The good news is that many Americans are lingering a bit longer in the produce isle; the bad news is that sometimes, making healthy and sustainable choices can be confusing. Do I buy the organic oranges from California or the non-organic oranges from Florida that only had to travel a short way to get to me? Trying to be eco-friendly while still maintaining a healthy diet doesn’t have to be hard.
Do Your Homework
According to Organic Eating, organic food is grown and processed without the genetic engineering, and without the use of harsh chemicals such as pesticides. It also cannot be grown or processed with antibiotics, preservatives, or fertilizers that are not 100% natural.
Production of organic food not only makes less of an impact on the environment, but it also makes less of an impact on your health. That is why more and more people are educating themselves on where their food comes from and how it is produced, packaged and shipped. There are many brands that are readily available in most grocery stores and offer a wide variety of organic, vegan, and vegetarian food items. Kashi, Morning Star Farms and Stonyfield Farms are three eco-conscious, healthy-food-focused companies that have products available in even the biggest of big box retailers: Wal-Mart.
Organic vs. Local
Once you have decided what brands you trust with your food-buying dollars, there are still other choices to be made. For example, you must decide whether or not it’s important to you if your food has been treated with pesticides. If you buy locally or regionally grown produce at an area farmer’s market, be sure to ask the vendor if they use pesticides, herbicides or fungicides in their production. While those tomatoes may look fresher and juicier, it is important to find out what they went through before they get to your table.
On the same token, grocery retailers such as Fresh Market, Whole Foods Market, and Publix offer a wide variety of organic, natural, unadulterated products, but the distance the food had to go before it reached the store has a lot to do with how eco-friendly it is. Buying produce, honey, eggs, and other food items from your local farmer’s market allows you to support your local farming community and relax knowing that the items spent less than 50 miles of fuel to get into your shopping bags. A side note for the uninitiated about shopping at a farmer’s market: remember to take your own cloth bags and plenty of cash. The payment options are usually quite basic, so expect to leave your cards in your wallet.
Make Friends
Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto urges consumers to grow at least one food item in their own home garden. The best way to accomplish this is by organizing a community produce swap. If your neighbors raise a few rows of squash while you grow tomatoes and your friends tends to a bed of zucchini, you can all swap items at the end of your harvest. This is sustainable, inexpensive, organic, and you’ll know exactly where your food has been.
It’s Not a Wrap
You may also want to make an effort to buy fewer items wrapped in individual bags and bulky packaging. The most eco-friendly container is no container; pick up your produce straight from the bin, not wrapped in plastic bags or presented on Styrofoam plates and shrink wrapped. As mentioned above, you should always bring re-useable bags to the grocery store and farmer’s market—and don’t forget small, mesh bags for produce. Buying a container of pre-cut celery and onions might save you a few minutes in the kitchen, but it requires the unnecessary disposal of plastic and usually costs more than just buying the produce whole.
If you’re up to the challenge of scrutinizing your food purchases, getting into good habits and practicing responsible consumption can make a huge impact in your household and community.
