I'm very passionate about the food I buy and eat and always make sure that my family eats healthy and gets the best nutrition possible.
It wasn't always like that. When I was younger I didn't give food much thought - I generally bought food that looked good and was cheap. I wouldn't have paid the higher prices for organic produce - and that was mainly because I didn't know (or dare I say it - care) about the consequences.
Over the last decade, and especially since becoming a weight loss practitioner, my priorities have changed completely. I now know that what we put into our bodies is tremendously important - not just for the way we look and feel, but also for our health.
Here are the 2 most important reasons for choosing organic food:
1. Your health
Consider this:
If you eat conventional produce, you are likely to eat food that has been
grown with synthetic or chemical fertilizers
sprayed with chemical herbicides to control weeds
sprayed with pesticides to kill insects
possibly genetically engineered
If you eat conventionally raised meat, you are likely to eat meat that has been
given antibiotics to prevent disease
given hormones for faster growth
fed on feed grown with pesticides
Eating this kind of food will leave behind pesticide residues in your body - no matter how well you wash your fruit and veggies.
A study published in Environmental Health Perspectives on "Estimating Pesticide Exposure from Dietary Intake and Organic Food Choices" shows that pesticide concentrations were significantly lower in groups reporting more frequent consumption of organic produce.
This short video shows the effect of eating organic for 2 weeks much better than I can describe.
To see how the food we eat affects our health, read my blog on "Ways to prevent cancer"
2. The environment
By eating organic food, we can limit the impact pesticides have on our environment.
Pesticides can contaminate soil, water, turf, and other vegetation. In addition to killing insects or weeds, pesticides can be toxic to a host of other organisms including birds, fish, beneficial insects, and non-target plants. Insecticides are generally the most acutely toxic class of pesticides, but herbicides can also pose risks to non-target organisms.
Water:
Pesticides can reach surface water through runoff from treated plants and soil. Contamination of water by pesticides is widespread.
Groundwater pollution due to pesticides is a worldwide problem. Once ground water is polluted with toxic chemicals, it may take many years for the contamination to dissipate or be cleaned up.
Soil & Air:
Heavy treatment of soil with pesticides can cause populations of beneficial soil microorganisms to decline. Overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides have effects on the soil organisms that are similar to human overuse of antibiotics.
Pesticide sprays can directly hit non-target vegetation, or can drift from the treated area and contaminate air, soil, and non-target plants. Some pesticide drift occurs during every application and can account for a loss of 2 to 25% of the chemical being applied, which can spread over a long distance.
Conclusion
Yes, organic food is more expensive than conventional food. If money is a concern to you, maybe you can buy those fruits & veggies organic that have the highest amount of pesticide:
Strawberries, apples, nectarines, peaches, celery, grapes, cherries, spinach, tomatos, sweet bell peppers, cherry tomoatos, cucumbers, hot peppers, kale and collard greens.
As for meat, why not go for quality over quantity? Eat less meat, but when you do eat it, choose organic meat.
Eating organic is worth the price, not only for your health but also to make the environment safer for our kids and future generations.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984095/
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1408197/#tab1
https://www2.usgs.gov
https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/