Can You Afford to Go Organic

Everybody these days are trying to watch their diets and watch their health, so it only makes sense that you might be interested in finding out more about organic foods. The problem is organic food can be expensive, and is it really worth the extra cost? You might wonder what is the problem with eating non-organic foods, and if you do decide to eat organic foods which ones are the most important and which ones can you save money on and buy the conventional foods?

What is wrong with non-organic foods? What is so much better about Organic foods? Are they really better for you? First of all what does organic mean? Organic foods are grown with no or fewer chemical or hormonal additives. The laws on organic foods vary but in most places it bans the use of a wide array of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, hormone treatments, antibiotics etc. on any produce or meat destined to carry an organic certification. Most laws also require that if something is labeled organic it has to be free from genetically modified ingredients. Some studies have been done on how these different toxins might effect people, but nobody is really sure how exactly these things effect everyone. In my opinion I don't want to put something in my body that I don't know what side effects it could have. Experts agree that the toxins in foods can trigger many different diseases such as cancer and can cause problems with your immune system, blood and other bodily functions

So if your interested in organic foods but can't afford or don't want to buy all organic, what can you do? You can buy the items that are most important in organic. Often these foods have a higher concentration of chemicals on them.

First off if you drink milk -- I will cover all the problems with milk in another story-- almost all experts agree that you should be buying organic. Conventional milk comes from cows that have been fed antibiotics and growth hormones. When they tested different milks the levels of antibiotics, artificial hormones and pesticides are relatively low, but if you drink a lot of milk you will be getting a lot of them.

Some fruits and vegetables are more important to buy organic. Strawberries have a very high concentration of pesticides, A 1993 study by the Environmental Working Group found that supermarket strawberries were the most heavily contaminated fruit or vegetable in the US. You also eat the skin of strawberries so eats harder to get rid of the pesticides on them. Banana's have a very small window of ripeness, and they have to travel far to get to you, so this leads to lot of heavy chemical dousing along the way. Corn doesn't usually contain a high amount of pesticides, but you might want to buy organic corn because 75-90% of all domestic corn has been genetically modified.

So if you just can't afford organic foods what can you do? You have a lot of choices. You can shop at local farmers markets, just ask if it has been sprayed with pesticides. Often local farmers charge less for foods that aren't labeled organic, but they still grow them free from pesticides. You can also find out about local organic co-op's or look for local CSA's in your area WWW.Localharvest.org . Another way of making sure your produce is pesticide and chemical free is to grow it yourself. You can even have a small window herb garden if you don't have much space.

Remember taking simple steps, by choosing some organics to include in your diet is an important step in taking control of your health. Buying what you can organic you are doing a lot to help not only your health but organic farmers.