I personally don’t buy into ‘organic’ foods. I think that if you eat healthy you’ll be healthy.
Having said that, I’m wondering if there are some organic foods that are ‘worth it’ in that make a difference what you’re consuming health wise.
This is a matter of opinion but I prefer hormone free milk. I think there’s a fair amount of evidence that it does affect people and I don’t like that. It’s by no means conclusive but that’s what I believe.
Any other organic foods that people feel gung ho about when it comes to their health?
I only buy eggs from local farmers that have small amounts of hens. They usually have them in a large pasture and the eggs are like a million times better than supermarket eggs for nearly the same price. You can’t lose.
Even if you don’t believe that herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers impact your health, please believe that conventional agriculture negatively impacts the health of the soil in which the food is grown, the health of farm workers, and the health of other living beings such as bees, insects, birds, reptiles, etc. In addition, these chemicals play a role in water contamination:
https://www.fao.org/land-water/news-archive/news-detail/en/c/1032702/
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/allison-johnson/organic-means-healthy-people-and-healthy-soils
You may want to do more research into the long-term impacts of non-organic and non-regenerative agricultural practices on the web of life!
I don’t pay much attention to organic. It is slightly better for you because they allow fewer pesticides, but I ideally go for old-school regenerative farming. So animals being fed and living the way they’re supposed to be.
We do know this matters. Cows fed their normal grass diet for their whole lives have a good balance of omega-3/6 and more good saturated fats versus bad ones. And of course, I’m against animal cruelty. Circle of life is fine, but no need to torture animals before death.
I only use organic oats, especially for my kid, because conventional oats have been tested with much higher levels of glyphosate. Glyphosate is the main thing I’m trying to avoid with buying anything organic.
None. Organic is a marketing term. They still use pesticides like Copper Sulphate and Pyrethrin. They still use herbicides like 2-Phenethyl Propionate. They are often more environmentally deleterious due to lower yields. And they’re often grown on factory farms from organic conglomerates like Horizon.
MILK. Now, I am a snob when it comes to not buying organic. It’s expensive, and doesn’t really yield any special benefits aside from feel good. However, with milk, there is a huge difference in taste and how my body reacts to the organic vs nonorganic milk.
You don’t buy into organic but you’re asking what others buy that’s organic? What don’t you buy into? We get our child organic everything that we can. They are in cancer treatment, so to us, it matters regardless of whether or not there is evidence to support it because no chemicals are better than chemicals.
Organic maple syrup
EDIT since down votes for sarcasm: Yeah I am completely joking here. I once worked in a grocery store and they tried to sell organic maple syrup.
I also grew up making maple syrup and in theory, if you tap in the bush, all maple syrup is organic.
Organic honey is another one I smirk at. Like is someone controlling where the bees fly?
Potatoes.
You can taste a difference if you grow your own versus store bought. And all the pesticides and herbicides that they spray on the potatoes are literally being sucked up by the tubers underground.. not good.
We also only buy organic whole milk with a preference for grass fed. We have young children 4 & 8 yrs old and we limit their exposure to non-organic milk because of the hormones it contains that have been correlated to premature puberty/development in young girls and breast formation in boys.
organic produce. organic is kind of ambiguous but it has one specific thing across the board: if it’s organic it hasn’t been treated with pesticides. you can eat as healthy of foods as you can find but if they’re being sprayed with pesticides …
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0909519107
Sketchy
Common themes in modern questionably conjured foods appear to be endocrine disruption, especially antagonism to testosterone, or poor omega 6:omega 3 aspect ratios.
A lot of organic food tastes better - food grown in more nutritional soil, plus heirloom fruit and veg - they have so much more flavour and nutritional value.Also meat and eggs from animals fed their natural diets (grass fed beef etc) really is noticeably different in flavour and even texture.Organic, local eggs are a must for me as they taste so much better.
In Canada , hormones are not allowed to be into milk, or beef, so we don’t have to worry about dairy. As far as produce goes, I guess lemons and citrus fruit are what I be worried about but who can afford it? When it was new we were told the more people bought it the price would go down.
For fruit and vegetables, I have always used the Environmental Working Group Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen.https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/clean-fifteen.php
If the peel is thick, and you remove it completely, it is less important to buy organic.
In regards to milk, we prefer Grass Pastured. For eggs, “Free range” is better than “cage free.”
For meat, buyless, buy organic free range grass fed humane slaughter.
I can only have organic tomatoes. Ever since I was a kid I thought all tomato products made me sick. But when I got older my mom who had a similar problem was told by her doctor to try organic tomatoes. Now i can have them if I’m really craving them but because they made me sick for so long it’s very rare.
Many organic foods aren’t worth the extra cost, but if your primary concern is pesticides then you should check out EWG’s dirty dozen list: https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty-dozen.php. Strawberries and spinach are at the top.
The amount of pesticide in most produce is insignificant and your body eliminates it. For example, cherries are number 8 on the list. You would have to eat about 1100 servings/cups in one day to get sick from pesticide consumption. Anyone consuming that many cherries would get sick long before that for a variety of other reasons… the sugar content alone is terrifying.
Check out the dirty dozen. It can change sometimes, depending on the year, but for the most part it’s a solid list. Good rule of thumb, anything with a thin skin go organic. Example: I’m not going to buy organic bananas or oranges because I would just peel the skin. Nothing I’m worried about is going to penetrate that thick layer, but berries, apples, broccoli, brussels spouts are foods I’d buy organic.
Among other things, lemons. I bought some big regular lemons, juice was ok and not that much. Bought some smaller organic lemons, so much more juice and better too. That was when I was sold on the idea that organic really can make a difference.
Eco organic bananas are miles better than anything else I’ve tried.
Look up the dirty dozen list. It shows the worst non-organic vegetables. Also, I highly recommend to only get organic animal products. This is because the things they add to the animals can cause imflammation and other bad effects, and this is especially bad for meat because you are already getting imflammation from the saturated fat.
EWG publishes a list called the dirty dozen, a list of fruit/veggies that are the most heavily sprayed with pesticides that are a good choice to purchase local and organic whenever possible. Typically tree fruits and ubiquitous salad veggies.
Things with a thick peel you don’t eat like avocados, bananas, oranges are probably fine conventional.
Grains and oats are absolutely soaked with glyphosate (pesticide linked to adverse health outcomes) as it has a secondary use as a desiccant, so cereals are also a good choice to buy organic.
If you care about avoiding genetically modified foods, i think usda organic certification will guarantee that it is not gmo. Soy and corn in the US are a largely gmo crops. Buying heirloom varieties from central america/japan for corn and soy will up the chance that it is the natural rather than gmo even if not organic.
Even when not organic, studies on washing techniques concluded that soaking in a baking soda solution had the best impact on washing off chemical residues on produce