To Be Or Not To Be Organic

To be organic or not to be is the million dollar question in our home. The birth of my son prompted me to be more responsible in my eating habits.

My first step was to cut out processed foods and to start using my kitchen as a place to cook and not just reheat the meals. I started to save several dollars on my grocery list and the food actually tasted better. Sure, I had some really aagh meals but I learned from my mistakes and everyone seems to be complimenting me on my culinary skills. Justin, my son, was to be born in a home that only used the finest ingredients, where everything was made by my own hands. Little did I know that this was just the beginning and the research process on excellent high nutritional food would be a struggle.

I was a smart consumer, I read the back of packages and tried to buy home grown produce and products made in my country. I stayed away from food colouring in my food and would seldom bend to the marketing wizards out there. Wrong, how wrong I was. The marketing wizards caught me by placing magical words on their products, such as natural, wholesome... The ingredients listed on the packages were not foreign, unusually long chemical names. My purchases used simple ingredients such as flour, sugar, baking powder, dehydrated vegetables..., the list goes on. I knew the difference between organic and non organic. Organic is grown without pesticide and non organic is grown with the aid of pesticide.

Back to the computer and books to find out the real truth between organic and non organic. Most of the grocery stores I would go to only sold natural, fresh from the farm produce. What they failed to inform us, is that these products are grown with the aid of pesticides. They neglect to label the pesticides used for each product or the possible side effects caused by that chemical. As well, there is no literature on how to properly clean the vegetables to reduce the pesticide residue. The only literature says to wash all produce thoroughly before using raw or cooked. Are they serious? Wash it under water and wow! magically it is nutritional vegetables. I had a revelation a couple of weeks ago on my eating habits and I am making conscious choices. I am no longer believing the ads, until I have thoroughly researched the information.

Back to the question, organic or not. I chose organic and only organic. You may say the biggest con is the expense. That is a big problem because many of us are on a tight budget and introducing organic to the family is an expense we can do without. If you think your income is not sufficient - Think again. I am a stay at home mom with one child living in a one bedroom home trying desperately to save for a home, to give me the luxury to harvest a garden. Organic is a difficult transition but one that is well worth the heartache.

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