When I went home last weekend my family sat down at the table for an organic chicken dinner. My mom had never encouraged me to eat organic foods before, but one of her friends told her organic chicken tastes better. I have to say it tasted good, but I’m not so sure I could tell the difference.

Organic food stores have been popping up all over the country. Whole Foods, Wild by Nature and Syracuse’s Natur-Tyme are just a few of them that specialize in organic foods and stress optimal health.

‘Non-organic foods are treated with toxins such as chemicals and pesticides,’ said Susan Scholl, a faculty member of the Department of Health and Wellness at Syracuse University.

But eating organic comes at a cost, and many people aren’t interested in paying the extra money. Proof is in the fact that the organic food store located in my hometown rarely has a full parking lot.

‘I think it’s important to pay more, but I don’t think we should have to,’ Scholl said. ‘Myself and others are willing to pay more to avoid contamination of fertilizers and pesticides, but as the public demands more organic foods, farmers will respond by bringing down the prices.’

Most of the stores that specialize in organic food also cater to special lifestyle diets. Natur-Tyme sells organic foods in addition to products for vegans and people on gluten-free and wheat-free diets.

There are many reasons to make the choice to leave the chemicals and go all-natural. Foods like peppers are good sources of vitamin C, but when they are grown with pesticides the vitamins do not make it into the end product. Organically raised cows don’t produce milk with the potentially harmful antibiotics and growth hormones that other cows give off in their milk.

Eating organic is also better than consuming the genetically modified foods that are easy for farmers to produce. Bananas, green beans and corn are all foods that get loaded up with chemicals and, according to kidsorganic.com, peaches have the highest rates of illegally applied pesticides in them.

Apples are one of the best foods to eat organically, because apples are typically grown with poisons that are used to kill pests and grow alongside funghi.

‘A banana isn’t necessary to buy organic, opposed to an apple, which is,’ Scholl said. ‘Pesticides would still be on the skin of an apple after you wash it, so it would be an excellent choice to buy organic.’

The skin of an apple is one of its most nutritious parts, so having to peel off the skin makes the apple lose part of what really makes it healthy.

The kinds of foods that are best to buy organic are the kinds that have an outer layer you are going to eat, Scholl said.

Since there’s barely a difference in taste, you might as well forget the pesticides. If you can afford to splurge on organic foods, the health benefits will be worth it.

Rebecca Toback is a sophomore magazine journalism major and the health columnist. Her columns appear every Thursday. She can be reached at rltoback@syr.edu.

Published on September 30, 2009 at 12:00 pm