How to Know When to Buy Organic

Organic foods, those foods that are raised or grown without pesticides, are becoming more and more common. Knowing when it pays to buy organic to reduce your exposure to pesticides and when to save your money is an important skill for safeguarding your health and your pocketbook.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Evaluate your circumstances. If you are pregnant or raising a young child, it may be best to buy organic foods. Your finances will play a role too, since organic foods often cost 50% more than nonorganic foods.
2. Memorize the "dirty dozen." The US Department of Agriculture has determined that, even after washing, these fruits and vegetables consistently carry much higher levels of pesticides than their organic counterparts. Nectarines top the list, which also includes apples, bell peppers, pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach and strawberries.
3. Choose organic meat, poultry, eggs and dairy. You'll probably pay double the price of nonorganic for these items, but you'll avoid potential toxins found in nonorganic feed. You'll also reduce your exposure to the hormones and antibiotics that are used in traditional farming.
4. Buy organic baby food. Although pesticides and heavy metals are kept to a minimum in all baby foods, it's best to buy organic because developing bodies are especially vulnerable to toxins.
5. Skip the organic seafood. The USDA has not yet developed organic certification standards for fish, so it can be labeled organic even if it contains contaminants such as mercury and PCBs. In fact, California law now prohibits the use of organic labeling on seafood until state or federal standards are established.

Tips & Warnings

• Buying your organic produce, meat or eggs from local farmer's markets or farms will help you to save money.
• Read what you can about organic foods. Scientists are learning more every day about what pesticides and other chemicals can do to our bodies, so it's important to keep up to date.
• Don't buy organic cosmetics because you think they are safer. The USDA claims that organic cosmetics follow the same standards as organic food, but Consumer Reports found that many products with organic labeling contained unsafe ingredients.