Two highly-charged words on food packaging are Organic (as in "organic food") and health (as in "health food"). Do you know what they mean? Don't be embarrassed to say no. Neither do most health professionals.
To a chemist, organic means a substance that contains carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. By this chemical standard, all food--and all human beings--are organic.
But foodies use organic to describe plant foods grown without pesticides or synthetic chemicals, or to describe the poultry, fish, beef, and lamb from animals that were raised on a diet with no antibiotics or other medicating chemicals to assure healthy and efficiently-producing animals.
There is no scientific definition for healthy food, a similarly imprecise term, applied indiscriminately to "healthful" stuff like high-protein, low-fat pasta made from artichoke flour and are-you-kidding-stuff like high-fat carob candy bars.
Organic foods and health foods can be satisfying and delicious. But the label terms may leave you hungry--for more information. ~Aunt Millie
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