Thursday, July 22, 2010

Is Organic Really Worth It?

I try to feed my family the most nutritious food possible without breaking the bank, but do I really need to buy EVERYTHING organic, grass fed, free range, wild, fresh, locally grown, dye free, hand picked at the peak of it's ripeness? It can get pretty expensive! I read a great article which discussed how all organic food is not always worth the cost. "The Environmental Working Group (EWG) calculated that you can reduce your pesticide exposure nearly 80 percent simply by choosing organic for the 12 fruits and vegetables shown in their tests to contain the highest levels of pesticides. They call them the Dirty Dozen." Here they are listed from the worst to just plain bad.
The Dirty Dozen
celery
peaches
strawberries
apples
blueberries (domestic)
nectarines
sweet bell peppers
spinach
kale/ collard greens
cherries
potatoes
grapes (imported)


The EWG also listed the fifteen fruits and veggies that absorb such low levels of pesticides they aren't worth the organic price. The call them "The Clean Fifteen."
The Clean 15
onions
avocado
sweet corn (frozen)
pineapples
mango
sweet peas (frozen)
asparagus
kiwi fruit
cabbage
eggplant
cantaloupe (domestic)
watermelon
grapefruit
sweet potatoes
honeydew melon
I'm going to focus on buying organic for the Dirty Dozen and try to focus on growing in my garden what I can from that list too.

1 comment:

  1. Great post. Will take note...dirty dozen...clean 15. Got it.

    Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete

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