Let's talk about healthy nutrition

[Peregrinus]

Toxic foods on a score of 0-200, 200 being most toxic

Best foods
l. Corn
2. Sweet potatoes
3. Cauliflower
4. Brussel sprouts
5. Grapes (U.S.)
6. Bananas
7. Plums
8. Watermelon
9. Broccoli

Worst foods
1. Strawberries - 189 Strawberry growers everywhere use large amounts of pesticides, particularly fungicides
2. Bell peppers (green and red) - 155 Bell peppers are more heavily contaminated with neurotoxic insecticides than all other crops analyzed.
3. Spinach - 155 Spinach contains DDT, permethrin, chlorthalonil and other carcinogenic pesticides.
4. U.S. grown cherries - 154 Cherries from the U.S. are three times more contaminated with pesticides than their imported counterparts, which are among the cleanest fruits and vegetables analyzed. Domestic cherries were found to contain twenty-six different pesticides!
5. Peaches - 150 Peaches are heavily contaminated with cancer causing fungicides and neuro-toxic pesticides.
6. Mexican grown cantaloupe - Cantaloupes from Mexico tested positive for two or more pesticides in forty-eight percent of the samples
7. Celery - Celery is a major source of exposure to neurotoxic pesticides.
8. Apples - Apples contain thirty-six different pesticides, more than any other fruit or vegetable
9. Apricots - Apricots contain high levels of pesticides, fourteen different kinds to be exact
10. Green beans - Green beans are a major source of carcinogenic fungicides, neurotoxins, and endocrine disruptors.
11. Chilean-grown grapes - Grapes from Chile add a load of cancer causing and endocrine-disrupting fungicides
12. Cucumbers - 114 Cucumbers contain unacceptable levels of Dieldrin, an extremely carcinogenic pesticide that was banned in the U.S. over twenty years ago. Unfortunately it is persistent in the soil and is taken up by cucumbers. One of every fourteen cucumber samples from across the U.S. and Mexico contained this highly toxic compound.

As disturbing as the news is of widespread toxicity in our fresh foods, according to the Environmental Working Group, the picture is actually much bleaker than painted by data. Some of the foods listed as the least contaminated have incredibly high contamination rates if they come from certain countries. Examples are pears from Korea, blackberries and green peas from Guatemala, peas from China, kiwis from Chile, carrots and leaf lettuce from Mexico, and green onions and tomatoes from the United States. Farmers must contend with some 80,000 plant diseases, 30,000 species of weeds, 1,000 species of nematodes and more than 10,000 species of insects, so the problem of pesticide residues is not likely to end soon. Every year 100-150 million pounds of pesticides that cannot be used in the United States are exported for use in other countries. The foods that are treated with these banned chemicals are then imported back into the US and Canada, to be sold at grocery stores. It is the recommendation of the EWG that we buy organic produce whenever possible!

The EWG is a great resource http://www.ewg.org/