Dr Oz: Shopper’s Guide To Pesticides in Food
You may not be able to see or smell pesticides, but they are in a lot of your foods, including the healthy ingredients Dr Oz is always recommending to us. Get the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 shopping lists, and learn why there could even be pesticides in meat!
Dr Oz: Pesticide Foods Dirty Dozen
Investigative reporter Elisabeth Leamy talked about the Dirty Dozen. Pesticides can pool in apples, celery, and other thin-skinned fruits. Potatoes are a beloved vegetable, but they can be full of pesticides.
Cucumbers have been found with up to 35 pesticides, and spinach can soak up the chemicals. Peppers and strawberries are also on this red flag list.
- Apples
- Celery
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Grapes
- Hot Peppers
- Nectarines (imported)
- Peaches
- Potatoes
- Spinach
- Strawberries
- Sweet Bell Peppers
Dr Oz: Clean 15 Low Pesticide Foods
Dr Oz compared the contaminated Dirty Dozen conventionally farmed foods to safer Clean 15 options for organic grocery swaps.
Nutritionist Kate Geagan and Dr Oz talked about organic foods and this awful dirty dozen list. “We can’t wash and peel our way out of this,” Kate said.
The natural alternative is the Clean 15, which includes foods that have the lowest pesticide residues. Some of these are resistant to pesticides, and many of them have thick skins.
That means these natural foods are the safest for your family.
- Asparagus
- Avocado
- Cabbage
- Cantaloupe
- Corn
- Eggplant
- Grapefruit
- Kiwi
- Mangos
- Mushrooms
- Onions
- Papayas
- Pineapples
- Sweet Peas (frozen)
- Sweet Potatoes
Dr Oz: Budget Organic Grocery Swaps
Organic produce can be expensive, and these lists are going to be hard to remember. Kate Geagan said that you can download an app to help you remember what is on the Dirty Dozen list and the Clean 15 list.
She also suggested prioritizing purchasing organic varieties of the foods you eat most, or swapping other Dirty Dozen items from your shopping list with replacements from the Clean 15.
Dr Oz: Pesticide Food Swaps
You can trade a pineapple for strawberries, as an example of a food swap. Strawberries have a short fresh season in America, which means a lot of what you find is imported from other countries, where pesticide rules could be even less stringent.
Potatoes are a big problem, because so many of us love this vegetable. But Sweet Potatoes have 10% of the pesticide residue compared to regular tomatoes, so try that swap.
Leafy greens are supposed to be good for us, but their surface area is usually covered in Pesticide Cocktails. A good option here is Cabbage, which made the Clean 15 list and is full of antioxidants.
Dr Oz: Pesticides in Meat?!?
Did you know that even your meat could be laced with Pesticides? When animals eat food that is enriched with pesticides, it can get into their intestines. Lean meat is less likely to attract pesticides, but they are attracted by the fat in some other cuts.
That means pesticides could be concentrated in the meats we are eating and serving. Ground beef, chicken thighs, pork, lunchmeat, and more are all high risk meats for pesticide content, according to Kate Geagan.
Her advice was to choose lean meat cuts, and go organic by cutting down to a lower serving per person (try four ounces) to make organic more affordable.
I watched the program on yesterday’s Dr. Oz show on our local TV network. Of course, some of the information is pretty common knowledge, although there was new information that I had not thought of. I am very irritated that the public cannot trust the federal government to make a valid attempt to protect one of our basic necessities (food). Additionally, it is more alarming, that there is a growing sector (lower income) that has a more difficult time affording the luxury of “organic produce” and “meat.” Ethically, that shouldn’t be the case. There were some suggestions: reducing portions of higher priced (organic) beef and veggies or substituting. This takes spreading the knowledge to all people. We should start pressing the government to take a more responsible role for the betterment of public health. Thank you for writing about this topic.