Although I enjoy the grocery store (maybe it’s because I’m a dietitian that I love checking out new products and comparing food labels), lately my husband is doing our grocery shopping. His budget-friendly buys are great for our bank account. But they don’t always align with my interest in eating organically. We don’t buy everything organic, but pesticides can be absorbed into fruits and vegetables, leaving trace residues, and I’d prefer to not eat pesticides. Long-term exposure to them has been associated with cancer, infertility and neurologic conditions, such as Parkinson’s.
Anyway, one day he called me from the produce aisle. Andy wanted to know what on the list he truly needed to buy organic and what he could skimp on and buy conventional.
Fortunately, the Environmental Working Group (EWG, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization) has identified 15 fruits and vegetables that are least likely to be contaminated with pesticide residues. I told him to save money and buy those conventional:
- Asparagus
- Avocado
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Eggplant
- Kiwi
- Mango
- Onions
- Papaya
- Pineapple
- Sweet corn (frozen)
- Sweet peas (frozen)
- Sweet potatoes
- Tomatoes
- Watermelon
EWG also identified 12 fruits and vegetables that are most likely to have higher trace amounts of pesticides.
We buy organic:
- Apples
- Carrots
- Celery
- Cherries
- Grapes (imported)
- Kale
- Lettuce
- Nectarines
- Peaches
- Pears
- Sweet bell peppers
- Strawberries
Do you buy organic? What foods do you think it’s worth to save on and which do you spend more on for organic?
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