Our family was supposed to start “Clean Eating” on May1st. But, when I looked at my stockpile, I realized that I would have a ton of food to donate and would have wasted a lot of money. You know me… I might be charitable but I just cannot bring myself to waste a ton of money.
So, we decided to start slowly.
Have you heard of clean eating? If not, there is a great overview HERE. No, Grandma, it is not a diet. (My Grandma, as sweet as she can be, is ALWAYS on a diet.) This is about a lifestyle change.
Typically, you think eating healthier and staying away from processed foods is automatically going to put a rise in your budget. Well, since I have a new attitude about spending money, I am going to try it and see. Besides, if there is a small rise in our budget, I think it will be compensated by the lowering of our health care costs.
Step #1 for us is to insert organic produce into our diet. I wish we could afford to get everything organic but let’s face it. Organics are not exactly cheap, but according to The Daily Green:
If consumers get their USDA-recommended 5 daily servings of fruits and veggies from the 15 most contaminated, they could consume an average of 10 pesticides a day. Those who eat the 15 least contaminated conventionally grown produce ingest less than 2 pesticides daily.
What we are doing is focusing on what they call “The Dirty Dozen” which are:
1) Celery ~ Without any protective skin, celery is a magnet for pesticides. Recent studies show that celery tested positive with over 64 pesticides! That makes it number ONE.
2) Peaches ~ In 2009, this was the number ONE problem with over 62 pesticides detected.
3) Strawberries ~ How many pesticides? Too many!
4) Apples ~ I heard a doctor say that if you can only purchase one organic fruit to make it apples because people tend to eat more apples than any other fruit.
5) Blueberries ~ The dirtiest berries on the market.
6) Nectarines ~ As a cousin to the peach, were you surprised?
7) Bell Peppers ~ BOY! That hurts because we eat a lot of bell pepper around here!
8) Spinach ~ I think most people started buying organic spinach after that last e-coli scare.
9) Kale ~ Not a loss for me since I have never had kale in my life.
10) Cherries ~ Oddly enough, domestic cherries are actually higher in pesticide residue than imported cherries.
11) Potatoes ~ I would have never guessed that one, but they have thin skins and are absorbent.
12) Imported Grapes ~ Notice the addition of the word “imported” because donestically grown grapes are much safer. And, yes, this means that imported wines are also pesticide laden.
So, where do you by organic produce? Lately, I have been pushing my cart through the produce section at Target although Publix has a nice variety too. Walmart has an extremely limited (almost non-existent) list of organics available.
What are your thoughts on clean eating or organic produce? I would love to know!
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