What if I told you that organic on a budget is actually possible?
I’m Kirstin Nussgruber from http://www.kirstinscancercare.com
I help people with cancer get out of overwhelm by teaching them how to reclaim their lives.
When it comes to our nutritional choices and nutritional habits, a very important aspect is to make sure that the food that we get is nutrient dense – high quality food. – Tweet this!
That food can be a lot more expensive; it’s a factor that prohibits many of my clients from being able to commit fully to buying organic all the time.
I really do understand that. What I want to quickly focus on in this brief video today is to show you that organic on a budget is indeed possible. I also want to highlight though just why quality, pesticide-free food is so important for us.
One of the main reasons why we have to pay attention is that…
Whatever we put into, or on top of, the food we ingest should be something we can absorb without it leading to detrimental health issues! – Tweet this!
Toxins or added hormones or antibiotics or pesticides can bio-accumulate in our body.
Not all of us are able to deal with such an accumulated toxic burden. We are exposed to all kinds of toxins in this modern day living and some of us are able to deal with it fine but many of us just don’t have the capacity to detoxify efficiently.
Our toxic exposure needs to be reduced in areas we have control over. If you are curious to find out how well your body can break down certain toxic waste substances, then genetic testing can determine if you have certain SNP’s (pronounced “snips”) or so-called single nucleotide polymorphisms. These are genetic mutations that can impact how well your body can regenerate, heal, regulate its own metabolism as well as how efficiently your organs function. [1]
If the body is too toxic and cannot detoxify properly then our immune system is affected. This can increase your risk for chronic diseases such as cancer or the many different autoimmune conditions we see being diagnosed on an increasing scale.
An additional point to consider when we are thinking about whether or not to use organic, local or conventional foods is animal welfare. Organic, and many small, local farms treat their livestock more humanely, I recommend you watch the documentary Food Inc. to get an understanding of how conventional meat production compares to more humane ones.
And of course there is the environmental impact our actions have. We are all dependent on this planet to sustain us long term, and we cannot ignore the question what kind of future are we creating for our children. We know by now about the limited resources that we have and about the extent of global warming; we need to become mindful about what we are doing to our environment. Mass farming methods do have a negative impact on the overall sustainability of our planet. Smaller, local farms often offer more sustainably grown and humanely-raised food sources, whether officially organic or not.
Organic on a budget?
If we are experiencing budgetary constraints, there’s a solution when it comes to fresh produce! We can choose to eat select organic food, as here in the US we have information available that could help us to make that decision. The Environmental Working Group EWG (a non-profit organization) provides us with information so that we can make better choices. It has a “Dirty Dozen” list of produce that maintain pesticides the longest and absorb it the deepest, and a “Clean Fifteen” list of those acceptable to eat conventional. If you can only afford to go select-organic, then at minimum focus on the Dirty Dozen (actually a total of 14 foods by now). [2]
When it comes to eggs, here’s what I have found: eating organic and pastured (not pasteurized by the way, there is a difference!) eggs from hens that have been able to run around outside taste so much better, the yolks have a richer orange color, have higher levels of Vitamins A, D and E, and the quality of the fats is higher, as the ratio of the essential fatty acids Omega 6 to Omega 3’s inside such eggs is more favorable. [3], [4]
Eggs from your local farmer’s stand may not necessarily be officially organic but a better choice because conventional poultry farmers often have to use antibiotics in a prophylactic matter just because of the non-hygienic conditions that these mass-farmed chickens are exposed to.
In other words we could be exposed to residues of antibiotics on a regular basis and there is mounting evidence that this exposure can contribute to antibiotic resistance in us humans. This means that when we really need to take antibiotics to eliminate a bacterial infection, their action may not be as effective.[5]
Even on a budget, it pays off long term to choose organic, and/or pasture-raised eggs to ensure a clean, nutrient-dense food source. Check out what is available in your local neighborhood.
We have to be mindful of the meat we are consuming; conventionally raised meats can contain growth hormones and also antibiotic residues. So what to do when on a budget? I like to remind myself that we don’t need to have access to everything all the time. When you decide to buy only high quality meats, you are also deciding that you do not need to have meat as your protein source every single day. Treat meat as a specialty dish, and learn to vary your protein sources by including vegetarian dishes on your weekly menus. Here is a great recipe for you to try.
Alternatively, get together with a group of friends or even family and invest in buying meat in bulk, this is a lot more cost effective, however you do need to have a freezer chest at home. You can find different sites by simply googling “buying meat in bulk”.
That’s really what smart shopping is all about. Try to stay with the highest quality of food that’s available to you. Get help from EWG’ “Dirty Dozen.” Watch informative food documentaries, such as Food Inc. that shows you how conventional meat is actually being produced or raised; that might sway you a little bit towards deciding to focus on high quality meat. Go to your local farmer, he may not have the official organic seal but once again ask what kind of methods do they use to raise their stock. You probably will find a pretty clean product there. And maybe you don’t need to have that meat every single day.
When I drive up to our local farm and I see the hens running around outside picking in the dirt (which is what they are naturally supposed to do), you need to hit those eggs pretty hard to open that shell. It shows that these hens are happy and of course the content of that egg will taste better, have a better color and definitely a better nutrient profile.
We must be mindful what we put inside our body so that we make it strong from the inside out and ensure that it is able to actually fight for us when it is supposed to. More tips on this are found in the downloadable guide below, The Smart Food Shopping Tips.
PS: My Smart Food Shopping Guide is available for you NOW!
Why don’t you take a look as it gives you a couple of tips to become smart shoppers and to be able to create really delicious, scrumptious meals in your kitchen.
Related Article: When Is Conventional OK to buy?
Kirstin Nussgruber, CNC, EMB
REFERENCES
[1] https://www.doctorsdata.com/resources/uploads/newsletters/The%20Standard%204th%20Qtr%202013.pdf [2] https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/ [3] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/renewable-agriculture-and-food-systems/article/vitamins-a-e-and-fatty-acid-composition-of-the-eggs-of-caged-hens-and-pastured-hens/552BA04E5A9E3CD7E49E405B339ECA32 [4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24607306 [5] Landers, Timothy F et al. “A review of antibiotic use in food animals: perspective, policy, and potential” Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) vol. 127,1 (2012): 4-22.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3234384/
