That's Fit

In a recent conversation, I was disagreeing with someone about the quality of organic product you can find at many health food stores, and increasingly, at normal grocery stores.

Are these products really that much better? In a nutshell, yes. For one, toxic pesticide residue is generally not going to be found on organic produce. Secondly, there has been no genetic modification to the fruit as well -- ever wonder why those 'grocery store' strawberries or oranges are so friggin' large? No thanks. And, I won't even tough the irradiation that most conventional fruits and vegetables go through.

But the most important is nutrient content. It's hard to believe that the same millions of oranges and apples still contain plentiful nutrients from the soil they are grown in when that soil was used up long ago. Visit a fruit farm or volume vegetable farm and ask for a soil sample from the field. You'll be amazed at what is in there (and actually, what is not).

Award-winning chef and cookbook author Michel Nischan will be spreading his message of healthy eating on a new series called "Pure & Simple" on the multimedia channel LIME.

Nischan believes in the days of pure and simple food selection, when produce was eaten in season and our food wasn't injected with hormones and pesticides. His series demonstrates how too much of our food is treated in a way that removes important natural vitamins and nutrients. For example, if a fruit is picked before it's ripe and then is shipped, it doesn't pack the same nutritional "punch" as a fruit that's allowed to ripen naturally.

Not only that, it doesn't taste as good. Disturbed at what I've been reading in the media about environmental toxins and damaging additives, I've been purchasing more and more organic produce. It's more expensive, it's not as shiny and big, but it tastes better and I feel better about eating it.

I'm looking forward to hearing more of Michel Nischan's message, and anticipating an even bigger shift toward organic eating in the general population.