Going Organic
There are so many buzzwords that float around the parent community every day. “Playdate or playgroup” are examples that you can hear every single day spoken by a parent.
Another new buzzword is “organic”.
Why shouldn’t it be? Since 1997 sales of organic food has increased 20% annually.
Reducing the intake of harmful pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and genetically modified organisms for my children was the reason we switched to organic.
I just couldn’t bring myself to feed these tiny, perfect babies that were completely healthy anything that wasn’t as close to perfect as it gets.
My kids started on organic baby food and when I ran out or wanted a change I would puree my own organic vegetables. Then we went to organic chicken and fruits.
I do know that making that change is not for everyone
Is going organic easy? The simple answer is no. It is expensive, expect to pay more for organic foods. Also instead of my one stop shopping, I now have to go to two or three stores or farmer’s markets to do my shopping.
We do not eat 100% organic, but we come as close as we can.
You can reduce your pesticide exposure by 90% if you replace the following list with the organic variety.
This is what the Environmental Working Group refers to as the “dirty dozen”
apples
peppers
spinach
strawberries
raspberries
celery
cherries
grapes
nectarines
potatoes
pears
peaches
Basically anything with a high water content will have more of the pesticides absorbed in them.
Here are some web sites you can go to if you do want to buy organic but your stores seem to be lacking in the organic variety.
Diamondorganics.com (I have used them and they are amazing)
localharvest.org
organic.org
Do you eat organic why/why not?
edited to add:Less than a month after it announced it would stop selling items with trans fats in its U.S. stores, Starbucks Coffee Co. said this week that it is phasing out milk products that contain an artificial bovine growth hormone.
For years, some advocacy groups have said there’s inadequate research on the effects in humans of dairy products from cows that are given rBGH, which is used to increase milk production.
kids, eating organic, organic food, buying organic food, parents
January 17th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Living in Vermont, as I do, I really have an issue with the whole organic thing…especially the milk thing! People buy “organic” milk basically because they want it to be free of chemicals…they expect the cows to be only grain fed, ect. Cows are COWS…they go out and eat grass constantly and are the most stupid creatures on the planet (literally! I LOVE cows, but they’re dumb!). If you’ve got a cow ONLY grain fed that means they just stand in a stall all day and eat. Cows need to get out and walk around.
So no, we don’t do organic, other then visiting the local farmer’s market to support the town’s economy…I personally think that most of it is just a gimmick.
January 17th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
My son was an organic fan from the start. Things are a bit harder to find here in SC, so he’s not on strictly organic foods, but the majority of his fruits and veggies are. As you said, I just couldn’t see feeding my perfectly healthy little man a bunch of chemicals and pesticides!
January 18th, 2007 at 3:21 am
It’s time consuming and expensive to go organic. But it’s definitely worth it. The food choices that a parent makes often direct children to make better choices.
March 29th, 2007 at 8:55 am
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