How Eating Organic Food Benefits Your Mind and Body

68% of Americans say they buy organic foods. As you can see, Americans are getting more conscientious about what they put into their bodies, especially what they eat.

Have you never bought organic foods before? Or do you already buy it, but aren't really sure exactly what the benefits of organic food are?

Then keep reading. Here are all the organic food benefits you should know about.

Less Ingestion of Neurotoxins

When you grow any plant, it may become susceptible to pests. To ensure their crops have the best chance of successfully growing, farmers will spray them with pesticides.

While this can help immensely with infestations, there's an unintended result: these chemicals end up in consumers' bodies. In fact, over 90% of Americans have pesticides (or pesticide byproducts) in their bodies.

While the government is expected to regulate pesticide usage, this doesn't mean you're completely safe from them, as is evident in the statistic above. To lower your chances of ingesting these harmful neurotoxins, you should go organic.

Organic crops are grown on soil that is free of prohibited chemicals for at least 3 years before harvest. Organic food is not completely pesticide-free. There are some pesticides allowed that are considered to be less harmful. This is part of the criteria the USDA uses to give foods an organic food label. Farmers passionate about sustainable farming methods are more likely not to use any pesticides at all. So when you buy organic foods, you can have peace of mind that your food is of higher quality than your average non-organic counterpart.

Fewer neurotoxins mean a sharper, healthier mind.

You Won't Ingest Synthetic Hormones or Antibiotics

In normal farming conditions, many farmers try to pack in as many animals as they can in a small space. This means that if any of them are sick, the illness can quickly spread to all the rest of the livestock. Living conditions aren't very sanitary either, which means they'll easily become sick.

As a proactive move, farmers will give their livestock antibiotics to prevent sickness. These can end up in the meat and milk we eat and drink. It's believed that this is a big factor in antibiotic resistance in humans.

In addition, farmers will inject their livestock with hormones so they'll grow bigger and faster. In the instance of cows, they'll also produce more milk.

However, when we ingest these hormones, they can have detrimental effects. For example, it can lead to quicker onset of puberty and certain cancers. Considering we have to eat every day, we can see a huge difference when we're constantly putting non-organic vs organic foods into our bodies.

You'll Get More Nutrients

Organic foods tend to have nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals. Milk is already a great brain food, but by drinking organic milk, you can boost your health even further.

This is because organic foods have more antioxidants in them. Antioxidants are key to our body, as they remove free radicals, which damage our cells.

Eating more antioxidants comes with many health benefits. For example, you'll decrease the chance of getting cancer. In addition, you'll fight aging and will look both younger and healthier.

You'll Eat More Healthy Fats

On a similar note, organic meat and milk have around 50% more omega-3 fatty acids. This is unsaturated fat, which means it's good for you.

The reason why organic meat and milk have more of these omega-3 fatty acids is that the cows are fed a grass diet. In addition, they're allowed to spend more time outdoors in the sun, grass, and wide-open spaces. As a result, they're able to grow stronger and healthier, which results in better meat and milk.

You'll Have a Better Immune System

When your foods are grown completely naturally, your immune system has a better chance of growing strong and healthy.

For example, today, many foods are grown to be genetically modified; these are known as genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). While these foods are helping to solve world hunger issues by yielding more and bigger crops, they may have an unintended side effect. More people are developing sensitivities to allergens, as well as experiencing weaker immune systems.

When you opt to eat natural foods, you're choosing to ingest produce that hasn't been genetically altered at all. That, combined with the higher amounts of nutrients, make organic food a great choice for building a strong immune system.

They're Fresher

Today's society is all about preservatives so our foods can have longer shelf lives. This may give the appearance that the foods you're buying are nice and fresh, but that's all it is: an appearance. In reality, they may have been sitting there for quite some time.

Do you really want to be filling your body with the chemicals that preserve foods for long periods of time?

While organic foods will deteriorate faster, that's actually a good thing. This means that what you seeing is what you're getting. As a result, you know you're buying the freshest product possible.

They're Tastier

Go to any farmer's market and when you cook their produce, you'll notice a world of difference in taste. Organically grown produce is given the proper time to grow and flourish. The result is not only more nutrients, but better taste as well.

When you're able to eat food that sings to your taste buds, you'll feel much happier and will look forward to cooking and sitting down to your meals more.

Reap the Many Organic Food Benefits

Now that you know what the many organic food benefits are, the next step is to start buying organic. While you don't have to immediately replace everything you eat with organic, it'd be highly advantageous to buy organic exclusively.

When you can upgrade what you put into your body, you'll feel a lot better, both physically and mentally. So give it a try; you never know, it may just completely transform your life for the better.

Want to learn more about taking care of yourself?