Sometimes when you are feeling like having a snack, you might stop yourself from grabbing your favorite chips to be healthier. You might go out of your way and buy some strawberries, for example. Still, there could be a potential problem with that. What might that be? Almost all fruits and vegetables are seasonal. When you buy something out of season it is most probably full of chemicals. Тhey may be full of pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides. Although they do a good job in keeping the insects away from the food, they also affect our body negatively. Here is a list with foods which might be full of chemicals.
White Potatoes
They are a great food and are used in many different forms and dishes. However, you should be aware that the USDA has found 35 different pesticides on them. 6 of those are known to be carcinogens, 12 – hormone disrupting, 7 – neurotoxins, and 6 affect reproduction. You should be careful when shopping next time.
Corn
Corn is so versatile. People include it in a lot of sweet stuff, tortillas and even beer. The bad news is that it sometimes contains GMO which causes allergies in many and although the production processes are updating all the time, you should still be cautious.
Apples
Unfortunately, there have been found a lot of harmful pesticides in around 90% of the apples on the market. And don’t be fooled into thinking that those might be good for our body – some have even been banned in Europe because they have had a negative effect on the organism.
Bell Peppers
EWG has stated that around 90% of bell peppers that they have studied turned out to have pesticides. Although they weren’t that big in numbers, they were such that had been proven to be toxic for the body.
Spinach
Spinach is over 97% high in pesticides. When consuming it the chances that you are also getting carcinogens, hormone disruption, and neurotoxins is substantial. It has been stated by Time magazine that it “contained nearly twice the pesticide residue by weight than any other fruit or vegetable.”
Cherry Tomatoes
Here it very much depends on the farm where your cherry tomatoes have grown. When taking some samples, however, most of them had signs of pesticide residues which are harmful. A good idea is to wash the food thoroughly..
Grapes
An interesting fact is that pesticides tend to linger in and on the thin skins of fruits and vegetables, so you should be careful with grapes. 96% of them have been found to have around 5 pesticides. The total number of different types found was 56. So many chemicals for such a tiny fruit.
Celery
If it said that celery is like the toothbrush of nature, but unfortunately, it turns out that it is not very clean. Studies have shown that 95% have pesticides. Most of those have been hormone disruptors, so you should be wary when consuming it.
Hot Peppers
The EWG has stated that around ¾ of this vegetable was full of “traces of highly toxic pesticides.” That’s very unfortunate since it is so tasty and versatile!
Peaches
Almost 100% of peaches have been said to contain on average 4 pesticides. The solution would be to grow them at home, but if this is not possible, then you should keep an eye out for the peaches you are buying and wash them thoroughly.
Cucumber
The USDA found that cucumbers unfortunately contain around 35 different types of pesticides, most of which have been neurotoxins and hormone disruptive.
Nectarines
Nectarines also contain a lot of harmful pesticides. This has been stated by the EWG. They saw 33 types, 17 of which were hormone disruptors.
Strawberries
Strawberries are on top of the lists for best foods but also for items with the most pesticides. Even though they come after spinach, it has been stated that they are full of around 10 to 20. The total number of different types found has been 45.
Kale
This very trendy green, which is low in calories, high in nutritions and fiber, unfortunately is also full of insecticides which negatively affect the nervous system.
Fish
Because of all the chemicals in the oceans, fish has also been contaminated. It consumes the harmful substances and in turn affects our body in a bad way once they are consumed.
