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Shopping for an Organic Food Diet

Whether your goal is weight loss, weight gain, or simply maintaining a healthy lifestyle, an organic food diet offers many benefits. Even if going fully organic isn’t possible for you, it is still beneficial to eat organic food whenever possible.

What exactly is organic? Organic foods are produced without the use of most synthetic chemical pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. Organic meats come from animals that were raised without being given growth hormones or routinely being treated with antibiotics. Animals raised organically are also generally treated more humanely.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) controls organic certification in the U.S. In order to be certified as organic, the land on which the food is produced has to be documented as being free from chemicals, usually for at least three years. Sewage sludge is not allowed as fertilizer in organic fields, and genetically modified organisms do not qualify as organic.

Local farms and farmers’ markets are great sources for organic foods. Grocery stores and even Wal-Mart stores have begun to carry organic foods, including produce. It is particularly important in these venues to verify that only certified organic foods are represented as organic.

Foods that are processed can be labeled as organic if the required percentage of ingredients is organic. This means that while the organic version would be desirable over its nonorganic counterpart; wise shoppers still must read labels.

There may be additives in processed foods that not only are not organic, but also not desirable for other reasons as well. The USDA has produced a seal that shows either 100% organic content, or simply, USDA Organic, which means the contents must be at least 95% organic.

Like all things mass produced, commercially grown foods are less expensive than organics, but have less nutritional content, in addition to having the harmful additives that in most cases cannot be completely removed even with thorough washing attempts.

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