Surprising Things You Don't Have To Buy Organic

By now, we all know there's a benefit to buying some stuff organic. But these days you're faced with the option of getting everything organic -- from fruits and veggies to mattresses and clothing. You want to do right by your body, for sure, but going the all-natural route en masse can be pricey.
So we wondered: What's really essential for our health?

Last week we posted 12 Things You Should Definitely Buy Organic. And here are a few things you don't have to worry about.

1 of 5

Avocados

1 of 6

First Slide

Previous Slide

@

You're pretty safe with fruits and vegetables like avocados, which have a thick skin that you don't eat. Just remember to wash the peel before cutting into them to get rid of any residue. More from Health.com: 11 Things It's Best to Buy Organic Ultimate Organic Wines America's Healthiest Grocery Stores

MSNBC Lineup

Syria Bombing 3/6 (CLONED)

Bruce Beresford-Redman

Arizona Tornado 2010

You're pretty safe with fruits and vegetables like avocados, which have a thick skin that you don't eat. Just remember to wash the peel before cutting into them to get rid of any residue.

More from Health.com:
11 Things It's Best to Buy Organic
Ultimate Organic Wines
America's Healthiest Grocery Stores

comments(369)

Total comments: 369 | Post a Comment

1 of 6

This Food

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

Not Surprised Quite Surprised

• 
  1
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  6
• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  10

Top 5 Foods

loading...

Top 5 Foods

UserName

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Top User Slides

← Prev|Next →

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Users who voted on this slide

← Prev|Next →

loading...

Comments

[AnonymousHuckster]

07:51 PM on 04/20/2011

"You're pretty safe with fruits and vegetables like avocados, which have a thick skin that you don't eat."

This article is very ill informed. Buying organic isn't just about pesticides and other junk that get on the skin of fruit. It's about fertilizer, the things that get INSIDE the fruit, sustainability of the crops and the land, and the health and welfare of the farmers and pickers.

[Eyeful]

04:19 AM on 04/03/2011

Ironic that slide #3, a frozen strawberry, is used as an example for an article titled "Surprising Things You Don't Have To Buy Organic". Strawberries contain more pesticides than just about any other produce and should be purchased as organic.

[maggie15]

06:18 AM on 03/31/2011

very few of the people commenting on this site really know anything about where their food comes from. The world cannot survive on organics alone. It might work for the wealthy who can afford to go to their local health foodie store or an occassional farmers market on a Saturday morning. Besides, the minute amounts of pesticide residue that may be detected on veggies and fruits have been thoroughly tested over years. THe stuff that organic growers apply to their produce has never been tested. If you don't believe that, then ask yourself, "how does that organic farmer control those bugs, worms, diseases that attack his crop"? And regarding organic cotton, the dirty little issue they never talk about is the child labor issues in those countries. Who do you think pulls those weeds and picks the worms off the plants? Grow up and lighten up.

[jetle25]

11:05 AM on 04/08/2011

Control bugs and disease? WORMS?! I think its funny you wrote worms because they are extremely beneficial to soil health. Ever heard of a compost worm bin? Its obvious you've never met an organic farmer or asked them about their practices. A diverse farm has habitat for predatory insects which control pests. Along with beneficial plants that deter insects and a healthy plant is less susceptible to disease. But you would need good soil right? A diverse, close to wild ie. organic farm is resilient, disease resistant etc. Pesticides and Herbicides kill beneficial insects, microbes and weeds. Plus a lot of weeds are edible and medicinal. Dandelion?! You know HorseTail Grass is a weed but if made into a tea and sprayed on veggies it prevents fungus and mold growth? You should watch a couple of documentaries about the ill effects of pestices "Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution". Really heartbreaking stories of cancer, miscarriages, and deformities. Granted the USDA organic label can be better. There are plenty of farmers, permaculturists, biodynamic farmers that don't create poisonous monocultures that seep everything into the ground water we drink, destroy fertile topsoil, etc etc. All driven by fossil fuels. Organic is what nature intended. Its lived 4.54 billion years. I think she knows what shes doing. Maybe we can learn something. Down with Agribus.

[Evan Fox]

07:40 AM on 03/23/2011

Doc - These organics may not be from a poor country - but, they are usually from the united states. So i would say buy American and buy healthy: Organic.

I do agree some things do not need to be bought organic; however, the second thing i do not agree with on this article is the frozen fruits. You should always buy your strawberries and berries organic. It is not the fact that they are in a plastic bag that you should worry about - but the harmful chemicals they spray the fruits with before packaging.

[Vanessa Ingraham]

01:37 PM on 03/23/2011

Agree!! Blueberries in particular have over 13 different chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, fungacides) sprayed on them... similar case with strawberries, because of the little holes/seeds it is impossible to clean them properly, and of course their thin skin means that any topical chemicals permeate the entire fruit.

[Doc Wattson]

05:59 AM on 03/23/2011

If you want to help poor countries DON'T buy anything organic. The more organic food is supported the more farms stop producing cheap food to sell to the masses and make expensive food to sell to the rich. The increase cost of food has been devastating for many poor countries.

