wellness tips

When it was first suggested to me that I should switch to organic food, my initial reaction was “What, are you crazy? Why would I pay more for fruits and vegetables that will rot sooner and will probably be full of blemishes and therefore unappealing to eat? Surely the pesticides and preservatives can’t be that harmful to human health – afterall most of us are consuming non-organic food and most of us look healthy enough. Surely our government would not allow unsafe food to populate the supermarket shelves. Surely if the fruit and vegetables are washed well, we can wash away the harm.” I did not set foot in a store that sold organic food for probably over a year after the advice was given to me to make the switch.

Slowly over that year, I read or was told other little tidbits of information, which made me think more deeply about the issue. As an example, I became aware that when fields are sprayed, the dirt in which the crops grow is also sprayed, killing off the good bugs in the soil as well as destroying the goodness of the soil itself. If the soil is deficient, the plant will also be deficient. Non-organic produce therefore often has far less nutrition than its organic counterparts. The equation began to shift for me. Hmm – organic produce has more nutrients and no harmful pesticides.

A few months later I went into a store that sold organic produce, and noticed to my astonishment that the organic produce was not covered in blemishes. I bought myself two or three gala apples just to try. When I bit into the apple, I got my second surprise. This apple was the tastiest apple I had had ages! Over the next few months as I incorporated more and more organic food into my diet, I came to the conclusion that generally organic food does taste better. I was feeling good about eating food that was causing me no harm, was more nutritious, and tasted better.

It took a year to change my mindset, and now my thinking has taken a 180 degree reversal. I can’t imagine purposely choosing foods to consume that are coated in poisons and are less nutritious when there is another healthful choice available.