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You know what’s wrong with nutritionists recommending you to boost your intake of fruits and vegetables for a better health? They don’t tell you to make sure that it’s organic.
 

The new report from the Presidential Cancer Panel and a study linking pesticide exposures with increased risk of ADHD are sending shoppers rushing to the organic aisles in the grocery stores. And when it comes to demanding organic, buying certified organic fruits and vegetables is a quick and easy way to make a difference.

What is amazing is that I wasn't the one to tell him this, nor was the first lady (although she quite likely already has). It was the President's Cancer Panel, working under the auspices of the National Cancer Institution. But, they were not just telling him to eat organic foods, they are recommending all of us "to choose, to the extent possible, food grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers." This is not the Coalition for Alternative to Pesticides talking, but the President's Cancer Panel! (Be still my beating heart!)

So you’re convinced of the benefits of eating organic, but the price tag has got you down. The good news is that with a little creativity and perhaps a change in routine, it is possible to eat a mostly organic diet within the confines of your existing grocery budget. Try some of these ideas that have worked for my family.

Farmer’s Markets

Well, it turns out that there are a lot of articles published about the nutrient content of organic foods. It also turns out that all organic foods are not the same. Take tomatoes, for example. There are numerous studies on the nutrient content of organic tomatoes as compared to commercially raised tomatoes. Some of these studies showed that organic tomatoes had higher quantities of certain nutritional compounds; other studies did not. The key in unraveling these studies was in noting how long the plots of land had been under organic farming methods.

I have been a longtime proponent of organic foods and organic agriculture.

I think the main reason to eat organic is to avoid bad things in food, particularly residues of agrochemicals, pesticides, fungicides and so forth.

There’s arguments whether organic foods are nutritionally superior. I think they might be.

In May 2004, Catherine Badgley, an evolutionary biology professor at the University of Michigan, took her students on a research trip to an organic farm near their campus. Standing on the acre-and-a-half farm, Badgley asked the farmer, Rob MacKercher, how much food he produces annually. "Twenty-seven tons," he said. Badgley did the quick math: That's enough to provide 150 families one pound of produce every single day of the year.

With the large amounts of toxins in the inorganic foods we eat, we all need to eat organic whenever possible. Every time that you choose conventionally farmed foods or processed foods over organic, you are increasing your cumulative exposure to chemicals and raising your risk of disease.

If you like your morning cup of joe but want to be kinder to the environment (like me!) then certified organic coffee beans may be an option for you. Organic coffee is a healthy and natural alternative to conventionally grown coffee beans. Next to oil, coffee is the second-biggest industry in the world, contributing over $70 billion to the worldwide economy. The impact is environmental as well; by choosing organically grown coffee beans, you can have a great cup of coffee while minimizing your ecological footprint.

Chris Ruder of Wicker Park wanted to eat more fruits and vegetables. He wanted to support local organic agriculture. And he wanted to know the person growing his food.

So, like thousands of Chicagoans, he bought a share in a Midwest organic farm that would deliver weekly boxes of produce to the city in an arrangement called community-supported agriculture, or CSA.

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