When we go to the grocery store it's amazing to see all the big, beautiful and colourful fruits and veggies. It just makes you want to buy a ton of them! Huh?...what a brilliant marketing scheme! Make the fruits and veggies look big and bright and consumers will buy more of them. But hold on...what makes our fruits and veggies so "perfect"? Food producers have been genetically modifying our plant foods and using pesticides and fertilizers on our fruits and veggies altering plant properties & hormones, resulting in a product that is more eye appealing, but certainly not healthier.

Organic foods refer to the way they are grown and processed, they do not use any harmful or unapproved pesticides. Organic farming is requires a special certification that matches the government standards

The toxic overload from pesticides and fertilizers, weakens our immune system and leaves us more susceptible to illness and disease, including cancer.

Benefits of Organic foods

ORGANIC VS INORGANIC

• Organic foods are much fresher than inorganic foods. Raw organic foods do not contain preservatives to retain its natural freshness while inorganic foods are preserved by chemicals to increase its shelf life.

• Organic foods are healthier than inorganic foods. Organic foods are richer in antioxidants, vitamins & minerals.
• Did you know that a lot of inorganic fruits and vegetables are picked before they are ripe and falsely ripened with ethylene? This speeds up the aging process (ripening) of the plant. Hmmm? I wonder what it does to you when you eat it?

Organic Foods Are Healthier

• Organic foods can contain pesticides, but they are naturally derived pesticides and within limits. Inorganic foods use chemical pesticides and petroleum based fertilizers which may contain cancer-causing agents, risking the health of pregnant women & fetuses. Not to mention risking the health of the rest of us!

Pesticide

• Our body needs essential amino acids & fatty acids as the body cannot synthesize them, these levels are found higher in organic foodscompared to inorganic foods.

• Organic foods are benefical monetarily to  farmers unlike inorgnic farming where the finance flows to institutions for marketing, purchase of expensive, harmful and chemical pesticides.

• Try your best to buy local and seasonal foods. When you buy fruits and veggies that stay edible for weeks, it means it has been chemically preserved. Again...toxic! Check out this seasonal food guide here

KNOW THE PESTICIDE LIMIT OF YOUR FOOD

According to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization that analyzes the results of government pesticide testing in the U.S.

The following fruits and vegetables have the highest pesticide levels so are best to buy organic:

(1) Apples (2) Sweet Bell Peppers (3)Cucumbers (4)Celery (5)Potatoes (6)Grapes (7)Cherry Tomatoes (8)Kale/Collard Greens (9)Summer Squash (10)Nectarines (imported) (11)Peaches (12)Spinach (13) Strawberries (14)Hot Peppers. Plus any root vegetable or spice, like ginger, turmeric, carrots, and potatoes that grow in the earth. If the earth has been treated with fertilizers and pesticides, those leach through the flesh of the plant. You can't wash it off!

Organic Grape Farming

Known as the “Clean 15”, these conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables are generally lower in pesticides.

(1) Asparagus (2) Avocado (3) Mushrooms (4) Cabbage (5) Sweet Corn (6) Eggplant (7) Kiwi (8) Mango (9) Onion (10) Papaya (11) Pineapple (12) Sweet Peas (frozen) (13) Sweet Potatoes (14) Grapefruit (15) Cantaloupe

Know salient features of organic farming here

Like the metaphorical phrase, "Don't judge a book by its cover"; we should not judge food by its appearance. Happy organic eating and drinking!!