Many people are trying to watch what they are spending right now, thanks to the current cost of living crisis.
One way to reduce your expenses is to be smarter about your shopping, although this can be a challenge when trying to stay healthy.
You may think that foods labeled “organic” are of higher quality, but there can be confusion about whether this is true and whether the quality is better. But one health expert says there’s one food he “always” buys organic because he says it tastes so much better.
Genetics professor and nutrition expert Tim Spector recently appeared on an episode of the ZOE Health Podcast, along with co-founder Jonathan Wolf, to talk all things organic and clarify once and for all whether organic means better.
Generally speaking, organic means foods that do not contain any pesticides, herbicides or chemical additives of any kind.
For this reason, organic foods tend to be more expensive than non-organic ones.
But despite being slightly more expensive, there is one food that Tim says he “always” buys organic because of its great taste.
Presenter Jonathan asked, “We said if there was one food you were going to buy organically, what would it be? And I’d love to hear the answer.”
To which Tim replied, “Probably tomatoes actually, because I eat tomatoes almost every day. And I think that’s more important to me. I was going to say strawberries. Because I love strawberries, but I don’t eat them every day.
“I’ve tasted Italian and Spanish and not only do they taste better. If you can get the organic versions of those, they’re pretty amazing.
“But again, you can get a can of organic tomatoes for not much more than the non-organic version. So it’s for people to think for themselves, but what would they change, what do they have regularly, what could they improve that would make a much bigger difference to their long-term health?”
The higher price of organic foods can be off-putting to some people.
But buying frozen or canned organic foods might be a better option, as they are just as healthy but often much cheaper.
Tim explained: “Organic frozen food is really good. It doesn’t have the same costs because obviously it’s probably more expensive to transport organic food because it goes away quicker. So you have to be a lot quicker.”
And in order to properly clean your produce before eating it, to make sure it’s as safe as possible, Tim recommended washing it with baking soda because it does a lot better than water alone.
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