Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Eating Organic

A friend recently posted a link to this article, discussing which fruits and vegetables are the most important to buy organically (because the most pesticides and chemials are used) and which are the least important to buy organically.

I am not an organic shopper. I consider it a successful day if I have consumed something green, not because I don't like green things, but because eating healthy is hard, and it takes up valuable time. I am also not an organic shopper because I find that, more often than not, buying organic is more expensive, and in my experience, the produce goes bad faster. But, because I'm open to other's opinions and suggestions, I thought I'd post the contents of this article in list form for the whole world to see. And who knows, maybe I'll convince myself by the end of the article to buy organic something.

What you should buy organic:
Celery
Peaches
Strawberries
Apples
Domestic blueberries (not foreign... domestic only please.)
Nectarines
Sweet bell peppers
Spinach, kale and collard greens
Cherries
Potatoes
Imported grapes (the fine grapes grown in the US are a-okay!)
Lettuce

What you could get away with not buying organic:
Onions
Avocados
Sweet corn
Pineapples
Mango
Sweet peas
Asparagus (really? PHEW!)
Kiwi fruit
Cabbage
Eggplant
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Grapefruit
Sweet potatoes
Sweet onions

So there you have it folks. If I were to be an organic shopper, I think I would buy organic eggs, strawberries, blueberries, rasperries, celery, and meats. But alas, I am not. As I commented to my friend, it's just not in my priorities right now. I think it's great for other people, and I will happily eat organically at my friends houses ifi that is how they choose to cook, but they will be eating chicken & pesticided veggies at my casa. Anybody want to come over for dinner tomorrow night?

PS - I'm feeling incredibly guilty for not buying organically. Just thought you should know I guilt-tripped myself.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the repost of the article! You're absolutely right in that 1) it's not right for everyone and 2) eating naturally is way more important than organic. It definitely interests me but I realize it's not for everyone, and eating naturally is WAY more important!

    If anyone wants more info about eating naturally/organically, just let me know!

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  2. All I can say is the little boy I nanny eats 95% organic and his poos WREAK! :)

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  3. I know that this article is all about veggies and fruit, but I've started to eat more and more grass fed "organic" beef and chicken... the hormones and antibiotics and everything else are starting to scare me. Is anyone else in the same boat or am I just paranoid?

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  4. Hannah - I'm not the blog owner but hopefully she doesn't mind if I comment again!

    I do try to eat beef and chicken with no added hormones, chemicals, etc. I don't eat a lot of beef (we tend to eat turkey meat instead, though this past week we tried buffalo! it was delicious). Our local grocery store has a brand of chicken called "Just Bare" which is chicken without "antibiotics, pesticide residues, added hormones, animal byproducts and arsenicals."

    A great brand of all natural beef is Naturewell. They tout "absolutely no chemicals, “natural additives” or water is added to the meat during processing. Additionally, our cattle are fed a natural diet without added hormones or antibiotics." If I buy beef, I buy Naturewell.

    Otherwise, we go to our local butcher for meat. We know that it's a small, local farm that doesn't use the same industrial processes as Tyson, etc.

    Meat is a scary thing, because we can't control what the animal eats (when I think about that fact, sometimes I want to give up meat all together!). Organic meat is really expensive too, so I try my best to buy local if I can.

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