Eat Healthy Monday

Today’s Tip: Stick to your budget while eating organically.

How? Read this wonderful Checkout Line post from Gristmill:

Dear Lou,

With the economic crunch, how is it going to be possible to afford healthy foods for my family, especially organics? It’s not like I can go foraging in the medians of the major roadways.

Karl from Southern California

Dear Karl,

I’m not going to lie to you: Sticking to your budget while eating organically is going to take some work. But I can already tell that you are up for the task. You not only have the good sense to want high-quality food for your family, but you also know enough to stay out of the rubble and shell casings of Southern California’s freeway medians.

I have a good feeling about you, Karl. Together, we can circumnavigate the perverse food system that is making many good Americans fall prey to the so-called recession diet, which amounts to buying off-brand marshmallow cereal. (Sigh.)

So, let’s roll up our sleeves (not that you need them where you live) and get to work.

Read Lou Bendrick’s great answers in Checkout Line: Lean, green eating machine – How to maintain a green, healthy diet on a budget on the Gristmill blog.

One that I particularly liked (they are all great suggestions!) -

Perform organic triage. Do the pesticides bother you? Hormones in conventional meat? The treatment of animals? J.D. Roth, founder of the blog Get Rich Slowly advises: “Prioritize based on your own values and focus on those areas where organics make the most sense to you.” Roth says many of his readers put organic milk at the top of their lists. Me? I’ll sometimes buy conventional produce (and scrub it) if isn’t on the Environmental Working Group’s “dirty dozen” list.