Buying Organic
You probably don’t need a lesson on the pesticides sprayed on food. Deep down you know it’s wrong and harmful. But here are a few examples of the harm pesticides have cause us and our environment:
Cancer in Humans and Animals living near or on the farms
Chemicals leaking into the streams and rivers around the farms and flowing out to the oceans causing mass habitat destruction underwater
Species extinction of birds of prey since they consume the critters targeted with these chemicals (ie. bees, insects, rodents)
Fertility and fetal development problems in women who consume chemical laden foods or live near a farm that sprays.
And the list goes on and on unfortunately.
The Dirty Dozen
Buying organic is the best but I know that is not always accessible to everyone. It is definitely more expensive to buy all organic, which is why there is this magic list of the Dirty Dozen. Foods you should always buy organic if you can. These foods get sprayed the most and hold onto the most chemicals. You can download and save this picture on your phone to reference anytime you are shopping for your produce.
The Clean Fifteen
Good news! There’s also a list of foods that are okay to eat non organic. The items on this list are the foods that are sprayed the least and/or have a removable skin which helps protect the parts we eat from the chemicals. These items will lower the cost of your grocery shopping trip if you are trying to purchase mostly organic.
So now that you know what’s bad and what’s okay, you should be able to make more informed decisions when grocery shopping. Eating well and grocery shopping on a budget can get hard and overwhelming (which is why not a lot of people do it), so keep these lists in mind when deciding on if you should buy the organic broccoli or spinach. Now you know to always buy organic spinach!
