The Filthy Five

Despite the rising Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wall Street lately – rising above 9,000 for the first time since January – the folks on Main Street aren’t bearing much fruit, with local yokels still suffering from the country’s fiscal crisis.

With this in mind, I’m well aware that many people aren’t able to afford purchasing organic fruits and vegetables over traditional produce (organic produce can cost anywhere from 10 to 40 percent more than the traditional stuff).  But if you’re preparing a dish or are craving a fruit, there are certain fruits and vegetables that you should try and buy organically because they’re so stricken with pesticides.

Every year the Environmental Working Group conducts tens of thousands of tests on various fruits and vegetables to see which ones contain the highest pesticide load when they reach supermarket shelves.  The higher the score, the more poisoned it is with pesticides.  So, without further ado, I present to you five of the worst offenders.  I like to call them “The Filthy Five.”

Peaches

Unfortunately, the peach is a perpetual offender.  For at least the past two years (maybe more), the EWG has given the peach a ranking of 100 on the pesticide load list:  the highest possible ranking!  The fuzzy fruit is packed with vitamin C, beta-carotene, potassium, so they’re not something you should simply not buy.  Just buy them organically.

Apples

With a pesticide load score of 93, the old “apple a day” cliché may not have the same cachet as it once did.  It’s health properties still hold, though, when they’re certified organic (as I’ve written in the past, apples are great for heart health, thanks to their high levels of pectin and quercetin).

Sweet Bell Peppers

The pepper ain’t so sweet with a score of 83 on the pesticide load list. But you can’t do without peppers in your daily diet, particularly if you’re deficient in vitamin C.  Peppers contain more of this vital vitamin than oranges or strawberries (the yellow ones have the highest vitamin C yield).

Celery

Believe it or not, these innocent sticks of chewy goodness are often plagued with pesticides (a pesticide load score of 82).  One of the few vegetables that have a long shelf life (at least two weeks when stored in the fridge), they also prolong brain life, as they’re packed with the brain-saving flavonoid luteolin, which has been linked to Alzheimer’s prevention.

Nectarines

Rounding out “The Filthy Five” is the peach’s follicly-challenged sibling.  It was bested (or should I say “worsted”?) by celery by one point, coming in with a pitiful pesticide score of 81.

The nutritional difference between nectarines and peaches are negligible; it all boils down to whether you prefer your stone fruit fuzzy and soft (peach) or bald and firm (nectarine).

Other pesticide-offending produce include strawberries, cherries, kale and lettuce.  So keep these fruits and vegetables in mind when picking produce.

Now, if the Environmental Working Group investigates pesticide-laden produce, that also leaves open those that aren’t so bad.  In part two, we’ll take a look at the fruits and vegetables you can afford to eat non-organically, or what I like to call, “The Felicitous Five.”

>> Click Here for Traditionally Grown Part 2

Sources
nutritiondata.com
foodnews.org