Fruits and Veggies ~ with Pesticides???????

We eat regular fruits and veggies. I simply wash them well.

The media hypes everything up and leads people to believe that everything we do causes cancer.

I just eat right, live right and have faith.... it's not worth worrying excessively... oh... and worrying causes cancer too...

I buy most things organic. There are a few, a FEW, things that I will buy conventional. Money is no object when it comes to the health of my family. That said, I actually spend LESS money on food than my friends who don't buy organic, most shopping trips. It's REALLY not much more expensive. You just have to adjust your way of thinking. Instead of "I really want strawberries" when it's December, in December I'll say "well, Apples are in season (therefore cheap)". When May comes around, we eat strawberries like crazy: because they're in season and cheap! Seasonal eating has many, many benefits to it, not the least of which being cost.

Cheryl O: There ARE regulations in organic. Organic farmers are only allowed to use a certain amount of a certain number of "pesticides", "herbicides" and "fungicides" (NOT the kind that conventional farmers use!). They're only allowed to spray at certain times and a certain number of times. To be certified organic, there are all sorts of hoops one has to jump through to prove that your soil is clean, your feed is clean, your crops are clean. Anyone who is telling you there are no regulations in organics has no idea what they're talking about.

Candice M: That only works in part. Oranges, for example, are best eaten organically due to the intense number of pesticides they use on them, even though they have "thick" skin. Likewise, bananas are one of the things I'll only feed my family organic on, because the non-organic bananas are so high in pesticides AND they're irradiating them now, too. Bananas have a permeable skin, so the pesticides seep right through.

To clean our fruits and veggies, we use the Lotus sanitizing system. It uses ozone to neutralize the pesticides. Of course, it can't put the added nutrition that conventional produce is missing back, but at lest you can rest easy knowing that when you HAVE to buy conventional, you can defeat those nasty pesticides. :) http://www.tersano.com/index.php

Also, meat/poultry/etc and dairy are things I will NOT buy unless they're organic. Think about all the studies that have shown that the pesticides we consume on our produce has shown up in our human breastmilk. So of COURSE all the bad things non-organic cows/goats/etc are given will show up in their milk.

@B: Washing them does not remove pesticides that have permeated the skin. Would you eat an apple sprayed with Raid just because someone "washed it off" for you?

There are certain fruits and veggies that retain more pesticide residue than others. The Environmental Working Group calls them the "dirty dozen" and they include grapes, berries, peaches and green peppers. (see ewg.org for the complete list) For these, I absolutely only buy organic. It's best to stay seasonal, too, too keep the costs down. For fruits/veggies with thick skins, I usually opt for conventional.

I know...it's maddening. What is more frustrating is that there are certain groups that are lobbying HARD for more relaxed standards for organics that would allow the use of pesticides (and antibiotics for animals). It's amazing to me the influence of the Almighty Dollar that somehow enables these people to sleep at night knowing they're poisoning others. =( On the positive side, we as consumers have a tremendous amount of power as we are the source of the dollars! You vote three times a day with every meal - send the message that you want REAL FOOD!

Many people that get Cancer, have Cancer that runs in their families. My business Partner grew up on a farm and talks about how they were always organic farmers even before it was a trendy thing to be.. She only purchases organic milk, wheats, veggies, fruits.. Filtered waters..

Guess what? She has just been diagnosed with 3rd stage cancer. Her mom is a cancer survivor, but her grandmother died of cancer. Along with other women on her mothers side of the family.. Maybe because they spent so much time outside on their farms? Who knows?..

I purchase what is on sale at the grocery store. I cannot afford the organic produce or meats.. I like sweets, I like sodas, I do not smoke. I do drink a bit of alcohol and I have always been careful out in the sun, mostly because I cannot deal with lots of heat.. I have always worked since I was 13.

I have 2 cousins who have had cancer.. They are from one family and their father (not related to me) smoked all of their lives.

I think we can be careful about what we eat, but I think we would go out of our minds worrying about cancers if we let it.

Feed your family healthy foods, make sure they get plenty of exercise and rest and are covered when out in the sun in the middle of the day.

Common sense.

That's why you WASH fruits and veggies before you eat them.
Or grow your own, do your best to keep things bug free without pesticides and get use to picking out or eating a few bugs every once in awhile.

The pesticides are there to keep the bugs away...many people who have gardens use pesticides too....

No, we don't eat ONLY organic because there aren't any "regulations" that I am aware of (I haven't researched it and I've not done my research because I refuse to spend that extra money) mandate what can and cannot be done...

