Over the holidays I was talking with one of my brother-in-laws about eating organic food. Thinking about starting a family and ever the researcher, he had been reading about the importance of pregnant women eating organic food, and I was pointing out to him that if you are eating organic while pregnant, you should also be eating organic before being pregnant and also after the baby comes. And, that the benefits of organic food, of course, didn't just benefit mom & baby, but the whole family! He responded by saying that he couldn't afford to eat all organic, at which point I asked him, and I'll ask you... have you heard about the Dirty Dozen?
The Dirty Dozen is a list of produce that has an especially high amount of pesticides and residue of pesticides. Experts say if even if you can't afford to go 100% organic, it is beneficial to you to buy the items from the dirty dozen in only organic as much as possible, since these items, more than other produce items, carry such high volumes of pesticides.
Moral of the story? Eating fruits and veggies (organic or not) is important, and even if you can't buy organic you should still eat them. However, if you can incorporate even a few organic produce items into your shopping trip/shopping budget, pick the ones below as you'll get the greatest health-bang for your buck. Note: the list below is ranked in order of the highest pesticide residue, meaning that apples (#1) retain the greatest amounts of pesticides, so are one of the most important items to buy organic.
Want to learn more, check out, http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/
Dirty Dozen - Buy these organic
The Dirty Dozen is a list of produce that has an especially high amount of pesticides and residue of pesticides. Experts say if even if you can't afford to go 100% organic, it is beneficial to you to buy the items from the dirty dozen in only organic as much as possible, since these items, more than other produce items, carry such high volumes of pesticides.
Moral of the story? Eating fruits and veggies (organic or not) is important, and even if you can't buy organic you should still eat them. However, if you can incorporate even a few organic produce items into your shopping trip/shopping budget, pick the ones below as you'll get the greatest health-bang for your buck. Note: the list below is ranked in order of the highest pesticide residue, meaning that apples (#1) retain the greatest amounts of pesticides, so are one of the most important items to buy organic.
Want to learn more, check out, http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/
Dirty Dozen - Buy these organic
1
Apples
2
Celery
3
Strawberries
4
Peaches
5
Spinach
6
Nectarines
– imported
– imported
7
Grapes – imported
8
Sweet bell peppers
9
Potatoes
10
Blueberries
– domestic
– domestic
11
Lettuce
12
Kale/collard greens
Clean 15
Lest you think that this list above, at first glance, contains all produce, I should point out that there is also a list of produce items (below) that it really isn't a big deal if you eat organic or not because these items, even when not organic, carry such LOW levels of pesticides. These produce items are called the CLEAN 15.
Clean 15 - Lowest in Pesticide
1
Onions
2
Sweet Corn
3
Pineapples
4
Avocado
5
Asparagus
6
Sweet peas
7
Mangoes
8
Eggplant
9
Cantaloupe
- domestic
- domestic
10
Kiwi
11
Cabbage
12
Watermelon
13
Sweet potatoes
14
Grapefruit
15
Mushrooms
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