We talk frequently about food around here, and I was curious whether or not most of you chose to eat organic or conventional food? I've been striving to eat mostly organic when available/affordable for some time now. I mostly stick to the "dirty dozen, clean fifteen". But research seems to be mixed on the value of buying organic, and it's pricey (especially if you eat meat). Is it better just to avoid processed junk and stick to a whole food diet, regardless of whether it is organic or not? What do you think, and what do you normally do?
We try to eat organic from Whole Foods or Sprouts as much as we can. I'm guessing 75% of our diet is organic.
I eat a lot of raisin bran. Seriously, I eat it for dinner every night. I got tired of it last night and went to get some top ramen from the store for .25 cents. For me, cost is a hugely determining factor. I don't have the money to shop at whole foods or vons/safeway/albertsons. I can't afford it.
We grow as much of our own veggie and fruit as we can. Since we're organic around here.. that takes care of a large part of our diet. Where we run into problems is with grains. Growing enough grain to make our own flour is pretty problematic for a small farm operation. I can buy 50 lbs of organic oatmeal fairly inexpensively in the bulk bins at our local health food store. It's a lot cheaper way for me to make oatmeal flour than it would be to try and grow it ourselves. I had no idea that organic food was as expensive as it is until I spent a few weeks in Corpus Christi and went to shop at the organic HEB market there. It was a HUGE eye-opener. Some of their organic apples were five bucks a piece, if memory serves. That may have been because they were out of season... and they were really large apples.. but sheesh! I don't know how city folk can afford the prices. One of the reasons organic is sooo expensive is that consumers won't buy less than perfect produce. Organic growers end up tossing a good percentage of their produce.. which increases the cost of what IS sold. Learn to garden, peeps. It's easy.
Yes.. if you avoid processed crap and stick to a whole food diet... that is immensely better for you. Some pesticides can be washed away, too. Some are systemic and can't be because they become part of the plant. The consumer usually has no way of knowing which is which. So treat them all as if you can remove the chemicals. Soak the produce in a vinegar/water solution for ten or fifteen minutes when you first bring them home. The soak usually increases the shelf life of the produce, too.. sooo win/win.
I eat organic in the summer a lot when I can grow my own or buy it from an organic farm for a good price at the local farmers market. Even though using pesticides is something I am pretty strongly against, to be honest I can't really be bothered in the winter. There are 4 organic grocery stores around here but they're all a good 15 minute drive without traffic, and 3 of them are all located on same busy ass surburban hell of a road so you spend a lot longer than 15 minutes sitting in traffic. I live within walking distance of 3 conventional grocery stores so it isn't worth my time to spend an hour fighting traffic when I can take a nice stroll to the store instead. The store I usually shop at carries some organic produce so I do buy it when they have it. Today they had organic blueberries and bananas and they were only a few cents higher than the non organic kind.
I don't eat processed foods, or as little as possible anyways. But I can't afford the "organic" labeled foods. So, Yeah... I'mma gonna die from GMO disease.
I don't think it really matters where you get your Fruit and Veg from. The key is balance. Eat healthy; limit packaged food: have veg for dinner:fruit often: limit red meat and add in fish. Throw in 20 min of exercise 3x week (intense two mins at time) and you got yourself a healthy body. I would throw more caution at the air we breath and steroids/drugs in meat then the pesticides that we generally can wash off.
When it comes to meat, eggs and dairy, I only buy organic. Everything else I don't care as much. Is eating organic necessary? Probably not. Eating whole and unprocessed foods is probably more important than whether it is organic or not. I simply prefer to eat organic whenever possible.
I was a vegan for almost 2 years, and tried to eat organic foods whenever possible, which is refreshing and can be extremely healthy. A Vegetarian diet is not healthy when you pair it with beer and wine, no matter what Organic foods you do eat. Being able to afford the nicest fruits and vegetables is possible if you are dedicated and steer clear of junk food and party drinking that most college students live by. To be honest, I didn't eat Raman until i graduated, although worrying about if your grain and bread is gmo is a little hypocritical if you still have meat in your diet.
You are wasting your money.All breakfast cereals other than porridge are an expensive way to feed your self. The added in breakfast cereals is just iron fillings. Look it up on YouTube.
On the contrary I just switched to Cheerios about, oh, 2 months ago. I eat only 1 serving size, so like one cup. It's really inexpensive! Thanks for your concern.
