The U.S. organic food market is a $52.3 billion industry. People are more health conscious these days, and they look for farm-to-table options. They want to support organic restaurants.
If you’re thinking about making healthier choices, you should look into the benefits of organic foods. Additives, artificial sweeteners, gluten, and hormones that mass-produced food contains may negatively affect your health.
Here are seven reasons to start going organic.
1. You’re Supporting the Local Community
When possible, organic restaurants usually source their ingredients from local farms. When you go organic, you’re supporting farmers in your area. And when you show your support for organic farmers, you encourage the use of more all-natural farming practices.
USDA organic regulations include practices such as releasing predatory insects or putting down mulch rather than relying on chemical pesticides.
Organic farming also benefits livestock. Farmers are concerned about the animal’s well-being, giving them ample outdoor room, shade, clean water, and protection from extreme temperatures.
When you visit an organic restaurant, you can feel good about the way the food and the livestock were raised.
2. Fresh Food Tastes Better
There’s no doubt about it; fresh food tastes better than canned or frozen options. Local food is fresher since it doesn’t have to travel as far to reach the restaurant.
As soon as a vegetable or fruit is picked, it no longer has access to its source of nutrients. It also begins to lose nutrients after picking. Therefore, foods that are harvested and transported longer distances have fewer nutrients than local food.
Refrigeration and freezing can preserve some of these nutrients, but eating foods fresh is the best way to savor their flavor and gain the full benefits.
3. You Can Feel Good About Your Food
No one feels good about driving through McDonald’s for dinner, as we know it’s not healthy. It’s fast and convenient but high in calories and low in nutritional value.
However, when you support organic food restaurants, you can feel good about what you’re putting into your body. The menu is full of nutritional, healthy, and organic options.
Feeling good about what you eat is one of the biggest benefits of organic food. When you make healthy choices, you lower your risk for heart disease, maintain a healthy weight, and more. According to the CDC, you can even lower your risk for certain cancers.
4. It’s an Opportunity to Try Something New
When you visit a farm-to-table restaurant, you’ll find a variety of delicious dishes on the menu. You’ll likely find at least a few that you’ve never tried before, especially since many organic restaurants use seasonal ingredients.
It’s a good time to try something different and see if you like it. You might just find a new flavor combination that you fall in love with and plan to try the next time you cook.
It’s also a great opportunity to get your kids to try something new. We all know kids can be picky eaters, but organic ingredients taste much better than frozen or pre-packaged foods. Your kids might find something they love, too.
5. No Harmful Pesticides
Pesticides kill pests, but they can also pose a risk to humans. The chemicals in pesticides have many potential health effects, including some that may be carcinogenic to humans.
Generally, the level of pesticides on our crops is low enough not to worry about. However, supporting organic practices can increase the number of organic farms and lower the usage of chemical pesticides overall.
Women that are pregnant or breastfeeding may also seek to avoid exposure to pesticides and chemicals to be safe. Some people may also be more sensitive to the effects of pesticides than others, such as those with asthma.
6. It’s Environmentally Friendly
Since organic farming doesn’t rely on hormones or pesticides, it reduces the damage from agricultural runoff in our soil and water. Farmers that use pesticides and synthetic fertilizers contribute to water pollution when the runoff makes its way to our waterways.
Common contaminants include phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen, bacteria, viruses, metals, and chemical pesticides.
Another benefit is that organic farming is better for the animals that eat from the farm and pollinators. Pesticides, for instance, harm our bee population. Considering honey bees pollinate 80% of our flowering plants, that’s one excellent reason to start going organic.
7. You Avoid Unhealthy Ingredients
Food additives can do more harm than good. Take a look at the ingredient label on some of the boxes and cans in your pantry and see how many names you recognize.
Additives may extend a product’s shelf life, boost its flavor, or improve its texture. However, some additives have potential health effects. For instance, artificial sweeteners contribute to obesity and may increase the risk of cancer or diabetes.
Here are some that you may have heard of:
- Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
- Sodium nitrate
- Artificial food coloring
- High fructose corn syrup
- Artificial sweeteners
- Sodium benzoate
- Trans fat
- Xanthan gum
- Artificial flavors
Some ingredients are linked to more health effects than others, but the best diet is still one full of organic ingredients. Skip the excess sugars and additives.
Support Organic Restaurants
As you can see, there are many benefits to supporting organic restaurants. Not only do you feel better about what you eat, but your body will feel better too.
Here at Rons Original Bar & Grille, our mission is to provide our customers with fresh and healthy food made on-site every day. We steer away from hormones, antibiotics, artificial flavors, and potentially harmful additives. We use the highest-quality ingredients and prepare your food from scratch.
Come and taste the organic difference today! Browse our daily specials and come on by.