[Vanessa Ingraham]

02:05 PM on 03/23/2011

The farms that produce "cheap food" often do so by setting up in poor countries (due to lax labor and environmen­tal policies), and then persuading subsistenc­e farmers to grow cash crops for rich countries (banana's sugar cane etc) which then renders those countries which used to produce their own food dependent on others...i think this is more of a problem than organic food prices enticing farmers to ditch convention­al produce.

BY supporting big convention­al (and sometimes even big organic farms) you may also be supporting underpaid, many times underage, workers without access to health care benefits and exposing them to chemical fertilizer­s and pesticides (which on farms outside of the US may not be regulated or have been banned in North America).

In addition increased cost of food is many times related to rising costs of other commoditie­s such as oil.

Sorry i fail to see your rational that organic food with devastate poor countries. I am however open, so please elaborate. Interestin­g perspectiv­e though....

[JohnBoy32]

05:54 AM on 03/23/2011

This is such an irresponsible and misleading article. I don't understand why HuffPost would publish it.

[Jim Shaffer]

05:51 AM on 03/23/2011

Do yourself a favor and buy as much organic as you can find. GMO's and chemical fertilizers are everywhere. Or you can trust the FDA and the greed of big Ag. As a househusband with 3 kids and many years of experience I've found that the extra effort and cost is always rewarded by better tasting food. Fresh is the key, don't stock up, buy what you need when you need it. The Ag industry uses chemicals and genetic alterations to make the food more resistant and longer lasting. The fresher the food the more nutritious. Farmer's markets are the best place for meats and fresh produce.

[NioOnMaui]

03:43 AM on 03/23/2011

total list and concept fail. who came up with such a lame, uninformed post?

[Kory Leach]

02:04 AM on 03/23/2011

While there are items I buy that are organic, I don't HAVE to buy them. The choice to buy or not comes down to cost vs treated produce. If there isn't a huge difference I buy organic if there is I wasn't planning on living forever anyhow.

[Tsalco]

01:55 AM on 03/23/2011

This article approaches organic from a selfish perspective as if it is all about how it affects ME.

Wrong! It is about how it affects US, ALL of us. And not just humans, but all living things. Organic tends to take a wholistic view of the full effects of producing plants and animals.

Anyone with a heart would never consider eating any factory farm product. I would rather eat something less healthy than put another being through the life of torture that is the norm of factory farming.

The part about frozen foods is not about organics. It is about packaging. An important issue, but not relevant to the headline.

[gravity defiant]

03:36 AM on 03/23/2011

Thank you! I can't even believe anyone would recommend deliberately choosing factory-farmed eggs!

[pistolpete384]

04:01 AM on 03/23/2011

I can't believe that anyone would delude themselves into buying eggs from a low production farm and think its organic because the chickens are outside.

[aspiecelia]

12:37 AM on 03/23/2011

Whoever did the research for this little slideshow needs to change to another line of work.

[aspiecelia]

12:34 AM on 03/23/2011

Eggs from chickens fed GMO corn or grains have the wrong mix of omegas. It is important to make sure they are fed proper food. It makes no sense to says eggs don't need to be organic. If a chicken eats contaminants they will be in the eggs.

[elisabethe]

01:23 AM on 03/23/2011

I agree. I'm shocked about the eggs. Contaminants like pesticides concentrate in fat and an egg is half fat. It is the same argument for milk (although the fat content is proportionately less). The hormone thing is legit, but that's not all there is to organic. Also, organic eggs actually taste . . . like an egg should!

[Wuz314159]

12:02 AM on 03/23/2011

People still fail to understand the concept of "organic".
The point is not the direct affect derived from consuming organic foods, but the overall health of the world by stuffs produced organically as opposed to chemically treated.
Also by the ethical treatment of farm animals rather than treating them as commodities.

Pesticides and hormones and other drugs all find their way into the drinking water.
Let's just not use them.

[Charisma Combestra]

03:15 AM on 04/15/2011

I am guilty of ordering flowers and bulbs for my garden. Not only are they expensive most times they die. Now I have a group of gardening friends and we exchange plants between us. It is working out wonderfully and not only do I get the plants I get alot of gardening knowledge as well.read more playground mulch.

[maninaustin]

11:55 PM on 03/22/2011

Organic agriculture is not by any means just about residual poisons on foods. If that were the case, then there would not be all that much of a case for organic.

The the much larger point is to maintain a healthy ecosystem through sustainable agricultural practices. No, industrially farmed cotton for clothing is not likely to harm our bodies when we wear it. But it utterly destroys land, kills dozens of beneficial insects and microbes, and decimates large swaths of the ocean where runoff creates dead zones.

That's just one example. Someone posted another about eggs below.

You list merits zero respect.

[FTracy3]

11:44 PM on 03/22/2011

Last time I checked I didn't have to buy anything organic.