Eating Organic: Fruit and Vegetables to Buy When You’re on a Budget

May 22, 2013

Do you wonder about prioritising your food budget to eat more organic fruit and vege? If you answered yes, you aren’t alone! It’s a question I’ve been fielding for a while!

There is a growing body of research on the reasons and benefits for going organic.  One of the most convincing is exposure to insecticides and herbicides during pregnancy and infancy can impact on a child’s foetal and cognitive development.

Exposure to pesticides can also interfere with normal hormone development, potentially causing low sperm count in boys and an early onset of puberty in girls.  Also the research is showing organophosphate exposure may contribute to ADHD prevalence.

To keep reading more of the reasons – click here to visit The Bud Club – an initiative of Australian Organic, a not-for-profit organisation that represents Australian organic farmers, producers and suppliers.

Now another great resource that I really like is produced by the US based Environmental Working Group (EWG).  They produce a Shopper’s Guide every year so consumers can gain some insight into which produce has higher levels of pesticide residue vs ones that don’t have as high levels.  When you’re prioritising your food dollar, a little bit of information like this can be very, very helpful!!

So, according to the EWG here are the ones worth prioritising to EAT ORGANIC based on the 2013 Shopper’s Guide are:

  1. Apples
  2. Celery
  3. Cherry Tomatoes
  4. Cucumber
  5. Grapes
  6. Hot chillis
  7. Nectarines
  8. Peaches
  9. Potatoes
  10. Spinach
  11. Strawberries
  12. Capsicum
  13. Kale
  14. Zucchini.

The ones they suggest that aren’t quite as bad in terms of pesticide residue levels are: Asparagus, Avocado, Cabbage, Cantaloupe (which I think is Rockmelon), Corn, Eggplant, Grapefruit, Kiwifruit, Mango, Mushrooms, Onion, Papaya, Pineapple, Peas (frozen), Sweet Potato.

They have a cool app plus a little print out too!

To get the print out visit their website: http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/

To get the App, visit the iTunes Store by clicking here.

It’s worth checking out!

Louise xx