They also review prior studies and found that most studies focus on short term effects of organic eating – mainly antioxidant activity to the body – and didn’t focus on the long term health outcomes.

While questions remain as to whether organic foods have any extra nutritional value, people buy organic for a number of other reasons as well.

Organic foods are made without the use of conventional pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, antibiotics or hormones — which could potentially reap benefits for people’s health and the environment.

What this means to you and I is that these are the foods that we should seek out organics foods to avoid all the pesticides.

This year list in order from highest to lowest pesticides resides is:

1. Celery

2. Peaches

3. Strawberries

4. Apples -  We recommend peeling a fruit or vegetable like apples to strips away many of their beneficial nutrients.

5. Blueberries

6. Nectarines

7. Bell peppers -  Safer alternatives include green peas, broccoli, and cabbage.

8. Spinach – One of the most contaminated green leafy vegetable.

9. Kale

10. Cherries

11. Potatoes

12. Grapes – Imported grapes run a much greater risk of contamination than those grown domestically.  No amount of washing or peeling will eliminate contamination because of the grape’s thin skin.

It just goes to show you that what many think are perfectly healthy for you may not be the case do to how they are grown and the pesticides sprayed on them to bring them to the market place.

Salt intake has been associated with increased risk of hypertension, heart disease and stroke.

The Health and Human Services recommends that adults limit their daily salt intake to 2,300 milligrams: about 1 teaspoon. If you are over 40, are African-American or have high blood pressure, you shouldn’t have more than 1,500 mg a day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 70 percent of adults fall into one or more of these three categories.

The average American consumes far more, however, eating about 3,900 milligrams of sodium a day. In a study last month from Stanford University, researchers found that reducing the country’s salt intake by 9.5 percent could reduce nearly half a million strokes and heart attacks and save more than $32 billion in medical costs over the lifetime of adults.

Until standards are set to encourage the reduction of salt intake, it would be a good idea for every one to salt limiting salt intake on their own.

1.  Nuts.

Nuts like almonds, cashew and walnuts are high in fiber.  Fiber slows your digestive process, keeping hunger and unhealthy mid-afternoon snacks at bay.

2.  Greens

Greens like Swiss chard and kale are high in nutrients like folate and Vitanim C that can lower your risk of cancer.  They can also have prevent diabetes and high blood pressure.

3.  Yogurt.

Yogurt helps your digestive system.

4.  Onions.

Onions help reduce symptoms of asthma and the risk of stomach cancer.  The stronger the onion the greater the benefit.

5.  Whole Grains.

Whole grains like brown rice, quinoa and whole oats can help flatten your belly by reducing fat storage in your lower abdominal region.

Some believe that wheatgrass helps prevent cancer, lower blood pressure, is a natural energy stimulate equivalent to coffee or caffeine but without the crash.  Wheatgrass also gives better complexion and a healthy grow associate with physical fitness.  The slowing of graying hair is also to be a benefit of consuming wheatgrass.

The best way and cheapest way to take advantage of the benefit of wheatgrass is to get a home grown kit so that you can grow it at home with relative ease and put it in your blender and drink it on a daily basis.

It takes about 10 days to grow.  All you have to do is set up the kit and add water.  You can make the wheatgrass with other fruits to create exotic cocktails.  Whatever you eventually decide to do the benefits and results will be immediately felt and seen by others.

Wheatgrass provides chlorophyll, amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and enzymes.  Some people consumers grow and juice wheatgrass in their homes.

It is often found in popular juice bars, alone or in mixed fruits and/or vegetable drinks.

Its the job of the consumer to explain food labels to see if they are buying what they want.

For example,

Omega-3 fatty acids are an essential component of a healthy diet, but that doesn’t mean every product emblazoned with the word is a healthy source of it.

The FDA allows certain foods that are rich in two of the omega-3 fatty acids to advertise that they can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, but only if they’re also low in saturated fats or other risk factors.

Which is why many eggs and some walnuts use this bit of marketing misdirection: The packaging has the phrase “omega 3,” but nothing specifically about heart health, according to the CSPI.

The FDA specifically prohibited eggs from carrying the “qualified health claim” linking omega-3 fatty acids to heart health because eggs are high in cholesterol; it ruled out walnuts because the omega-3 fatty acid found in the nuts isn’t one of the two that has been linked to heart health.

These products, and others, dance around the truth and the law by simply stating that they contain omega 3s, which bathes the food in a healthy light they don’t necessarily deserve.

Another example is free range eggs.  The government does not regulate the use of the phrase “free range” or “cage free” on eggs.    So just because the label says free range does not mean that those eggs that you purchase were raised ethically, with room enough for hens to roam the yard.

