Conventional vs organic: Two simple questions to help you decide

One really effective way to reduce the toxin load on your body is to eat organic fruits and vegetables.

But what if you don’t have access to a wide range of organic produce, or if you can’t afford to go fully organic?

Watch my video to discover two simple rules you can use while you’re out shopping to help you decide what’s safe to buy conventionally.

Here’s the EWG’s Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists:

• The Dirty Dozen
• The Clean Fifteen

And if you’re dealing with cancer, here’s the top 25 anti-cancer fruits and veggies to include in your diet.

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Video Transcript

Two simple rules for choosing conventional vs organic

A really great way to reduce the toxin load on your body is to eat organic fruits and vegetables.

But what if you don’t have access to a great range of organic fruits and veggies?

Or you simply don’t have the budget to go fully organic?

I’ve come up with two simple rules that you can use while you’re out shopping to help you decide whether to buy organic or conventional.

Hi, I’m Nikki, the Truth Fairy from ChoosingDifferently.com and I’m here to help you create a life of YOUR choosing.

A simpler version of the “Clean Fifteen, Dirty Dozen” lists

So you might have heard of the “Clean Fifteen, Dirty Dozen” lists.

So this is basically the results of a report that’s published every year by the Environmental Working Group in the United States, where they test the level of pesticides in a range of different fruits and vegetables.

And then summarise those on to the worst offenders, the Dirty Dozen, and the lowest levels of pesticides, the Clean Fifteen.

Now I’ve tried to remember the foods that are on these two lists when I’m out shopping and it’s just too much to remember. I can’t do it!

But I looked at the foods on those lists and I realised there were actually some patterns in the high level and low level of pesticide foods.

And I’ve come up with two simple rules that you can use, instead of trying to remember those lists, to help you decide whether it’s safe to buy something conventional.

Rule #1 – Tough skins that you don’t eat

So the first rule is “Does it have a tough skin that you don’t eat?”

So things like bananas, avocados, sweet corn, mangoes fall into that category.

And I think the reason that these show up on the Clean Fifteen list is because that tough skin gets thrown away so a lot of the pesticides go in the bin with the skins that you throw away.

And of course there are other things that don’t have tough skins, or that we don’t throw the skins away for, that really we do need to buy organic.

And these are things like berries, cherries, grapes, apples and leafy greens.

Rule #2 – Really strong tastes

So the second question that you can ask is “Does it have a really strong taste?”

And there are some things like Brussels sprouts and cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, onions, asparagus that all have quite distinctive tastes and they also show up on the Clean Fifteen list.

And once again I think it’s because the strong taste discourages the insects from damaging the plants and therefore fewer pesticides are needed to grow them.

These are not perfect rules but 90% of the time if you use them to decide whether to buy organic or conventional you’ll end up getting fewer pesticides but not necessarily having to buy as much of your food organic.

The two simple questions to ask

So “Does it have a tough skin that we throw away?” then it’s safe to buy conventional.

Or “Does it have a strong taste?” and then it’s safe to buy conventional.

Otherwise buy organic.

Your turn

So I hope you found that trick useful.

And now I’d love to hear from you.

Do you think you’ll actually use these tricks when you go shopping next time?

And let me know what you thought about them.

And catch my next video to continue activating your body’s natural ability to heal.