Going Green; Don't be Naive

It's fair to shop for organic or natural if that's what you want.

A couple things to consider, if something is actually organic or natural, whatever those terms are supposed to mean, is it actually better?   Maybe, but a lot of the time there is no additional nutritional benefit to organic foods.  There are some exceptions. Strawberries and blueberries when grown organically have been shown to contain more antioxidants and slightly more vitamins.  The organic strawberries also had longer shelf life than conventionally grown.  There are fewer pesticides on organic fruits and veggies so if that's a concern for you organic makes sense.

The largest benefits come from choosing whole foods over processed foods, not from choosing organic over conventionally grown.  You're better off buying dry beans and cooking them yourself rather than buying canned bean soup, as most canned soups are super high in sodium and may have added sugars and fats for flavouring.

Making your own dinner from scratch tastes better and is more nutritious than buying a processed frozen dinner.

That's food, what about products like diapers, shampoo's and cleaning products? Can you trust the label that says "organic" and or "natural"?

CBC's Marketplace busts a few companies who's "natural" and "organic" labels don't represent what you might think they do.

Check out the link

CBC - Videos - /

PS

What do I buy personally?  I always buy the big container of organic spinach.  Why?  It's cheaper than the other spinach.  It pays to buy in volume.

When organic broccoli is the same or cheaper price than regular I buy organic, otherwise I buy regular.  Organic broccoli is on sale often.

I'll only buy organic strawberries.

I buy local unprocessed honey directly from the bee keeper/ honey guy (Winnipeg MB) (John Russell Honey)

When I don't make my own bread I buy organic because it has no artificial sweeteners or flavours. I don't like the idea of fake stuff in my food.  If you can't make your product without fake stuff, then your product doesn't measure up on it's own- that's my opinion.

I look for food products with no or minimal processing, no trans fats, low sodium, and no artificial flavours or colours.  Most of what I eat is whole foods.