I started writing about organic eating in 2011 and since that time, this blog has grown to incorporate green, natural living and eco-travel. In the intervening 7 years, organic food has become much more prevalent, with more people choosing to buy organic on a regular basis. Which is great, but sometimes when a movement becomes widespread, it becomes a bit like white noise. We forget WHY we initially made the choice to switch to organic and our intentions become less resolute. And some folks probably never really knew why they started buying organic foods in the first place, other than for vague reasons about it being “healthier”.
In short, by buying organic food, personal care products, home products and clothing, you are making a decision to consciously support sustainable agricultural land use (as well as a positive impact on the natural lands which surround it – for the wild birds, bees, flora and fauna), improved animal husbandry welfare (including no routine use of antibiotics which is important as we sit on the cusp of the post-antibiotic era), no use of artificial colours or preservatives which is better for your body and you’re also buying products made from natural materials which will more easily break down into compost at the end of their useful life, rather than spending the next 500 years in landfill. So many great reasons to make this conscientious decision to buy organic as often as you are able.
What first inspired me to create this blog was my desire and passion to share with others why I choose to buy organic food, clothing and home items as often as I can. And I haven’t done that in a while, so I thought I’d remind my readers (and myself!) my main evidence-based reasons for choosing – and continuing – to buy organic.
Learn More – GO! Organic Festival (8-9 September 2018)
If you live in the UK and you’d like to explore more about organic living, my first suggestion is that join me at the Battersea Park on 8-9 September 2018 and celebrate everything organic at the GO! Organic Festival. They’ve very kindly partnered with me to sponsor this article and to offer you the opportunity to win a free pair of tickets (see below). I’ll be there, so let me know in the comments below if you’re coming too! Buy your tickets HERE.
Oh, and if you have kids, can I just say that Andy (yes, CBeebies Andy, THAT Andy) and Mr Bloom will be there too! There will also be facepainting, etc. In other words, it’s a very family friendly day out.
Why Did I Choose Organic?
“The most dangerous and toxic pesticides require special testing methods, which are rarely if ever employed by the FDA.”
1. Genetically Modified Foods
I’m not afraid of the boogey man or Franken-whatever – that’s not why I don’t eat GMO foods. The point of most widely available GMO foods – especially the big ones like corn, wheat, canola and soya – is that they are branded as “Roundup Ready” and as such, the plants are designed to be resistant to higher levels of glyphosate so that more weed-killer can be used for a higher product yield – levels of toxins which would kill a conventional plant. Glyphosate is the main ingredient of Roundup and it is an endocrine-disrupting chemical which the WHO has listed as a probable carcinogen, in particular linked to Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, and to which there is increasing evidence and current legal debate that it causes genetic damage.
So when you see “soya”, “soy”, “canola”, “corn”, “fructose”, “glucose fructose”, avoid buying those foods unless they are labelled as organic or non-GMO. (Foods labelled as non-GMO, GMO-free and Non-GMO Project Verified foods aren’t necessarily free from Roundup (glyphosate) and other harsh weed-killing toxins like Dicamba (also produced by Monsanto), but they will have lower levels of those poisons. I won’t lie – I do occasionally buy those types of non-GMO foods, but it’s better to buy organic as often as possible. I tend to apply a 90/10 rule at home – 90% organic, whole foods (I prefer to eat whole foods for my own health reasons – you don’t need to do that) and 10% fun foods (my fun foods are always vegan and always GMO-free, organic where possible). It’s nearly impossible to guarantee eating GMO-free when you go out to restaurants unless you eat somewhere like Chipotle, the first national chain restaurant to cook with all non-GMO ingredients. Just do your best.
If you want to know more about practical ways to avoid GMO foods, check out Mama Natural’s blog post on how to avoid GMO’s. You can also check out my previous article on the subject.
If you don’t have the time for reading all those articles and you don’t have time to read labels at the supermarket, the easy solution is – just buy and eat organic food.
Organic food cannot be genetically modified, so it’s an easy cheat to avoid having those toxins in your food.
2. The Health of Agricultural Workers
There are over 5.6 billion pounds of pesticides used in the agricultural industry worldwide (1 billion of that is in the US) and with woefully inadequate hazard assessments taking place, especially when chemicals are combined, each year 25 million agricultural workers experience unintentional pesticide poisoning.
(Note, I’m not even touching on how those chemicals affect the environment, animals, the bees and bird life.)
Personally, I care about the health of all those agricultural workers and their families and I don’t wish to contribute to risking their lives so I can have a cheap bag of Doritos or whatever.
3. Groundwater Becomes Poisoned
The US Department of Agriculture has found that the groundwater which provides drinking water for around 50,000,000 people in the US has been contaminated by pesticides and chemicals from the agricultural industry.
“According to Cornell entomologist David Pimentel, it is estimated that only 0.1% of applied pesticides reach the target pests. The bulk of pesticides (99.%) is left to impact the environment.”
But maybe you’re not a statistics person. Maybe you need to see an example of the kind of thing I mean, so please check out the video below showing the issues with the Costa Rica pineapple industry.
