🥦 Organic? Really? 🥦

Today we are exploring organic foods. Are they the Superman of our diets, or just a Clark Kent in disguise?!

Organic Defined 

Shopping organic hits my bank account harder than a surprise car repair bill 🚘️ 

So what exactly are we spending all that extra cheddar on for organic?

According to the US Department of Agriculture, products can be labeled organic if they meet certain criteria such as:

• Grown without synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, or GMOs

• Soil health practices focused on techniques such as crop rotation, composting, and natural fertilizers

• Animal welfare that allows livestock access to the outdoors and raised w/o antibiotics or synthetic growth hormones

• Accredited by certifying agent to use the USDA Organic seal

A note on pesticides:

• Organic doesn’t mean no pesticides and fertilizers, it just means natural versions instead of synthetic

• Pesticides, synthetic or natural, main purpose is to allow us to have a lot of food to feed a lot of people

• This is done by it’s ability to control pests from eating the crops and disease, allowing for a higher yield.

Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen

Every year the Environmental Working Group (EWG) publishes two lists; the Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen.

This list is a breakdown of the fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues and a list of those that have a very low to no traces of pesticides.

This helps you know what to probably buy organic or thoroughly wash and which ones you can save some money on buying non organic.

Check out the EWG website to read more about this!

FOOD LABELS

Food labels are more confusing than college calculus. Just like the math hurts my brain, deciphering what healthy labels mean is a labyrinth.

There are plenty of labels you will see that sound healthy like Natural, Omega-3 Rich, No Antibiotics Used, No Hormones, etc…but most of this is baloney marketing words.

Attempting to keep it simple, below are food labels which is most likely to get the most nutrient rich foods:

• Produce: From a nutritional value standpoint, studies aren’t showing a significant difference between organic and conventional. Organic is, however, better for the environment. Make organic choice based off Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen.

• Eggs: Pasture Raised w/Grade AA Rating, USDA Organic Label, and Certified Humane Raised & Handled Certification. I like Vital Farms Organic Pasture Raised.

• Beef: Grass-Fed and Grass-Finished or simply 100% Grass-fed

• Chicken: Pasture-Raised would be ideal but this is harder to find with chicken than it is their eggs. Organic is likely the best you can find at most grocery stores.

• Dairy: Debated subject on whether “Raw Milk and Dairy” is better than pasteurized. Raw has more natural, complete food containing more nutrients but pasteurized can kill harmful germs. Either way, look for it to be from a 100% Grass-fed or Organic Cow.

• Seafood: Generally wild caught fish is best but you also want fish with the lowest mercury in them which is generally the smaller one. Reference list below:

Beyond Labels

When you are trying to live a healthier lifestyle, the 99% answer is moving to whole foods regardless of organic vs not.

Eliminating junk and processed food, sugars, additives, and everything that isn’t one ingredient whole food is key.

In my experience, people see far more benefits from eliminating bad foods than they do from going organic.

Eating healthier is more costly unfortunately. So if you can’t afford higher quality, switching to whole foods is still a monumental step from junk.

Looking at cleaner sources, meat and dairy that are non-organic tend to be the most toxic.

There is A LOT of money in the Organic Labeled food industry. The highest level of trust in the food you buy would be getting to know the local farmers!

Tips and Tricks

• Local Farmer: get the freshest produce possible and personally get to know the farmer and his practices. Great way to find out how your food is made and if you agree with their process.

• Wash: throughly wash your produce to get rid of dirt, bugs, pesticides. Here is a quick tutorial. If you don’t wash them you could end up like the people in the “Alien” movies 👽️ jk…maybe

• Buy In Season Produce: in season is more nutrient dense and fresher due to not being forced grown. It usually also tastes better and is at a cheaper cost. It supports local farmers and lowers carbon footprint. This website can help guide you!

• Grow your own food: this is not feasible for most people but the best way to have absolute control over your food.

• Hunt and Fish: if have this skill, getting your own game meat and catching your own fish is a sure fire way to get one of the cleanest sources.

• Produce Labels: A four digit code means conventionally grown. A five digit code starting with a 9 means organic. A five digit code starting with an 8 means genetically modified.

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