The trend for eating organic is growing, more and more people are choosing organic produce. Is this just another fad, what’s the big deal?

To get a better understanding of what ‘organic’ food really means, we must compare it to conventional farming methods. The word “organic” refers to the way farmers grow and process the food we eat. Organically produced foods must be produced without the use of:

• antibiotics or artificial growth hormones
• high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners derived from chemicals
• synthetically created chemical pesticide, fertilizers and artificial dyes which are made from coal tar and petrochemicals
• genetically engineered proteins and ingredients
• sewage sludge and irradiation

In other words, what we call “organic food,”  our grandmothers would have simply called “food.”

A lot of these new ingredients didn’t exist when we were younger, having only been recently created in laboratories and then injected into our foods.

And there is no real reassurance that these humanly engineered substances are actually safe for our long term consumption…

Even The President’s Cancer Panel encourages us to eat organic whenever we can, to reduce our exposure to pesticides and other additives because studies have linked pesticides in our food to everything from headaches to cancer and birth defects.

Other studies done on organic food have shown that they do in fact have a greater nutrient value, for example organic milk has a higher content of omega-3 fats which protect the heart against heart disease.

So not only is organic better for your health, its also a lot better for the sustainability of our planet because organic farming practices reduce pollutants in groundwater, create richer soil, and aid plant growth while reducing erosion.

It also decreases pesticide residue in your drinking water. According to the Environmental Working Group, in some cities, pesticides in tap water have been measured at unsafe levels for weeks at a time!

Okay so now that we know why organic food rocks, why is it so darn expensive? Well, thats a sticky situation…

The cost structure on our food supply is an un-level playing field right now offering taxpayer-funded resources called ‘subsidies’ to the farmers using GMO seeds who saturate their crops with toxic insecticides and pesticides, while charging the organic farmers fees to prove that their crops are safe.

That’s like getting fined to wear your seat belt.

Wouldn’t we rather have the organic food be the one that we fund, making it cheaper, more affordable and more accessible to us all?

So the next time you are in your grocery store, consider picking up something ‘organic’ because every dollar you spend tells your government something about you.

You are literally putting your money where your mouth is, voting for what foods you want more of and creating a demand that must be met.

That being said, not all of us can always afford to go 100% organic, so here is a tip on where to dish out the dough to get the most bang for your buck.

The Dirty Dozen: these foods require more pesticides and get sprayed directly so its worth going organic to save yourself the mouth full of toxic sludge.

The Clean 15: these foods need less pesticides and have natural layers and thick rinds that conceal and protect the edible part of the foods