+
Most Shared

What's the biggest difference between 'natural' and 'organic' products?

True
Seventh Generation

The grocery run. An errand as old as, well, food.

But most would agree that it's not what it used to be.



Remember when grocery shopping was like being in a sexy music video? GIF via Huffington Post.

What was once a simple matter of crossing items off a hurriedly jotted list has become real brain work.

Walking into a grocery store, our eyeballs are blitzed with options, buzzwords, and labels distinguishing the guiltless from the garbage.

Frankly, it can be a little overwhelming.

GIF from "The Hurt Locker."

Let's consider two of the most common terms we see on the shelves: "natural" and "organic."

Both words appear to be loaded with wholesome goodness, but when it comes to our food and other products, they couldn't be more different.

"Natural"

Photo by Maz Ali/Upworthy.

You've probably bought food marked "natural" thinking you were making a healthy choice.

According to The Washington Post, "natural" is the second most money-making label on the market, helping sell over $40 billion of food annually in the U.S.

But here's the thing: the Food and Drug Administration has no clear definition for the word "natural" on food labeling. And contrary to popular belief, food companies aren't held to any verifiable standards before printing it on their packaging.(It's possible this could change, though — the FDA is currently calling for public comments on the use of the term in food labeling.)

Photos by Maz Ali/Upworthy.

Not only are you likely to find processed foods that are "no longer the product of the earth" carrying the label, says the FDA, but Consumer Reports explains that these foods are often produced with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and artificial chemicals and grown with toxic pesticides.

While "natural" cleaning products may have their upsides — "natural" and "nontoxic" labels are often as informative as they get because cleaning products can't be certified organic and they don't have to list ingredients — when it comes to food, don't count on the label leading you to reliably better health- and eco-conscious choices because it's not much more than a marketing ploy.

"Organic"

Photo by Maz Ali/Upworthy.

The food industry can't be as slaphappy with "organic" as they are with "natural" because it requires third-party certification — meaning they actually have to do something to use it.

According to the California Certified Organic Farmers, "the use of sewage sludge, bioengineering (GMOs), ionizing radiation, and most synthetic pesticides and fertilizers is prohibited from organic production."

A farmer dons full biohazard gear before handling Monsanto's Lasso herbicide. Photo by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

And for animal products like meat, eggs, and dairy to be labeled organic, they have to be sourced from non-cloned animals that are not treated with antibiotics or growth hormones.

Photo by Maz Ali/Upworthy.

The science is still out on whether organic foods are healthier for us, but the U.K.'s Food Standards Agency lists a few reasons to choose them: They're generally considered better for the environment, animal welfare, and for reducing human intake of pesticide residues and additives.

Photos by Maz Ali/Upworthy.

Organic designations are tiered, with "100% organic" being the pinnacle of food purity and various partially-organic categories — "organic," "made with organic ingredients," and "less than 70% organic ingredients" — falling beneath it.

But it's not a perfect system.

A grain elevator perched on the horizon. Photo by Eric Crowley/Flickr.

Just because something is organic doesn't mean it hasn't been exposed to any pesticides — farmers are able to use some approved synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. And organic does not mean local. Produce and products may be shipped across the country, meaning they could still have a high carbon footprint.

Photo by bilbobagweed/Flickr.

Like "natural," organic doesn't necessarily mean healthy: There are plenty of cookies, ice cream, chips, and other not-super-nutritious foods produced organically. The best way to know the health benefits of a product is still just to look at the ingredients.

"Organic" is not perfect, but at least we can look it up and get a fairly good idea of how that food is produced. The same cannot be said of "natural." But the more curious and discerning we become, the more likely we'll be to steer our carts toward products worthy of our trust.

Sponsored

ACUVUE launches a new campaign to inspire Gen Z to put down their phones and follow their vision

What will you create on your social media break? Share it at #MyVisionMySight.

True

If you’ve always lived in a world with social media, it can be tough to truly understand how it affects your life. One of the best ways to grasp its impact is to take a break to see what life is like without being tethered to your phone and distracted by a constant stream of notifications.

Knowing when to disconnect is becoming increasingly important as younger people are becoming aware of the adverse effects screen time can have on their eyes. According to Eyesafe Nielsen, adults are now spending 13-plus hours a day on their digital devices, a 35% increase from 2019.1. Many of us now spend more time staring at screens on a given day than we do sleeping which can impact our eye health.

Normally, you blink around 15 times per minute, however, focusing your eyes on computer screens or other digital displays have been shown to reduce your blink rate by up to 60%.2 Reduced blinking can destabilize your eyes’ tear film, causing dry, tired eyes and blurred vision.3

Keep ReadingShow less

Karlie Smith shows the meal she's bringing to the restaurant for her son.

A mom who admitted she packs her 2-year-old a meal when they go out to dinner has started an interesting debate on TikTok about restaurant etiquette and how it applies to young children.

