I consulted the Oracle, Wikipedia, for the precise definitions:
ALL NATURAL- are often assumed to be foods that are minimally processed and do not contain any hormones, antibiotics, sweeteners, food colors, or flavorings that were not originally in the food.The terms are often misused on labels and in advertisements.
The international Food and Agriculture Organization’s Codex Alimentarius does not recognize the term “natural” but does have a standard for organic foods.
Fundamentally, almost all foodstuffs are derived from the natural products of plants and animals; therefore, any definition of “natural food” results in an arbitrary exclusion or inclusion of food ingredients; likewise, since almost all foods are processed in some way, either mechanically, chemically, or by temperature, it is difficult to define which types of food processing are “natural”.
GLUTEN-FREE - A gluten-free diet is a diet that excludes foods containing gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat (including kamut and spelt), barley, rye, malts, and triticale. It is used as a food additive in the form of a flavoring, stabilizing, or thickening agent, often as "dextrin". A gluten-free diet is the only medically accepted treatment for celiac disease, the related condition dermatitis herpetiformis, and wheat allergy.
The term gluten-free generally is used to indicate a supposedly harmless level of gluten rather than a complete absence.
ORGANIC - Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Organic foods are also not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.
Processed organic food usually contains only organic ingredients. If non-organic ingredients are present, at least a certain percentage of the food's total plant and animal ingredients must be organic (95% in the United States, Canada, and Australia) and any non-organically produced ingredients are subject to various agricultural requirements. Foods claiming to be organic must be free of artificial food additives, and are often processed with fewer artificial methods, materials and conditions, such as chemical ripening, food irradiation, and genetically modified ingredients.
CONVENTIONAL - Industrial farming is a form of modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of livestock, poultry, fish, and crops. The methods of industrial agriculture are technoscientific, economic, and political. They include innovation in agricultural machinery and farming methods, genetic technology, techniques for achieving economies of scale in production, the creation of new markets for consumption, the application of patent protection to genetic information, and global trade. These methods are widespread in developed nations and increasingly prevalent worldwide. Most of the meat, dairy, eggs, fruits, and vegetables available in supermarkets are produced using these methods of industrial agriculture.
Now, everyone has their own thoughts on this topic and their choice of what they feel is best for their family, and I won't argue. All I know is the difference eating primarily organic foods has done for me and my family. A few examples, notice how much larger non-organic meats and fruits are, this is because of the hormones and other injections to cause them to grow bigger and faster. For instance, when we decided to start buying organic meat, the chicken breasts were significantly smaller and more expensive, which my garbage truck of an eater husband wasn't too happy with. However, when he grilled them, we realized they don't shrink when they cook, and end up actually being the same size as the 'normal' chicken breasts because they shrink a ton! Another story, watermelon and corn on the cob are my absolute favorite summer-time treat. So Norah was just a few months old when they became a regular in my diet, and every time I'd eat corn on the cob, she'd get gassy and fussy. One time it was our turn to bring the corn and the Organic ones were on sale so we got those. I couldn't resist eating it, so I did, and from then on out, she had no problem with corn if it was Organic. Sure enough, when it wasn't organic, she'd get gassy. I seriously could not believe what we had come to realize on poor little Norah's expense. From then on, we knew that it was different. Since then, when Norah started eating real food, we've always bought Organic produce for her and made it ourselves. She has never been sick, no ear infections, rashes, coughs, colds, anything that is very common for babies to get multiple of within their first year. She has only been sick once after the Holidays when she was around tons of other people 24/7 for weeks straight and when everyone was getting the flu/cold bug. I just can't imagine how much quicker she was able to heal because her body was getting proper nutrition to fight off the bug in her little body. Like I said, this can be a heated topic and I don't disagree with anyone, I'm just sharing what I have experienced first hand. With all the early on-set of everything these days, including periods in girls just keeps getting younger and younger, I can't help but think that it has something to do with the added hormones in all of our foods.
Funniest thing I found in the local grocery store the other day...
Clearly, since these are Gluten-Free and say Healthy Living on the tab, I can eat these because they're totally healthy for me, right? Yeah, I wish! Gotta love all the marketing tactics to try and get the consumer to buy something!
