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Are you sick of hearing about organic food yet…?

We get it. The push for people to buy organic food lately often comes off as a sneaky marketing ploy, or some sort of weird fad. It isn’t. The truth of the matter is: Organic food really is better for you.

Not only do organic foods contain 15-50% more nutrients than their non-organic counterparts, they also help your health via what they lack: hormones, pesticides, and antibiotics. Not to mention, organic food just tastes better!

Say “No” to Additional Hormones

All meat – from bison to salmon – has a small amount of hormones in it. It’s a natural and nothing to be concerned with (unless you eat meat in massive quantities). What is cause for concern is when additional hormones are added to your meat and dairy products.

Hormones are used to help animals gain weight more quickly, and also to help them produce more milk than would normally be possible. However, these hormones can have adverse effects on humans – from early onset puberty in teen girls, to breast cancer in women, to prostate cancer in men.

Ingesting additional hormones through your meat and dairy products can also aggravate hormonal problems including PMS, PMDD, and polycystic ovary syndrome.

Fortunately, organic meat and dairy farmers forgo treating their animals with these harmful hormones, giving you a chance to enjoy their products without having to worry about mutating your system.

Say “No” to Pesticides

Organic foods are grown with natural fertilizers (manure, compost) and weeds are controlled naturally (crop rotation, hand weeding, mulching, and tilling). Likewise, pests are controlled using natural methods (birds, insects, traps) and naturally-derived pesticides.

Non-organic foods, on the other hand, are often grown in synthetic or chemically-treated fertilizers, weeds are controlled with chemical herbicides, and pests are dealt with using harsh synthetic pesticides.

And those are chemicals you ultimately end up ingesting.

Some studies have indicated that the use of pesticides even at low doses can increase the risk of certain cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma, brain tumors, breast cancer and prostate cancer.

Rinsing your produce can eliminate some of these pesticides, but not all of them. Peeling your fruits and veggies is another option to rid your produce of these chemicals; however, most of the nutrients are often found in the skin, so doing this also cuts down on the overall nutritional value of your food.

The solution? Buy organic produce!

Say “No” to Antibiotics

Antibiotics are injected into meat and dairy giving animals in order to reduce their susceptibility to viruses. The problem with this practice is that viruses adapt to antibiotics, so the more antibiotics are used, the more viruses will learn to adapt. If antibiotics are used excessively, there’s a good possibility that those viruses will eventually mutate into devastating “super-viruses” that there will be no defense against.

By ingesting these antibiotics through your meat and dairy, you’re messing with your own immune system’s ability to fight off viruses as well – making yourself susceptible to these forthcoming super viruses.

For these reasons, the argument for organic food becomes all the more compelling, as nixing antibiotic-laden non-organic food could not only save your own life, but those of future generations as well.

Say “No” to Animal Cruelty and Environmental Upsets

Last, but certainly not least, buying organic ensures that food-giving animals are treated more fairly. Organic farmers allow their animals to roam free, rather than being confined to cages. And they’re allowed to eat diets that more closely resemble what they would in the wild.

You’ll also be protecting the environment. As harmful chemicals are not used in organic farming, there is minimal soil, air and water pollution; thus ensuring a safer and healthier world for future generations to live in.

So while you’re planning your next nutritious meal, check the labels on the products you’re buying to make sure you’re getting truly organic food. Your body will thank you!