Vegetables Nutrition – Clean fifteen and Dirty dozen
Vegetables nutrition – organic shopping guide
On this vegetables nutrition post I would like to introduce a nice tool that can assist us in making the right choices when we go shopping for fruits and vegetables. On the last post I introduced The Organic Paradox, and discussed the way our choices do not always make sense, and the threats it is causing our health. Now I would like to use this post to take another step to help us all make the right choices for keeping our body from unnecessary harm. There are many fruits an d vegetables out there on the shelves, and each time we go shopping for groceries we need to choose from the available stock. Sometimes, that vegetables we wanted so much is out, and is only available on the non-organic section. How do we know how dangerous it is to eat it?
Vegetables nutrition and the Clean fifteen
Different fruits and different vegetables interact differently with pesticides residue. Some keep it out using a thick peel, while others absorb it fully with the water it takes. Some can be washed and are almost uncontaminated, while others have the poisons running through their “veins”. The following list of fifteen fruits and vegetables are considered to be less dangerous to eat in their non-organic form. They absorb less chemicals and allow us to make a better choice at the grocery store when organic is not available. It’s not to say I’m recommending non-organic food here in vegetables nutrition, but reality nowadays dictates many things that are far from perfect, and we must have the tools to deal with it.
The “Clean 15″ organic produce list:
- sweet potato
- sweet corn
- sweet peas
- eggplant
- cabbage
- onion
- tomato
- broccoli
- avocado
- asparagus
- mango
- pineapple
- kiwi
- papaya
- watermelon
Some add garlic and bananas to this list, but I’m still looking into it, and will give you the update. This products can be eaten non-organic when the organic is not available.
Vegetables nutrition and the Dirty Dozen:
There are a few fruits and vegetables that are super toxic when it comes to pesticide residue, as they hold most of it in, and do so in a way we simply can’t avoid when eating them. Washing or peeling will not do the trick (even though it might slightly lower the risk). The following list of fruits and vegetables should be eaten ONLY in their natural organic state, pesticide free – The Dirty Dozen list:
- cherries
- grapes
- nectarines
- blueberries
- strawberries
- peaches
- apples
- potatoes
- celery
- collard greens
- spinach
- bell peppers
Buy and eat the above list only organic. The toxins level in these if eaten in there non-organic pesticide-full state is simply not worth it, and their nutritional value, which is rather great in theory, vanishes in awe of the tremendous illness potential their high-level pesticide residue holds.
So, hope you find this information interesting and helpful. Of course, as always, this field is so much deeper and wider then this short introduction could possibly explain, but I think it is enough for us to start shopping more wisely and eating healthier, and after all, this is what vegetables nutrition is all about!
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