Greener diets are easy to incorporate if you know which choices matter most

 

BY STEPHANIE DROSTE-PACKHAM FOR GREENING OF OIL

In today’s world, to eat right you’ll have to spend more than dollar-menu prices. Organics are a great idea, but it can sometimes cost up to 30 percent more than its “conventional” counter-apple or carrot.

Going organic is one of the easier steps toward living sustainably, but not everyone can afford to put the word “organic” in front of all items on the grocery list. So if you’re like me, and fall under this category, pick just a few items to buy organic to start.

(Start the conversation. See comments section at bottom of page)

How to choose

When you’re deciding what to buy organic, think of the things you use the most. The EPA says “some pesticides’ residues collect in fat,” so try to think about foods that are animal products or byproducts or otherwise have fat in them, like peanut butter. Also think about foods that would be directly in contact with chemicals, like fruits and veggies, that also have absorptive skin that can collect the insecticides, rodenticides, herbicides, fungicides and antimicrobials the EPA says are used in their production. That’s right.

The big guns

If you eat meat, go with the Big O (for “Organic.” Get it?).

Animals are at the top of the food chain so they concentrate chemicals from their diets in their fatty tissue. They collect the pesticides from what they eat, and the hormones they are given to help their muscles develop faster. The Union for Concerned Scientists reported that meat producers feed healthy chickens, cows, and pigs 25 million pounds of antibiotics, which accounts for 70 percent of U.S. total antibiotics production. In short, buying organic meat is the most bang for your buck.

Another product to make the switch should be milk. Milk is a fat-based byproduct of the aforementioned hormone and antibiotic-filled bovine, so switch to organic, especially if your kids are drinking it in large quantities. A report on the USDA Web site urges The 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee to amend their annual Dietary Guidelines for Americans to list the “contaminants found in milk (which) include antibiotics, pesticides, PCBs, and dioxins.” With that kind of guest list of contaminants, I’ve opted to shell out the extra dollar or two. And surprise of surprises: organic milk has a shelf life that is actually up to three weeks longer than conventional milk. I was so surprised, I took a picture (on Jan. 10) of the two milks and their corresponding prices and expiration dates. Sweet deal!

A personal choice

After you switch those two hot ticket items (meat and milk) to the organic side of your list, the rest of your choices will be more personalized. I buy organic fruits and vegetables when I can because their thin outer membranes are easily penetrated by pesticides, and I eat them every day.

According to Greg Horn’s Living Green: A Practical Guide to Simple Sustainability, “Banana plantations use up to 20 times more pesticides per acre than crops grown in industrialized countries ... (and) that shiny apple has a wax coating that locks in the pesticides and makes them very difficult to wash off.”

The best scenario would be if everything was pesticide free and we all felt safe everywhere every day. But that’s not our reality. However, we can create our own feeling of well-being by making simple choices every day, like what we feed ourselves and our families. Even if you can’t go all the way organic, switching just a few items on your grocery list is better for the environment, and better for you.

About Stephanie Droste-Packham

Droste-Packham has been studying environmental sociology at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville since 2006 and will graduate in May.

After completing an internship with the Student Conservation Association in Rocky Mountain National Park as a sophomore, she moved to the small, French island of Reunion to study and teach.

Through her experiences, she has found that most everyone appreciates and wants to protect our environment, but it's often difficult to find the hows and whys of the do's and don'ts. She loves finding answers, and the more complex the problem, the better. After graduation, her goal is to find an outlet to educate and to learn in every moment thereafter.

Contact Stephanie Droste-Packham at sdpackham@gmail.com