In this economy, buying organic food is not an easy task. You may want to consider, however, spending a little more money on certain organic foods, because the alternatives can literally be sickening. Once again, environmental watchdog Environmental Working Group (EWG) has published the fifth edition of their “Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides,”** a thorough list of fruits and vegetables affected by pesticides, including the infamous “Dirty Dozen”. The Dirty Dozen are the top twelve foods recommended to buy organic, and washed especially carefully due to their high load of pesticides.

Not surprising, most of the Dirty Dozen are fruits with skin or peel that you can eat. The complete Dirty Dozen are (in order)

• peach
• apple
• sweet bell pepper
• celery
• nectarine
• strawberries
• cherries
• kale
• lettuce
• imported grapes
• carrots
• pear

It’s pretty sickening to think about the amount of pesticides that are sprayed on fruits in general. To think what remains on foods with no regard of what it might do to people is even more upsetting. EWG’s methodology** for this study is not simple, but the bottom lines are clear – continually eating contaminated foods can expose you to up to 10 pesticides per day. These toxins can do serious damage on the body, including affecting hormones, causing cancer, affecting the nervous system and more.

At the bottom of the list, EWG has published the “Clean Fifteen” guide, fruits and vegetables with the least pesticides found on them. These include

• onions
• sweet corn
• avocado
• pineapple
• sweet peas
• mango
• asparagus
• kiwi
• cabbage
• eggplant
• papaya
• sweet potato
• tomato
• broccoli
• watermelon

Obviously, many of these fruits and veggies have an inedible outer skin or rind that prevents any pesticides from leaching into the food.

Download this handy pocket guide** to bring with you to the market. You may be spending a little more for certain foods if you buy organic, but consider the health benefit for you and your children.

Some tips to lessen or avoid pesticides? If you can, buy local from farmer’s markets. Many local farms that don’t ship foods far (ie, their produce is super-fresh) don’t use large amounts of pesticides for their crops. Washing and peeling food also helps, but doesn’t get rid of pesticides entirely. You can also try a fruit and veggie wash like Fit** or Veggie Wash** to get more gunk off your produce.

**You are leaving the FilterForGood Web site. The Brita Products® Company is not responsible for the content or data collection of that independent site.