Organic Provisions – Insert These on the Top of Your Organic Agenda of Things
Much of the benefit of buying and eating organic foods comes from the significantly lessened exposure to dangerous and unnatural chemicals: pesticides, herbicides, growth hormones, and antibiotics to name a few. If you’re not able to afford buying 100% organic every time that you go shopping, you can still drastically reduce the amount of chemicals (up to 80% according to the Environmental Working Group) that you’re exposed to by shopping for the organic versions of the most highly contaminated products. Eating the 15 most exposed foods, for example, results in an average exposure to about 10 different pesticides, while eating the 15 less common and less exposed foods averages about 2.
Here is a quick list of foods to remember the next time you go shopping, so you spend your money on organic varieties of only the most crucial items to limit exposure and maximize the benefit to your health.
Dairy
The pesticides that people consume daily in contaminated food is known to be found in the breast milk of nursing mothers. Commercial cattle lives on a similarly contaminated food supply of pesticide-treated corn, so it’s only common sense that their milk will be heavily laced with chemical residue as well. As many as 12 different pesticides have be identified in milk. Organic livestock can only be fed organic feed, which effectively eliminates exposure and prevents transference into the milk.
Veggies
Celery has no protective outer skin, making it particularly vulnerable to the chemicals it is doused with (residue from as many as 64 found in 2010) while growing and almost impossible to remove them through simply washing. If you can’t locate organic celery, less contaminated alternatives are radishes, broccoli and onions.
Bell peppers, like many varieties of peppers, have thin skins and can be vulnerable to many different pests. This results in heavy spraying which leads to heavy absorption, and as many as 49 chemicals found on sweet bells. Some safe alternatives are cabbage, green peas and broccoli.
Green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, romaine, green and red leaf lettuce are also highly susceptible to toxic chemicals, even though kale is widely known as being hardier and less vulnerable to pests. Alternatives include cauliflower, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and broccoli.
Fruits
Peaches and nectarines are another high ranker with a thin, fragile skin; the residue of 62 different chemicals were detected on peaches in 2009. Apples rank similarly high, with studies proving that scrubbing and even peeling does not completely remove all traces of pesticides. (Peeling removes many of the nutrients anyway.) Good alternatives to these two are watermelon, oranges, bananas and tangerines.
Berries aren’t treated any more kindly than other fruits, with over 50 chemical residues found on both strawberries and blueberries. Strawberries especially, which are commonly grown out of season in other countries that possibly have more lenient pesticide restrictions. Safe, delicious alternatives are kiwis and pineapples.
This list is by no means comprehensive; there are other highly contaminated fruits and veggies (like carrots, cherries and spuds) that are perhaps slightly less contaminated than those listed here, but still better to buy organic when possible. This article is enough to get you started though; an additional resource is the Environmental Working Group’s yearly publication of the “dirty dozen” most contaminated foods based on testing conducted for each year.
This article is part of an ongoing series entitled “Transitioning to Organic” that provides tips, information and easy ways to adopt some or all organic food into your lifestyle.
CB is a knowledgable producer of web-based content and an accomplished columnist, and presently writes about subjects like Logitech x540 and Logitech PC speakers.
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