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The organic food revolution has come about far slower than advocates of organic eating would have liked. This is so for two primary reasons: firstly, organic food is more expensive than inorganic food, and secondly, it’s more tedious to track down, given it often requires we shop from specialised stores and individual farmers. But even with these challenges, there are still many reasons why you should go out of your way to eat organic. Below are three such reasons.

1. Local farmers really need support

The rise of the nationwide supermarket has meant that the buying power rests with the supermarket chains, and not with the many thousands of small farmers. In many ways, this means local farmers are getting a raw deal and could really use your support to sustain their livelihoods, and families. That’s surely a reason to buy organic, right?

2. Pesticides aren’t good for you

Pesticides are designed to keep pests like insects away, since the insects no doubt realise that they are bad for them. Here’s a secret – pesticides are no good for you either! What’s worse, many pesticides that were once widely used in food have since been banned for being too dangerous only after the fact, so you decide if it is worth the risk. If you buy organic foods, you do away with this risk. If you buy inorganic foods, well…

3. It’s trendy

This reason may seem fickle, in the grand scheme of things, but there’s a worldwide transformation that sees people shifting toward organic and healthy foods, and turning their backs on the chemically processed and enhanced foods we’ve been living off for the last three decades or so. As this trend continues, we may get to a point where there is critical mass such that organic shopping is more affordable than it is now, hopefully forcing the hands of supermarket chains to adopt healthier standards.

In addition to these reasons, organic foods have higher nutrient counts, are cost effective if you grow them on your own, and promote healthy living across the board. If you couple this with healthy cooking, using the likes of steamers instead of oily frying and the like, you can make a radical transformation to your diet in general.

Buy organic foods and take the hit to the pocket, or buy inorganic foods and pretend that this isn’t a change we all reluctantly know we need to make. It’s your call, of course.

Tags: eating healthily, Organic food, organic vegetables