I get the same question all of the time: "Do I need to buy all organic food? It is so expensive!" My answer is always yes and no. Of course not all of us can afford to go 100% organic every time we shop. But we can do our best to focus on eliminating the most contaminated. The trick is to make the best decisions possible.
According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), we consumers can reduce our pesticide exposure by 80% simply by avoiding the fruits and vegetables most contaminated by pesticides. The research is sobering. If you eat your USDA-recommended 5 daily servings of fruits and veggies from the 15 most contaminated fruits and vegetables, you could be consuming an average of 10 different pesticides -- a day! However if you eat the 15 least contaminated conventionally grown produce, you ingest less than 2 pesticides daily.
So, my answer would be that you should always buy organic:
Apples
Cherries
Grapes
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Raspberries
Strawberries
Bell Peppers
Celery
Potatoes
Spinach
If you need to economize, these are the least contaminated conventionally grown:
Onion
Avocado
Sweet Corn
Pineapple
Mango
Asparagus
Sweet Peas
Kiwi
Cabbage
Eggplant
Papaya
Watermelon
Broccoli
Don't forget your Simple Peace bags!
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