The Dirty Dozen: Why Bother?

I always heard about going organic and the lists of ways to shop for this type of produce, but never really cared much to spend that much money on it. However, after doing some research I realized there are so many reasons to go organic. Investing a little more money into my diet was worth it because for so long I was saying "why bother?" and now I can't imagine ignoring the facts.

Each year there are so many lists that inform consumers of the "clean 15" and the "dirty dozen."So lets take a look at the dirty dozen, because when we go grocery shopping, these are the most important ones when putting produce into your cart. 

This list contains the heaviest sprayed crops and the produce where the most residue from pesticides were found. Samples of produce on this list contained up to 15 different pesticides per piece of produce. This is a startling amount seeing that you will be ingesting all of these when you eat them later. 

Of course we don't have to list the innumerable amount of reasons you do not want to ingest pesticides. In short these are unnatural chemicals and that equals your body, especially your liver, working overtime to rid your body of these toxins. Pesticides are poison and just because you only ingest a small amount per piece of produce, doesn't mean that over time these don't get backed up into your body. 

So by Live Lean standards, it's best to cut out the pesticides. Live chemical free and buy these top fruits and vegetables organic. 

1. Apples

2. Peaches 

3. Nectarines 

4. Strawberries

5. Grapes

6. Celery 

7. Spinach

8. Sweet Bell Peppers

9. Cucumbers

10. Cherry Tomatoes

11. Snap Peas - Imported

12. Potatoes (All Varieties)

+ Hot Peppers

+ Kale/Collard Greens

The + is the two added pieces of produce that the EWG found to have to frequently have tested positive for insecticides that are toxic to our nervous systems.

I love easy lists like this. These are something you can write down on the back of your grocery pad and bring to the store or just leave saved in a list on your phone. The clean 15 list can be found here. 

One other creative idea is taking a permanent marker and writing them into the inside of your reusable grocery bag. We get ours for around 99 cents a bag at Trader Joe's, and for less than ten dollars we have super sturdy, environmentally friendly, bags to shop with. They are pretty roomy and can handle a lot of weight. We don't splurge on the insulated bags because we don't live super far from our grocery stores. 

On a side note, anything that is coming out of a can, like tomatoes and beans if you need these for convenience because I know not everyone has time to soak beans or make tomato sauce from scratch every time, then always buy organic. Many stores have their own brand that is cheaper than more advertised brands and they come in organic versions too. 

Let me know below if you find it easy to shop for these organic versions at your grocery stores. 

References:

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php

For more information please visit their website.