The Dirty Dozen

elllaf · April 2014

A fellow momma on my FB just shared this .
Fruits and Veggies with the most pesticides.
And the least.
Good to know as we continue to choose new foods for our LOs!

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-13571/12-fruits-veggies-with-the-most-pesticides-2014-dirty-dozen.html

jeneshields · April 2014

Saw this. I was gonna ask at our checkup on fri. I guess this is at least a starting point on whether to buy organic or not.

But how do you know if something is really organic or it's just labeled as such? I thought there had been something in the past where just bec it said organic it may not really be.

What do y'all do? Don't have a whole foods or trader joes or anything close to where I live. Just local grocery store and Walmart.

Jalee85 · April 2014

Usually we don't eat many fruits or veggies. I've always washed off my produce with water. I will definitely be trying @jgslr‌ s idea.

jennlin · April 2014

i buy mostly organic, but i don't stress about it if there's not an organic option available..or if the organic version is way extra $$, i might pass, too.

note: i'm not strict on organic at all. i'm a sucker for fast food, and most chinese veggies don't come in an organic form (at least not at my grocery stores).

hartsl01 · April 2014

I've never really bought organic for myself and still am not sure what I'll do for DS yet. I do wash all of our produce in the same mix that @jgslr mentioned though.

catycate · April 2014

I do @jgslr‌ with all my fruits and veggies and it also keeps them fresher for longer! I buy organic dirty dozen when our money flow is good. If we're having an expensive month, I have no problem buying non organic.

Welshgirl12 · April 2014

I really wish I could by organic everything. In one of her books, Jillian Michaels had a list to prioritize, so I try and follow that. Her top recommendation is to get organic dairy, then meat bc of all the hormones and antibiotics. Then work toward fruit and veg, in particular the dirty dozen. We but organic dairy all the time, meat when we can and same with dirty dozen items. Organic is expensive in my area!!

Random but when I worked in target for three weeks I was on the produce dept and they make you go through "organic" training before you can work with the organic produce. BUT doesn't mean people follow that training, and doesn't mean someone doesn't pick up the organic carrot, puts it by the other carrots, then moved it back again....

Ajoyd · April 2014

Thanks for posting. I'm not a stickler for organic but I have heard of this list before and was thinking I should look it up for reference when choosing what to buy organic for DS.

The only one I always remember is apples.

cassey910 · April 2014

I buy organic and will be doing what @jgslr‌ does. We just had a friend who fed their two year old and 8 month old strawberries and they both got E. coli. The two year old almost died. They traced it back to manure on the berries.

vvg28 · May 2014

Organic produce also has pesticides and fungicides used on them. A lot of the chemicals that can be used on organic produce is just as potent (or worse) as conventional farmers' produce.

I am sorry to hear about your friend @cassey910‌. That would be horrible!

But once again, E coli can be found in organic produce as well through manure used as fertilizer or through contamination from workers handling the produce. Wash, wash wash is the best practice for sure.

Oh and an article from npr with a lot of interesting info.....sorry I am mobile and don't know how to make it clicky.

https://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/06/18/137249264/organic-pesticides-not-an-oxymoron

calibr8te · May 2014

Ooh, Wholesome Baby Food Guide talks about the dirty dozen. I am so set in my ways as a conspiracy theorist that I stopped believing in the organic spiel a long time ago. Now I find myself rethinking this, but have yet to conform to the list. I do wash all my fruits/veggies in apple cider vinegar at least.

calibr8te · May 2014

@SeeJayEmm: Other than apples, I have been leaving peels on for my purees. Well, I guess it depends on the fruit. But I even wash my mangoes/watermelons etc because they sit in the fruit basket and will touch other fruit skins.

And I totally do it out of habit to all things that come into this house. Grocery shopping night is a huge ordeal because the bulk of our foods are fruits/veggies so I fill up both sinks and wash all the things. I'm talking even separating lettuce leaves and then once washed/dry I have a fancy way to wrap them in kitchen towels and store them in the crisper or a tupperware in the fridge. Things really do last longer once washed this way.

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