And lastly, not all fiber is good fiber.  Unnatural fibers are unlikely to lower blood cholesterol or blood sugar.  Currently fiber is being added to all kinds of foods so that you the consumer think it might help you.

For the real thing in fiber, look for foods like whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans.

Products containing at least 70 (%) percent organic content can be labeled “made with organic ingredients.”

Those foods labeled simply “organic” must have at least 95-percent organic ingredients, by weight or fluid volume, excluding water and salt.

Anyone who knowingly sells or labels a product “organic” that is not produced and handled in accordance with these regulations can face a civil penalty of up to $10,000.

Foods grown and processed according to the federal standards will in most cases bear the seal “USDA Organic.” As its use is voluntary, companies may choose not to display the seal.

If you see a food that is labeled “transitional,” that means the farmer produced it during the three-year conversion period from conventional to organic.

Because organic vegetables are not always that cheap to buy at the local supermarket, Many American are turning to growing it themselves.  This has become easier if you visit your local hardware store.  Stores like Home Depot, OSH, and other retailers, now have their own organic food section where you can pick up all you need to get started with your very own organic gardens.

Its alot easier then you think.  It can also be fun as well.  So give it a try.  You might find it addicting and fun as well.

But eating “organic” offers no guarantee of any of that. And the truth is that most Americans eat so badly — we get 7 percent of our carolies from soft drinks, more than we do from vegetables; the top food group by caloric intake is “sweets”; and one-third of nation’s adults are now obese — that the organic question is a secondary one. It’s not unimportant, but it’s not the primary issue in the way Americans eat.

To eat well, means avoiding edible food like substances and sticking to real ingredients.  There is plenty of evidence that both a person’s health will improve with a simple shift in their eating habits away from animal products and highly processed foods to plant products.

People don’t understand that, nor do they realize “organic” doesn’t mean “local”.  It doesn’t matter if it’s from down the road or from Chile.  It just needs to met the standards set up by the Agriculture Department.  So you can have Salmon flown in from Chile or frozen vegetables grown and sold in the US.  Organic doesn’t necessarily mean that it was made down the street or locally.

Today, most farmers who practice truly sustainable farming, or what you might call “organic in spirit,” operate on small scale, some so small they can’t afford the requirements to be certified organic by the government. Others say that certification isn’t meaningful enough to bother. These farmers argue that, “When you buy organic you don’t just buy a product, you buy a way of life that is committed to not exploiting the planet,” says Ed Maltby, executive director of the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance.

But the organic food business is now big business, and getting bigger. Some estimates that major corporations now are responsible for at least 25 percent of all organic manufacturing and marketing (40 percent if you count only processed organic foods). Much of the nation’s organic food is as much a part of industrial food production as midwinter grapes, and becoming more so. In 2006, sales of organic foods and beverages totaled about $16.7 billion, according to the most recent figures from Organic Trade Association.

Still, those sales amounted to slightly less than 3 percent of overall food and beverage sales. For all the hoo-ha, organic food is not making much of an impact on the way Americans eat.   “There are generic benefits from doing organics. It protects the land from the ravages of conventional agriculture,” and safeguards farm workers from being exposed to pesticides.

But the questions remain over how we eat in general. It may feel better to eat an organic Oreo than a conventional Oreo, but, Organic junk food is still junk food.

Last week, the first lady of the United States began digging up a patch of the South Lawn of the White House to plant an organic vegetable garden to provide food for the first family and, more important, to educate children about healthy, locally grown fruits and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become national concerns.

But Mrs. Obama also emphasized that there were many changes Americans can make if they don’t have the time or space for an organic garden.

“You can begin in your own cupboard,” she said, “by eliminating processed food, trying to cook a meal a little more often, trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables.”

Popularizing such choices may not be as marketable as creating a logo that says “organic.” But when Americans have had their fill of “value-added” and overprocessed food, perhaps they can begin producing and consuming more food that treats animals and the land as if they mattered. Some of that food will be organic, and hooray for that. Meanwhile, they should remember that the word itself is not synonymous with “safe,” “healthy,” “fair” or even necessarily “good.”

Organic farming is based on holistic, ecologically balanced agricultural principles involving soil fertility, crop rotation and natural pest control. It may sound like an elusive concept, but the basis for organic farming is actually very simple: Allow nature to do what nature does best.

Many everyday products can be produced on organic farms, including vegetables, grains, meat, dairy, eggs and fibers such as cotton. What makes these things organic is how close to their natural state they stay. When growing organic goods, farmers do not use synthetic pesticides or fertilizers on crops, and they reject the use of synthetic hormones, antibiotics or other medications in their livestock. Animals are provided with organic feed and allowed access to the outdoors.