Organic vs conventional
Organic vs conventional. To organic or not to organic? That is the question. It can be very confusing and frustrating when it comes to buying organic or conventional produce. We all know that organic food is the better choice over conventionally grown produce and once you start understanding the story behind organic foods it will be easier for you to make that choice.
What does organic mean anyway? Organic simply means that the food is grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers or hormones. Farmers feed the soil broken-down plant waste (compost) instead of using artificial fertilizing methods which is what conventional farmers do. Conventional farming denatures the food (fruits, vegetables and animal foods), causing it to be very deficient in nutrients. Conventionally grown foods contain pesticides which are linked to so many health problems; from kidney disease to cancer! The usage of chemicals produces big “returns”. The foods are grown faster and larger and they even have a nicer color and shape than organic produce. Sadly those chemicals have depleted much of the world’s soil of its minerals and nutrients.
Knowing all this clearly will make you choose organic over conventionally grown food, right? But most peoples problem is that organic food is more expensive, so they avoid buying organic produce. Another reason people avoid organic produce is the size of the food. Organic food is grown to its natural size, while non-organic foods are grown much bigger, and most people think bigger is better. One example of bigger not always being better is tomatoes. I used to buy big, red juicy tomatoes from the store only to find that when I go home to eat them, they would have no flavor! I then tried organic (smaller and funny shaped) tomatoes and noticed how sweet and juicy they actually are. Organic produce contains more vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other macro nutrients than conventionally farmed produce. Even though organic produce is pricier I am still convinced that organic is the way to go. Just think about the extra hundreds or thousands of dollars you could save in future healthcare bills. I do understand that eating organic isn’t a choice for everyone due to financial reasons, and I will say that eating conventionally grown food (fruits, vegetables, whole grains) is still a million times better than eating highly processed packaged foods.
I’m going to share my tips on how to afford buying more organic produce:
- Instead of eating out, save that money and spend it on buying organic foods.
- Buy in bulks. Rice, beans, nuts will be cheaper per pound when buying in bulk and you save money by not paying for packaging
- Choose cheap clean protein. Good quality, grass fed, hormone free meat is very expensive. Organic eggs and beans are a much cheaper protein source.
- Eat with the season. Everything that’s in season will be cheaper. For example strawberries are going to be much more expensive during winter, than citrus fruits because they are winter fruits.
- Another thing I like doing to buying frozen fruits and vegetables. Costco has organic frozen fruits and vegetables and are much cheaper than buying fresh.
- If you can’t get everything organic, then try to get these twelve items specifically in heir organic form, since they contain the most pesticides. The “Dirty Dozen”
- Bell Peppers