The 411 On Organic Foods

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When I think of organic foods, I think of the words "fresh", "all-natural" and "expensive." I think of Whole Foods, or Whole Paycheck as some call it. Is our knowledge of organic foods correct, in we can assume that all organic foods are expensive? The Plain Dealer You Docs discusses further:

My husband, a chemical engineer, insists that buying alkaline water is "a bunch of hooey." He also says organic food is a waste of money. What do you think?

We think he's kinda right and kinda wrong. He's right about the water. There's virtually no data supporting the idea that alkaline water affects your body's pH in any healthful way. It just changes the pH of your pee and lightens your wallet.

He's wrong -- or mostly -- about organic food. You don't need to buy organic raw chocolate nibs for your cookies (which we hope you're not eating much of anyway). But plenty of fresh produce (which we hope you're eating lots of) is coated with pesticides that pose unique risks to children and aren't so good for you either (think birth defects, nerve damage, cancer). By contrast, some organic, pesticide-free produce has as much as 60 percent more phenols -- powerful, disease-fighting plant nutrients.

You can reduce your exposure to these toxins by 90 percent if you concentrate your organic money on just 12 products: peaches, imported nectarines, strawberries, apples, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce, potatoes, celery, kale/collard greens, domestic blueberries and sweet bell peppers. Their nonorganic versions are so soaked in pesticides that they're known as the "Dirty Dozen."

Read more at The Plain Dealer