Why Going Organic Could Be the Best Health Decision You Ever Make

Last night I ate dandelion greens for dinner. Why? Because they came in a box of organic produce that I ordered from a local grocery store and there wasn't any other vegetable in the house I could whip up quickly to go with my Cornish hen. For those of you who are wondering, yes, they were very tasty -- they taste a lot like spinach.
Eating dandelion greens is just one of the few pleasant surprises I've experienced since I decided several months ago to "go organic," as they say.
The decision to switch from conventionally grown food to organically grown and produced food was a gradual process, based on a number of different circumstances.
One of the first of those circumstances was my entry into menopause a few years back. (Not very romantic, I know.) For two years I had struggled with debilitating abdominal pain and other symptoms so severe that my doctor advised me to have a hysterectomy. I put off scheduling the surgery, and while I was procrastinating I came across an article about how most dairy farm operations in the U.S. give their cows artificial hormones in order to stimulate higher milk production. They also give the cows antibiotics in an effort to ward off infections. The article stated that ultimately these hormones and antibiotics find their way into the human bodies of those who drink the milk, and it is believed that these residual hormones are related to the unusually early breast development of grade-school girls, and that the proliferation of antibiotics in human bodies is a major cause of antibiotic resistance in humans and the resulting "super bugs."
The next "teaching moment" happened when my grandson was born a year and a half ago. My daughter, whose college major was biology, insisted on feeding my grandson only organic formula when she wasn't nursing him, and once he was older a completely organic diet. One day she brought over a list of store-bought foods I was forbidden to feed him unless they were organic.
Being a first-time mother, I thought she was being more than a little hysterical.
By then, though, I myself had made the switch to purchasing and drinking organic milk in an effort to eliminate any potential "hormone interference" in my own body, hopefully alleviating some of my menopausal symptoms, so the concept of "going organic" was no longer alien to me. Not to mention it was handy having organic milk on hand for my grandson when he visited.
I have to say that I was fairly shocked when I read the list of the 12 most chemically toxic foods, referred to as "The Dirty Dozen," published annually by the Environmental Work Group (EWG), a nonprofit research organization in Washington, D.C. Starting with the produce that was found to have the highest concentration of pesticides, the list reads as follows:
1. Celery
2. Conventionally grown peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Bell peppers
8. Spinach
9. Kale
10. Cherries
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes
Apparently the old adage, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," isn't necessarily true anymore, unless that's an organically grown apple you're eating. This is because washing fruits and vegetables doesn't guarantee you are getting rid of the 20 or so pesticides they were treated with as, unfortunately, the pesticides sink below the skin. (This is particularly true of thin-skinned and "skinless" produce.) The above listed fruits and vegetables were tested after having been washed! The chemicals within these pesticides are reported to disrupt your immune system, nervous system, reproductive system and hormonal system.
There we are, back to the hormones again.
Which, of course, means that, for me, simply switching to only organic milk and dairy products apparently wasn't going to cut it.
And, so, my self-help journey into uncovering and eliminating as many unnatural, modified, contaminated and artificial foods began. Every day I read something new about food additives, unhealthy farming practices, genetically modified organisms, and new studies about the negative affects of artificial sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup and aspartame. It is a time-consuming effort, as there seems to be new information coming out almost every day, new studies being published, news articles, medical journal articles, and books. But I find the time has been well-invested -- as I was able to avoid major surgery, and my menopause symptoms have all but disappeared. Was it the result of switching to organic dairy products? There's no way to know for sure. But if I were to offer advice to any other woman in my situation, I'd say going organic is worth a try before agreeing to go under the knife.