People often ask me if I always buy everything organic, but I’ll be the first to tell you that health coaches definitely aren’t always perfect!
What really matters is how the food was grown. Some smaller farms use all organic practices but haven’t gone through the full organic certification process yet because it can be expensive for a small business. Get to know your local farms and stands and the farmers’ market and ask about the farm’s practices. ( Naples area Inyoni Organic Farm). When shopping at traditional grocery stores, I use the Dirty Dozen with the most pesticides and Clean 15 with the least pesticides lists to choose what produce I’ll buy organic.
Buy these organic whenever possible – Updated 2019
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Kale
- Nectarines
- Apples
- Grapes
- Peaches
- Cherries
- Pears
- Tomatoes
- Celery
- Potatoes
- Hot Peppers
These are ok to buy conventional (not organic) – Updated 2019
- Avocados
- Sweet Corn*
- Pineapples
- Sweet Peas (Frozen)
- Onions
- Papayas*
- Eggplants
- Asparagus
- Kiwi
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Cantaloupe
- Broccoli
- Mushrooms
- Honeydew Melons
* Per the EWG, a small amount of sweet corn, papaya and summer squash sold in the United States is produced from Genetically Engineered (GE) seed stock. Buy organic varieties of these crops if you want to avoid Genetically Engineered produce. I personally buy these organic