The organic industry is a booming industry around the world. Even in India, it has spread the message of chemical-free eating. In fact, a good chunk of people is always trying their hand at organic living by changing a few of their food habits and lessening the chronic effects of harmful chemicals. Whatever the reason for a switch to organic, you should understand the advantages and disadvantages of doing so. As it happens to be, that’s exactly what we’re going to cover today!

Before we get to that, let’s cover some basics: there are two groups of people who debate about the health benefits of organic versus conventional good. One thinks that organic food is of equal nutrition and provides the same health benefits as regular, conventional food. The other, on the other hand, disagrees and says that there are more benefits to organic living than the alternative. With that in mind, let’s get started!

Pros of Organic Food

Starting with the pros of organic food, here’s what you need to know:

1. Farther Distance from Harmful Chemicals 

The food we have been eating since the beginning—conventional food—is full of harmful chemicals. Based on research, conventional food can have as much as four times the amount of chemical residues compared to organic food. Organic food, on the other hand, cultivates food without any exposure to toxic chemicals.

As per Indian standards for any product with multiple ingredients, it has to carry at least 95% chemical-free products to be certified as Organic. Therefore, we can rely on the fact that we are putting little to no hazardous chemicals in our body while consuming organic food.

2. No Negative Impact on the Environment 

We only have one planet to live on and it’s our duty to take care of it. When you choose to follow an organic diet, it directly and indirectly helps the environment by:

• Having a less harmful impact on the soil and cutting down soil pollution caused by fertilizers, weedicides, and pesticides
• Avoiding water pollution caused by chemical run-off
• Enriching soil with important nutrients stemming from organic cropping methods
• Increasing soil fertility from animal-based manure (as compared to chemically treated soil that is quite hazardous)

3. Higher Nutritional value

Although the statement above is the subject of many debates, many facts support the point that organic food is nutritionally better than conventional food. After all, it’s grown with the smallest amount of chemical exposure, which does not suppress the nutritional value of food. Organic food is also cultivated in land where soil is enriched with vitamins and minerals due to the usage of natural, animal-based manure.

4. Hydrogenated Fat-Free

Trans fats are fatty acids that are said to be harmful to your cardio-vascular health. Lucky for us, organic food is free from them!Therefore, it is always a good choice to add organic food into your diet when you’re considering making healthy decisions for your health.

5. Animal-Friendly

If you’re someone who has a soft heart for animal health, then organic food is your food. Why? Because the concept believes in preserving their natural habitat. As for organic farming, animals living in organic farms are left free-range with chemical-free, clean grazing.

Cons of Organic Food 

In a bid to stay more or less impartial, we’ll also discuss the cons of organic food so you have a good idea as to what the whole organic picture looks like. In this section, we’ll be covering the things people opposed to organic food have to say about it. There may be fewer in number,but they are of equal importance.

1. It Costs More than Conventional Food

For starters, organic food is not affordable for many.It usually costs much more than conventional food, which is one of the biggest deterrents for its consumption. As such, organic food is often consumed by groups of people who can actually afford its higher prices. Whatever the reason for such prices—maybe high production costs or low land areas dedicated to that particular kind of agriculture—the fact is that many people just can’t afford it.

2. It’s Not Easily Available

Similar to high prices is the fact that organic food isn’t easily available, especially if you live somewhere that’s farther from metropolitan areas. Although organic farms are increasing in numbers, it’s a challenge to add organic food into your day-to-day life due to lack of availability.Some people are even selling conventional food while calling it organic just to earn more money, making it even more difficult to trust the food you’re buying.

3. Its Shelf-Life Is Shorter

The shelf-life of organic food is known to be smaller than conventional food because it doesn’t contain the many preservatives that non-organic food has. On top of this, organic food does not promote the use of chemical fertilizers to enhance crop growth or increase its life, which makes it easily perishable.

Final Thoughts

Like everything else, organic food has its drawbacks and limitations. Even though it’s very popular amongst a large part of society, the organic food industry still faces the challenge of making its food easily available and affordable for all. While we can count positively on the flourishing future of the industry, we can also make the switch now and pick healthier, organic food versus its easily available, chemically treated counterpart.