4. Because Pesticides Get EVERYWHERE
Even household dust (in addition to food and water) is now contaminated with pesticides, particularly in rural agricultural areas. Studies have found that children between 3 and 6 years of age received MOST of their dermal and non-dietary oral doses of pesticides from playing with toys and while playing on carpets which contributed the largest portion of their exposure.
That means the dust from the air settling on the toys of our kids – on the objects we use everyday – is toxic.
That bit of dust that’s settled on Sophie the Giraffe or my daughter’s favourite blankie is toxic.
Do you find that as shocking and distressing as I do?
This means the more of us who buy and support organic, the more farmers will be able to make the viable economic decision to farm using sustainable, organic methods and this will mean gradually, fewer and fewer pesticides in the air, especially in agricultural areas where this issue is most prevalent.
5. Increased Nutrient Values
In the past when I researched this topic, there didn’t seem to be much evidence that organic foods had much more nutritional value than conventionally grown goods, aside from increased phytonutrient content. But more high quality studies and reviews have shown that foods grown in well-nourished soil, using organic, sustainable practices have higher levels of vitamins, minerals and enzymes.
As an example, five servings of organically grown vegetables can provide an adequate daily level of vitamin C, where the same number of servings of conventionally grown vegetables do not.
Organic produce, on average, contains:
- 21.1% more iron
- 27% more vitamin C
- 29.3 more magnesium
- 13.6% more phosphorous
One Thing I Don’t Like About Organics
There is one aspect to buying organic food which does get my back up. And its not the perceived increase in cost. When I go into the supermarket, all the organic produce seems to have extra layers of plastic. (You can watch my Real Food Organic Groceries on a Budget video here to see what I mean.) I appreciate the supermarkets need to differentiate the conventional produce from the organic for pricing reasons, but surely they could do that with produce stickers rather than having to add so much plastic. This isn’t an issue when I can make it to the farmer’s market or when I order my organic fruit and veg box from Ocado (email me at ourlittleorganiclifeblog@gmail.com to get a voucher to save £20 off your first order) or from Abel and Cole or Riverford Organics (my downstairs neighbour uses Riverford on a weekly basis and I’m always so jealous of the gorgeous produce she gets each week).
Resources:
Identifying populations potentially exposed to agricultural pesticides using remote sensing and a Geographic Information System.
Organophosphate urinary metabolite levels during pregnancy and after delivery in women living in an agricultural community.
This was really interesting and definitely made me think about organic food in more depth. We buy some things organic but can certainly do better,.
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Very informative! We try to buy as organically as possible, but the real dream is filling my garden with homegrown organic fruit/vegetables 🙂
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Oh amazing Helen! We are growing more and more of our own stuff, but it’s still more ad hoc at the moment. Like you I’d love to provide more of our own food.
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I can’t believe hoe many more nutrients organic has – and I always wonder why they seem to be wrapped in plastic too. Kaz
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Well, I’m glad it’s not only me who gets cross about the extra plastic!
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This was a really interesting read – I’m totally with you on the extra plastic packaging!
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Thank you so much for your kind words Sally. It means so much to hear that you enjoyed my article.
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We do tend to buy organic or food from local farmer’s market as much as we can. But these are a lot more pricey than the normal food. Found your post very educational.
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What a brilliant sounding festival and I love that there’s loads for kids to do there too.
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I try and buy organic as and when I can, but I really could do more to live more sustainably x
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I think most of us trying to incorporate organic foods because of the vague knowledge that its healthier but stay clear because of the price.
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Hi Anosa, if you go online you’ll be able to find a list called the Dirty Dozen which are the most important fruits and vegetables to buy organic. It might help you prioritize when you’re shopping.
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I like to try to buy organic wherever I can so that I know exactly what is on my food but I do think that it is much more expensive and I cant always afford it which is a real shame xxx
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I absolutely understand. Have you checked out the Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen? They’re all over the internet and set out the top 12 (fresh produce) foods to prioritise buying organic and those which are okay (from a health perspective – I’m never sure how much they take the environment into consideration) to buy conventional. I always feel that it’s most important to buy any “processed” type foods organic, as that’s where a lot of nasty additives such as GMO corn, soya, canola can be snuck in.
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“I don’t wish to contribute to risking their lives so I can have a cheap bag of Doritos or whatever.” I can’t agree more. It’s way I buy Fairtrade when it comes to coffee, tea, bananas. I found your post very interesting, thanks for sharing.
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I’ve never bought organic fruit or vegetables but it was interesting to read why you do.
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This really is such an informative post – I’ve got a lot of thinking to do with my purchasing power now!
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Ive been looking at DIRTY DOZEN – really informative read
I do love fresh organic produce and try to buy where i can
I grow quite a lot too
Admittedly i succumb to mass produced at times purely for convenience and price
Loved reading your post
Lots of FOOD FOR THOUGHT
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That sounds AMAZING! We grow more and more every year but are definitely still amateurs at gardening. I have so much admiration for people who grow a lot of their own food. Really glad you enjoyed my post.
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