Do you know what is missing in your
favourite kitchen? The shelves have all the ingredients – flour, spices,
rice, onions, garlic, cooking oil, pulses, fruits and veggies.
What
is missing is the purity of these ingredients that is taking a toll on
your health. You might have bought them from your reliable grocery store
but you can’t keep manufacturers away from making adulteration or toxic
metals and pesticides being part of these ingredients.
Purity and health can only be ensured by
an organic variety of all ingredients. Let us understand the
differences and benefits of organic variety of all kitchen ingredients
one by one.
Organic
flour is one that is obtained from organic wheat. Organic wheat is free
from all irradiation, synthetic fertilisers and pesticides and not
genetically modified. The flour obtained from such wheat gives lighter
dough than conventional flour and is loaded with valuable nutrients like
vitamin B, vitamin E, potassium, magnesium, iron and zinc.
Do
you know what you are consuming when using spices for cooking?
Turmeric, coriander powder, cumin powder, pepper and salt are all loaded
with sawdust, lead oxide, talc, mineral oil and artificial colours.
Some of these adulterants are poisonous while others can lead to liver disease, heart disease, joint pains and even cancer.
Buying
an organic variety gives you freedom from these harmful effects,
enhances the flavour of your dishes and administers the complete health
benefits of the spices. For example, turmeric is known to help in joint
inflammation, maintaining cardiovascular health and a strong digestive
system. These would be missing with non-organic spices. And that could
be one reason why the turmeric that you are storing now isn’t exactly
the way grandma’s have been telling do work.
The
organic variety of rice is free from the toxic effects of arsenic.
Arsenic is one of the components of pesticides used in the cultivation
of conventional rice. Arsenic is a highly toxic metal and can lead to
lung, skin or bladder cancer.
Garlic
grown in conventional farms will bring synthetic pesticides and
fertilisers along. This is not so with garlic cultivated on organic
farms and also imparts complete health benefits of garlic like
protection from cold, digestive problems, diabetes and hypertension.
Although
onions bring tears to everyone’s eye but they also aid in relieving
respiratory problems, chest pain, cough and cold. These benefits are
ensured only in an organic breed.
Fruits and vegetables
Organic
species of fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants and devoid of
harmful pesticides like organophosphorus compounds. These compounds
have been implicated in causing developmental disorders like autism in
children. Fruits and vegetables cultivated in organic farms have a
better taste and ensure a healthy heart and immune system.
Don’t
be misled by the shiny pulses at your grocery store. All the pulses are
adulterated with sand, marble chips, stones, filth, khesari dal and
coal tar that have a proven danger of causing paralysis and cancer. On
the other hand, the organic pulses are not shiny but are free from
adulterants and pesticides giving you complete nutrition.
When
you don’t know these differences, you may well be, and unknowingly so,
serving traces of toxins on the plate? To know the difference in what
you have been eating and what you will, trying an organic kitchen for a
month isn’t that bad idea at all. You have nothing to lose, you have
health to gain.
