A Shopping Guide for Produce

This brand (and hundreds of others also) of apples was available prior 
to the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, when food was still real and non-toxic. 

The Big Question

When I am teaching about traditional nutrition, many times the question comes up, "Must all the produce I purchase be organic?" I answer "No", and begin to talk about what non-organic produce is safe to eat. I also hand out a "Shopper's Guide" that lists what to buy organic and what is safe to buy non-organic.

And the video below is by Consumer Reports explaining the answer to this question for me (but please continue to read my comments below after you watch the video as I do not completely agree with one suggestion CR offers.):

A Few Comments

1. The Consumer Reports video suggests that when you cannot buy organic peaches, the next best option is to buy canned peaches. I do not agree. Canned peaches contain a boatload of sugar and they are very devitalized - no nutrients left because of the extreme heat that they are subjected to during the canning process. Instead of non-organic fresh or canned peaches, choose to buy a different and safe type of fruit. (And please remember that most thin skinned summer varieties of fruit - peaches, plums, nectarines, apples, pears, etc. - are highly sprayed with pesticides and are not safe to eat.)

2. Produce that is thick-skinned, such as melons, any citrus fruit, bananas, etc. is safe to buy non-organic. The thick skin prevents whatever pesticides that may be used from penetrating into the fruit itself.

3. Though the shopper's guide lists onions and sweet potatoes as safe to buy in non-organic form, I never do. The reason? Even though there are no pesticides used on the onions or potatoes, after they are harvested, they are treated with a toxic chemical that prevents them from sprouting as quickly as their organic counterparts (they will eventually sprout).

The Shopping Guide

To access the down-loadable and printable shopping, guide click here.

Happy Shopping!!!