Is It A Mistake To Add Organic Food To Your Clean Eating Diet?

Are you one of the many people who are getting great results from eating clean?

It doesn’t matter if your clean eating diet is super strict or even if its pretty loose – you are probably like most of us who like the idea of eating clean. We relish the life energy we get from it.

The feeling of shining inner and outer health that we get from avoiding food additives soon gets us thinking about stepping up the power.

It’s much the same with anything we love doing, isn’t it?

We want more of it and we want to know more about it. That’s how it is with me, anyway.

And the more I read, the more it strikes me how hard it is to avoid cooking and feeding your family on contaminated food… unless you grow it yourself so you can make sure it is growing in clean earth and free of chemicals and other environmental contaminants. And never comes into contact with plastics!

But who has the time, skill and space to be able to do that with all the food you eat? Not me.

So, it’s not long before we start thinking about buying organically grown food. Uncontaminated and more nutritious, right?

Well, it turns out that switching over to organic clean eating because of its greater nutritional value may be a mistake. A mistake you should think about.

Many of my friends want to know about organic foods and clean eating; they want to know if I think it is essential for an authentic diet of eating clean.

They are already avoiding processed foods so why organics for eating clean? You may be exactly like my friends – super wary of anything that might be irradiated or treated to extend shelf-life. They buy fresh local produce but it is that enough… or too much?

Should we all be switching our clean eating over to organic-only?

The Surprising Facts About Organic Food and Clean Eating

Most people seem to accept that organic is better for you than food that is grown using modern farming techniques, but why is that so widely believed?

What does organic actually mean?

If that’s something you’ve been wondering about, maybe it’s time to have a close look at the story behind the image of organic food.

Some of us probably buy organic without knowing the difference between organic food and “regular” food. There’s no real problem doing that if you are doing it simply to look after your health, but there’s a subtle risk when you don’t have a stronger reason for doing it.

The Downside of Eating Organic

You may be surprised when I tell you there is a downside to buying organic. And it’s not price.

Unless your decision to buy organic food is based on sound principles, your commitment and resolve will both fade. And that’s particularly true if you are only doing so because you think organic food is somehow healthier than other food.

After a little while you are likely to tire of paying a premium for organic – especially when you don’t have a strong understanding of exactly why you are doing it.

Without that strong knowledge of the benefits of organic, you run the risk of mindlessly switching back to mass-farmed foods.

And if you think the benefit of organic is all about nutrition, you’re mistaken.

There’s been no scientific evidence that shows organic foods are more nutritious than non-organic. No, the big “why” revolves around a significant negative.

That negative is simply the fact that traditionally-farmed foods harm our bodies. But don’t worry… I’m going to give you some great tips that will save you money, help you avoid food dangers and improve your health and well being.

What’s Wrong With Mass-Farmed Food?

I don’t have to tell you that modern farming methods use ridiculously powerful pesticides to reduce crop loss. We all know they’d use a nuclear bomb on the bugs that eat their crops, if only it would leave a crop they could sell.

That sounds pretty theatrical but you also know they already use radiation to extend the life of picked produce – the food they want us to buy and eat.

And let me tell you, that’s one of the main reasons that drove me to adopt a clean eating lifestyle. To me, losing weight and maintaining a healthy body size is only a by-product to the benefits of eating clean. You may disagree.

We know that food manufacturers use additives and processing methods to extend the life of the stuff they sell. Then they have to color it so buyers can’t see how bad it looks when it gets old.

That’s how they make money.

But it’s not just the big food factories that fiddle with our foods. Farmers also use a vast array of techniques and chemicals to increase yields and to counteract the diseases that result from their interference with natural growth.

Chemicals, lethal pesticides, antibiotics and so on are already in the farm produce before it even leaves the farm.

So, any time we eat that food, all those extra non-foods go into our bodies.

New illnesses and various health issues arose and it became clearer and clearer that we were being harmed by those chemicals.

You and I don’t think it is very smart to keep eating like that, so let’s decide it’s time for a change. Where is the best place to get organic food?

Where To Buy Organic At Safe Prices

These days, most supermarkets have an organic section, but I’ve always found it to be rather small and way too expensive. The problem I find with commercial “organic” produce is that I have to rely on the sellers’ say-so that it really is organic. And I object to plastic containers, too.

You probably know of special health food stores near you that stock and sell organic foods along with other yummy goodies. Those stores are likely to have the widest selection of organic food for you to choose from. Like I said earlier, though, it’ll be a little pricey.

If you’d like to save money (and I know we all would) then there are a few things you can do. First, you’ve got to go for in-season foods. They’re almost always cheaper because they don’t need to travel as far to get to you, which means they can be fresher too.

Second, go for locally grown crops. I like to support our local businesses as much I can; it keeps more money in our community. A lot of good stores carry some locally sourced foods; sometimes the farm is even right down the street from you!

Have you ever been strawberry picking? It’s a lot of fun! You go to the farm and they let you pick your own strawberries right from the plants. You can save some money and it’s a great way to put your kids to work too.

And talking about going straight to the farm, there probably are quite a few around your city, even if it’s small. They give you something wonderful…

Farmers Markets! Clean Eating and Organic

Farmers’ Markets are the holy grail of food shopping. You can’t always buy from one single market since you may need to wait for the seasons to change, but when you can, it’s a goldmine.

You can find a lot of things for half the price of the supermarket or health food store.

The growers get to cut out the middleman, so you get lower prices. You see the biggest difference with organic and free-range foods like beef, chicken, eggs, and produce.

But that’s not all you can do at a farmers market. While supermarkets let you taste test recipes and then sell you the ingredients to make it, farmers will also give you tips and nice clean recipes. They, too, want you to use the produce from their crops, but believe me, they’ll have lots of real life experience and traditional suggestions for you. Organic clean eating recipes and things you can’t get from part-time staff.

Then there’s the fact that a lot of your neighbors and friends will probably be there with you at the farmers market, so it’s a great time to chat and gossip, just like neighborhood shopping was in the old days. If you’re like me, you can’t go shopping without running into someone you know.

If you enjoy eating clean and want to go all organic, then finding the nearest farmers market is a must. It’s like being a kid in a cheap candy store, and if you’ve got kids, you know what that’s like.

I used an analogy earlier about unhealthy diets leading to health problems in the future; I can also use smoking as another example. Cigarette companies are still telling us there’s no harm in smoking!

In both examples we don’t see any immediate effects on us, but we all know they will arise in the future.

That’s why we’re here, trying to eat clean every day so we can be healthier – so we can live our lives longer and take care of our families. If you want to eat clean and avoid processed foods, that’s great, but you still need to be aware of other dangers.

We don’t eat organic food “just because.” There’s a real danger to avoid, laboratory modifications to seeds, fertilization with treated human waste, hormones, chemicals, coloring, preservatives and obscure additives that sneak into processed food.

You will notice the harm these chemicals do to your body eventually, which is why I wanted to educate you on the “why” we eat organic and how you can do it cheaper than you might think.

I wanted to make sure you knew the reasons we eat organic so you can keep your family safe.

Life’s short enough, we don’t need to make it shorter.

If you enjoyed or maybe even learned something useful, please share this article with your friends or visit my site EatingCleanToday.com for recipes and help with eating clean.