You Dirty Food

By no means am I a super health nut. I’m just going to say it truthfully right here. I am working to eat better and live better but it’s a daily change that has to be made and I’m taking it one step at a time. One way that we’re working towards this goal is by choosing the healthy things we put in our bodies. We all love fruits at the Linkous house and many of us like vegetables, too. The hard part here is picking what’s healthy and what’s not. For us, we decided to turn to the dreaded list of the dirty dozen and the clean fifteen. I’ve listed the link below for you:

The Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen Lists

What is the Safest Here?

We’ve found that we can’t afford to buy everything organic. As much as we want to, we just cannot do it. I’m sure many of you can’t do it, either. Here is what we do and how we’re making it work at the Linkous house:

*We pick the things that matter. For us, a few of the fruits and vegetables are important to go ahead and spend the extra money on for the peace of mind it provides. We also focus on what we’re currently eating the most. Those are the things that we feel are the most important to eat healthier. For us, we’ve made our top 5 of the dirty dozen. This is a good way to start your clean eating. Ours are apples (#1), bell peppers (#3), strawberries (#5), grapes (#7), and blueberries (#11). I just thank God daily that some of our favorites are on the clean list (ie: sweet potatoes, sweet corn, cabbage, avocados, cantaloupe, and watermelon to name a few).

*We find sales. It’s few and far between but you CAN find sales on organic produce. You can also shop more health conscious stores like Earthfare and Fresh Market. We are going to visit an Aldi this weekend which has just started carrying a small selection of organic foods. Fingers crossed!

*We find the next best thing. Sometimes we may not be able to budget in and afford organic everything so in these cases we do two things. We shop local. Our Farmer’s Market seriously rocks and is one of the best in a two hour drive. If we can’t find it there or it’s out of season, we just pray. Sometimes trusting that God will take care of the rest gives you a peace of mind. Along with this, we also try to only buy in season that way we can keep to our organic/locally grown process. Okay, so that was three things. Oops.

*We wash everything. A lot of produce, like bananas and melons, have hard shells that surround them and usually keep the nasty stuff out. Now, the downside to that is people who don’t wash their food and when they cut it, they bring those germs and bacteria right into the food that shell was meant to protect. I recommend using a cleaner for your produce before jumping in to it. We do this no matter where we get it.

What About Now?

These are the things that we’ve found work for us and help keep us on track. You can only make changes one step at a time so take it that way and most importantly, enjoy the life you’ve been given! It’s here for only a moment.

What tips do you have when it comes to deciding between organic or not?