162 | Do You Have To Buy Organic if You Eat Plant-Based? [Community Question]

Now let's talk about plant-based eating and buying things organic.

In our economy today with rising food prices and greater cost of living in general, I know that keeping to a budget is important for most people.

It's important to me too.

But this may be even more so if you're retired or don't have a steady income.

So the concern about cost can be a real barrier for you moving into plant-based eating if you fear it will raise your grocery bills too much.

This concern was brought home to me recently by an experience a Plant Power Life Transformation course student told me about.

Here's what happened.

Last fall, she went to the hair salon to get her hair cut.

Her hairdresser saw her and told her that she looked fantastic.

Then she asked her what she was doing.

When my PPLT course student told her that she was eating whole foods, mostly plant-based, this hairdresser replied, Oh, isn't that expensive having to buy everything organic? This student replied wisely, saying that it wasn't about organic versus non-organic, but whole foods versus processed foods.

But when she told me about this incident, I wondered how many others might be thinking the same thing.

You might be too as you're listening to this.

So let's talk about it.

If we look more closely at this question posed by the hairdresser, we'll see that there seems to be two key assumptions made.

One, that you need to be eating only organic produce items when you are on a plant-based diet.

And two, that organic produce grown organically is going to be much more expensive than the conventionally grown versions.

Let's start with this first concern or assumption.

Do you need to be getting only organic produce items if you choose to eat plant-based? Well, from my perspective, my answer to this would be no.

You don't have to get all your produce items organic if you are moving into a plant-based diet lifestyle.

Unless you want to, of course.

That's because there are many nuances and factors to consider in this decision.

Here are just two of them.

If you are really just trying to make ends meet and are deciding between getting a vegetable or not getting any at all, then I would say go ahead and get the conventionally grown produce item if that is the less expensive option available.

That's because you'll be getting way more health benefits from adding in more fruits and vegetables into your meals than not eating any on your plate, regardless of whether they are conventionally grown or not.