Going Organic: Spending Less by Gary Hopkins
April, 2016
About five or six years ago I decided to start incorporating more Organic foods into my diet. This was definitely a transition for me. Even though I had managed restaurants for several years and was a pretty decent cook, I had fallen into a bad habit that most of us have these days. I relied heavily on fast or prepared food for most of my meals. ‘Convenience’ literally made me lazy and eventually I found myself not wanting to spend the time or effort preparing meals for myself. In hindsight I realized that living this way really isn’t all that ‘convenient’ when you factor in the time it takes to go get into your car, drive to your destination, place your order, wait for the meal to be prepared, all before you can sit down to enjoy it.
I kept it pretty simple the first 7 or 8 months by committing to just one organic meal a day. My meal of choice was a smoothie since they are easy to make, have many variations to experiment with, and are a great way to start the day with a big nutritional boost. As time went on, one meal a day turned into two, and I started to learn more about organic foods and what I liked and disliked. I also noticed as time went on that my cravings for junk foods started to diminish greatly and I actually started to have cravings for fruits and vegetables much more often than just occasionally like I had previously for most of my life.
Over a couple of years of time I went from 90/100% fast or conventional foods to consistently eating (and enjoying) a 65/75% organic diet. Because of this gradual change over time there were some benefits: my health improved in a lot of different ways, I had lost some weight and just generally felt better most of the time.
As I continued on my casual regimen of eating healthier, there were instances when I would go full Organic for a couple of weeks at a time. I used these short periods of ‘eating clean’ to refresh my system from time to time. Which brings me to why I am writing this article. About a month ago I was feeling a little off and since it was time to go grocery shopping I decided to just buy all Organic fruit/veggies/nuts for a little while just to refresh my system again. The difference this time around was that I tracked how much I was spending.
As most of you know Organic food prices are usually a little more than conventionally grown and GMO foods. Although in the last 5 years, prices have come way down and more grocers are stocking a variety of Organic foods since the demand is on the rise. One thing that is worth mentioning, I noticed that when I eat more Organic foods, I am usually more satisfied and less hungry than I am when eating prepared and/or conventionally grown food. The reason for this is that when your body is satisfied with a strong nutritional intake, your cravings diminish for longer periods of time and it seems to be much easier to be satisfied with smaller portions.
So, after 1 month of eating only organic foods (fruits/veggies/nuts) I spent about 20/25% less money than what I normally spend on food in a month. This blows away the current thinking that eating healthy is more expensive than regular food. Most people do not realize this since they would stop themselves from even trying because of the small increase in price at the register. Without factoring in how your cravings and appetite changes as a result of eating clean, you cannot possibly know for certain until you try it and pay attention to it like I did. Not to mention that the real incentives for eating clean are the health benefits above all else.
Eating Organic food is actually cheaper (not more expensive) than what most people falsely believe and I encourage you to take the time and make the effort to learn this for yourself. Worst case… you will be a little healthier for it.
April, 2016
About five or six years ago I decided to start incorporating more Organic foods into my diet. This was definitely a transition for me. Even though I had managed restaurants for several years and was a pretty decent cook, I had fallen into a bad habit that most of us have these days. I relied heavily on fast or prepared food for most of my meals. ‘Convenience’ literally made me lazy and eventually I found myself not wanting to spend the time or effort preparing meals for myself. In hindsight I realized that living this way really isn’t all that ‘convenient’ when you factor in the time it takes to go get into your car, drive to your destination, place your order, wait for the meal to be prepared, all before you can sit down to enjoy it.
I kept it pretty simple the first 7 or 8 months by committing to just one organic meal a day. My meal of choice was a smoothie since they are easy to make, have many variations to experiment with, and are a great way to start the day with a big nutritional boost. As time went on, one meal a day turned into two, and I started to learn more about organic foods and what I liked and disliked. I also noticed as time went on that my cravings for junk foods started to diminish greatly and I actually started to have cravings for fruits and vegetables much more often than just occasionally like I had previously for most of my life.
Over a couple of years of time I went from 90/100% fast or conventional foods to consistently eating (and enjoying) a 65/75% organic diet. Because of this gradual change over time there were some benefits: my health improved in a lot of different ways, I had lost some weight and just generally felt better most of the time.
As I continued on my casual regimen of eating healthier, there were instances when I would go full Organic for a couple of weeks at a time. I used these short periods of ‘eating clean’ to refresh my system from time to time. Which brings me to why I am writing this article. About a month ago I was feeling a little off and since it was time to go grocery shopping I decided to just buy all Organic fruit/veggies/nuts for a little while just to refresh my system again. The difference this time around was that I tracked how much I was spending.
As most of you know Organic food prices are usually a little more than conventionally grown and GMO foods. Although in the last 5 years, prices have come way down and more grocers are stocking a variety of Organic foods since the demand is on the rise. One thing that is worth mentioning, I noticed that when I eat more Organic foods, I am usually more satisfied and less hungry than I am when eating prepared and/or conventionally grown food. The reason for this is that when your body is satisfied with a strong nutritional intake, your cravings diminish for longer periods of time and it seems to be much easier to be satisfied with smaller portions.
So, after 1 month of eating only organic foods (fruits/veggies/nuts) I spent about 20/25% less money than what I normally spend on food in a month. This blows away the current thinking that eating healthy is more expensive than regular food. Most people do not realize this since they would stop themselves from even trying because of the small increase in price at the register. Without factoring in how your cravings and appetite changes as a result of eating clean, you cannot possibly know for certain until you try it and pay attention to it like I did. Not to mention that the real incentives for eating clean are the health benefits above all else.
Eating Organic food is actually cheaper (not more expensive) than what most people falsely believe and I encourage you to take the time and make the effort to learn this for yourself. Worst case… you will be a little healthier for it.
