By Kimberly Roberto, Author of Maximized Living Nutrition Plans

A common objection many people have at the thought of buying organic products is the price tag. While it is true that the costs of organic products are indeed higher, it is important to point out that there are longer term consequences and hard costs associated with buying and eating the less expensive, conventional food products. Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with toxins, chemicals, and food that is far from what nature intended. For that reason, attention must be paid to the quality of the food we are consuming. The first step to making any nutritional changes is to cut out the unhealthy foods and replace them with whole, natural, healthy foods. Eliminating the man-made, processed foods from the shopping cart, frees up dollars to put towards organic foods. 

The good news is that it is not necessary to buy ALL of your food with an organic label in order to be healthy. In fact, when it comes to produce, Maximized Living Nutrition Plans provides a list that shows exactly where your money is best spent on organic fruits and vegetables and where buying conventional is acceptable. The list is based on the Environmental Working Groups analysis of a whole host of fruits and vegetables to determine which ones have the lowest pesticide load and which have the highest. The items that test the lowest in terms of pesticide load can be purchased conventionally. However, the items that test the highest for pesticides, the “dirty dozen”, should be purchased with an organic status. This is an extremely helpful list for those on a budget or when specific produce is scarce. 

Grains are much less important than the other categories when it comes to buying organic.  Maximized Living Nutrition Plans recommends only whole, cracked, or sprouted grains on the Core Plan and the elimination of grains completely on the Advanced Plan. Looking at grains, rice typically carries a higher pesticide load than the other grains. Brown rice is an appropriate choice on the Core Plan while white rice should be avoided altogether.   

Knowing which foods should be purchased organically is extremely important because the health consequences of eating foods high in herbicides and pesticides has been linked with toxicities, migraines, allergies, ADD/ADHD, neurological conditions, hormone dysfunction, immune suppression, and cancer. The Environmental Protection Agency’s website even states: “The health effects of pesticides depend on the type of pesticide. Some, such as the organophosphates and carbamates, affect the nervous system. Others may irritate the skin or eyes. Some pesticides may be carcinogens. Others may affect the hormone or endocrine system in the body.”  (1)

According to a 2005 study, measuring the levels of two organophosphate pesticides (malathion and chlorpyrifos) that have been linked to harmful neurological effects, a dramatic decrease was shown immediately after introducing organic food items. “We found that the median urinary concentrations of the specific metabolites for malathion and chlorpyrifos decreased to the nondetect levels immediately after the introduction of organic diets and remained nondetectable until the conventional diets were reintroduced.”  This is encouraging in that changing to organic food has immediate benefits. 

An organic lifestyle is part of building immunity to disease. It’s your job to know everything you can about immunity. Don’t miss this month’s Maximized Living Advanced Talk: Building a Titanium Immune System.  September 19th at your ML Doctor’s Office. 

For a complete food, meal, and recipe program, Maximized Living Nutrition Plans is the most ideal resource there is today.  You can get one from yourMaximized Living Doctor.

<sup>(1) http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/health/human.htm
http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info:doi/10.1289/ehp.8418

(2) http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-04-21-carbon-diet_N.htm</sup>