Sunday, October 28, 2007

going organic made easy

The New York Times had a recent article about what to buy to make the biggest organic impact on your diet. Buying organic produce is usually more expensive, so when price is an issue the following five items are a good rule of thumb to buy organic:
1. Milk
2. Potatoes
3. Peanut butter
4. Ketchup
5. Apples

The potatoes are what surprised me the most. As a kid, my dad planted a lot of these and I saw them grow in our backyard. While they sometimes did get potato beetles, he didn't use pesticide on them because the potatoes underground weren't harmed unless the plant was majorly under potato beetle attack.
Apples, on the other hand, make a lot of sense. My usual rule of thumb is to buy organic fruit when you're eating the peel or it doesn't have a peel - like apples, peaches, blueberries, etc. You can peel the outer layer away on bananas and oranges.
The Times article was based on Dr Greene's (isn't that an appropriate name?) book called Raising Baby Green and he dives deeper into organic food and what to purchase. My favorite item on the list? Bonus item - organic wine. Who says buying organic can't be fun?

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