Trying to eat healthy nowadays can be more difficult than what our parents generation experienced. It seems like everywhere you turn you are reading reports about low levels of toxins that are present in supposedly healthy foods, which build up over time can contribute to a whole host of conditions in your body. Popular lunch meats can't even be consumed as in the past due to recent findings that the nitrites used to extend shelf are now linked to pancreatic cancer. More and more studies are coming highlighting correlations between artificial ingredients and cancer, thanks to the contamination of our food with preservatives and artificial ingredients. Pesticide and antibiotic residues can now be found in a large number of foods we commonly eat, and only now are the side effects being understood.
A hundred years ago there wasn't a food category called organic - almost everything people ate was naturally organic. The term has now come into vogue as a way to differentiate foods with minimal additives and processing compared to modern day, mass produced foods that are loaded with undesirable ingredients - all in the name of profit. As you consider healthier foods to eat, however, and turn to this new category of organic, the price tags may give you sticker shock, as you realize it could cost a small fortune to eat everything organic [ironic that you have to pay more to eat the same quality of food previous generations took for granted].
Thankfully the growth of healthy food based supermarkets like Whole Foods, Sprouts, SunFlower Market, and Wild Oats have introduced more volume and competition, which is slowly lowering prices on organic foods like produce and meats. The recent reports of the merger of Sprouts and Sunflower Market will continue increasing competition in the market, which should lower healthy food prices even further in the coming years. Short of living on a farm and raising your own food, this represents the best hope for transitioning to historically healthy food without tapping into your 401k!
If you've done your homework on organic foods and are ready to start incorporating them into your diet, there are some basics that will help you save money while maximizing the impact on your body and your health. Following these simple tips can help you save money and providing a mixed approach to buying cheaper conventional food and supplementing with organic foods where the risks are deemed to be the greatest from a contamination perspective.
When shopping for produce, you can follow a really common sense rule that is actually beneficial: If the skin will be eaten, then buy organic as residues are typically concentrated in the skin versus the inside of the actual fruit or vegetable. For example - buy organic berries, apples, pears, and peaches, potatoes, etc.
If the fruit or vegetable you are eating is something you peel, you can generally buy these non-organic, as the majority of the time the pesticide residues don't penetrate too far into the fruit. Examples of this include oranges, bananas, watermelon, and other similar "peel before you eat" items.
Meat becomes a more interesting, and in some ways more disgusting item to learn about. In conventional beef for example, you're not only getting nice little extras like antibiotic residues and artificial growth hormones, but because they are raised in crowded holding pens and eat a mixture of waste level corn, soy, and other grain products their bodies end up not getting the natural foods they are used to. In fact some studies have shown that cows develop ulcers due to the high level of corn they are fed which was not part of their natural environment years ago.
The problem with these modern meats is the nutritional profile of the meat you are eating is completely different than something link grass fed, pasture raised cattle. The saturated fat, Omega-3s, and vitamin and mineral levels are all screwed up in the "modern" pen raised cows as their bodies don't process what they are being fed very well. Add in the antibiotic and hormones effects and residues and you're now eating something that your body isn't used to processing. If you can afford it, it is much better to purchase natural grass fed beef either through many online farm co-operatives, or from your local health food store like Sprouts.
So hopefully these tips help you get started to eating healthier without completely blowing your budget. Assuming you are increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables as part of a very healthy diet, you now have some basic guidelines to spend the little extra for organic to help get the most value out of the food you're eating. The basic logic and approach around the meats discussed in this article will also help you be smarter about the types of meat you buy as well to balance potential health risks against what you can afford.
A hundred years ago there wasn't a food category called organic - almost everything people ate was naturally organic. The term has now come into vogue as a way to differentiate foods with minimal additives and processing compared to modern day, mass produced foods that are loaded with undesirable ingredients - all in the name of profit. As you consider healthier foods to eat, however, and turn to this new category of organic, the price tags may give you sticker shock, as you realize it could cost a small fortune to eat everything organic [ironic that you have to pay more to eat the same quality of food previous generations took for granted].
Thankfully the growth of healthy food based supermarkets like Whole Foods, Sprouts, SunFlower Market, and Wild Oats have introduced more volume and competition, which is slowly lowering prices on organic foods like produce and meats. The recent reports of the merger of Sprouts and Sunflower Market will continue increasing competition in the market, which should lower healthy food prices even further in the coming years. Short of living on a farm and raising your own food, this represents the best hope for transitioning to historically healthy food without tapping into your 401k!
If you've done your homework on organic foods and are ready to start incorporating them into your diet, there are some basics that will help you save money while maximizing the impact on your body and your health. Following these simple tips can help you save money and providing a mixed approach to buying cheaper conventional food and supplementing with organic foods where the risks are deemed to be the greatest from a contamination perspective.
When shopping for produce, you can follow a really common sense rule that is actually beneficial: If the skin will be eaten, then buy organic as residues are typically concentrated in the skin versus the inside of the actual fruit or vegetable. For example - buy organic berries, apples, pears, and peaches, potatoes, etc.
If the fruit or vegetable you are eating is something you peel, you can generally buy these non-organic, as the majority of the time the pesticide residues don't penetrate too far into the fruit. Examples of this include oranges, bananas, watermelon, and other similar "peel before you eat" items.
Meat becomes a more interesting, and in some ways more disgusting item to learn about. In conventional beef for example, you're not only getting nice little extras like antibiotic residues and artificial growth hormones, but because they are raised in crowded holding pens and eat a mixture of waste level corn, soy, and other grain products their bodies end up not getting the natural foods they are used to. In fact some studies have shown that cows develop ulcers due to the high level of corn they are fed which was not part of their natural environment years ago.
The problem with these modern meats is the nutritional profile of the meat you are eating is completely different than something link grass fed, pasture raised cattle. The saturated fat, Omega-3s, and vitamin and mineral levels are all screwed up in the "modern" pen raised cows as their bodies don't process what they are being fed very well. Add in the antibiotic and hormones effects and residues and you're now eating something that your body isn't used to processing. If you can afford it, it is much better to purchase natural grass fed beef either through many online farm co-operatives, or from your local health food store like Sprouts.
So hopefully these tips help you get started to eating healthier without completely blowing your budget. Assuming you are increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables as part of a very healthy diet, you now have some basic guidelines to spend the little extra for organic to help get the most value out of the food you're eating. The basic logic and approach around the meats discussed in this article will also help you be smarter about the types of meat you buy as well to balance potential health risks against what you can afford.
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Don't discount fish as part of your plans to eat healthier foods - just be sure it is the right kind of fish and not farmed fish.
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