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You Are What You Eat

By Kristie Turck •  Published 04/14/08 •  2 min read

Last updated on August 20th, 2022 at 12:02 am

Before my son was born, you’d be hard-pressed to find me eating anything organic. I ate somewhat healthy before and during my pregnancy, but I wasn’t without my occasional indulgences. Eating out on weekends, candy binges. In fact, I was kind of anti organic. Always feeling like I’m getting screwed somehow, I thought it was a ploy by the grocery store to charge me more money for vegetables.

I’m constantly driving my husband nuts with organic foods. For a long time, he didn’t see the difference. We started buying locally raised beef, while not all organic, are grass-fed and raised without hormones. He started to understand that not all foods are created equal. And then I forwarded him the article about the largest national beef recall, and he was instantly relieved that we ate locally raised beef.

There’s no doubt that eating organic is better for you. Eating foods that are produced with pesticides and hormones can cause long term health problems.

But eating organic is expensive, you say. Yes, it is, but you can choose what’s better for you, via a great guide from the Environmental Working Group with a list of the top 12 fruits and vegetables with the most pesticides. The full list of 43 fruits and veggies is available here. When looking for things like beef, poultry and eggs, try to stay local. Not only are a lot of local farms hormone-free (and possibly organic), but because they’re local, you’re putting more money back into your local community, instead of into the pockets of a large corporate grocery store. You can find local farms through sites like local harvest.

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