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April 11, 2013

Foods You Should Buy Organic from Now On! ~ Sergio Neuroice

 

Photo: Brian Talbot

The truth is that if we all actually lived in a perfect world then all of us would be doing our food shopping at farmers’ markets to get our hands on all the freshest possible produce.

On top of that, we would also be working hard to tend to the bug-eating, organic egg-producing chickens that were just running about in our back gardens, and we would be working with our neighbors to buy whole cows that were 100 percent grass fed. In fact, in an ideal world we would also be foraging our local forests for wild eggs and mushrooms…I’m pretty sure you get the idea of what the perfect scenario looks like.

However, the reality is quite different—most people just can’t realistically live this way—and truth be told, most people wouldn’t want to even if they could.

Nobody wants to leave the comfort of the modern world we live in regardless of how beneficial it may be for our long term health! The ability to go down to our local grocery store to get whatever we please without even having to think about it is something that most people will never want to give up—and you just can’t blame them.

But of course, all of us want to be healthy and make the best possible choices when it comes to food. We all desire to buy the best organic foods that are available but we still want to make sure that we are getting as much value as possible with the money that we do spend.

So to help you out, I’ve done the research for you and prepared a list of foods that you must buy organic from now on.

Not only will you become healthier by doing so, but you can be sure that you will be spending your money in the right place! The bonus is that you will be able to find all these foods down at your local grocery store.

I’ve tried to order the foods in terms of importance, starting with the most important at the top.

1. Full-Fat Dairy. 

You will have probably noticed that most people around the world consume dairy in some form on a regular basis. Whether it’s butter, yogurt, cream or milk, somebody, somewhere is enjoying it.

Your best bet is to buy dairy that is produced by grass-fed cows, but unfortunately most of us don’t live next to a farm or a store that stocks it. So, you need to make sure that at the very least the dairy you do buy is organic.

Buying organic dairy means that you are guaranteed that certain standards have been followed in its production. The first rule that every organic dairy producer must follow is to ensure that their cows graze on fresh pasture for the entire grazing season…and on top of that the farmers must ensure that these very same cows are getting at least 30 percent of their calories from grazing fresh grass.

The grazing seasons last for a minimum of 120 days, but often times they are a lot longer. So when you buy organic dairy you can be sure that you are getting dairy that has come from a cow that has had a decent amount of fresh grass.

The second reason to eat organic dairy from now on is: cows that produce conventional forms of dairy are on a diet that is full of pesticides and all of those pesticides get passed onto the full fat dairy that you eat! For example, conventional butter will contain residues of pesticides whereas organic butter will not.

2. Beef.

The wonderful thing about the rules and regulations that apply to organic dairy above is that they also apply to the cows that produce organic beef. That means when you buy organic beef you can be sure that at least 30 percent of the food that the particular cow ate was fresh grass. So you will be getting some benefit from all these great nutrients. On top of that you will notice that the beef will taste significantly better.

The ultimate option when it comes to beef would be to get 100 percent grass-fed beef, but I know  that this can be hard and rather expensive to buy. So organic is a good second bet.

You should note that while organic beef won’t be on a diet of grass 100 percent of the time, it will be consuming corn and soy that is not genetically modified or contains a ton of pesticides.

Of course, you can rest assured that the organic beef cow won’t have been given any nasty antibiotics or be pumped full of harmful hormones!

3. Eggs.

When it comes to eggs, the rules are very simple. The best of the best are eggs that come from pastured chickens and it doesn’t matter if these eggs are organic or not. If you are not able to find these then your second option is to get organic ones.

But keep in mind that you should completely avoid normal eggs because the pesticide-ridden food that these chickens are fed are passed to egg yolks these chickens produce, all of which end up in you when you eat these eggs!

Only buy eggs from chickens that have had minimum contact with pesticides. The great thing about pastured chickens is that you know they are getting a large amount of their daily food from the natural environment. So a lot of what they eat are things like bugs and grasses etc. This is why it doesn’t matter if they are organic or not.

So to keep it simple, get pastured eggs…if not, then organic.

photo: April Dawn Ricchuito

4. Leafy greens.

All of the most widely eaten vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, kale and collards have one thing in common: they all have really large surface areas.

This means that a large percentage of these vegetables get covered in the pesticide spray that is applied to them—and believe me, this is nearly impossible to get rid of.

Hard vegetables such as carrots and cucumbers are easy to wash and remove the pesticides, but things like spinach will literally become a mush if you were to apply the same kind of force.

And the reality is that you should be eating a lot of these vegetables, so it makes sense that you invest in organic ones. Eating large amounts of pesticide-ridden vegetables will only cause you harm in the long term.

Your goal should be to minimize your exposure to pesticides as much as you possibly can, especially when it comes to those things that you eat on a regular basis.

To find out which foods you need to be eating organic, you need to take a moment and think about all the foods that you eat on a regular and consistent basis; based upon this list, you should try your best to buy those foods organic.

Of course these aren’t the only foods that you must absolutely eat organically from now on, but it is a nice guideline on what areas of your life you need to pay particular attention to.

The list of foods that you end up buying organically may be completely different to the one that I’ve shared with you, but the main idea is to minimize your exposure to pesticides as much as you possibly can.

Keep this up and believe me, over the long term you will be the healthiest among your family and friends.

 

Sergio Neuroice: Those of you that enjoyed this article should definitely check out Hypothyroidism Diet Plan because you will learn a lot from the articles on exactly what steps you need to take in order to get healthy and fast. Not only that but the information will be simple to follow.

 

 

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Assistant Ed: Terri Tremblett/Ed: Bryonie Wise

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