It is important to become aware of the sourcing of your food and consciously choose organically grown produce, fruits, grains, vegetables, nuts and seeds. This is food as it was intended to be, nutrient-rich, grown without synthetic chemicals, fertilizers or pesticides, and in its healthy, whole and natural form. Additionally, search for healthy, organic sources of animal protein, raised without antibiotics, growth stimulants or hormones. As with plant foods, finding animal products that are organic are always best.
In every community there are some good, clean sources of food readily available. Here are some of my recommendations to help you start to make a change: health food stores, local Certified Farmers Markets, Trader Joe’s and Costco. Consumer awareness and increased demand has improved accessibility to healthy and organic foods. Local health food stores will have organic and healthy grocery brands, bulk sections, produce sections with organics, and sometimes meat. Trader Joe’s has great products, organic eggs, butter, chicken and some organic produce- plus it is a fun place to shop. Even members of Costco are enjoying the benefits of organic fruits and vegetables. As CEO Craig Jelinek stated “We cannot get enough organics to stay in business day in and day out” so Costco has now decided to venture with organic farmers to boost production of their organic produce. Lending money to farmers is allowing them to buy more land and equipment, and produce more crops- with Costco being given first rights to purchase whatever the farmers grow on their property. Making the transition to healthier, organic eating can be intimidating and be more expensive. Would it be important for you to know how to prioritize the most important produce changes for your health? Which items should always be organic? The answer is unequivocally…Yes! For this refer to the 2016 EWG Dirty Dozen Shoppers Guide for Pesticides in Produce. It is a handy reference guide and clearly helps me to consciously choose the healthiest vegetables and fruits available today. (Here’s my hint for you… go check out Strawberries!)There is also a Clean Fifteen list that gives you produce that is least likely to be contaminated with residues from pesticides. I hope this gives you a bit of information to start and some peace of mind when shopping.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |