Do I Have To Eat Organic?

In general, you should buy organic or biodynamic or locally/sustainably produced food. However, if you are on a budget and don't want to buy everything organic, you can refer to the Environmental Working Group's Shopping Guide. This guide will indicate what type of produce is grown with fewer pesticides.

Why Should You Care About Pesticides?
There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood when exposures can have long lasting effects. Because the toxic effects of pesticides are worrisome, not well understood, or in some cases completely unstudied, shoppers are wise to minimize exposure to pesticides whenever possible.

What’s the Difference?
An EWG simulation of thousands of consumers eating high and low pesticide diets shows that people can lower their pesticide exposure by almost 90 percent by avoiding the top twelve most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated instead. Eating the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables will expose a person to about 14 pesticides per day, on average. Eating the 12 least contaminated will expose a person to less than 2 pesticides per day. Less dramatic comparisons will produce less dramatic reductions, but without doubt using the Guide provides people with a way to make choices that lower pesticide exposure in the diet.

If you are not buying organic, you should try to buy from a local farm.

The best foods (lowest in pesticides):
Onions
Avocado
Sweet Corn (Frozen)
Pineapples
Mango
Sweet Peas (Frozen)
Asparagus
Kiwi
Bananas
Cabbage
Broccoli
Eggplant

The following list you should only buy organic.

The worst foods (highest in pesticides):
Peaches
Apples
Sweet Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Lettuce
Grapes (Imported)
Pears
Spinach
Potatoes

Download the shopping guide, print it and keep it in your wallet or purse:
http://www.foodnews.org/pdf/EWG_pesticide.pdf

Source:
Food News from the Environmental Working Group
http://www.foodnews.org/