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Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers
organics and safe food
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Anonymous
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Yikes,
I can't afford to safely feed my child. The prices for organic fruits and veggies are outrageous! Organic milk is twice as much as "conventional" milk. It's a shame that my children will live a few years less because I feed them fruits and veggies that have been treated with chemicals (I do rinse them) |
Anonymous
| Honestly I think the best reasons for going organic don't have to do with the health and safety of your family from consuming the food, but from the health and safety of the ecosystem and the people growing the food, so I would consider the fact that your children have access to a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to be a blessing and not worry about the effect of any pesticide residues on them. |
Anonymous
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Don't worry! Regular fruits and vegetables are safe, as is regular milk. I won't begrudge anyone who has a preference for organics, but I have seen no long term studies showing a linkage between an organic diet and reduced incidence of disease or increased longevity.
The best thing you can do for your children in this area is to help them form healthy eating habits, which includes a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. If they can do this and avoid heart disease, obesity, and diabetes, they are far better off than the average person regardless of whether they shop at Whole Foods or Safeway. |
Anonymous
| What I try to do is buy organic fruits and vegetables that have the highest pesticide content; and then buy regular/conventional food with low amounts of pesticides. It's one way to reduce the pesticide you ingest without having to spend a fortune. Costsco and Walmart has organic milk with much lower prices than a regular grocery store. |
Anonymous
100% agree w/ this PP. If it really bothers you, OP, buy organic version of the fruits & veggies you eat tons of that are on the list of those that get more pesticide exposure. Forget the organic milk, which cannot even be tested to show a difference between organic & regular - that's how safe the regular milk is. |
Anonymous
Is this a widely-held belief? That eating "organic" food increases lifespan? |
Anonymous
Do you have a research link that sites this is true? My friends child has some pre-puberty issues and the first thing the doctors and specialists did was make sure the child was not drinking regular milk. There are indeed hormones and antibiotics in non-organic milk. Whether or not it has a negative effect on everyone remains to be seen but it is indeed there. |
Anonymous
Much of the non-organic milk now also has no hormones. I get mine at Trader Joes for $3.69/gallon. Safeway also has non-organic milk with no hormones. |
Anonymous
| I am totally into organic foods too and can't afford to buy them anymore. FWIW, studies show that eating lots of fruit and vegetables increases lifespan even if it's unorganic. In other words, it's still better to eat unorganic fruit and veggies than no or little fruits or veggies at all. I draw the line with unorganic milk. My friend's sister works in a daycare, and she has seen small kids in diapers with pubic hair. I'm sure it's the hormones in our food. |
Anonymous
| Consumer reports has a really great breakdown of which foods you should try whenever possible to buy organic and which don't make a big difference. They separate it into foods that you should always try to buy organic, foods that you should buy organic if price is no issue, and foods that it really doesn't matter. In general, it seemed to me that the foods on the first list were those that had the thinnest skins (thus the pesticides could enter the food most easily). The big offenders: tomatoes, grapes, apples, peaches, and there are about a dozen more. They also put milk as well as meats on this "buy organic" list because of the hormone issue. Fruits and veggies with thicker skins are more resistant -- like bananas and melons. |
Anonymous
This is exactly what I do. I have also read that it is most important in the first two years of a child's life to minimize the amount of pesticides ingested. It is also important for you to do this while pregnant. Otherwise, I don't worry about buying organic so much for the adults in the house, but if it's affordable, I do it for the dirty dozen (strawberries, apples, peaches, potatoes etc.) for the kids. In terms of buying meat, I don't worry so much about organic for beef for example as I make sure that the cows are fed a vegetarian diet only. Sometimes Whole Foods actually has a huge sale on organic fruit or vegetables so you can get lucky and find cheap stuff there too. |
Anonymous
Just to add to this, I actually carry a list of the "dirty dozen" in my wallet so when I shop I can easily refer to it. BTW: Trader Joe's has milk that is not organic but the cows are not treated with hormones. |
Anonymous
| What's the dirty dozen? I'd like to carry a list, too. |
Anonymous
| Printable guide is here: http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php |
Anonymous
| Does anyone know if it makes a difference when you peel those fruit that are high in pesticides? Does peeling remove the pesticide? |