In Defense of Organic
Is organic suitable just for non-budget-friendly families and “elitists”? No.
Not even close.
Eco-Snobs
While it’s definitely hard for many of us to justify paying $9.99 on a small bottle of organic ketchup, we as grocery shoppers have so many more choices than we did a few years ago.
For instance, private-label products (think: Whole Foods 365 Organic or President’s Choice PC Organics Lines) offer organic food at a significantly lower price than their name brands counterparts.
And even better, many organic companies now offer deals through organic coupons, which can be found in your grocer’s main entrance, flyers and online outlets like Facebook. Feeling really strapped for cash? Limit your organic purchases to the new (2010) “dirty dozen”:
1. Celery: Celery has no protective skin, which makes it almost impossible to wash off the chemicals (64 of them!) that are used on crops. Buy organic celery, or choose alternatives like broccoli, radishes, and onions.
2. Peaches: Multiple pesticides (as many as 62 of them) are regularly applied to these delicately skinned fruits in conventional orchards. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include watermelon, tangerines, oranges, and grapefruit.
3. Strawberries: If you buy strawberries, especially out of season, they’re most likely imported from countries that have less-stringent regulations for pesticide use. 59 pesticides have been detected in residue on strawberries. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include kiwi and pineapples.
4. Apples: Like peaches, apples are typically grown with poisons to kill a variety of pests, from fungi to insects. Tests have found 42 different pesticides as residue on apples. Scrubbing and peeling doesn’t eliminate chemical residue completely, so it’s best to buy organic when it comes to apples. Peeling a fruit or vegetable also strips away many of their beneficial nutrients. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include watermelon, bananas, and tangerines.
5. Blueberries: Blueberries are treated with as many as 52 pesticides, making them one of the dirtiest berries on the market.
6. Nectarines: With 33 different types of pesticides found on nectarines, they rank up there with apples and peaches among the dirtiest tree fruit. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include, watermelon, papaya, and mango.
7. Bell peppers: Peppers have thin skins that don’t offer much of a barrier to pesticides. They’re often heavily sprayed with insecticides. (Tests have found 49 different pesticides on sweet bell peppers.) Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include green peas, broccoli, and cabbage.
8. Spinach: Spinach can be laced with as many as 48 different pesticides, making it one of the most contaminated green leafy vegetable.
9. Kale: Traditionally, kale is known as a hardier vegetable that rarely suffers from pests and disease, but it was found to have high amounts of pesticide residue when tested. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include cabbage, asparagus, and broccoli.
10. Cherries: Even locally grown cherries are not necessarily safe. Cherries grown in the U.S. were found to have three times more pesticide residue then imported cherries. Government testing has found 42 different pesticides on cherries. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include raspberries and cranberries.
11. Potatoes: This family-friendly vegetable can be laced with as many as 37 different pesticides. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include eggplant, cabbage, and earthy mushrooms.
12. Grapes: Imported grapes run a much greater risk of contamination than those grown domestically. Only imported grapes make the 2010 Dirty Dozen list. Vineyards can be sprayed with different pesticides during different growth periods of the grape, and no amount of washing or peeling will eliminate contamination because of the grape’s thin skin. Remember, wine is made from grapes, which testing shows can harbor as many as 34 different pesticides. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include kiwi and raspberries.
In terms of availability and affordability, organic still has some growing to do, but it is getting better each and every day – and the health benefits certainly do outweigh the cost.
“We need to engage with urban gardeners and farmers and policy action groups to ensure that low-income neighborhoods are able to grow, buy, and sell organics,” says Bob Scowcroft, director of the Organic Farming Research Foundation.
Don’t forget to check out the Clean 15 produce list, either!
What organic purchases do you tend to make?
Tags: dirty dozen, Eco-snobs, fitness, Food & Health, grocery stores, organic, organic produce, pesticides, USDA Organic
Filed under: Organic/Eco-Friendly
The whole “organic is too expensive” argument drives me crazy. It’s not that organic is too expensive, it’s that conventional food is artificially cheap. The price of organic food is the real cost of producing food. And, it’s cheaper than the medical bills you risk after a life time of chemical exposure.
Jenn Reply:
February 21st, 2011 at 3:16 PM
Amen to that, Danika!!
1 Danika @ Your Organic Life said this (February 21, 2011 at 2:54 PM)
I used to think organic was too expensive, but I’ve been doing a lot of reading and have changed my tune. We started with meat – we stopped by grocery store, mass-produced meats and started buying locally, naturally raised, antibiotic and hormone free meat from a local store. I thought I’d have to increase our grocery budget, and was prepared to increase it by 30% for the sake our our health. Turns out I didn’t have to. We have transitioned to HIGH QUALITY, local foods and steered ourselves away from refined, processed garbage and are able to shop on the same budget we did before. We just spend more on the good stuff and spend ZERO on the garbage. It works for us! Great post.
Jessica recently posted..VOTE FOR JULIETPlease!
Jenn Reply:
February 21st, 2011 at 3:19 PM
YAY Jessica!! I’m sooo happy to hear that :)
Now if only you can pass on that info to everyone you care about and they receive it the way it’s intended, well then wouldn’t that be great?!
I’m sure I come across as an Eco-snob, but honestly it drives me insane that people can make small changes that will help them live longer, healthier lives and they don’t, just because they’re misinformed! :(
Jessica Reply:
February 21st, 2011 at 7:04 PM
It only sounds ‘snobby’ to people who are ill-informed. I’ve been slowly transitioning our entire diet after reading some “alternative” literature on nutrition that absolutely contradicts what “conventional wisdom” has taught us. So now I totally get it and instead of being annoyed by people who are pro-organic, I’m annoyed by people who won’t educate themselves on the importance of what we put into our bodies!! My partner freaked when I told him we were upping the grocery budget by 30% until I laid it out for him like this: What good is an extra few bucks in our budget if we’re SICK from PREVENTABLE ILLNESSES caused by eating semi-poison non-food?!?!?!
I could talk on about this so I do hope you post more on organics and nutrition in the future :). I’ll be an eco-snob with you!
Jessica recently posted..VOTE FOR JULIETPlease!
2 Jessica said this (February 21, 2011 at 3:02 PM)
I was actually just reading about the dirty dozen the other day. I try to buy all organic for Avery and a lot of organic for me and Eric. Our Hy-Vee has a great organic section and they are priced pretty reasonably, especially when shopping store brands as you said. Great post!
Liz recently posted..Im Back!!!
3 Liz said this (March 1, 2011 at 2:48 PM)