What should I buy organic?

What is organic?  Does it cost more?  Is it worth it?  Why should I pay more? Will I get more nutrients if I buy organic? How does it impact the environment?  If I don't buy organic, does that mean my food is not safe? Am I harming myself and/or my family?  These are all questions I have asked myself and my guess is you have too. The world of organic can be complicated and confusing to say the least and applaud yourself for diving into the complexity.  Today, I will simplify and focus on safety of food and provide you with a couple of tools to guide you while shopping the grocery store aisles.

Avocado #4225 - Non-Organic

First, where do you start? Well, when you pick up a piece of fruit or vegetable it sometimes has those little stickers, right? They are called PLU, price look up, codes and have a purpose other than getting you through the check out line quicker.  According to Consumer Reports, the PLU codes tell you whether or not the produce is organic, conventional or GMO(Genetically Modified Organism). PLU codes are not mandatory  so you may not always find them, but look for these codes when you do...

• 4 digit PLU codes starting with "3" or "4" means conventionally grown
• 5 digit PLU codes starting with "9" means organic
• 5 digit PLU codes starting with "8" means GMO

The next question now is which foods do you buy organic? There are such extreme answers to this question but I recommend the balanced approach of starting with a few and gradually adding more.  An incredible advocacy organization called Environmental Working Group has done the research and provided us with two lists, Dirty Dozen Plus, most contaminated produce, and the Clean Fifteen, least contaminated.  By using these two lists you have the answer of which foods to buy organic and those that you don't have to worry about quite yet.

DIRTY DOZEN PLUS

Apples. Bell Peppers. Blueberries. Celery. Cucumbers.  Grapes. Lettuce. Nectarines. Peaches. Potatoes.  Spinach.  Strawberries. Green Beans. Kale/Greens.

CLEAN FIFTEEN

Asparagus. Avocado. Cabbage. Cantaloupe. Corn. Eggplant. Grapefruit. Kiwi. Mangoes. Mushrooms. Onions. Pineapples. 

Sweet Peas. Sweet Potatoes. Watermelon.

With the PLU code breakdown and the downloadable guide  for the Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen to post on the fridge you now have two extremely useful tools to successfully navigate the grocery store.