Your Summer Shoppers’ Guide to Produce

Growing up, my mother never had the dilemma of choosing between conventional or organic produce for her family. Ever since chemical fertilizers made their way onto the farming scene, farmers have been able to grow much more food with less effort. Little did we know, this would come at a price to our health and environment.

Organic foods are grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, which have been found to cause a variety of degenerative ailments and illnesses.  In addition, they diminish the nutrients in our soil. Organic foods have stricter guidelines concerning the amount of natural contaminants allowed for safe consumption. With more and more consumers becoming health and environmentally conscious, they are considering organically grown food. Today, there seems to be more food choices than ever before. With more choices comes more confusion in determining which is healthiest.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit organization, has put together two lists,“The Dirty Dozen and The Clean 15”.  The Dirty Dozen is a list of produce that contains the highest level of pesticide residue.  Therefore, those are produce you should consider buying organic.  The Clean 15 is a list that has the lowest level of pesticides.

Shop smarter and download the “Dirty Dozen & Clean 15” app to your phone to guide you to lower your dietary pesticide load.

Another great option to reducing pesticides is to purchase locally grown foods. Shopping at farmers markets allows you to talk to the growers and learn about their farming practices. Another benefit, locally grown produce is harvested much closer to the time of harvest, therefore it does not have to withstand travel time, which yields a greater nutrient content and reduces carbon footprints.

Here’s to a bountiful summer and to healthy eating.