops during the growing period are exposed to various diseases and pests that can destroy the plants and thus use of herbicides and pesticides is something that has becomes a routine to safeguard profitability. Apart from that, in order to maximize returns and to cut down the growing time, fertilizers are also added to the crops to make it grow faster and increase the amount of produce. Genetic engineering have also played a part mainly to produce crops having higher disease resistance and with better yield to target towards feeding the world’s population. So, no matter how efficient or how well these growers can convince you that adding of these chemicals to the plant will not bring any side effect towards our health, I will never concede myself to take in the statement. Because of it, that is the reason why organic oats, rice, wheat, barley and all other organic cereals are what make them special.
Talk about wholesomeness, the organic produces are supposed to retain all the goodness value of natural form without leaving any room for contamination or carry over that comes from the chemicals used when growing the crop. In terms of nutritional value, while the proteins, carbohydrates, iron, phosphates and other mineral content are more or less the same compared to the regular ones, the only difference with organic cereals is more towards the fiber composition. For example, certain brands of oatmeal are whole grain organic oats which still has the inner portion of the kernel intact with it and this is considered the best nutritious foods both proven clinically and scientifically. Conventional breakfast cereals are usually added with extra sugars, food enhancers in order to increase palatability and since a large portion of the consumers for the cereals are kids, manufacturer have to find a way to increase sales. This means that they have to do their best to add in some extra taste and flavor enhancers so that kids will like it and will not reject the offering. If for any reason that these chemicals are present, the foods are no longer termed organic anymore.
Sugar nowadays form the basic ingredient present in all conventional cereals and while there is nothing wrong with adding it, higher percentage put in excess is actually not healthy overall. The side effects are more profound especially with senior citizens with heart condition and instead of bringing the positive health benefit; it turns out to be the other way round. Preservatives are also added in order to increase the shelf life of the products and those organic cereals should not have all these chemicals added in. Vitamins nowadays are also dosed in and blended with the conventional non-organic cereals and most argument nowadays are that the organic ones especially oats lack the necessary supplement because during the processing stage, these vitamins are destroyed and lost. However, this is only partially true because as mentioned earlier, most of the organic foods’ manufacturers use a special food processing technique to retain the nutritional content mostly to protect and retain the wholesomeness. Thus whether they opt to add in extra vitamins or minerals will depend on whether they want to increase the food quality. If possible look for those with still the kernel or husk intact like the organic oats and also brown rice.
Finally, it is always your duty to check out further in details about everything. Never believe in what you read printed on the box and always check out for the label having the organic food certification as the only way to differentiate between true or faux organic. Sometimes you can even perform a simple check by doing a cross reference in the library or through the internet to find out and discover whether the scientific facts or substantiation related to the health claims are true or otherwise. And always remember, regular conventional foods can never beat the health value that organic foods have to offer.
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