With food costs soaring worldwide, it can be hard to stay dedicated to organic foods. With that in mind, here’s a list of the foods you should try to buy organic or simply skip altogether if the only option is chemical-laden food:
- Apples — can be treated with tons of pesticides
- Strawberries — the most contaminated produce, hands down (they’re treated frequently because they rot easily)
- Cantaloupes — can contain the longest-lasting chemical effects because they absorb chemicals from the soil
- Grapes — treated with plenty of chemicals because they’re delicate and tend to ripen quickly
- Cucumbers — ranked second in cancer risk by the Environmental Working Group
- Baby food — babies’ delicate immune systems can fall prey to fruits and veggies that were chemical-treated
- Spinach — the chemicals used on them could be cancer-causing
- Green beans — the EPA allows 60 chemicals to be used on them
- Winter squash — like cantaloupe, can draw pesticides from the soil
- Butter and milk — can contain bovine growth hormone and antibiotics
Another issue to consider with produce is eating seasonally. While it may be nice to eat strawberries in November, that’s not their natural season in the U.S. and they’ll be more expensive as they had to be shipped from further away. Don’t buy those berries! Just wait until the spring, when you can get the freshest, juiciest, most delicious strawberries from a farm near you.
Remember, you don’t have to be 100% organic. Just be as organic as you can afford to be.
List courtesy of the Green Daily.
