Toxic Pesticides We're Eating

Everyone wants to eat better quality food for a healthy lifestyle.   We are bombarded with information on the Internet, the News and from our doctors about what is good to eat and what is bad to eat.  Sometimes the information about what is healthy and not healthy conflicts with one another.  I always do my best to take in the information and make up my own mind as to what makes sense to me.

Fruits That Commonly Have Toxic Pesticide Residue

The general info we hear time and time again is to eat more leafy greens, vegetables and fruit.   Limit fats and fried foods. Yeah, I am sure you have seen all of this stuff, too.   But, what I read this morning, I found shocking and quite disturbing.  

According to the Environmental Working Group, many of the foods we believe to be part of that healthy list are actually quite bad for you if you buy the conventionally grown foods.   The reason for this is the pesticides found in the foods.

One of the examples in their list is Kale.   Kale and Collard Greens have been touted as being some of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet.   Many consider it a super food, packed with all sorts of goodness.  BUT, did you know that in tests conducted by USDA Scientists, they detected 51 different pesticides on conventionally grown Kale and 41 on Collard Greens?   The study sites many particular pesticides that I can’t pronounce, like DDE, Dieldrin, Chlorpyrifos, Oxydemention, Esfenvalerate and Famoxadone.  Two of these pesticides,  DDE and Dieldrin, have been proven to be so toxic that they were banned a few years back!

This is why I make an effort to buy Organic produce whenever I can or grow as much as I can on my property.  Those of you who have watched my videos can see that I do a lot of growing at home and I do my best to show people how I do it, so that they too can do the same.

So, you may ask what foods have the most pesticides on them?

The number one worst food with the most pesticides was Apples!   Do you remember that saying, an apple a day….  Apples were followed by Strawberries and Grapes.

Celery was in their number four spot.   Who would ever even think about celery having pesticides, right?   Their number 5 on the list of most pesticide residue was peaches.  Number 8 was imported Nectarines, which I thought was interesting.   You would think that peaches and nectarines were so similar, that they would be next to each other.  I always thought that produce that was imported had more pesticides than what was in the US, but the Domestic peaches had MORE pesticides than the imported Nectarines.

Surprisingly, between Peaches and Nectarines was in the number 6 spot.   Spinach!   WOW, a leafy green!  Who would have thought that Spinach would have more pesticides then number 7, which was sweet bell peppers.    Now, for those of you who see my videos, you see how easy it is to grow spinach.   I am growing it, as you can freely see WITHOUT PESTICIDES at all!

Cucumbers held the number 9 spot in this list, followed by Cherry Tomatoes in the number 10 spot.   As you can see, many of these things I grow myself, and you can too!

The list goes on and on, with Snap Peas, Potatoes, Hot Peppers, Blueberries, and yes, Lettuce and Kale.   Now, what can you do about it?   I believe that you can demand better by making your voice heard with your wallet!   For these things, at least, buy Organic if you can or Grow Your Own.   Either way, make sure you wash your produce very well with a quality produce wash.

I think it is important to learn how to grow your own food!   Even if you are living in a City area, you can do amazing things with Hydroponic Systems to grow your own food.    In fact, you can use the Kratky method, like I did and make a lettuce growing station using a rough tote.   All you need is quality hydroponic nutrients.   You can’t use conventional fertilizer in hydroponics. 

If you wanted to grow hydroponically all year long, you could!   You would need a quality grow light, and I would recommend either this LED Grow Light for smaller systems or this UFO LED Grow Light for larger systems.

You can grow in the ground, of course.   I recommend doing a combination of both.   The lettuce comes out so great hydroponically, so that is my preferred method of growing these days for lettuce.   Tomatoes I will continue to do in the ground.

I am looking forward to experimenting with Kale and Spinach using hydroponics.   I want to give that a try.

So, I hope you have found this post informative and helpful.   Please feel free to let me know how you feel about this type of information and what you and your family are doing, so that we can learn from each other.