Mary Crowder
Organic Diets
Journalism 1

Headline: Hungry for health?
Subhead: Organic food is easier to buy than ever
A mother pushes her child in a shopping cart at the local Publix. She glances at the GreenWise isle. Then suddenly she feels the tapping of a little foot against her lap. Seconds later he demands a Lunchable. Giving in to the impatient child she pushes the cart on, to a land of pasteurized processed mozzarella cheese product and 1,780 milligrams of salt.
Then a college student walks by. He examines the nearby organics goods, considering the product. But then he saw the price, $3.50 for half a gallon of milk.
Nevertheless an organic diet offers great alternatives to the conventional food on the shelves and is easier now than ever to buy. There are more than two dozen organic stores in and just as many organic restaurants in Jacksonville.
There is no excuse. A healthy alternative lurks around every corner.
It’s no lie that organic food cost more. Typically they cost 10 to 40% more that conventionally produced products.
According to the National Organic Program, in the United States, organic is now available in almost 20,000 natural food stores and 73% of conventional grocery stores.
Organic food also takes up about 1-2% of total food sales. Conventional grocery stores also sell two thirds of organic milk and cream and half of organic cheese and yogurt. It is one of the fastest growing food industries.
“I have been on an organic diet since about 1990, when my daughter was born.” said Dr. Dale Fralicker M.D. of Intaplecx, a family practice that “integrates natural, traditional, and alternative practices.”
“I was starting to get health problems.” Fralicker continued “My muscles ached, I didn’t sleep well and I was constantly in pain. So, I read books on dieting and took a lot of advice form organic books. I now sleep better and I’m a lot happier. Happier to be on the diet, and just all around in a better mood.”
Science Daily reported on a team of European scientists that tested the grounds of organic diets on rats. In the end, their rats that ate organically were all around healthier than the ones on a conventional diet.
“The organically-fed rats enjoyed several health benefits, in that they slept better, had stronger immune systems, and were slimmer than the rats on a conventional diet.”
Also, in the study, there weren’t many differences in the rats, but there was a beneficial effect of the organically grown diet regarding the health of the rats. This suggests organic foods do indeed have positive effects.
At a young age, people are being taught to live a healthier lifestyle. Mary Cutter, sophomore, said, “It’s very important to a girl to eat organic foods.”
“There have been a lot of changes in my body since I’ve eaten organically. Because there are fewer hormones like estrogen, I don’t PMS.” Cutter said. “And I don’t need deodorant because I don’t sweat. Since then, I also lost a lot of weight and sleep much better.”
Fralicker also notes that if you can’t go “full blown” organic, you might want to simply cut back on large land animals that are higher on the food chain because they release more toxins and ultimately have more hormones. “Even though hormones have a bad connotation, they really are what makes a girl a girl and a guy a guy, and too much is a bad thing.”

Sidebar:
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in order for the food item to be considered healthy it must have:
*less than ten percent saturated fat
*less than 30 percent fat
*contain less than 360 milligrams of cholesterol
*have at least ten percent of the Reference Daily Intake for vitamins A or C, calcium, protein, fiber, or iron.

In the New York Times Magazine, Michael Pollan wrote, “If you’re concerned about your health, you should probably avoid food products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food product is a good indication that it’s not really food, and food is what you want to eat.”