Which foods should you buy organic?

I'm a huge advocate of organic food for many reasons such as...

Reducing our intake of:

• Pesticides

• Fertilisers (including sewerage used as fertiliser)

• Growth hormones

• Antibiotics

• Genetically modified foods

Increasing the foods and therefore our intake of:

• Nutrients such as antioxidants

• Omega 3 fatty acids

Benefitting the environment by:

• Improving soil and water quality

• Reducing pollution

• Safer and better farming practices for animals

• promoting a self-sustainable cycle of farming

I buy as much organic as I can, but organic foods are more expensive (for good reason), so if you can't afford to buy all organic, which are the most important foods to buy organic and which are the least important

Well, there is a list, which gets reviewed every year called the clean fifteen and dirty dozen. This lists the 15 foods its best to not eat organic if you can't afford to and the best 12 to buy organic if you can. This is because these foods take up more of the chemicals. (Heading to the EWG website you can see the full list which gives you more than the 12 and 15.)

So what are the dirty dozen and the clean fifteen.

The Dirty Dozen

1. Strawberries

2. Spinach

3. Kale, collard or mustard greens

4. Nectarines

5. Apples

6. Grapes

7. Bell and hot peppers

8. Cherries

9. Peaches

10. Pears

11. Celery

12. Tomatoes

These should if possible always be bought organic.

The Clean Fifteen

1. Avocado

2. Sweetcorn

3. Pineapple

4. Onion

5. Papaya

6. Frozen peas

7. Asparagus

8. Honeydew melon

9. Kiwi

10. Cabbage

11. Mushrooms

12. Cantaloupe melon

13. Mango

14. Watermelon

15. Sweet potato

If you can't buy all organic these are the safest foods to buy non organic.