Short answer: The health benefits of eating more plant based whole foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains - organic or conventional - far outweigh the risk associated with chemicals and heavy metal exposure from conventional farming practices. If money is tight buy locally grown conventional produce if available, if not buy conventional produce or whatever is cheaper.

Lets explore three important factors to answer this question in detail;

Carbon footprint - Eating less animal products (read Animal Farming) and reducing the number of miles we travel burning fossil fuels are two most effective ways to fight global warming. When we buy Local food in season we reduce our carbon footprint since the food does not have to travel across states or countries. Buying local food also helps to make farming more profitable and selling farmland for development less attractive.

Organic farming practices preserve the environment and avoid most synthetic materials, including pesticides and antibiotics.

Amount of Nutrition - Organic fruits and vegetables deliver between 20 and 40 percent higher cancer fighting antioxidant compounds (the immune system of plants) than conventional produce. Plants make these compounds to protect themselves when they run into challenges like insects or diseases. And organic crops, because they aren't protected by as many chemical pesticides, have to fight off more hungry bugs.

Local produce is more nutritious than food coming from other states or countries (conventional or organic). This is mainly because Fruits and vegetables lose their optimal nutritional value as soon as they are picked. When picked, vitamins such as C, E, A, and some B vitamins begin to deteriorate and thus decrease. Other factors such as the exposure to air, artificial lights, and temperature changes can also contribute to the decrease in nutritional value.

Price - Price of Organic food is about 40 percent higher than conventionally grown produce. This is mainly because Demand for Organic food overwhelms supply. Retail sales of organic food rose from $3.6 billion in 1997 to $21.1 billion in 2008, according to the USDA, and 58 percent of Americans claim they prefer to eat organic over non-organic food. However, organic farmland only accounts for 0.9 percent of total worldwide farmland, and organic farms tend to produce less than conventional farms. Conventional farms have the farmland and the supply to keep costs down since manufacturers are able to reduce costs when producing a product in larger quantities. Additionally, getting a USDA Organic certification is an expensive process. This is one of the reasons why quite a few local farmers choose not to get certified even though they do not use any synthetic materials, including pesticides and antibiotics.

Based on the above factors, I would recommend buying food in the following order;

1. Local produce grown Organically - Produce grown locally in the area where you live without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides
2. Local produce grown using conventional farming practices - Produce grown locally in the area where you live using chemical fertilizers and pesticides
3. Organic - Produce grown Organically (without chemical fertilizers and pesticides) , but away from home (in a different state or another country)
4. Conventional - Produce grown conventionally (using chemical fertilizers and pesticides) , but away from home (in a different state or another country).

Physicians dispense about FOUR billion prescriptions for drugs every year in the United States (about thirteen prescriptions a year for every man, woman, and child). So why change your diet and lifestyle when you can just use conventional medicine? Unfortunately, modern medicine isn’t nearly as effective as most people think. Doctors excel at treating acute conditions, such as fixing broken bones and suppressing infections, but for chronic diseases (Heart diseases, Diabetes, Arthritis among others) which are the leading cause of death and disability, modern medicine doesn’t have much to offer and, in fact, can sometimes do more harm than good. Here are some scientific facts and you can read more here;

1. Medicine and our existing healthcare system is the third leading cause of death (Medical Error)
2. Taking antioxidant supplements may be more than just a waste of money. People given 500 mg of vitamin C a day were found to end up with more oxidative DNA damage. The natural antioxidants in food work synergistically; it’s the combination of many different compounds working together that tends to protect you, not high doses of single antioxidants found in supplements. (Ref6)
3. Physicians dispense about four billion prescriptions for drugs every year in the United States (about thirteen prescriptions a year for every man, woman, and child) (Ref10)
4. One unifying diet found to best prevent and treat many of these chronic diseases is a Whole-food, plant based diet, defined as an eating pattern that encourages the consumption of unrefined plant foods and discourages meats, dairy products, eggs and processed foods (Plant-Based Diet)

