Top 12 Foods to Choose Organic

Photo by paul l nettles.

All this talk about organic foods on twitter this week has done two things:

1. Sent me back into memory dreamland remembering eating wild cherries from the neighbor’s trees in France

2. Living in Bangkok today, made me realize how these organic foods are not within everyone’s reach.  Either they’re too expensive or, depending on where you live, simply unavailable.  As much as I would love to eat organic foods 100% of the time, it is not going to happen this week in South East Asia.

I don’t think I need to go into all the different problems associated with a high pesticide load (another article perhaps?) because there are too many. Also, I trust that your common sense must tell you that they are bad for you despite ridiculous studies like the one published in the Times Online article this week.  Instead, lets prioritize.

Farmers have the daunting task of dealing with insects, mites, fungus, weeds, mollusks, nematodes, and 14-year-old me on a guerilla mission to eat my body weight in cherries every other day. Many of them turn to insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, molluscicides, miticides, nematicides and drnishanticides. A lot of these chemicals are fat soluble which means the fattier the food the more I prioritize buying that item organic.

Cooking oils, animal meats etc (being animals ourselves, a lot of the chemical residue ends up in your fat tissue, which is a good reason to lose weight gradually over time).  That’s a simple guideline but there are exceptions, avocado, for example, has a low pesticide residue (think thick skin).

The Environmental Working Group has a wonderful list called the Dirty Dozen which they update continuously.  Here is the ranking of the worst foods in order of pesticide load to eat non-organic, meaning, if you don’t always go organic, at the least try to go organic on the following 12 foods:

1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Bell Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Kale
9. Lettuce
10. Grapes (imported)
11. Carrots
12. Pears
13. Tomatoes

If you choose organic with these then you’ll be saving yourself a load of solvent toxicity over time.  Here is a handy iPhone app and wallet size card you can print out to keep track of vegetable pesticide load.

Happy shopping!

P.S. That image of the plane, those are pesticides being sprayed all over your Top 12.

Dr. Nishant Rao is a co-founder of WellWire.com. He is a well-traveled naturopathic doctor and new father, practicing an integrative approach to create wellness in and around Los Angeles. Become a patient or discover his practice.