You may have heard the increasing demand for people to live a more organic lifestyle. In most cases, this is driven by a desire to be healthier as we realise how everything we eat and products we use on our skin or in our homes, to the clothes we wear are full of chemicals and preservatives – and these carry risks of inflicting various health issues.

Others are motivated to live more organically for environmental reasons – as chemicals used in farming and production also damage the environment as well as contributing to poor health.

By making a decision to eliminate some of these chemicals from your life, you are improving your health and lowering your risk of contracting certain diseases.

So whatever your motivation for organic living, you know that in doing so you will improve your health and have a positive impact on the environment (win win!)

Want to know how to get started? Here’s how:

Start small

You don’t have to transform your lifestyle overnight. Start by making a few simple changes and build on them over time. This could be from buying organic fruit and vegetables, growing your own herbs or making your own cleaning products. All of these are easy ways to begin organic living inexpensively.

If you’re fortunate enough to have a garden, then buy some organic seeds and grow your own fruit and vegetables. Here you are in control and can opt to not use chemical fertilizers or insecticides.

If you, or a member of your family have asthma or breathing difficulties, you can make an immediate impact by simply reducing the number of chemical cleaners you use. It’s fairly simple to make organic cleaners from scratch that eliminate these chemicals that can aggravate breathing problems.

If you are a parent, you may choose organic bedding or clothing for young children and organic baby food today is pretty much on a par price wise as non organic baby food. The same can be said for moisturising creams, cleansers and other beauty and cosmetic products – you just have to seek them out.

Wherever you choose to start embracing organic products, the important thing is to start in one area and then expand your organic choices into other parts of your life.

Make a big difference

You may not think that by changing a few things to move towards organic choices that there will be much of an impact on your family’s health or the health of the environment but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Consider the soaps, deodorants, shampoo, cleansers and moisturisers that you are rubbing into your skin daily? A simple switch to using organic skincare products will have a huge impact in eliminating chemicals from your daily routine.

Consider how many loads of washing you put on each week and then consider what chemicals are in your detergents being washed into your clothes and the environment? Then consider your immediate neighbours doing the same and the whole town/city that you live in and imagine the overall impact.

Consider the food you’ve eaten this past month and then think of the chemicals used to produce that food from planting to when the animal was born to when it has reached your table. Think how many of these chemicals you could keep your body from ingesting if you made the switch to organic?

Cut costs

Organic living doesn’t have to be expensive. You can easily cut the cost of organic food purchases by buying fresh organic produce that is in season or buy direct from organic farmers instead of supermarkets where they can often markup the cost of organic produce.

You can also easily make your own cleaning products and skincare products with everyday ingredients you buy and look out for sales on organic clothing.

So what are you waiting for? Getting started is easy – choose a product and use it and expand into other areas of your life. You will notice the difference and be making a positive impact on your health and the environment at the same time.

What steps have you taken to a more organic lifestyle? Any tips you can share?