Any way - we don't have a garden, but we do love to shop at the Farmer's Market - OH MY!! Got a GREAT beefsteak tomato for hamburgers tomorrow!! YIPPEE!!! :)

Our family eats - artichokes (i have two boys 9 and 11 and they love 'chokes), asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, carrots, celery, tomatoes, potatoes (mashed, baked, hashed brown, fries!! I know, I'm bad!), sugar snap peas, oranges, apples, raspberries, mandarin oranges...I think you get my point...:)

Also - I don't worry about what the Government says is going to cause me cancer....I want to LIVE my life instead of wondering...hmmm..am I gonna die because I ate this?

honestly, everything causes cancer these days. its inevitable with all the "technology" and shortcuts to making food. pretty scary if you think about it but realistically, you just have to do the best you can. i buy organic for my family for the dirty dozen (the fruits/veggies w. the most pesticides) and then everything else i get conventional. if i HAVE to buy something in the dirty dozen thats not organic (ie the store has run out of hte organic kind), i try to wash it with the veggie wash they sell on amazon which is supp. to remove like 99% of pesticides.

In response to this: "I had organic celery yesterday and thought it tasted nasty"

=The taste of things aren't different BECAUSE it is organic or not. You can still have "bad" tasting organic or not organic produce. BUT, just to clarify, organic food is very commonly tasty- as is the not organic. You don't buy organic because it is supposed to taste different, you get it because of the stuff you can't taste to avoid- pesticides, herbicides, GMO's (if you don't know what they are- they are TERRIBLE, and are in non-organic foods!). But, celery specifically we get a lot (organic) because we all like it so much. Never had bad tasting celery yet. It goes very well with peanut butter or hummus spread, but I just chomp on it plain.

We buy all organic, basically. If we can't get something that is organic we get "all natural" stuff. If we are at a friend's house or a restaurant we will end up eating non-organic, sometimes you can't avoid it. The food at our home is just organic, so we limit our intake of the "bad stuff" (preservatives, chemicals, GMO's, pesticides, hormones, etc).

TOTALLY AGREE WITH MOM OF SIX MIRACLES and PAMELA RAVEN AND SON! (Monsanto is TERRIBLE! To know more about what is in your food visit http://www.foodmatters.tv/ )

I found some farms in your area on Localharvest.com:

http://www.localharvest.org/search.jsp?map=1&lat=29.2...

Buying from the farm is the way to go. You live in a warm, sunny state, so why not grow your own? I live in NH and for the first time I started a little vegetable garden in my backyard. It's literally 4ftX4ft. I have a H U G E tomato plant, 5 broccoli plants, 4 sugar snap pea plants, some green beans, and green peppers. I have to tell you, I have not had a single pest problem so far. I go out every morning and check the undersides of the leaves to look for aphids, slugs and other critters. I've had to knock off a few slugs, but that's it. I also have lettuce and chard growing in pots. You can do it! Pick up a copy of Square Foot Gardening and grow your own organic veggies. While you're at it plant a blueberry bush and a peach tree. You'd be amazed at how much you can grow in a small area. Just a thought!

TO answer your question, we only buy organic unless we absolutely cannot find what we're looking for. The exception would be the local farms that do no apply for the Organic label, but they also do not use pesticides or herbicides on their produce. Over the years we have slowly cut down (way down) on our carb and processed food purchases, which has lightened the grocery bill enough so that we can afford to buy organic produce as well as grass fed beef, pasture chicken/butter/eggs, fresh local milk, etc. Don't make a ton of changes all at once. Focus on the dirty dozen to start with (another mama sent you a link for that), and go from there.

What started out as a health decision has over the years, become an attempt to give fewer and fewer dollars each year to Monsanto. I want to support my local farmers and become more self-sufficient. BTW, growing a garden can be a wonderful education opportunity for your kids. My 3 year old goes out with me every day to check the garden. She helps me water it, pick off dead leaves, guide the pea vines through the support stakes, check for pests, etc. She knows how to identify poison ivy as well as several other plants. she munches on lemon basil when she's out playing. It's really nice.

Sometimes I buy organic, sometimes not. My dr. was telling me that anything with a thicker skin, buy regular (like a banana), anything with thin skin, buy organic, like grapes. But, I don't always follow that. I can't always afford to buy organic, so I just make sure to wash everything really well. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I can't get all organics in my home town, but I do avoid what's on the Dirty Dozen list.

See the list here, along with the cleanest dozen: http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-214

My family eats mostly regular, not organic, fruits and vegetables. I live on a limited budget, and can't pay the cost of most organic. I do shop at a farmer's market every chance I get in the summer. We live in a condo building, so I can only grow a few things in pots, no real garden.

I grew up on a farm and understand the need for farmers to produce a crop and make a living. But I think there could be more attention to the science of side effects, along with the science of pest and weed prevention.

Just wanted to add about the round up resistant crops....they are resistant bc they are genetically modified to be that way! Look up GMO if you haven't heard of it....

We do organic milk and yogurt. Tried butter, but it tasted awful so we went back to standard. We do what we can as far as meat and veggies/fruit. I feel that anything we can do is better than nothing at all.

Check out this website and watch the intro video....
http://healthychild.org/

When I can afford it, I get organic... there was a new study that stated the crops most dusted with Monsanto's Roundup on the roundup resistant crops (mostly corn and soy) had caused birth defects in a few species of animals. Lovely eh?