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Knowing Your Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen is a Must
Dirty Dozen is an annually updated list of the fruit and veg that contain the most pesticides. Its counterpart the Clean 15 is the opposite.
UK citizens and the natural environment are being exposed to potentially harmful mixtures of pesticides.
These mixtures appear in our food, water and soil and can affect the health of both humans and wildlife.
Pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms. In the group of pesticides belong herbicides (weedkillers), insecticides (insects), and fungicides (mood and fungus).
😣Pesticides appear in millions of different combinations in varying concentrations in our food and landscape.
Download ‘Pesticides In Our Food’ pdf.
The Cocktail Effect
There is a growing body of evidence that pesticides can become more harmful when combined, a phenomenon known as the ‘cocktail effect’.
‘TheCocktail Effect’ refers to pesticides and has long been recognised as an area of concern in the UK.
Source: pan-uk.org
🔺🔺𝐏𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐊.🔺🔺
📌Over a third of all the fruit and vegetables tested by the UK government in 2017 and 2018 contained residues of more than one pesticide.
📌 In 2017, 87.5% of the pears tested contained pesticide cocktails, with 4% containing residues of nine or more different chemicals.
📌 55% of raspberries tested were found to contain multiple pesticides, with one sample containing four known, probable or possible carcinogens, two endocrine disruptors which interfere with hormone systems, one developmental toxin which can have adverse effects on sexual function and fertility and one neurotoxin which can negatively affect the nervous system and nerve tissue.
📌 Multiple residues were found in more than three-quarters of grapes 🍇🍇🍇tested in 2018, with one sample containing traces of fourteen different pesticides.
Each year, the UK government tests a range of produce and other foodstuffs for pesticide residues.
I have included an image of ‘dirtiest’ and ‘cleanest’ fruit and veg below. ⏬
Have a good look and shop accordingly.
Image source: pan-uk.org
Certain groups of people are more susceptible to pesticides, especially young children, expectant mothers, and people with the weakened immune systems. Exposure to pesticides may interfere with brain development, as well as particular organs their function.
Of particular concern are endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which affect hormone system in the body, and have been associated with learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, and cognitive and brain development problems. Uff! Say what??
Read more about ‘The Cocktail Effect’.
Read more about the ‘Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen’.
That’s why it is important to DO NOT IGNORE the quality of the foods you eat.
Food is information on how your cells express themselves, so let’s feed our bodies with the best produce we can.
So what can you do to protect yourself and still enjoy the fruits and veggies?
🔺Try shopping from local farmers whenever you can and wash your produce with a special ‘fruit & veg’ wash, that will dissolve the wax and pesticides from the produce’s surface. (Produce Wash Recipe below ⏬)
🔺Grow your own if you can.
🔺 Buy organic from the ‘dirty’ list whenever you can, and if that’s not an option, then limit the consumption of the particular fruit or veg to a minimum.
🍋🍊🍐🍎🍏
Fruit & vegetable washing liquid
How do you clean your fruits and veggies?
If I have a lot of produce to wash, I fill up a bowl with:
✅ 4 cups of water
✅ 1 cup of white vinegar
✅ 12 drops of lemon essential oil (3 drops of essential oil for each cup of water)
Stir the water. Add in the produce and let it soak for 10-15 minutes, turning the produce occasionally. You can reuse the water for all the produce you have to wash that day (in batches).
Rinse thoroughly and let it air dry.
If you are washing a single fruit or vegetable, you can prepare DIY spray and keep it under the sink.
For Spray you need:
✅ 16 oz amber glass bottle
✅ 1 1/2 cup water
✅ 1/2 cup white vinegar
✅ 10 drops of organic lemon essential oil
Shake the bottle a bit before each use.
Spray directly on the produce, let it sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes and rinse.
By using this amazing homemade DIY produce wash you clean the germs, bacteria and pesticides off the store-bought produce, so you can live a healthier, toxin-free lifestyle.
💚
Comment below if this info is helpful, and let me know if you knew about the ‘dirty dozen’ and ‘clean fifteen’ 😉
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐲. 🙏🏼
To your health & happiness!
Kristina
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