The video posted by Ohio mom, Karlie Smith (unbreakablemomma on TikTok), has received nearly 600,000 views and has over 1,850 comments.

“Call me cheap, call me whatever, but if we’re going out to a restaurant, I’m packing my kid a meal," Smith, 21, said in her post. "I do this for many reasons. On Friday nights, my family and I get together, and tonight, we’re getting food out. My son is not getting food out.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

Man rewatches shows from his childhood and his recaps of the bonkers storylines are priceless

Rob Anderson's hilarious recaps of shows like "Mighty Ducks," "Beethoven," and "7th Heaven" might make you wonder how they got made in the first place.

@hearthrobert/TikTok

These plots makes zero sense.

While there are no doubt some timeless classics from our childhood that remain every bit as amazing as we remember, many are straight-up cringey upon a later viewing. Really, it’s to be expected as societal viewpoints change…sort of a marker of how far we’ve collectively come.

And so, what do we do with these problematic pieces of old-school pop culture? Well, we can certainly update them to better reflect a more modern attitude, but that also comes with a set of potential problems. Or we could simply never watch them again. Certainly an option given all the content out there. But then we might miss an opportunity to better understand what seemed to work for the mainstream then, and why it doesn’t work now.

And then there’s the third option—allow ourselves to be entertained by their cringiness.

That’s certainly the route taken by Rob Anderson. Over on TikTok, Anderson has taken ultra-popular movies and television shows from his childhood and given them hilarious recaps capturing how absurd some of the storylines are.
Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

18-year-old took her college savings and bought the restaurant where she was a dishwasher

Samantha Frye, the newest owner of Rosalie's restaurant, is proving there's more than one way to invest in your future.

Canva

There are many way to invest in your future

Eighteen year old Samantha Frye has traded college life for entrepreneurship, and she has no regrets.

Frye began working at Rosalie's Restaurant in Strasburg, Ohio at 16 as a dishwasher, working up the ranks as a kitchen prep, server, then line cook. All while working a second job, sometimes third job.

After graduating high school, Frye started college at Ohio State with plans of studying business or environmental engineering. But when she came back to work a shift at Rosalie’s for winter break, an opportunity arose—the owners had planned to sell the restaurant.
Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Woman decides that she is the love of her life and marries herself at her retirement home

“I said, you know what, I’ve done everything else. Why not?”

77-year-old woman decides she's the love of her life and marries herself.

We joke about marrying ourselves or a platonic friend if some arbitrary amount of time has passed without a proposal from an imaginary suitor. And sure, some people do wind up marrying a friend in more of a business arrangement, but it's not very common that someone follows through with marrying themselves.

Dorothy "Dottie" Fideli, decided that she was going to break the mold. The 77-year-old sat down and thought about all of the things she had done in life and who was with her the entire time cheering her on. It was an easy answer: herself. She was her biggest cheerleader, the person who always showed up and the love of her life, so Fideli made the plan to marry herself.

On a beautiful May day, friends and family gathered in the O’Bannon Terrace Retirement Community, where Fideli is a resident, to witness the ceremony.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

12-year-old Texas girl saves her family from carbon monoxide poisoning

She knew something was wrong with her mom and brother, which wound up saving her whole family.

Fort Worth 12-year-old helps save family from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Carbon monoxide is called a silent killer for a reason. Many people don't realize they're experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning before it's too late. The gas is colorless and odorless and tends to have a sedating effect that causes people to sleep through the fatal poisoning. Having carbon monoxide detectors is one of the most effective ways to identify the gas before it's too late to get out of the house, but not every home has one.

A little girl in Fort Worth, Texas, experienced a terrifying encounter with the deadly gas, but her quick actions saved her entire family. Jaziyah Parker is being held up as a hero after she realized something was wrong with her family members and called for help.

The girl called 911 after she noticed her mom pass out. On the call with the dispatcher, Jaziyah says she thinks her mother has died before explaining that there was something now wrong with her baby brother, who was just 5-months-old.

Keep ReadingShow less

Drew Barrymore speaks during the FLOWER Beauty launch at Westfield Parramatta on April 13, 2019, in Sydney, Australia.

Drew Barrymore, 48, has been in the public consciousness since she starred as Gertie in 1982’s mega-blockbuster, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. So, it makes sense that many people of a certain age feel as if they’ve grown up with her.

Barrymore has consistently starred in hit films and movies that are rewatchable cable-TV staples, such as “Charlie's Angels” (2000), “Never Been Kissed” (1999), “Scream” (1996), “The Wedding Singer” (1998), “50 First Dates” (2004) and “Fever Pitch” (2005).

Now, she’s an even more significant part of people’s lives as the host of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” which runs every weekday on CBS. So far, the show has been a big success, attracting an average of 1.21 million views per show, and ranks as the #4 talk show in syndication. It was recently renewed through the 2024 season.

Keep ReadingShow less