Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Milk, eggs, cheese, meat, grapes, berries, apples, pears, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and squash are absolutes (meaning we don't eat non-organic). Anything else I just get what's available.

What exactly is the difference between organic and non organic potatoes or cheese? I am honestly asking, not trying to be an ass.

Potatoes are actually a crop with high pesticide residues detectable at the point of purchase, despite being a root. Pesticides are taken up by the plant in a variety of ways and those that are absorbed into the flesh of the plant can't be washed off. That's also true of apples, peaches, and many other fruits.

Many pesticide and herbicide residues are stored in fat, and dairy foods are often high in fat. Pesticide concentrations could also be higher due to the volume of treated food the animals consume, in contrast to a smaller animal with a shorter life span. The organic label also prohibits the use of growth hormones or GMO feed, so if you don't want those things in your food chain buying organic is the only way to know that you have avoided them. There's no labeling requirement on conventional food.

Anonymous wrote:Not very. It's a meaningless term anymore.

It's the most regulated, least meaningless term on a food label. Nice try, though.

Anonymous wrote:We are very careful about what we put in our bodies. All milk is hormone (rBst) free, as is all meat/poultry. All fish is humanely caught. All eggs are organic and we know how the chickens are kept (cage-free) and what they are fed (zero antibiotics or hormones).

All produce is organic, though sometimes we'll let certain foods slide, like bananas, because we don't eat the skin. But definitely the dirty dozen.

It's because of all the hormones in meat and milk that girls are hitting puberty earlier, and because of all the antibiotics routinely given to animals that we eat that humans are becoming antibiotic-resistant.

Considering I didn't hit puberty until 16, this wouldn't have been a bad thing!

Since I found out I was pregnant we definitely are more conscious of what we put in our bodies. My son is 10 months and still breastfed and only eat homemade organic foods.

We buy almost everything organic, especially the dirty dozen. In addition, all dairy, beef and poultry are organic, hormone free and free range/grassfed.

If something is on the dirty dozen list we definitely won't buy it i.e. blueberries and apples.

Yes our grocery budget is high but I think what we put in our bodies is very important and I'll just have to pass on buying that pair of shoes I wanted

Anonymous wrote:Another house not buying organic. I found this funny:
"...because of all the antibiotics routinely given to animals that we eat that humans are becoming antibiotic-resistant"

yeah, it cannot possibly be the over prescription of antibiotics that people actually take themselves.

Wow, that is a very bad assumption.

"Over 80 percent of antibiotics sold in the United States are used in animals." Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/us/antibiotics-for-livestock-will-require-prescription-fda-says.html?_r=1

Great background info: Antibiotic use in animal agriculture http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2672.1997.00280.x/pdf

With the recent research showing that allergies in children are tied to antibiotics in daily exposure (antibacterial soap, antibiotic chemicals in toothpaste, etc), the lingering residue in the tissues of livestock administered antibiotics are a big concern -- they are very likely tied to the explosion of life-threatening allergies in the past 50 years. And that's not even touching on the risks of bacterial resistance (as high as 94% in livestock administered antibiotics).

Don't even get me started on GMOs and the increasing incidence of things like celiac (the non-organic wheat genome is a Frankenstein's monster now). GMOs are a big danger because we don't fully understand how the altered genomes interact with our bodies.

Needless to say, I try to get everything from local farmers with safe practices or organic. Sucks that it's so expensive, but I have a background in the hard sciences and I can't justify spending less when I know the issues surfacing in the research.

10:41 is awesome. Is it more humane to catch a fish with an fishing pole and hook, or with a net?

Yes, we def buy certain foods organic- berries, apples, spinach, etc. We don't find the cost to be too much greater for our income and we shop at whole foods stores anyway so it's not a huge deal.

We buy produce organic at the store of what is available and from farmers' markets. If there are no organic raspberries or available at the market, then we don't eat them that week.

Milk, eggs, cheese, meats, fish, poultry are organic/antibiotic free/etc.

Another house not buying organic. I found this funny:
"...because of all the antibiotics routinely given to animals that we eat that humans are becoming antibiotic-resistant"

yeah, it cannot possibly be the over prescription of antibiotics that people actually take themselves.

