Just like fashion, food consumption goes through trends as well. A few years ago, everyone was going crazy over pre-packaged items in little individual shrink sleeves that were perfect for snacking and piecemeal use. Today it's organics. Organic food is grown without the use of chemicals and as such is widely believed to be better for you than food grown with all the modern methods. But there are downsides to everything. Should you buy organic? We'll give you the information you need to decide.

Are organic foods really better for you?

On the surface, buying organic sounds like a no brainer. Why buy food that was grown under waterers filled with chemicals? Aren't chemicals bad? Indeed many of them are. Some of the growth hormones given to animals are suspected of affecting the growth of children who eat them, and some preservatives are suspected of causing cancer. If you worry about what the chemicals in food can do to you or your family, buying organic food will give you piece of mind.

However, since organic food must be grown without any chemicals at all and harvested by machines that have never touched crops grown with chemicals, raising organic crops is more expensive for farmers than raising regular crops, as organic crops are more susceptible to disease and bad weather. Which means that you'll pay extra for your radiation safety. Organic food can costs as much as two or three times what food grown the usual way costs, and for families who are struggling to feed teenagers in a recession, this extra cost simply cannot be borne.

It's important to remember that going organic is a personal choice that you should not allow yourself to be pushed into by your Mississauga real estate agent or anybody else. Food grown the normal way, though chemicals are used in its cultivation, is still approved for use and deemed safe by our government and food regulators around the world. It is also important that you distinguish between the suspicions of advocacy groups regarding food chemicals and facts that have been proven scientifically.

Therefore when you make your decision, you will have to decide what you believe regarding the effects of food chemicals on crops. Do lots of research and you should be able to find somewhere to draw your line. Then have a look at your budget to see whether you can manage to buy some or even all of your food organic.