The Dirty Dozen: Foods You Should Consider Buying Organic

Occasionally when your reading or watching the news, you come across a story of produce contamination. I know you have seen them, spinach being recalled because they found traces of E. Coli or strawberries having traces of feces (yeah, disgusting I know). Unfortunately this is what you have to deal with when you don't grow your own produce in your back yard. You relying on someone else to provide you and your family with good quality clean food. The Dirty Dozen list came about because many experts felt that people should understand which kinds of produce have the most pesticide contamination.

Im sure your like, uhhhhh, why should I even care? Three words;Pesticides are toxic. Not only that, Pesticides have been linked to many health problems too such as cancer and brain toxicity. By government standards, organic produce cannot be grown with synthetic pesticides or antibiotics. Now, Im not saying run out and buy EVERYTHING organic, nor am i saying completely avoid the dirty dozen. Besides, for more people, going completely organic is a slow process, typically because organic foods are more expensive. 

When you break it down, buying fresh fruits and veggies is always a better, healthier option then processed foods.  So don't let this turn you off from buying fresh produce. Use this list as a guide when your in the store trying to decide if I should buy this in organic or not. You want to minimize your pesticide consumption while still staying with your budget. 

1) Apples

2) Peaches

3) Nectarines

4) Strawberries

5) Grapes

6) Celery

7) Spinach

8) Bell Peppers

9) Cucumbers

10) Potatoes

11) Blueberries 

12) Lettuce

I bet you didn't realize that every single item on the Dirty Dozen are produce items where you can eat the entire fruit/veggie.  All these items have an edible outside skin which is one of the reasons why they made the list. The outside skin is when the pesticides and chemicals tend to stay on the produce which is why you should pay even more attention to washing your produce before you consume it.

Which food surprised you the most at being on the Dirty Dozen list??