Although I would love to have an all organic kitchen, finances and food availability prevent that from happening. However, the good news is that it's really not even necessary. I knew that there was a Top Ten Foods to Buy Organic list, so I did a little research and found out a few things.
First of all, the list has morphed in recent years, so if you haven't checked it recently, keep reading. Also, the studies indicate that if you only buy organic meat, dairy, and the top ten foods, you will eliminate 80% of pesticides from your diet. EIGHTY PERCENT.
Also, if you've never read any of Michael Pollan's books, or seen him in interviews, or heard about the new documentary Food, Inc., the state of mass produced food today would horrify you. It will have you running to your local butcher and farmer's market to buy your groceries, that's for sure. The uplifting part is that it's usually incredibly easy to buy local, you just need to leave the comfy confines of your neighborhood grocery store.
Anyway, on to the tip! I wanted to remember what the Top Ten Foods were, especially since I've been making all of my own baby food and it's even more important for babies to eat naturally than adults, so I came up with a system.
Almost all cell phones these days have a Memo Pad function where you can write a little note and save it. I used this feature to write in the most and least important organic foods so that I always have it with me. When I'm in the produce section, I simply take out my phone, buy organic when it matters, and then keep going.
Organic Musts:
Apples
Bell Peppers
Celery
Peaches/Nectarines/Plums/etc
Strawberries
Cherries
Leafy Greens
Grapes
Carrots
Pears
(In addition to meat & dairy)
Foods Least Likely to Have Pesticides:
Avocado
Corn
Pineapple
Mango
Asparagus
Peas
Kiwi
Cabbage
Eggplant
Papaya
Watermelon
Broccoli
Sweet Potatoes
Tomatoes (these used to be on the other list and actually switched to this list!)
2 comments:
As a general rule, I've got these down, but a couple surprised me. I know that a lot of the "unlikely to cause you to grow a third eyeball" foods land on that list because we don't eat the exterior of the fruit/veggie. i mean, i suppose you could eat the outside of a pineapple, but why would you, right? anyway, it kind of shocked me about asparagus...especially since it's a perennial and i would think it would be more likely to absorb chemicals and pesticides from run-off and the like. hmmmm. i am intrigued. thanks for sharing!!
this list is now in my phone memo too!
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