Jonah practically skips into his neighborhood grocery store sporting his “I Heart Organic” t-shirt, smiling ear to ear as he begins piling organic foods his shopping cart. He starts (as he always does) by tossing in organic carrots and other organic produce and then asks the person behind the counter for a few organic T-bones and organic salmon fillets.

As his organic shopping journey continues, he adds organic eggs, organic milk, organic cookies, organic cereal, organic potato chips, organic brownie mix to his now overflowing shopping cart.

Come check out time, his bill is fat. This organic stuff is pricey but it’s worth it, he thinks to himself.

Is organic worth it?

Here at ICONIC, we believe the organic eater's mission to consume strictly an organic diet is a noble one. They spend more money for less food because it’s healthier for them, their families and the environment as a whole. However, recent debates claim that organic might not be all rainbows and butterflies –– some going so far to say the movement is a bit of a gimmick.

While we don’t believe this to be totally true, we have noticed that every brand and their brother is slapping the word “organic” on their packaging. This frustrates us in part because it confuses the Organic Eater but also because we have always believed in putting health first by going a step beyond organic, ensuring the milk our protein is extracted from is free of both antibiotics & hormones.

The bottom line is that Organic Eaters must be careful about the foods they buy with the label “organic”. One particular article written by a die-hard organic consumer mentions a few surprising facts the $90 billion global organic industry probably doesn’t want us to know. The ones that stood out most to us can be found below…

• Over 40 pesticides are allowed to be used in organic food production
• Organic Cerification does NOT require pesticide testing and Food Companies using Organic ingredients seldom test for pesticides. 
• We found that Organic certification is not given for specific lots or batches of materials and are only based on farm records and company statements, not based on actual testing.
• Some “natural” pesticides used in organic farming are carcinogenic
• Some non-organic ingredients are allowed in processed products labeled “organic”
• Organic fish and meat is typically farm raised vs. wild caught and can be fed organic soy, corn, and other ingredients not found in the natural diet

While these were obviously surprising to us, it wasn’t the first time our team here at ICONIC sensed something was a little fishy with the organic industry.

Our team has actually tested “organic” protein drink brands in the past and have found them to be contaminated with hormones and pesticides. We won’t name names but they know who they are…

Organic can still be bad for you.

Let’s get one thing straight… butter, milk, sugar and chocolate can all be organic. And, regardless of whether or not they are organic, in excess they can still pack on fat.

When you take this into consideration, along with the fact that there can be over 45 non-organic ingredients in processed products labeled “organic”, it might cause one to wonder –– is the brownie mix labeled “organic” just a marketing gimmick? Or, how about the organic double-fudge cookies? Or the organic sour cream and onion potato chips?

When brands label their processed food products organic and slap on a big price tag, something interesting happens… people buy them. It’s a phenomenon that leads one to wonder if organic is an honest movement or just another marketing ploy?

With that said, there are certainly fruits and veggies you should ALWAYS buy organic… they’re fondly referred to as the dirty dozen…

1. Strawberries
2. Spinach
3. Nectarines
4. Apples
5. Grapes
6. Peaches
7. Cherries
8. Pears
9. Tomatoes
10. Celery
11. Potatoes
12. Sweet Bell Peppers

When it comes to these fruits and veggies always buy organic if it’s an option. Anyways, enough about the dirty dozen, we'd love to know what you think!

Here at ICONIC, we argue that it might be a bit of both. The dirty dozen, organic free-range chicken, grass-fed beef and cage-free eggs all makes a lot of sense to us. But, we also believe some brands are using the term “organic” to allude to consumers that their products are in fact “healthy” when they’re anything but. The moral of the story is to understand where the food and drinks you put in your body come from. Here at ICONIC we decided to go beyond the organic certification and ensure that every load of milk we use is pre-tested for hormones, antibiotics & more (making it Truly Grass Fed Verified). After all, you only get body. If you only had one car for the rest of your life wouldn’t you take care of it?

By Billy & Your ICONIC Team

Want to read more? Read our article on artificial sweeteners or find out if protein shakes make you fat.