Produce: Dirty Dozen and Clean 15

You cannot build a better world without improving individuals. ~Marie Curie

You know how sometimes you have seemingly opposing goals like 1) you want to lose weight AND 2) eat delicious food?  (Okay, I gave that to you as a confidence booster because you already know how to do that. Eat whole unprocessed foods, yum.)  Well, maybe one of your New Year's resolutions is to eat more produce.  So what if you want to 1) eat organic to reduce your chemical intake in the form of pesticides AND 2) you want to be light on your wallet?

Fortunately, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has compiled a list of the "Dirty Dozen" fruits and vegetables with the most pesticide residue, and a list of the "Clean 15" with the least pesticide revenue. You can significantly limit your pesticide intake by avoiding the "Dirty Dozen" and eating the "Clean 15". Likewise you can stretch your dollar by buying the Dirty Dozen organic and the Clean 15 conventional. Now that it's winter, there are several items on the Clean 15 that are seasonal: onions, cabbage, sweet potatoes, grapefruit and mushrooms.

What if you can't buy the Dirty Dozen organic? Just go ahead and eat them. You deserve a gold star for eating unprocessed foods. What if you don't have a budget constraint? Buy everything organic since it's better for our environment not to be depositing chemicals on our soils.

Here's the current list of Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 Foods, but check the EWG database since it is updated.

Dirty Dozen

1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines - Imported
7. Grapes - Imported
8. Sweet bell peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries - Domestic
11. Lettuce
12. Kale/Collard Greens

Clean 15

1. Onions
2. Sweet Corn - there is no required labeling for Genetically Modified Foods, so you may want to purchase this oganically to avoid genetically engineered corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet Peas
7. Mangoes
8. Eggplant
9. Cantaloupe - Domestic
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet Potatoes
14. Grapefruit
15. Mushrooms

Want to learn more?

• The Low Down on Organic Food
• What is conventionally grown, industrial food?
• EWG Database

What I ate today: 4T blackstrap molasses, 4T apple cider vinegar, cheese popcorn, caramel popcorn, olive oil popcorn, brown rice, sauteed kale, boiled shrimp, cheese, 1.5 cups coffee + cream, whole wheat spaghetti + bolagnaise sauce + spinach, 1 apple, 30 oz. water

Exercise: jogged 4 miles, 60 situps, 6 pushups