HYBRIDS, HEIRLOOMS & GMO
So there is a disconnect in information when speaking about what foods are best to eat to create a healthy diet and then there is an even bigger disconnect in information when it comes to which healthy foods are bad and good. confusing right? You may hear people say “seedless fruit is GMO or seedless fruit and some veggies are hybrids”. But what are hybrids and what is GMO?
HYBRIDIZING HAPPENS
seedless or hybrid is not the same as GMO and hybrids DO have seeds. Heirloom vegetables are a rare thing because it takes longer to produce them in large quantities. if you plant and grow your own produce, you can have your own heirloom veggies and fruits but not all people have that opportunity. Heirloom basically means the original but we have been hybridizing produce for years and nature did it first! This is why we have so many different varieties of fruits and vegetables now. These new hybrids adapt to our ever changing environments just like people do. Nature is alive and will make changes in itself to survive and thrive in different conditions like the weather/climate and protects itself against pests and more.
HYBRIDS
Hybrids are made by naturally crossbreeding two separate varieties to create a new one and these plants do tend to be more nutritious than the parent plant. Hybrids don’t reproduce their own like heirlooms do but people sell and buy hybridized seeds to produce and crossbreed the produce themselves. If you are not the gardening type then you must rely on supermarkets or local farmers to get your produce.
GMO
GMO means GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISM. This means the nature of the plant itself has been changed or a gene has been removed or a gene from a different species has been added to it, this is different than hybrids which is just crossing two plant species to get a new produce. One of the most common vegetables that has been genetically modified is CORN.
The problem with GMOs is that they could result in anything from a non-nutritive plant variety to something that is completely toxic to humans and other animals. But not ALL GMO plants are bad.
NATURE IS INTELLIGENT
People have turned their backs on foods like broccoli and carrots because of their fear of hybrids not realizing that MOST OF WHAT WE EAT NOWADAYS HAS BEEN HYBRIDIZED/DOMESTICATED. Heirlooms are not common as they used to be . For example broccoli was made by crossing Shrub Kale and wild cabbage which are two powerful parent plants to broccoli. Broccoli increases antioxidant and anti inflammatory response and is sometimes used in cancer treatments. Its just like when two healthy people/parents come together to make a child. The child will have its own set of genetics and characteristics but will still have characteristics and traits from its parents. We must remember that we are not far from nature and vice versa, we function alike. Analogy example, to make “ A heirloom person” lets say 2 people with original (heirloom) DNA (1 whole African and 1 whole Russian) crossbreed it creates a hybrid. the hybrid (child) is now its own breed of the two, its a hybrid of Russian and African. This doesn’t make the child a fake person. This child now has both traits and characteristics and can still reproduce to make its own unique child with another person. We are hybrids. Now an example of a “GMO person” would be a person who was created in a lab and not in nature and either had genes removed or added to them from another species. A person purposely created without a head would be a GMO or a person purposely created with a dog head is a GMO and cannot reproduce with a human with all of its genes in tact. This is an example I like to use to explain the difference between hybrid and GMO to show which is more natural than the other but nonetheless still not heirloom (the original)
Anyone who tells you that hybrids are bad just may not understand how the crossing of nutrients works. Some Hybrids provide a higher number of nutrients, this is because you are taking two foods that have their own set of nutrients, and you are crossing them. making them a better quality and sometimes enhancing their adaptation and resistance to disease.
GMO FOODS TO WATCH OUT FOR
Some apples- apples that don’t brown after being cut are likely GMO
Soybeans
Canola oil
Corn
some potatoes- potatoes that don’t bruise or brown are likely GMO
ANIMALS are fed a lot of GMO
