I try to buy only organic for any dairy or meat product. I do buy organic veggies and fruit,but not all the time. I love the dirty dozen list that JenMusic shared.
When it comes to meat and dairy I don't want the antibiotics or other chemicals.
I try to eat organic as much as possible because I worry about the bad effects of the pesticides. I know it's not possible to have everything organic but I try!
I started all organic January 3rd, and I love it. Yes, it is more expensive, but I am also trying to lose weight. Before, we may have bought a tub of salad greens, and not used it before it went bad; therefore wasting that money. Or, I would not make the salad, which wasted money and then buy lunch, which cost me more. So for me, am I really spending more money, or has the lack of wasting food, and eating out less really saving me money?
Anyway, back to organics. I have noticed Costco is carrying many more organic items. I buy my chicken and ground beef there and freeze it. They have more organic produce than before, and many shelf staples in organic form. They are even carrying frozen organic veggies and fruits. Look for the new green signs, which signal an organic product. We also had two locations of Trader Joe's open here with in the last year. On top of that, King Soopers (Kroger) has many more organic items now under the Simple Truth label. It seems the price of Organics is coming down due to the competition. We have Whole Foods, which is ridiculously priced, Sunflower Markets, and tons of farmers markets too. I like how I feel. I love knowing I am not putting pesticides in my or my families bodies, and I love the side effect it is having on my weight.
Others mentioned direct from farms vegetable shares. One of my girlfriend did that beginning a few years ago. She did a half share, and found it to be more than enough for her and her husband. I am going to look into that this season. As someone else said, it really increased the variety of vegetables she tried.
Last edited by imthegoddess; 03-25-2015 at 09:17 AM.
I didn't see it mentioned here, but if cost is a barrier (which it is for many of us!) I strongly recommend you at least consider the EWG's Dirty Dozen and Clean 15. These lists are a good guide for items you should always buy organic, and items you don't really have to worry about buying organic because they don't tend to hold onto pesticides. They have a pocket guide you can print out, and an app.
My husband is not on board with me buying organic "crap" as he calls it. Sigh. I buy a few bits here and there, and Aldi and Lidl (my two main grocery stores) have started selling some organic produce, but mostly I just do the best I can with the budget I have. I'd rather eat conventional produce than none at all.
A friend of mine went organic about a year ago, and she swears her food bill is about the same as it used to be, because her family doesn't need to eat as much. Her theory goes that because it's more nutritious, they don't need big portions. *shrug*
I buy organic whenever I can. But from a health and weightloss perspective it really only makes a marginal difference. It's the foods you eat that matter most. Not whether they are organic or not. But organics might give you a slight boost. I like organic eggs, for example, because they have a little more omega 3.
But some very healthy foods, like seafood and fish, cannot often be organic.
So, on the whole, I would not sweat organics. But if you can afford them and find them, then fine.
After all, I wasn't going to an early grave because of pesticides on my lettuce. It was the candy and fast food that almost killed me.
I used to live in SoCal and had so many options to choose from.
I have found that eating organic does help boost weight loss and some nutritionist I saw had a long explanation for it at the molecular level of breaking down our food. I do believe our bodies do much better without preservatives and pesticides to process.
Yes, eating pesticides on your lettuce may not kill you, but Cancer might and it is still the second leading cause of death in the U.S. Thank you Monsanto....
I remember all of my faculty who survived breast cancer would eat organic as much as possible.
Hopefully more stores continue to carry organic at affordable prices so we can all enjoy better health and less risk factors. I have had good luck with Costco with organic eggs, chicken, and base ingredients (canned tomatoes, vegetable broth).
organic food is very expensive so I decided to establish a little garden on the backyard, i must say i noticed good result, my skin become smoother and metabolism is faster
I do the best I can. I live in a rural area and there aren't always a lot of organic options at our grocery store. I figure the good nutrients and phytochemicals I get from the eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables will protect me. I'm pleased that there are more organic frozen fruits and vegetables available now than there were a few years ago.
I wrote a big rant on this literally two hours ago and the moderators decided that my post should have been censored. Educate yourselves please and NO eating organic does not = healthy or weight loss. More like money loss!
Thank you for the links JudgeDread. I read both articles.
Both my parents, both my sisters and my husband are/were cancer survivors and I have an autoimmune disease. Whether or not the pesticides and preservatives in our food contributed to this I will never know for certain, but I feel better avoiding food that has been treated with chemicals designed to make insects' stomachs explode.....
I'm blessed to have a good job. While I'm certainly not rich I can afford to pay a little extra for my produce. Am I still eating some pesticides? Probably, but I'd rather do what I can than just throw up my hands and give up. When I can't get organic produce, I don't panic, I just wash it well.
It is important to be educated and each of us needs to decide for ourselves.
