Certified Organic...

As part of my healthy lifestyle I try to eat organic foods as much as possible. I realize that most people when given the choice would prefer organic foods, seriously who wants chemicals on/in their food? However the drawback to buying organic is the cost, unfortunately we have to pay more for food that is Certified Organic. Ironic isn’t it that we have to pay more for foods to be grown the way nature intended without pesticides, insecticides and herbicides.

Even as a Single Gal I find the cost of buying all organic a bit much even for one person, so I can imagine how much of a strain that can be for a family of 5. For those of you that have the luxury of a backyard and a green thumb I would highly recommend planting a garden, this way you can have fresh veggies daily. Have you ever eaten a tomato from the garden? It’s pure heaven. Now for those of you that do not have yards and would like to buy organic when your budget allows here is a list of fruits and veggies in which the highest pesticide levels are found. For us this mean these are the items we should buy organically if the option is there:

Apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, raspberries, spinach, strawberries, butter, all berries, and peanuts. Corn & soy should be on your list of organics as well because these two items are known to be highly GMO (genetically modified organisms). This means the genetic material has been altered using the genetic engineering techniques.

Items that have the lowest pesticide levels that can be lower on your organics list are:

Asparagus, avocados, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, kiwi, mangos, onions, papaya, pineapples and sweet peas.

I believe times are changing. The more we educate and become aware of what’s being done to our food the better our purchasing decisions will be. Once the demand grows the cost of organics will go down because of the supply and demand principle. Purchase something organic today and taste the difference!