Organic produce in the mainstream consciousness is something rather new. Pesticides and chemicals are often put on non-organic produce to get an even larger crop yield in a small space. Its about efficiency and money. However, we consume the chemicals and pesticides that soak into the fruits and vegetables. Lets not even get into the EDCs (endocrine disrupting chemicals) and genetically modified crops and their potential effects.
Back to the point, these chemicals and pesticides are linked to a multitude of human conditions and illness. Now whether or not you believe that these chemicals and pesticides affect us, its never a bad idea to stay on the safe side and eat organic when possible. That is pretty much my stance. I'm not sure that eating non organic is giving us some of these diseases, and I'm not sure that it isn't. My thinking is that eating 100% organic is wonderful and probably the best option out there. Unfortunately it can be very expensive... I know not what we want to hear!
As there are many things you can do (garden!) to offset the cost of organic produce there is also the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 to help you set your priorities while grocery shopping. This list is all over the Internet (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/the-dirty-dozen-and-clean-15-of-produce/616/ or http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/), but I'm going to share it here as well for inspiration! I like that the EWG site had a couple added to the dirty dozen because they still have a high level of pesticides but not enough to make the dirty dozen list.
Dirty Dozen
- apples
- celery
- sweet bell peppers
- peaches
- strawberries
- nectarines-imported
- grapes
- spinach
- lettuce
- cucumbers
- blueberries-domestic
- potatoes
Clean 15
- onions
- sweet corn
- pineapples
- avocado
- cabbage
- sweet peas
- asparagus
- mangoes
- eggplant
- kiwi
- cantaloupe-domestic
- sweet potatoes
- grapefruit
- watermelon
- mushrooms
Organic produce is the main reason I like gardening so much. I like that you know what is being put on your plants and it is often very easy to grow your garden entirely organic. I know for us I am not able to grow all of the variety of fruits and vegetables we want. So for me this list is very handy and makes it so we can prioritize which things need to be organic and which do not.
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