Now that Spring is here and Summer is soon to follow, we're all excited to buy lots of fruits and vegetables, and meats for the grill. With the big Organic movement, though, it's difficult to know what to buy Organic and what we can hold off on - after all, it can be expensive to eat well.
The Daily Green, one of my favorite online sources of information, has come out with a list of the foods that you MUST buy Organic and the fruits and vegetables that you can hold off on and buy conventional to save some cash.
Let's start with the Organic must have list:
1. Meat: Ok anyone who knows me knows how I feel about Organic meat. If you've ever seen a video about how the animals are treated, you will quickly want to turn Vegan or at least to the more humane, Organic approaches.
Not only are the animals housed more humanely, but they are also not injected with hormones to speed up growth or antibiotics to resist disease, nor are they fed grains that have been treated with pesticides.
To add my own ideas, I encourage organic meat as it is generally a requirement for the animals to be cage free, free roaming. I know this might sound weird to many of you, but think about this for just a second: if you were holed up in your room for days and days with only 1 hour of free time, you'd be pretty sad right? Imagine if you were holed up with enough people to fill the room without much movement. All that you could do for days is sit or stand in your space with your neighbors leaning on you. I think that would be pretty awful. That's how most of the animals are raised before being prepared as food. Everything that the animal endured in its miserable life is sitting in its meat and, upon digestion, is sitting in you. Remember "you are what you eat."
2. Milk: If you understand what happens with the meat, it shouldn't be a surprise that animal milk gets contaminated too. Afterall, the animals are being fed with hormones to ensure that they keep producing enough milk to satisfy the cravings of the human population.
Why can't animals simply produce enough for all of us? Aha - ever stop to think that humans are the only animals that drink milk after weaning? Do you think that's a coincidence? A facet of human living? Sorry to burst your bubble but it's not. We drink it because we can, not because we have to. So, farmers must accommodate to keep up with the demand the animals, well, they've gotta be made to mass produce with hormones and antibiotics.
Ever wonder why kids are developing at such young ages? Think about it.
3. Coffee: I must say that I was surprised to see coffee on this list. As it turns out, many of the coffee beans we buy are grown in other countries, where the use of chemicals and pesiticdes are not regulated. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd be quite mad if someone kept dousing the coffee beans I was using to make my drink with tons of chemicals. (Again, those of you who know me know that I don't drink coffee, but a lot of people close to me do. Plus I get mad on principle.) A lot of well known coffee makers are coming out with Organic coffee beans. Check to make sure that they are also Fair Trade Certified Organic, which indicates that pesticides and chemicals were NOT used and fair prices were paid in support of fair treatment of the farm and farm workers.
For you skeptics, I've done the official taste test and switched the coffees when I made them for my dad and my grandpa and they didn't know the difference - you're good to go ;)
4. Peaches*: Multiple (multiple!?!?) pesticides are applied to these delicious fruits. With such thin outer skins, the fruit stands no chance against the chemicals. *(See below for safe alternatives)
5. Apples*: Apples are treated with pesticides as well but don't think you'll get rid of them by a simple wash and peel. Peeling the skin only removes some beneficial nutrients without getting rid of the chemicals. Now your hands are just dirty...
6. Sweet Bell Peppers**: Ever roast a pepper and see how thin the skin was when it peeled off? You got it. Peppers have thin skins like apples and peaches and therefore, have little protection against pesticides. In fact, they don't stand a chance because they are heavily sprayed with pesticides to keep the bugs from eating these yummy veggies.
7. Celery**: Celery has, well, no skin to protect it from pesticides so it's basically battling them with each stalk. Sorry celery.
8: Strawberries*: I've always debated with myself if I should pay $5 for Organic strawberries when I could get the conventional ones for 2/$3. Well I'm glad that I've gone with my gut because like the others, they have no protective covering either. If bought when they're out of season, they're coming from those countries like the coffee beans where the chemical regulations are less stringent. I love my Organic strawberries.
9: Lettuces**: Wondering where the most potent pesticides reside? Yep, on lettuce and other leafy greens! Better go Organic for these.
10: Grapes*: As usual, those imported are more vulnerable to pesticides. Also, vineyards can be sprayed with different pesticides at various points in the grape's growing period, so you don't know what you're ingesting. Grapes have thick skins and therefore, there's no way to wash the pesticides off.
11: Potatoes**: Poor potatoes - they rank high for pesticide residues and, in addition, get an added hit with having fungicides added to the soil to aid in growth.
12: Tomatoes**: Tomatoes are another vegetable (or fruit?) with a thin skin. Therefore, pesticides can get through too easily.
If you can't get the above fruits and vegetables Organically, here are some safe alternatives that you can get Conventionally:
*Safe Fruit Alternatives: Watermelon, tangerines, oranges, grapefruit, bananas, blueberries, kiwi, pineappe
**Safe Veggie Alternatives: Green Peas, broccoli, cabbage, radishes, onions, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts
Top 10 List of Conventional Foods
1. Asparagus
2. Avocados
3. Bananas
4. Broccoli
5. Cabbage
6. Kiwi
7. Mango
8. Onions
9. Papaya
10. Pineapple
Whatever you decide to do, choose wisely. Eat well :)
