Member Center

News 4 at 4

Smart Choices: What Should You Buy Organic?

Posted: Jun 21, 2012 5:09 PM
Updated: Jun 21, 2012 5:27 PM


Bookmark and Share
Rating:

0.0 (0 votes)

TUCSON - With summer here, we see an abundance of veggies and fruits in the markets. But what should you buy organic?

Today on News 4 Tucson at 4 p.m., our nutrition contributor, Hana Feeney, stopped by with her thoughts on organic shopping. Here's the information she provided on today's "Smart Choices":

Visit http://nourishingresults.com/what-to-buy/ to find a complete listing of foods to purchase organic. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has created the Shopper's Guide to Pesticide in Produce to help you determine which fruits and vegetables have the most pesticide residues and are the most important to buy organic. You will reduce your pesticide intake by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables, The Dirty Dozen, or by buying organic vegetables and fruits.

The EWG also lists the Clean 15, which are the vegetables and fruits that are lowest in pesticide residue.

According to the EWG, you can lower the volume of pesticide that you consume daily by up to 92% if you choose organic for the Dirty Dozen or stick to the Clean 15.

The Environmental Working Group is not determining the health risk of eating produce that is contaminated with pesticides, they are working to inform you about the produce that contains pesticide residue so that you can make informed choices when grocery shopping.

Your goal is to choose "organic" of the most highly contaminated produce in order to minimize your exposure to pesticides, or replace these produce with vegetables and fruit from the Clean 15 list. Fresh and frozen are best; frozen vegetables and fruits are an economical and resourceful way to eat organic produce year-round.

Dirty Dozen Plus (highest in pesticide residue, prioritize purchasing organic or emphasize other produce options):

• Apples
• Celery
• Sweet bell peppers
• Peaches
• Strawberries
• Nectarines, imported
• Grapes
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Cucumbers
• Blueberries, domestic
• Potatoes
• Green beans
• Kale and collard greens

Clean 15 (lowest is pesticide residue, okay if not organic all the time):

• Onions
• Sweet corn (but is often genetically modified)
• Pineapple
• Avocado
• Cabbage
• Sweet peas
• Asparagus
• Mango
• Eggplant
• Kiwi
• Cantaloupe, domestic
• Sweet potatoes (but are one of the crops with the highest pesticide use per acre, making conventional farming of sweet potatoes hard on our environment and water supply)
• Grapefruit
• Watermelon
• Mushrooms

Eat your fruits and veggies and go to http://nourishingresults.com/category/eat-your-veggies/ for tasty recipes and information.

Comments

KVOA.com is Social!

Most Popular

DON'T MISS THESE!

Thumbnail
FC TUCSON

Check out the latest events FC Tucson has scheduled.

Thumbnail
SEASON 4 HOPE

Help those in need this holiday season

Thumbnail
SUBMIT NEWS TIP

Click here to submit a news tip to us!

Thumbnail
NEWS 4 TUCSON ON FACEBOOK

Become a Facebook Fan!

Thumbnail
@KVOA ON TWITTER

Follow us!

Thumbnail
BECOME A MEMBER

Sign up on KVOA.com for newsletters, exclusive deals, and more!

Thumbnail
KVOA.COM LATEST CONTESTS

Win! Win! Win!

Thumbnail
KVOA MOBILE APPS

Get news, weather and more on your smartphone and tablet!

Thumbnail
TEXT ALERTS

Get texts for news, traffic, deals and more!

Thumbnail
KRISTI'S KIDS

Stories and videos with Kristi's Kids

Thumbnail
NEWS 4 TUCSON @ 4

What's happening on News 4 @ 4

Thumbnail
ADVERTISE WITH KVOA.COM

Let us help grow your business

Thumbnail
COMMUNITY CALENDAR

What's happening?

Thumbnail
KVOA PROGRAM SCHEDULE

What's on KVOA and when!

Thumbnail
CONTACT US

Contact info for our department heads

Thumbnail
FCC ONLINE PUBLIC FILE

FCC Public File of Records, Reports, and More

Thumbnail
MEET US!

KVOA's on air personalities!

Thumbnail
KVOA CAREERS

Work at News 4 Tucson

Thumbnail
RSS FEEDS

Complete feeds of all KVOA.com stories