If you have decided you want to step your healthy eating up a notch and try to eliminate more unwanted toxins from your body, then organic foods are the way to go.
Organic produce is grown without any herbicides, pesticides or other damaging chemicals; therefore your liver is going to have a much easier time breaking these foods down.
You will find that many of the supermarkets around today have separate sectioned off areas that stock organic foods, so getting hold of them shouldn’t be a problem.
The main issue that people have with organic food is the actual cost.
Because of the extra work that is put into producing it, the suppliers to happen to add quite a bit to the overall price.
On a side note, there are a few individual unscrupulous stores out there that will try to pass some foods off as organic when it is actually not, just to rake in a bit more profit, so try to be a bit vigilant when you shop.
An alternative to shopping around is, if you have your own garden or little piece of land, you could always look into maybe growing your own produce.
OK, it’s going to be a bit of extra work, but you will be the one that decides on the quality of the food you are going to eat, you will have access to fresh food when you want it, and believe it or not, it gives great satisfaction knowing you have grown it yourself.
One thing to bear in mind though is, if you are going to go down the home grown route, depending on where you live, regarding your climate etc. you are not going to be able to grow all the foods you love.
So you are still going to have to shop around for some bits.
Here’s a list of 8 organic foods that you can include in your diet which are a not only a good source of nutrients, but can help you to improve your digestion as well:
Apples: Whilst apples are great for your digestive system, they are also high in vitamin A & C, minerals, phosphorus, potassium and folate.
They will make you feel full due to all the fiber in them. The pectin that is present in apples is a good prebiotic and therefore gives great nutrition to healthy bacteria in your large intestine.
You can grow your own tree in the garden and having one apple a day will give your bowel all of the nutrients it needs.
Non-organic grown apples have been found to have over 39 different pesticides found on them so organic apples are definitely the way to go!
Avocado: The benefits of eating the avocado is that it is great for helping your pancreas function better and maintain a healthy gall bladder.
They are high in monounsaturated fats which are the ‘good fats’ we should be eating.
Plus they are great for converting beta-carotene into vitamin A, this encourages you to have a healthy inner lining in the gastrointestinal tract.
Beets: If you have stomach problems or get regular indigestion then these red vegetables will be great for you as they are high in fiber which is going to help you if you have any constipation issues.
They also give you high levels of magnesium and potassium.
To cook them all you need to do is boil them and if you want to eat them in a salad you can blanch them in hot water for a short period of time and this will really help your digestive system as well as being great to eat.
Beet Greens: Instead of throwing away the greens when you pull up your beetroots, wash them and have them with your salad.
They are fantastic for giving you high levels of iron, calcium and beta carotene which is again great for stomach relief.
Too much however is not a good idea as these beet greens can weaken the enamel of your teeth due to them being a little acidic.
Blueberries: A whole blueberry has extremely high fiber content and therefore they are great to eat rather than drinking blueberry juice.
Eat as many as you like as they are a good source of vitamin C and high in antioxidants so are known to help fight cancer.
Organic blueberries will mean you are not digesting the organophosphate pesticide residue that is considered highly toxic to the human nervous system found on them by the Environmental Working Group.
Oats: Oats are high in soluble and insoluble fiber and also have a large amount of thiamin, selenium, copper, zinc, vitamin E and phosphorus.
The soluble fiber helps soak up waste and glucose in the digestive tract and therefore helps with constipation.
If you suffer from gluten intolerance however, you may want to exercise a bit of caution.
Although oats don’t have any gluten in them naturally, there have been some rare cases where they have been produced in the same fields as wheat, where the oats have been contaminated with the gluten from this crop.
Sweet potatoes: The skins on sweet potatoes are brilliant for your digestive system so they are better eaten with the skin on.
They can be grown in just about any garden and will stay nutrient rich for a long time.
They are a high in complex carbs, insoluble fiber and manganese which will keep your bowels moving and can also aid if you have bowel problems, duodenal ulcers and peptic ulcers.
Kiwi fruit: If you naturally have digestive issues and problems then you should be considering tucking into a few kiwi fruits.
With these little beauties being high in actinidin, linolenic acid, vitamin E, vitamin C, potassium, magnesium and plant derived fatty acids, they privide you with a great combination to give you a well functioning digestive system.
Pepsin which is also known to be good digestive protein can be found in kiwi fruit as well.
