Beautiful benefits of organic agriculture

Environmental consultant Dr. Ellen Moyer recently published a beautiful article about the benefits of organic agriculture in The Huffington Post (link below). Really worth a good read.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-moyer-phd/how-eating-organic-helps-_b_8878886.html

One of my favourite parts of the article is where Dr. Moyer describes how dietary choices truly connect us to our natural environment (something many of us are deeply disconnected from):

'Food is the basic way we fit into the web of life. We make choices about what to eat several times each day, day after day, over our lifetime. The impacts of those choices add up massively. By choosing organically grown food, we can take good care of ourselves and our environment. But when we opt for "conventionally," or industrially, grown food, we can harm ourselves and our environment.'

The trouble is, I personally can't afford to eat 100% organic. I wish I could, but it would involve removing other expenses from my life which help to keep me as balanced as a working mother can be. So what to do?

The Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen are beyond helpful in trying to eat as organic as possible while not breaking the bank . The Dirty Dozen identifies the twelve fruits and vegetables which contain the highest residues of pesticides. 2015's Dirty Dozen identified apples, peaches, nectarines, strawberries, grapes, celery, spinach, sweet bell peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, imported snap peas and potatoes as the produce to prioritise as organic on your shopping list. 2015's Clean Fifteen identified avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, cabbage, frozen sweet peas, onions, asparagus, mangoes, papayas, kiwis, eggplant, grapefruit, cantaloupe, cauliflower and sweet potatoes as likely clean enough to only buy organic if you're able to.

Some research has shown that organic produce has higher amounts of health protective antioxidants then conventionally produced produce; so buying the Clean Fifteen organically sourced can likely only help in opimising your health. But again, if you cannot afford it, don't sweat it. There's only so much we can reasonably do!

More information on the Environmental Working Group here: http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php