Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen

Planting my garden this past week (so very late due to cold damp May and lots of April travel), I’ve been focused on the future glory of fresh vegetables. Which is much better than focusing on the current reality of thistles and morning glory and slugs. Some produce is startlingly better if you grow it yourself – tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries, for example.  But for other crops –potatoes and garlic come to mind – the distinction between “home-grown” and “store-bought” is lost on me.

What about the distinction between “organic” and whatever you want to call the other stuff – “pesticide-enhanced”? There is ongoing unresolved controversy about the distinction (if there is one) between the nutritional value of organically grown produce versus non-organics. There can be a distinction (but not always) in taste. There is always a glaring distinction in cost. So…following the “you are what you eat” motto that is central to living a counterclockwise life, what should we be buying/growing/eating as we move into these months of fruit and vegetable splendor and magnificence?

I wanted to remind myself (and I am now reminding you) about the so-call Dirty Dozen, the fruits and vegetables that you absolutely want to buy organic (or grow yourself) because of pesticide load.

Researchers at the Environmental Working Group, a U.S. non-profit that specializes in research and advocacy, conducted extensive (and ongoing) analysis to determine the most contaminated fruits and vegetables. Here they are (in order): Apples, peaches, nectarines, strawberries, grapes, celery, spinach, sweet bell peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, snap peas, potatoes, hot peppers. So buy organic or grow yourself. Or, if neither is a possibility, avoid.

You can add to your avoid or buy organic list: beef (strong suggestion of connection between hormones given to cattle and cancer in humans) and milk from rBST or rBGH-treated cows (17% of dairy cows are treated with the hormone). Oh, and by the way: Don’t buy microwave popcorn even if the popcorn is “organic.” The linings of microwave-popcorn bags may contain a toxic chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid (used to prevent the food from sticking to the paper), which, according to the EPA, is a likely carcinogen.

And now, for the Don’t Worry list, the Clean 15 with the lowest pesticide load. This is courtesy of Dr, Andrew Weil: avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, cabbage , sweet peas (frozen), onions, asparagus, mangoes, papayas, kiwi, eggplant, grapefruit, cantaloupe (domestic), cauliflower, sweet potatoes.

Now go plant something.