Green Guts: Organic Priorities

When going green, buying lots of organic products is a popular path many people take. However, one trip to your local organic grocer reveals just how expensive it can turn out to be. Luckily, buying organic food is layered with priorities. In some cases, organic food is not significantly different (price excluded) from its non-organic counterparts. Remember, people buy organic products to reduce the amount of synthetic material exposed to their bodies and the earth. With that in mind, you only need to worry about products that would ordinarily retain or be exposed to a lot of chemicals. Here is a general guide to organic foods you should pritoritize on your grocery list.

Beef: Non-organic chicken and fish aren’t all that bad, especially when compared to beef. Non-organic cows are raised on a cocktail of hormones and antibiotics, which some studies indicate can cause negative health effects in humans.

Certain fruit: Berries, peaches, apples, and other porous fruit tend to absorb and retain alot of the pesticides they are treated with (especially peaches), so they should be bought organic. Tougher fruit, or fruit that is peeled before eating, such as bananas or oranges, resist pesticides better and don’t need to be bought organic.

Milk: Once again, cows are on the list. Dairy cows receive a number of hormones to keep their milk flowing. One such hormone, rBGH, is banned in Europe and Canada due to health concerns. Although, no link has been found between negative health effects and drinking non-organic milk. Still, you may want to play it safe and stick with organic.

Certain vegetables: Remember that grade-school experiment where you add food coloring to a glass of water, then place a leafy celery stick in the mixture? In a few days, the entire stalk is the same color as the dyed water. Celery is very porous; very absorbent. It will do the same thing with pesticides that it does with food coloring. The same goes with other absorbent vegetables, such as potatoes, peppers, and spinach.

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Green Guts: Organic Priorities