Lesson: What is organic food?/ExerciseL1

Listening Exercise

So you're at the store and you're looking for something quick and easy to eat. But you're also trying to be health conscious. So, instead of the regular cheesy mac, you go for the organic stuff. Instead of regular chicken nuggets you grab some organic chicken nuggets, then top it off with some organic sandwich cookies. Hmmm, cookies. It's all organic, so it's good for you, right? Well, not always. You see, while forty-five percent of Americans think the organic label means healthy or good, organic really has nothing to do with how nutritious the food is for you. Organic really just defines how the ingredients were created, prepared or raised. Let me explain. Organic means that there aren't any genetically modified ingredients. Also, organic means that no chemicals were used to kill bugs and weeds and that all pesticides are natural instead of synthetic. And, organic means nothing was fertilized with sewage sludge - yeah sewage sludge. Organic also means that nothing was exposed to radiation which some manufacturers do to sterilize food and that no industrial solvents were used to clean things up. Also, organic means there can be no chemical food additives that some foods have to make them stay fresh for an unnatural amount of time. And, if it's meat that there's no routine use of antibiotics or hormones pumped into the animals. And all this stuff is really important, but, notice, organic doesn't necessarily mean that the ingredients are nutritious. So, if you care about healthy foods, it’s more important to just eat whole foods, mostly fruits and vegetables, and avoid package like substances, and yeah, that includes organic cheesy and mac. And here is a really big tip, if you can pronounce all the ingredients in the package you're holding, then you're on the right track.