Organic Produce: What to Choose and Why?
Published on January 17, 2021
Here at Shulman Health & Weight Loss, we care about the quality of the food you are consuming. Choosing organic produce and meats whenever possible is preferred, but we understand that going fully organic is not affordable for everyone. The good news is, the Environmental Working Group releases an annual guide called “The Dirty Dozen List” that outlines which produce contains the most amount of toxic pesticides and which produce has trace amounts of these chemicals. Refer to this list when grocery shopping to make wise decisions on when you should splurge on organic fruits and vegetables and when you should save your money.
EWG’s 2020 Dirty Dozen – Produce with the most amounts of toxic pesticides
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Kale
- Nectarines
- Apples
- Grapes
- Peaches
- Cherries
- Pears
- Tomatoes
- Celery
- Potatoes
EWG’s 2020 Clean 15 - Produce with the least amounts of toxic pesticides
- Avocados
- Sweet corn
- Pineapple
- Onions
- Papaya
- Sweet peas (frozen)
- Eggplant
- Asparagus
- Cauliflower
- Cantaloupe
- Broccoli
- Mushrooms
- Cabbage
- Honeydew melon
- Kiwi
Top 5 Reasons to Choose Organic Produce
- Avoid ingestion of chemicals – the more chemical exposure and ingestion we can avoid, the better! Our environment has become overwhelmingly toxic compared to previous years so let’s try to reduce our intake of chemicals wherever we can. Buying organic produce is a great start!
- Preserve our ecosystems – did you know that organic standards work to protect our environment? Organic farming focuses on environmentally sustainable practices such as preservation of soil and crop rotation keeping the farmlands healthy.
- Increased nutritional quality – organically grown foods have higher quantities of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and micronutrients compared to commercially grown foods because the soil used is more nutrient-dense.
- Avoid GMO – genetically engineered foods carry a host of issues that disrupt the normal processes in our bodies, whereas organic standards do not allow foods to be genetically modified in any way.
- Reduce pollution – the chemicals, pesticides and fertilizers used in conventional farming contaminate our environment. Organic standards do not permit the use of toxic chemicals in farming which reduces the amount of pollution in the soil and air that we breathe.
Refer to the Environmental Working Group’s annual list to see which produce is worth buying organic and ways in which you can reduce your intake of toxic pesticides and chemicals.
Like what you've read? Check out some of our favourite plant based dinner recipes here.