This post is sponsored by Stonyfield as part of my participation on Team Stonyfield. I was compensated for this post, however the opinions expressed here are my own. There's this thing called "Yankee Frugality." It's what causes New Englander's to boast about the fact that it's mid-January and despite sub-freezing temperatures, they have yet to turn on their heat. It reveals itself in different ways, but the basic tenets are "do it yourself" and "spend as little as possible."

In some ways the thriftiness that tells you to "put on another sweater" instead of turning up the heat is actually a precursor to the environmentally conscious ways of living we see today. While the Yankee Frugality I grew up with can be helpful in some aspects, in others it can be anything but. Especially when it comes to food. Cheapest is not best.

For a very long time the most important thing to me at the grocery store was the price. The cheapest ingredients went into my cart and if I came through the checkout with a low number I was happy, proud even. I even used to eat with the same mentality: I was a calorie counter. I would find the highest volume food with the lowest calories and that was what I ate. Rice cakes, artificially sweetened yogurt, popcorn, celery, iceberg lettuce, and I'd wash it all down with diet soda and artificially sweetened drinks that would help me feel full.

There were no calorie-dense foods: no avocados, no meats, no cheeses, no whole-fat yogurt, no whole grains. I gave little thought to nutrients and all my thought to calories. When I finally stopped counting calories and started seeing food as essential components to brain function, the health of my skin and hair, and the fuel I needed to get through a day without feeling sluggish and fatigued, my relationship with food changed. And when my relationship with food changed, so did the way I shopped at the grocery store. Suddenly getting "the biggest bang for my buck" wasn't the most important thing. What became more important was finding foods that would fuel my body and my growing family. And as my health and the health of my family became the focus, I found myself choosing more and more organic products.

It's no secret that organic isn't cheap. So about five years ago I checked my penny pinching, Yankee Frugality at the door and decided it was time to shop with health in mind instead of the bottom line. I stared selecting organic meats, purchased organic vegetables when they were available and started buying Stonyfield organic milk and yogurt. I love Stonyfield, not only because it's organic but it is made locally (in New Hampshire) and is sourced from small farms a few of which are local to us. Not everything I buy is organic since our local grocery store is somewhat limited in their selection (the closest Whole Foods is in another state), but if it's available it's what I choose. And when local produce is in season, we shop our local farm-stand and pick our own fruit whenever we can. And we've attempted our hand at gardening: tomatoes and basil is about all we can do well.

There's plenty of research out there for the why behind organic, but the biggest reason why I choose organic is because I want my family to have access to the most nutritious food we can find. For me it's all about quality. Even the frugal-est Yankee, shivering in their un-heated home would admit that a $60 hand-knit sweater from the sheep down the road gets the job done better than a $15 acrylic one from the discount depot downtown.

[Tweet "Find out why @runfargirl chooses #organic for her family #teamstonyfield"]

Do you buy organic? If so why?

--Sarah

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