Part Three : Healthy Adolescence and Adults

Part Three in a continuing series on the health benefits of organic food.

We've discussed the importance of clean, organic food and nutrient dense diets during pregnancy and while a infant is developing just after birth. As a child grows into adolescence, the importance of a healthy diet shifts a bit from building blocks to laying a foundation of lifelong health.

As we age into adolescence and on into adulthood, nutrient rich organic foods high in phytochemicals play an important role in weight management and preventing diabetes. They can also lessen or delay the complications linked to both issues.

Organic and nutrient dense food may play a role by increasing one's sense of satiety. The feeling of being satisfied after a meal comes not from quantity but from quality. Whole, organic foods are more likely to satisfy than a plateful of empty calories. Feeling full is not exactly the same as feeling satisfied with a meal. Satiety leads to fewer cravings for empty energy boosting calories (sugar, fat, salt) between meals.

Organic, nutrient dense foods also lessen or limit the cellular and genetic damage done by "free radicals" (also called reactive oxygen species). This potentially reduces the risk of diabetes and other diseases rooted in inflammation including arthritis and cardiovascular disease as well as rapid cell growth (cancer).

Finally, these foods may help slow or even reverse certain neurological aspects of the aging process, leading to better memory and more retention of cognitive skills as we age.

According to a report released by the Organic Center in March 2009, "In helping manage blood glucose levels and promoting cardiovascular health, organic food and farming delivers benefit in two important ways. It exposes people to fewer of the endocrine disrupting chemicals that can set off the disease process and trigger epigenetic changes, and second it delivers higher daily intakes of health-promoting phytochemicals that reinforce the body’s defense and repair mechanism."

To read the full report and learn more about how organic food provides the building blocks for lifelong health, click here to visit the Organic Center. To purchase authentic organic food online from a trusted source, visit shopOrganic.com today. Be well.