“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” - Audrey Hepburn
A few years ago I bought my first home. Aside from that excitement itself, I was most excited for my own garden. I love to plant tomatoes, peppers, zucchini's, herbs and so more com the springtime here in Devner.
All this planting and planning has gotten me thinking about organic foods. While growing your own food is ideal, it's not practical or even possible for all of us. I count myself lucky and have been waiting for this for some time now.
I am often asked my clients, do you have to buy everything organic?
The answer is no... and, maybe?
Like so much of nutrition, I could go on and on on this topic. While buying organic is great for so many reasons, here are the highlights:
Organic means ethical, no use of antibiotics or growth hormones, no use of conventional pesticides, fertilizers with synthetic ingredients, bioeneneered (aka GMOs) and no ionized radiation!
No matter who you talk to, organic not only helps save our soil and environment, but did you know our climate change is 25-33% due to our food industry.
It's also proven to have more nutrients and taste better! Foods grown with chemicals have depleted trace minerals, are contaminated with metals and chemicals, contains poisons like glyphosate and inhibit certain biological pathways.
The USDA "organic" certification was created by our US government, not just to regulate the industry standards, but also to make money. In 1995, organic food sales topped $2.8 billion. In 2020, jump a record high (over a 125 increase form the last year) to almost $66 billion!
Because farms have to be able to afford the UDSA certification it can be expensive for our farmers, especially those small local mom-and-pop ones. So, when you are at the farmers market, ask them the vendors what their practices are. Many of them are doing things all the same things and then some but just cant afford the verification. Many times this means they pass those saving onto you and you can still eat well!
The good news is that it's made organic foods more available to us all, and yes I am looking at you Costco gallon of organic gummy bears! But what I really want to talk about is your whole foods or produce.
If you find buying all organic all the time is too much, our friends at the Environmental Working Group have you covered! Every year they have the Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen! The Clean 15 is the list of the cleanest foods out there you don't need to buy. The Dirty Dozen is the dirtiest 12 foods and heavily sprayed when conventional, so best to buy organic. Download the 2023 Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 here.
