Organic Foods: Tips for Buying Organically
The Health Benefits of Organic Foods
Discover why organic matters for your health
Toxic Exposure Risks
Learn about diseases linked to toxic build-up
Buying organic foods can be expensive, and some produce is less likely to be contaminated than others. In order to stay within budget, many of us may have to focus on eliminating (or buying organic) those foods with the highest amounts of pesticides, chemicals, additives, and hormones.
💡 Tips for Buying Organically
🏪 Purchase from your local farmer's markets, not your supermarket.
- • Join a community-supported agriculture program if available (buy directly from farms)
- • Plant a garden; even small spaces can produce fresh food
- • If shopping in supermarkets, look for locally grown items (fresher than others)
⚠️ The Most Contaminated Foods
Buy These Organic
✅ The Least Contaminated Foods
Safe to Buy Conventional
The LEAST Contaminated Foods 🛡️ No Need to Buy Organic
The following food items are the least contaminated and you don't necessarily need to purchase organic versions.
🥗 Vegetables
- Asparagus
- Avocados
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Onions
⚠️ Note: Avocados are extremely nutritious but toxic to birds!
🍎 Fruits
- Bananas
- Kiwi Fruit
- Mango
- Papaya
- Pineapples
The MOST Contaminated Foods 🚨 Always Buy Organic
The following food items are the most contaminated and you should always buy organic.
🐟 Fish
"One of the foods that health practitioners recommend for good health and longevity is fish and yet, increasingly so, it is becoming one of the most contaminated protein sources in the world."See which fish to eat and avoid
🥩 Meat & Processed Foods
⚠️ The Dangers of Red Meat / Processed Meats:
🔬 Antibiotics & Hormones
Animals are exposed to antibiotics, growth hormones, and steroids that end up in the meat we eat. Long-term effects are largely unknown but inherently dangerous.
🧪 Preservatives
Sodium Nitrate is added to preserve meats and maintain red color. The USDA tried to ban it in the 1970s. Researchers use it to induce cancer in lab animals.
🌽 Corn Syrup
Processed meats contain high-fructose corn syrup, linked to liver disease, obesity and other health problems.
🚜 Pesticides
Animals are fed pesticide-treated crops, which accumulate in their tissues.
📊 Research Findings:
Studies show that just one sausage a day can significantly raise your risk of bowel cancer. Eating 1.8 ounces of processed meat daily raises cancer likelihood by 20%.
Processed meats include:
🌱 Benefits of Grass-Fed Beef:
Compared with corn-fed beef, grass-fed beef is higher in:
✅ Recommendations:
Whatever toxins the food animals eat may end up in you. The options are to either change to a vegetarian diet, or buy organic meats from animals raised without growth factors, antibiotics and steroids - commonly referred to as "free-range." For your family's health and humanitarian reasons, it's best to buy organic/free-range or switch to a vegetarian lifestyle.
🥛 Milk and Dairy Products
A recent European-wide study found that levels of antioxidants in milk produced by organically-raised cattle were 50 to 80 percent higher than in normal milk.
The fat in dairy products is a haven for pesticides, antibiotics and bovine growth hormones. These get passed on through commercial milk, cheese, and butter. Organic dairies do not use chemicals or growth hormones like rGBH or rbST.
⚠️ Not-so-organic: Horizon (Dean's) Organic Milk
Comes from factory-style dairy farms where animals are kept in intensive confinement. The corporation packs as many as 8,000 cattle onto feedlots with little or no access to pasture, misleadingly labeling these products as "organic".
☕ Coffee
Many beans are grown in countries that don't regulate chemicals and pesticides.
Look for Fair Trade Certified label for assurance that chemicals weren't used and that fair prices were paid to farmers.
🍎 Most Contaminated Fruits
🍎 Apples and Pears
The FDA states that more pesticides are found on apples than any other fruit or vegetable. Up to 36 pesticides discovered on conventionally grown apples.
Health Risks:
- • Reproductive system damage
- • Brain and nervous system damage
- • Decreased intelligence in children
- • Immune system damage
🫐 Blueberries
52 pesticides are used on blueberries, making them one of the dirtiest berries.
🍇 Grapes
• Treated with 35 different pesticides
• Thin skin allows deep penetration
• Imported grapes have higher contamination risk
🍑 Peaches & Nectarines
Peaches have the highest pesticide load. Nectarines are not far behind. 45 different pesticides are regularly applied to these delicately skinned fruits in conventional orchards.
🍓 Strawberries & Cherries
Strawberry plantations average a dose of up to 500 pounds of pesticides per acre.
Methyl Bromide used on strawberries is an endocrine disruptor that competes with iodine in the thyroid, potentially causing hypothyroidism.
🍈 Cantaloupe
Often contaminated by Dieldrin, a very toxic and carcinogenic insecticide that still gets absorbed through roots even though banned in 1974.
🥬 Most Contaminated Vegetables
🥬 Celery
Celery has no protective skin, making it almost impossible to wash off the 29 different chemicals used on conventional crops. Among the 12 foods where pesticide residues are most frequently found.
🥗 Lettuces
Leafy greens are frequently contaminated with the most potent pesticides used on food.
🟢 Green Beans
Over 60 pesticides registered for use on green beans in the U.S.
🥒 Cucumbers
Ranked 12th most contaminated food and 2nd in cancer risk due to pesticide content.
🎃 Winter Squash
Often contaminated by Dieldrin, banned in 1974 but still absorbed through roots.
Potatoes
Root vegetables rank highest for pesticide residue. Treated multiple times during growing, harvesting, and storage.
Sweet Bell Peppers
Thin skins offer little barrier to pesticides. May be coated with nearly 40 commonly used pesticides.
Tomatoes
Easily punctured skins allow chemical penetration throughout the tomato.
👶 Baby Food Warning
Non-organic baby foods are typically made with chemically-treated fruits and vegetables. Infants have less developed immune systems, making them more vulnerable to toxins.
🍿 Microwave Popcorn
The bag lining contains compounds that may be linked to infertility in humans. In animal testing, these chemicals cause liver, testicular, and pancreatic cancer. Microwaving causes chemicals to vaporize and migrate into popcorn.
