well i dislike ignorance so decided to really research the whole organic diet thing, ya know, so i can avoid marketing scams. Well Im not sold easy and have found that about 1% of the produce aisle in Grocery stores is acutally organic. I used to look at organic signs in the produce aisle and think NO S--t its organic, but further research led me to the knowledge that most of our food is tainted with chemicals, carcinigens, un-digestible whatevers, steroids and many other horrid scenarios. Anti drug campaigns in our schools, like DARE says marijuana has 480 chemicals in it. Well brocoli of the shelf has 400 in it. Anyways, I am becoming more and more a...upset at the coorporate world's saving a buck, NAFTA imports garbage produce, dairy has steroids on and on. So Im new to this knowledge and wont be a vegan anytime soon, but common sense tells me that I need to at least eat natural food. Im reading more and more but would like some practical advice on how to find natural food. Im a college student and noticed the organic food is exspensive. So I need some advice on how to consume at least 80% organic, probably Mon-friday, weekends no promises. Anyone?

This somewhat depends on what state you live in. If something is certified organic then it has to go through some pretty rigorous stuff to get that certification.

Here's the best way I know of (and I buy or grow organic as much as possible). Buy from farmer's markets or growers directly as much as you can - depends on where you live as to how much of the year you can do that. Grow as much as you can. Get the organic produce and freeze/can as much as you can for the rest of the year. Shop at food coops and talk to the people who order the produce and other products to ensure that you are, indeed, getting what you expect. Eat as few processed foods as possible. Buy "ingredients" and not "packages". Make your own breads and cereals. Be very careful about meats. (I don't eat meat but Whole Foods is about the only place any of my meat eating friends will buy that stuff.)

It can be a bit more work but really doesn't need to be a lot more expensive.

this website has some interesting info on pesticides and the companys who produce them, look through the back issues for year 2000 issue 323. www.newint.org

if you can't afford to buy all organic food this web site tells you what fruit and vegetables have the most or least chemicals applied. www.foodnews.org

if this spurs your interest in these nasty multinational companys [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/mad.gif[/IMG] another good site is www.theecologist.org