Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The Chemicals We Eat


Do you ever wonder about the chemicals you eat from eating inorganic fruits and vegetables? If not, I hope you will now.

The EPA approved and registered many of the pesticides that are used today, long before the harmful and negative effects were discovered. The impact on our health from these chemicals is becoming more and more obvious. Our bodies were not meant to be fed poison.

In order to protect the crop, commercial farms use chemicals on the plants as they grow. The problem with this is the chemicals are then absorbed into the plant and no matter how well you clean the outside of the fruit or vegetable, the chemicals still remain inside.

None of us would intentionally eat harmful chemicals so now that you know the importance of organic foods it's time to make the switch!

Organic foods may cost more money up front but will end up saving you more money down the road in doctor and hospital bills.

Check out
www.organicconsumers.org/epa7.htm for more information on the harmful effects of consuming chemicals.

1 comment:

diamond*diva said...

You know me and my organic kick:) I just thought I would add......
These are the dirty dozen(if you choose any foods to go Organic with it should be these)

1)Meat-pork, beef, and poultry
2)Dairy-milk, cheese and butter
3)Strawberries(most heavily dosed crops with pesticides.. On average 300 lbs of pesticides are used on strawberries compared to average of 25 lbs per acre for other fruits)
4)Apples(36 different chemicals are used and half of which are neurotoxins-neurotoxins cause brain damage)
5)Tomatoes(very thin skin offers little to no protection)
6)Potatoes
7)Spinach(and other greens)
8)Coffee(especially if it is grown in other countries where there are little or no regulations for chemicals)
9)Peaches and Nectarines
10)Grapes(especially imported)
11)Celery(29 different chemicals are applied directly to the celery as it grows , which cannot be washed off
12)Bell Peppers
...................................
I wanted to note that it may seem that these numbers below contradict the dirty dozen numbers but the dirty dozen is based of the way they use pesticides, the amount and the differnt kinds..
They have proven that people can lower their pesticide exposure by 90 percent by avoiding the top twelve most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated instead or making sure that the highest contaminated are organic.

The Full List: 43 Fruits & Veggies
RANK
FRUIT OR VEGGIE
SCORE

Worst
1)Peaches-100 (highest pesticide load)

2)Apples-96

3)Sweet Bell Peppers-86

4)Celery-85

5)Nectarines-84

6)Strawberries-83

7)Cherries-75

8)Lettuce -69

9)Grapes Imported-68

10)Pears-65

11)Spinach-60

12)Potatoes-58

13)Carrots-57

14)Green Beans-55

15)Hot Peppers-53

16)Cucumbers-52

17)Raspberries-47

18)Plums-46

19)Oranges-46

20)Grapes Domestic-46

21)Cauliflower-39

22)Tangerine-38

23)Mushrooms-37

24)Cantaloupe-34

25)Lemon-31

26)Honeydew Melon-31

27)Grapefruit-31

28)Winter Squash-31

29)Tomatoes-30

30)Sweet Potatoes-30

31)Watermelon-25

32)Blueberries-24

33)Papaya-21

34)Eggplant-19

35)Broccoli-18

36)Cabbage-17

37)Bananas-16

38)Kiwi-14

39)Asparagus-11

40)Sweet Peas Frozen-11

41)Mango-9

42)Pineapples-7

43)Sweet Corn Frozen-2

44)Avocado-1

45)Onions-1 (lowest pesticide load)
BEST

See I just wanted to add a few things:)