The Organic Argument

As much as I love to eat organically, I find that it is, at times, difficult to justify the cost.

Logically, it makes sense that the less pesticides farmers use on their crops, the less run into our water supplies and the happier and healthier everyone is. Do we really to add more chemicals into our systems?

I really started becoming serious about eating organically in college. I had gained a lot of weight due to some medication I was taking and I’m sure that the greasy cafeteria food wasn’t helping either. I was definitely way past my freshman 15.

Eating organically made me focus on eating healthier foods. I found that I had replaced the usual Bagel Bites and Hot Pockets with salads and fresh fruit. I dropped a ton of pounds and eventually made it back down to my high school weight.

I never thought twice about splurging on organic food until Van and I were seriously dating. The longer we were together the less I was buying organic, until I stopped all together. It was just a shift in priorities. We were eating more meals together and cutting costs at the grocery meant more money that could be saved or paid on my student loans.

Now that we are looking at moving in together, I was concerned that buying organic would be forever on the back shelf. I was worried that by not developing these practices now that we would ignore the importance of organic food down the line when we have our own family.

So I started looking into the real reasons that we should be eating organically. I needed to find out what was important and what wasn’t. I started researching and I found a wealth of good information.

According to a study at the at the University of California, Davis, certain foods grown organically like berries and corn contain more flavonoids than their traditionally grown counterparts. Flavonoids have been shown to help prevent heart disease and cancer. http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20030306/organic-foods-may-fight-disease

Researchers at Cornell have found that growth hormones like rbGH (commonly found in dairy products) have been linked to breast cancer.
http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/factsheet/general/fs45.chemical.cfm

A University of Washington study found that children who ate organic foods had six times less pesticides in their system than children who ate traditionally grown foods. The study shows that eating organic food can reduce the exposure in children from above to below the EPA guidelines.
http://www.horizonorganic.com/health/organicstory/uwstudy.html

If you are worried about the cost of organic foods, like I am, here are two great articles that outline how to eat organically on a budget.
http://www.prevention.com/article/0,5778,s1-2-67-802-7453-1,00.html
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/food/organic-products-206/overview/index.htm