Friday, June 17, 2011

New Take on Dirty Dozen

The other day I wrote about the new dirty dozen for 2011 when it comes to buying organic produce. Then, this morning I saw an article on CNN about this issue. I am giving you the link to the article, but I also want to touch on several things from the article that stood out to me:

  • Two of the most vulnerable populations to pesticides are pregnant women and children under the age of 6.
  • One study notes that exposure to certain pesticides in house dust may be equal to or greater than the exposure from food.
  • Pesticides have been found in processed and other organic foods, just much less frequently.
The bottom line of what the author is saying is that she suggests buying organic versions of the dirty dozen for pregnant women and children under six if you can. But the fact of the matter is, the benefit of a diet filled with fruits and vegetables is well-known when it comes to obesity, heart disease, and even certain types of cancer. The author even ends the article by saying, "Buying organic is a great option if you can afford it, but maintaining a healthy weight has far more profound health benefits based on currently available research."

I really appreciated this article because it has been on my mind to start buying more organic produce but I didn't know how important it was. I will probably buy more organic apples since Brianna (2 years old) is the one who eats those in our household. I will just have to play the rest by ear. Buying organic can be expensive but if you can cut down on other areas to make up for it, it could be worth it for your kids.

What do you think about the article? What do you think about buying organic in general?
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2 comments:

Sally said...

I have been buying organic for a while because it is readily available and fairly affordable where I live (through Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, and Costco). I do believe in the health risks and want to encourage organic farming. So if it's reasonable, I will always choose the organic option. However, my budget will not allow for all organic. So I decided I would rather us have a balanced diet than miss out on whole sections of produce because I could only buy the conventional version.

For example, organic berries are very expensive and rare and Ev would eat a million of them. So I buy them organic and frozen for the majority of her consumption (she loves to eat frozen things anyway) and then often serve fresh conventional ones as well.

June 17, 2011 at 10:45 AM
Amanda said...

Thanks Sally! We actually get about 90% of our produce from our local food co-op so personally, I just supplement a little bit throughout the summer. So this issue doesn't really apply to me except in winter months (although I always have a great stock of frozen stuff from the summer!) I think I am going to really start paying attention to organic items when making purchases, at least on produce which is what I'm most concerned about. Thank you for your input!!

June 17, 2011 at 10:16 PM

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