10 Foods to Buy Organic

The benefits of eating organic food go straight to the farm, where no pesticides and chemical fertilizers are used to grow the organic produce shipped to grocers.  For more information, we highlighted what organic really means in an article we wrote here.

Samir Becic and  Health Fitness Revolution knows that organic food can cost more and there have been studies that show that certain foods, like bananas, are no better when grown organic versus conventional.  Such information can be confusing, which is why we found 10 foods that believe should be bought organic when possible:

• Apples:  Apples are often found with more than 40 different pesticides on them, because fungus and insect threats prompt farmers to spray various chemicals on their orchards. Because of this, pesticide residue is also found in apple juice and sauce, making all apple products smart foods to buy organic.

• Celery: Has traces of 60 different pesticides.

• Cucumbers:  Cucumbers, which have been laced with as many as 35 different pesticides that remain on the skin when it’s time for salad-making. Peeling the skin off may reduce your chances of ingesting some of them.

• Nectarines:  Domestic nectarines don’t test with as much pesticide residue, but overall 33 pesticides have been detected on nectarines.  If you can’t find organic ones, opt for fruits with skins such as mango, pineapple, and papaya.

• Peaches:  More than 60 pesticides can be found on peaches, single serving cups, and canned peaches.

• Potatoes:  Although it’s America’s favorite vegetable, it is full of pesticides- more than 35 pesticides to be exact.  Although peeling helps, most of the potatoes nutrients are in the skin.  Opt for organic varieties, or switch to sweet potatoes, which are better on blood sugar levels and have less pesticide contamination.

• Strawberries:  Many insects and fungus love strawberries as much as you do, which means that because farmers spray nearly 60 pesticides on them. This pesticide residue remains on berries sold at market- although frozen strawberries have less pesticides.

• Spinach, Lettuce: Spinach leads the leafy greens with nearly 50 different pesticide traces and lettuce coming in a close second.  While frozen spinach has nearly as many, canned spinach has less.

• Sweet Bell Peppers:  High pesticide residue is found on the sweet bell pepper, in all of its colorful varieties. Nearly 50 different pesticides have been detected on sweet bell peppers.

• Blueberries: More than 50 pesticides have been detected as residue on them. Frozen blueberries have proved somewhat less contaminated. Unfortunately, obvious alternatives like cranberries and cherries, while not as heavily contaminated, are still contaminated. For breakfast cereal, if you can’t find organic blueberries, consider topping with bananas.

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