What is organic living?

Top 10 Tips For Healthy Organic Living

‘What is necessary to keep providing good care to nature has completely fallen into ignorance during the materialism era.’

Rudolf Steiner, Father of Biodynamics Farming

What is organic living?

Organic living is a philosophy of life. It means embracing the whole organic philosophy and making it a part of our everyday life.

Living an organic lifestyle means not only looking after ourselves by reducing toxic chemical consumption but also taking care of the environment in which we live. It is about enjoying a healthy, happy lifestyle that is in tune with the natural world.

When you choose to live organically, you are choosing to be part of a solution providing a sustainable, healthy future for yourself and generations to come. It embraces a sustainable approach in farming, manufacturing and consumption of goods. It ensures that food needs are met, our environment and natural resources are protected, with non-renewable resources being used efficiently and the quality of life for our farmers and the community as a whole is enhanced.

When you buy organic, you are supporting a complete agricultural system that will affect the future of the world around us. It simply means being a more responsible consumer, taking an environmentally responsible and healthy sustainable approach in our lives.

Top 10 Tips For Healthy Organic Living

1) Choose genuine organic products

To ensure genuine organic products, look for the term ‘certified organic’ with the certifiers’ logos. Watch out for misleading labelling such as ‘organics’, ‘natural’ and ‘organically produced’ without any evidence of certification. When shopping for any products, always read the label carefully.

2) Research supply sources

Find a good organic directory. Locate a good local health food, wholefood or organic shop. Buy local and reduce food mileage. Some local supermarkets have also increased their lines of organic products.

Look for websites, mail-order, direct-sale companies and delivery services that sell and deliver organic products. Ask suppliers whether they can provide you with other products as they might not list all the products that they can supply. If you are unsure about new organic products, see if you can get them in sample trial sizes.

Look for local farmers’ markets, box schemes or co-operatives. Organic farmers’ markets sell goods that are certified organic but ordinary farmers’ markets can be just as good.

A local farmer is more likely to use organic methods in that they allow their animals to roam freely, give them chemical-free feeds, avoid the use of antibiotics and growth hormones, use chemical-free, natural pest control and avoid genetically modified crops. A local farmer is less likely to use conventional, intensive farming methods that are necessary to produce huge crops at cheap prices.

If the local farmer cannot provide organic certification, they can usually tell you how the produce was grown. Before organic became a legal definition, many local farmers used organic farming methods.

3) Take small steps

Some people find the prospect of going completely organic overwhelming and too expensive. Living organically does not imply a whole scale lifestyle change.

An organic lifestyle is not an ‘all or nothing’ choice. Take things slowly. You can start to gradually adopt an organic lifestyle wherever you are, and however large or small your budget. It is about adapting your life in a progressive way simply by modifying your habits and routines. It’s easy to implement a few changes that will make a big difference to you and your family’s overall health.

Consider introducing organic products one at a time. Simply buy organic products as you need them. Replace the conventional products one by one with the healthier alternatives. Look at other healthier options before you purchase the products you have always used.

Work out what you can afford, based on the foods you eat most frequently. Choose as much organic food as you can find and afford. Make fruit, vegetables, milk, grain, meat and baby food your first priority.

4) Find ways to save money

We know that organic food costs more because organic farms tend to be much smaller than conventional farms and organic farming is more labour intensive than conventional farming.

The good news is that the cost difference between organic and conventional products is narrowing as demand increases, with larger farms gaining organic accreditation.

You might consider reviewing your overall spend on food and identify areas where you can cut costs and redirect those savings to buy organic food products. Cutting down the amount of pre-packaged, processed meals and unhealthy, conventional snacks and junk foods will save you money. You will feel better and reduce the weekly cost of your grocery bill. Eating more vegetable protein instead of meat will cut down the cost too.

Eat local, seasonal produce as it will be cheaper and more nutritious than supermarket produce that usually spends long periods of time in cold storage. You will get the best flavour when buying in season as it is freshest. Buy organic cereals, grains, nuts and seeds loose and in bulk from a natural foods store rather than purchasing them pre-packaged from a supermarket.

Look for alternative sources of food supply such as a local farmer box scheme of fresh fruit and vegetables, usually delivered weekly or your local farmers’ market to reduce your supermarket requirements and grocery bills. Buying online from home-delivery sources or direct from manufacturers might be cheaper as they frequently bypass one or two links in the supply chain resulting in lower overheads. You will gradually learn how and where to get the most affordable organic products.

5) Choose a natural way of living

Whether you are caring for your body, choosing your food, cleaning your house or tending your garden, moving towards an organic way of life is about living well and caring for the environment.

If you are unable to source genuine organic products, you should choose products that are as natural and environmentally friendly as possible. Unfortunately this is easier said than done. In today’s market the term ‘natural’ does not carry the same meaning that we are all familiar with.

Many companies deceptively market their products as being ‘natural’ when in most cases they are far from natural in the true sense. Food labelling standards allow products that use the word ‘natural’ to contain a minimum of only 1% of ingredients derived from natural sources. It is extremely important to understand this when choosing products labelled ‘natural’ as almost certainly they will be far from being truly natural.

6) Choose natural fabrics

Replace fabrics with certified organic cotton or hemp as they come up for renewal. There are many certified organic clothing, bedding and towels now available. Beware of many so-called ‘natural’ fabrics that have been processed using a myriad of toxic chemicals. Some of these fabrics are derived from plants grown with pesticides and extracted using processes that have negative impact on our environment.

7) Choose a chemical-free home

Educate yourself on the dangers of the chemicals found commonly in many products you use. Consider the cleaning products in your cupboard and decide what you really need. Do the same with your personal hygiene, toiletries, body care and cosmetics.

Choose those without harmful synthetic chemical ingredients and read the labels carefully. Experiment with natural alternatives. You will be surprised how well they work, even without the long list of ingredients that are so commonly found on conventional chemical-laden products.

8) Grow an organic garden

Start a compost heap. It offers a great way to reduce and recycle waste and a natural means to fertilise your garden. Use organic seed, natural pest control and fertilisers. Before long, you will be picking fresh produce from your very own organic garden. Not only will you save money, you will be amazed at how much better it tastes when compared to produce that has been picked and stored months before it appears on the shelves in the supermarkets.

9) Spread the news

Share your positive benefits of an organic lifestyle with your family and friends. This will encourage more people to adopt the organic lifestyle and increase the demand for organic food and products. The benefits of increased demand will help our organic farmers and also reduce our costs, encouraging a healthier way of living for all.

By choosing organic foods, skin care, household products and adopting organic methods in your garden and around your home, you will be helping to encourage the demand for products that consider our welfare as well as the biodiversity of the planet.

10) Watch out for pitfalls

The unhealthy organic product movement is on the rise as manufacturers jump on to the organic bandwagon.

Products such as chocolates, cigarettes, soft drinks, cookies, biscuits, cakes, tinned foods, sweets, snacks and wines are all available organically. It is absolutely possible to have an unhealthy organic diet. If your diet is based on refined foods, you will not be getting the nutrients you need for good health. These products do not encourage your body to function at its optimum level as they lack the essential vitamins and nutrients your body requires daily.

Eating organic treats means that you have less exposure to chemicals but they should not replace fresh and healthy organic produce.

Whether you smoke organic cigarettes or not, you will still be exposed to the risk of developing lung cancer and other illnesses associated with smoking. You will only have reduced exposure to toxic chemicals associated with the conventional brands.

The basis of health is the same, whether you choose organic or not. An organic diet is only healthy if it contains all the elements of a healthy, balanced diet.

‘The key is to live simply.’

Ed Begley, Jr