Healthy Dining and Mind Munching Book Club Selections

The Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen!

If you were to get all of your vegetables from conventionally farmed sources, this would be better for your health than eating no fresh vegetables at all. However, conventionally farmed vegetables are not your best choice. Organic vegetables are a much better option. Why? USDA Organic farmers must use different standards when growing vegetables. These standards include never using: pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, and ionizing radiation.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers 60 percent of herbicides, 90 percent of fungicides, and 30 percent of insecticides to be carcinogenic, and most are damaging to your nervous system as well. 

  Conventional Fruit and Vegetable Pesticide Loads

Certainly helpful to your decision about which vegetables should be purchased organic and which conventional veggies may be safe, is the measured pesticide loads found on conventionally farmed fruits and vegetables. Of the 43 different fruit and vegetable categories tested by the Environmental Working Group and included in their Shoppers' Guide to Pesticides in Produce, these 12 fruits and vegetables had the highest pesticide load, making them the most important to buy or grow organic:

THE DIRTY DOZEN

·                 Peaches

·                 Apples

·                 Sweet bell peppers

·                 Celery

·                 Nectarines

·                 Strawberries

·                 Cherries

·                 Lettuce

·                 Grapes (imported)

·                 Pears

·                 Spinach

·                 Potatoes

In contrast, these foods were found to have the lowest residual pesticide load, making them the safest bet among conventionally grown vegetables:

THE CLEAN FIFTEEN

·                 Broccoli

·                 Eggplant

·                 Cabbage

·                 Banana

·                 Kiwi

·                 Asparagus

·                 Sweet peas (frozen)

·                 Mango

·                 Pineapple

·                 Sweet corn (frozen)

·                 Avocado

·                 Onion

.                 Grapefruit

.                 Watermelon

.                 Sweet Potatoes

So if you need to work within a certain budget, use this information to help guide you to the best choices when it comes to lowering your overall pesticide exposure!

Recipe of the Month

Jicama and Snap Pea Citrus Salad

This crunchy salad tastes fresh and delicious with lemon and lime juice. The red onions turn a fabulous neon color after marinating in the lime juice.

Ingredients

·         1 medium onion(s), red, sliced paper thin

·         6 medium lime(s), juice only

·         salt, sea, to taste

·         2 cup(s) jicama, peeled and cut into julienne

·         2 cup(s) peas, sugar snap, cut into julienne

·         1/4 cup(s) vinegar, white wine

·         1 tablespoon mint, fresh, chopped

·         1/2 cup(s) oil, olive, extra virgin

·         pepper, black, freshly ground

Preparation

1. Marinate the thinly sliced red onion in the lime juice with a little salt and let stand for a few hours.

2. Combine the jicama and sugar snap peas. Toss with the vinaigrette.

3. Place on salad plates and garnish each with a handful of the marinated onions. Enjoy!

For Lemon-Mint Vinaigrette:

1. Whisk together the vinegar, mint leaves, salt and pepper to taste in a mixing cup.

2. Add the oil in a slow stream, whisking constantly until the oil is emulsified.