So, what happens when you pop a pill? Anti-inflammatory drugs, for example, inhibit the effects of key enzymes that cause tissue to swell and send alarm signals to your brain. Anti-ulcer drugs block the production of stomach acid, which is needed for digestion. Drugs that treat high blood pressure either block the hormones that regulate the complex process for controlling blood pressure or prevent their release. Drugs that treat depression inhibit the normal regulation of certain neurotransmitters in the brain. The problem is that the specific biological target a drug blocks because it is related to a disease state in one place in the body may be important for normal functioning in other places within the body. That is indeed what happens. With blood pressure medication, blood pressure may be going down, but keeping it down knocks out your sexual potency. Your ulcer may be under control because of anti ulcer drug, but it may be causing anemia. Or your arthritis pain may now be manageable due to the powerful anti-inflammatories you are taking, but those same anti-inflammatories may be contributing to your risk for Kidney disease. Bottom line is any drug or medicine when taken produces a desired effect (suppressing cold or pain) in one area of your body, but also produces undesirable effects (also known as side effects) in other parts of the body. 

Instead of popping a pill to suppress symptoms such as pains, aches and colds, what happens if we simply change the way we eat and fix the root cause of all symptoms, which in most cases is poor immune function? it turns out the same foods (fruits, vegetables and whole grains) that fix the heart, also fix the lungs, also fix the kidneys and so on. In my opinion food is not just a great alternative, but in fact it is the only choice we have if we are serious about improving our overall health and the health of the planet. If you are new on this journey follow the Going Yogue Nutrition Plan to get started. Happy health!

When we think about Global warming the first thing that comes to mind is carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels in the transportation (automobiles) and utilities (gas and electricity) sector of the economy, and even though moving to cleaner and more sustainable sources of energy like solar and wind is a step in the right direction, it may not be enough until we address the issue of Animal farming, which according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is responsible for 65% of all human-related emissions of nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas with 296 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, and which stays in the atmosphere for 150 years (See Livestock’s long shadow).

Global warming is just one of the crises impacted by Animal farming. Lets explore other crises that are a direct consequence of Animal or Livestock farming;

1. Water crisis – To more than two billion people, fresh, pure water is more valuable than gold. Usable non-polluted fresh water is less than 1 percent of the Earth’s total water supply and 70 percent of that is primarily used to irrigate crops to feed livestock (Beef, chicken, pork among others). (See UN Highlights World Water Crisis)
2. Hunger and malnutrition crisis – Of the world’s nearly 6.8 billion humans, almost 1 billion people are malnourished. Mainly because we are feeding half the world’s grain crop such as soy and corn to animals raised for meat, eggs, and milk instead of directly to humans, which is a significant waste of natural resources, including fossil fuels, water, and land (See The impact of Industrialized Animal Agriculture on World Hunger)
3. Arable Land crisis – Livestock production uses a staggering 70 percent of all arable land and 30 percent of the land surface of the planet. Additionally, the leading causes of rainforest destruction are livestock and feedcrops (See cattle ranching in the Amazon rainforest)

If we start consuming more fruits and vegetables, it turns out it’s not just good for our own health but also the overall health of the planet. So, what’s the point here? Should everyone turn Vegan or Vegetarian? No. The point is that in light of such hard evidence we can all make an effort to cut back, find a balance between plant based food and animal food that works for you. After years of experimentation I found a balance that works for me, I call it the 95-5 rule (95% Vegan and 5% junk food which includes alcohol, meat and sugary treats among others), that roughly translates to eating a junk food meal once a week if you eat 3 meals in a day (3*7 = 21 meals in a week and 1 out of 21 equates to ~5%). Here are other interesting facts that may help make your transition easier!

1. Substituting beans for beef – the highest greenhouse gas emitter food on the planet- could achieve approximately 46 to 74% o f the reductions needed to meet the 2020 Paris climate change greenhouse gas (GHG) target for the US (See Beans for Beef )
2. Happiness and Food – In one study, after cutting out eggs and chicken, along with other meats, the study subjects experienced a significant improvement in measures of their mood states (POMS and DASS) in as little as two weeks. The researchers concluded: “Perhaps eating less meat can help protect mood in omnivores, particularly important in those susceptible to affective disorders such as depression.” (See Plants for Happiness)