As more and more people realize the tremendous benefits of incorporating fresh, healthy, whole foods into their diets, organic produce and food choices have become a staple within the “Enlightened American Diet.” As you know, organic produce and other ingredients are grown without the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilizers.
Some of the most important fruits and vegetables to buy organically are strawberries, peaches, celery, apples, blueberries, spinach, bell peppers, cherries, cantaloupes, green beans, grapes, nectarines, carrots, pears, and tomatoes. You should buy organic when you shop for these 15 delicious foods and especially the first 5 listed as they typically have the highest pesticide residue.
Additionally, while I believe that meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products should be consumed in moderation, it is also important that you choose organically so that the animals that produce these foods are not given antibiotics or growth hormones.
Here are some of the numerous benefits of implementing organic food choices into your everyday diet:
1. For Better Taste
In my experience, the difference in taste and crispness of an organic apple for example is profound. Organic farming begins with the nourishment of the soil, which leads to the nourishment of the plant and, ultimately, a better product is created without the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. Ask the many chefs who prefer the quality of organic foods.
2. To Keep Chemicals Off Your Plate
Pesticides and herbicides are poisons created to kill living organisms and can also harm humans. In addition to cancer, pesticides are implicated in birth defects, nerve damage and genetic manipulations. Chances are very good that organic food, on the whole, is more nutritious than chemically grown food. But, regardless of whether or not your organic apple has more potassium than it’s non-organic brother, it definitely does NOT have the same load of poisons.
3. To Promote Biodiversity
Conventional farmers use large plots of land for the same crop year after year. This approach leaves the crops more susceptible to pests and the soil severely depleted of natural minerals and nutrients, which have to be replaced by chemical fertilizers in increasing amounts. Converting land to organic status is a three-year process and builds up the fertility of the land and organic farmers practice crop rotation to add even more health and energy to the soil.
4. To Support a True Economy
If the hidden environmental and social costs of chemically-produced conventional produce were added to that produce, it would be more than double the price of organic food. Also, every time you go to the store you are voting with your dollars. As the demand for organics continues to grow, the cost will continue to come down.
5. To Protect Future Generations
We are borrowing the earth from our children and grandchildren. Pesticides and other chemicals widely contaminate ground water and rivers and pollute our primary source of drinking water. When our soil is free of chemicals, the creatures in the river are safer and the creatures that eat them are safer.
Organic food presents consumers with a perceived and tangible set of attributes that align food production with environmentally acceptable and renewable production techniques that minimize the risk of contamination from pesticides, and also delivers food that is wholesome and nutritious.
On a larger scale, when we understand the impact that we collectively have on the earth, it makes a lot of sense to spread the word so that the system, from plant to soil, from river to fish, will be returned to what is natural and healthy.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37396355/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/?gt1=43001
