Over the past year, Brett and I have really been making an effort to get healthier in all aspects of our lives. We are trying to exercise more, get enough sleep, and improve our diet. Included in this is of course eating more fruits and veggies. Our ultimate goal would be to eat vegetarian for the majority of our meals with only a meat main dish a couple of times a week. With the increased awareness of our heath has also been the increase awareness of what is added in and on our food. It would be great if everything we ate could be natural and organic, but that just is not reasonable right now in our budget. I know there are many other people who feel the same way. I thought I would share some guidelines about what foods are more important to really strive to buy organic and what foods would be a waste of your limited grocery budget.
First is what people have labeled the “Dirty Dozen”. This list is from worst to better of foods that have the most chemicals and pesticides on them even after a thorough washing in an industrial kitchen. Celery, which is the worst offender of them all, tested positive for 67 chemicals and they all tested above 47 different chemicals – gross! This is the list from which you should really try to buy organic.
- celery
- peaches
- strawberries
- apples
- domestic blueberries
- nectarines
- sweet bell peppers
- spinach, kale and collard greens
- cherries
- potatoes
- imported grapes
- lettuce
Next up is what is known as the “Clean 15”. These had little to no traces of chemicals or pesticides after being washed. You are safe to buy non-organic and save your precious dollars.
- onions
- avocados
- sweet corn
- pineapples
- mango
- sweet peas
- asparagus
- kiwi fruit
- cabbage
- eggplant
- cantaloupe
- watermelon
- grapefruit
- sweet potatoes
- sweet onions
The full list of all 49 produce tested is available at this link: http://www.foodnews.org/fulllist.php
I plan on printing out the full list to put on my fridge so I can keep all this in mind while making my grocery lists.
A Dash of Calamity 