About five years ago, I made the switch to buying mostly organic foods at the grocery store. Prior to this change, I literally thought organic was not worth it and was just expensive for no reason and a hoax. Now, I know organic really is healthier and actually worth the expense. Here is why!
To be considered organic, produce must be grown and cultivated without irradiation, sewage sludge as fertilizer, synthetic herbicides, synthetic pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, hormones, and bioengineered genes (GMOs). For livestock raised for meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products to be considered organic, they must be raised in living conditions accommodating their natural behaviors, such as the ability to graze and pasture and fed organic feed and forage. Also, they may not be given antibiotics, growth hormones, or any animal by-products. The standards for organic foods are just so much higher, and that means that you are then eating higher quality foods if you are choosing organic foods.
Avoiding synthetic herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, GMOs, antibiotics and hormones is already a health benefit. It has actually been said that eating nonorganic poultry and meats have caused children to begin to go through puberty at much earlier ages than what was the case years ago because so many of these nonorganic poultry and meats are latent with synthetic growth hormones. This is because cows and chickens are being injected with these hormones in order to grow faster and produce more meat and chicken per animal. Also, they are filled with antibiotics, and this is because the chickens and cows are not fed what they are naturally meant to be fed and are on top of each other in slaughterhouse instead of grazing and running free. They get sick more often when they are on top of each other and fed the wrong foods, so they are given antibiotics to avoid sickness or to get better if they are sick. These antibiotics then pass through to the meat and chicken we eat. This is causing antibiotic resistance and other negative health effects in humans. So, not eating organic means that you are ingesting, probably unintentionally, various synthetic hormones, pesticides and antibiotics, which is significantly damaging your health overtime.
Also, organic produce, meats, poultry, dairy and etc. are thought to maintain more of their nutrients when being produced than their nonorganic counterparts. These foods also maintain more omega-3 fatty acids when they are organic than not, and omega-3s are very important for our overall health and wellbeing. Produce and especially, fruits, such as berries maintain more of their antioxidants when they are organically produced than not organically produced.
I understand that eating organic is not always possible, as sometimes it is too costly and or just not available. However, it really does have health benefits to eat organic if you can. If you can’t buy everything organic, I would say it would be most important to prioritize the following:
- Organic grass-fed meat
- Organic pasture raised poultry and eggs
- Organic grass-fed dairy products
- Organic produce on the dirty dozen list
I would say everything after that is just a cherry on top of the cake!
Always,
Taylor