We buy pesticide-free, but I could care less about the actual organic label. The only reason I go with organic at times is that it's an easy way to know that the food is free of some of the more toxic pesticides (but note that organic food can be sprayed with any number of organic-certified pesticides!)

We get a CSA box and try to get to the farmers' market at least once a week, which is honestly the easiest way to do this. At the grocery store, I do stick to organic for the dirty dozen but otherwise don't really worry about it. (Except for dairy--we do all organic dairy, though again, it's less because it's "organic"--I don't really care what the cows eat--and more because the label means it also doesn't have hormones, etc.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are very careful about what we put in our bodies. All milk is hormone (rBst) free, as is all meat/poultry. All fish is humanely caught. All eggs are organic and we know how the chickens are kept (cage-free) and what they are fed (zero antibiotics or hormones).

All produce is organic, though sometimes we'll let certain foods slide, like bananas, because we don't eat the skin. But definitely the dirty dozen.

It's because of all the hormones in meat and milk that girls are hitting puberty earlier, and because of all the antibiotics routinely given to animals that we eat that humans are becoming antibiotic-resistant.

I'm all for hormone-free, but most studies point to excess weight and low/no nutrient food as the primary causes of early puberty.

Also, I thought a lot of the problems with hormones in milk are from the cows being constantly pregnant while providing milk, not the added rBst. That is not a problem that goes away by buying organic or from cows not given rBst.

+1.

Still, we buy organic or organic equivalent (small, local farm that isn't certified orginic but uses organic or better practices) for meat, milk, eggs, cheese, and the dirty dozen and if not available, we mostly don't buy it. Other stuff, we buy organic if it is available and non-organic if it isn't. Occasionally if a recipe calls for something, I will buy non-organic, but generally, we just buy what is availablw in organic and looks good and meal plan around that rather than the other way around.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are very careful about what we put in our bodies. All milk is hormone (rBst) free, as is all meat/poultry. All fish is humanely caught. All eggs are organic and we know how the chickens are kept (cage-free) and what they are fed (zero antibiotics or hormones).

All produce is organic, though sometimes we'll let certain foods slide, like bananas, because we don't eat the skin. But definitely the dirty dozen.

It's because of all the hormones in meat and milk that girls are hitting puberty earlier, and because of all the antibiotics routinely given to animals that we eat that humans are becoming antibiotic-resistant.

I'm all for hormone-free, but most studies point to excess weight and low/no nutrient food as the primary causes of early puberty.

Also, I thought a lot of the problems with hormones in milk are from the cows being constantly pregnant while providing milk, not the added rBst. That is not a problem that goes away by buying organic or from cows not given rBst.

Anonymous wrote:We are very careful about what we put in our bodies. All milk is hormone (rBst) free, as is all meat/poultry. All fish is humanely caught. All eggs are organic and we know how the chickens are kept (cage-free) and what they are fed (zero antibiotics or hormones).

All produce is organic, though sometimes we'll let certain foods slide, like bananas, because we don't eat the skin. But definitely the dirty dozen.

It's because of all the hormones in meat and milk that girls are hitting puberty earlier, and because of all the antibiotics routinely given to animals that we eat that humans are becoming antibiotic-resistant.

Same here. It can be a pain, but it is worth the effort/expense to me. That said, I can definitely understand that it is not to others.

I want to be hardcore with the dirty dozen.

It is easy with apples, spinach.

But, I always have trouble finding organic berries of all varieties, as well as organic grapes.

I never buy the 'clean 15' organic.

Anonymous wrote:We are very careful about what we put in our bodies. All milk is hormone (rBst) free, as is all meat/poultry. All fish is humanely caught. All eggs are organic and we know how the chickens are kept (cage-free) and what they are fed (zero antibiotics or hormones).

All produce is organic, though sometimes we'll let certain foods slide, like bananas, because we don't eat the skin. But definitely the dirty dozen.

It's because of all the hormones in meat and milk that girls are hitting puberty earlier, and because of all the antibiotics routinely given to animals that we eat that humans are becoming antibiotic-resistant.

I'm all for hormone-free, but most studies point to excess weight and low/no nutrient food as the primary causes of early puberty.