There are lots of good reasons to eat organic food: higher vitamin and mineral levels; better taste; no pesticides, hormones or toxic additives. But between cost and availability, it’s nearly impossible to eat organic all the time.

All food, however, is not created equal. Some "non-organic" foods are safer to eat than others. Knowing which are which allows you to spend your organic food dollars in the wisest possible way.

The list below shows the "worst offenders" among fruits and vegetables. If these are not available organically grown, consider choosing safer alternatives that contain many of the same nutrients.

These "offending" fruits and vegetables have thin or no skins and are subjected to commercial-growing regimens that include up to 45 pesticides in the growing season. Toxins permeate all the edible parts of the food and cannot be removed by washing.

The safer alternatives either require far fewer pesticides or have thick skins that keep most of the toxins on the outside. Other relatively safe produce items include: asparagus, avocados, kiwi, mango, onion, papaya and pineapple.

Pesticides – and the growth hormones that are administered to livestock – are fat-soluble and accumulate as you move up the food chain. Whenever possible choose organic salad/cooking oils, dairy products (especially butter, cheese and whole milk), meat and poultry.

If you cannot find, or cannot afford, organic meat and poultry, turkey is said to contain lower levels of growth hormone, and fewer antibiotics, than chicken or beef. The pesticide levels are likely the same, since the turkeys eat food made from commercially grown grains.

Coffee – that staple of life, post-modern ambrosia, costs-more-than-a-gallon-of-gas lifestyle statement Advertisement

[ Chatton and Associates ] – is also a high-risk item. Many beans come from countries with no regulation of pesticides at all.

DDT (which remains very effective against malaria mosquitoes) and other pesticides long outlawed here in the US are still routinely used in developing nations, including many coffee-producing countries.

Just in case you aren’t glued to my columns, with total recall of every pithy point (say it isn’t so!), here’s a quick primer on why pesticides are bad as a dietary staple: most commercial pesticides are "estrogen mimics," meaning the body treats them as an extra dose of female hormone.

Science links pesticides to hormone-related health problems worldwide, including decreased sperm counts; male sexual dysfunction; increases in the occurrence of breast, testicular and prostate cancers; neurological and growth impairment in developing fetuses; and much more.

Supply and demand are our allies for future health – the more organic food we buy, the more farmers and food companies will grow and make. Vote with your dollar for a healthier planet and a healthier you.

Laura Silver works as a Web designer and freelance writer from her off-the-grid straw bale home in Jamul. She is a lifelong "practical" environmentalist with a particular interest in green building and healthy home issues. She can by reached by e-mail at laura@strawbalediary.com.

Resources

• The Daily Green (in the "New Green Cuisine" section): www.thedailygreen.com

• Natural Home magazine ("Organic Food: Good for the Earth and You"): www.naturalhomemagazine.com/March_April-2008/Good-to-Know-OrganicFood.aspx

• CNN Health ("Warning: Avoid Ingesting Chemicals That Mimic Hormones"): www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9608/17/nfm/brit.chem/index.html

• National Resources Defense Council ("Endocrine Disruption"): www.nrdc.org/health/effects/bendrep.asp

• Scientific American (response to a question about estrogen mimics and health): www.sciam.com/health/article/id/is-there-any-conclusive-r