Almost every health expert agrees that eating fruit and veggies is a good idea for health. But choosing the right veggies and washing them well is important if you want to avoid the health disruption of ingesting pesticides. The biggest reason most people use veggie wash is to wash the pesticides, wax, dirt, and other residues off of their vegetables. Others use veggie washes to extend the life of their produce in the fridge, since the bacteria that causes more rapid decay has been removed. Make sure to let produce dry fully before putting it back in the fridge.
It’s important to use veggies wash even if you buy organic veggies, because you never know what’s on your veggies and what they’ve come in contact with during their trip to the supermarket.
Also, only buying organic can be expensive. A great compromise is to buy the organic version of the “dirty dozen” and shop conventional when it comes to the “clean 15”.
The dirty dozen are the produce grown with the most pesticides. They include strawberries, nectarines, apples, peaches, celery, grapes, cherries, tomatoes, pears, potatoes, cucumbers, sweet bell peppers, lettuce and spinach.
The produce above doesn’t just contain one or two pesticide residues. An environmental working group study found as many as 11 different pesticides on some bell peppers and as many as 9 different pesticides on apples, peaches, celery and lettuce. They also found that eating the contaminated fruits and veggies on this list may expose someone to as many as 14 different pesticides per day, on average.
The clean 15, by contrast, are the fruits and veggies that use the least amount of pesticides to grow. They include onions, avocados, sweet corn, pineapple, mangos, sweet peas, asparagus, kiwi, cabbage, eggplant, cantaloupe, watermelon, grapefruit, sweet potato, and honeydew melon.
Most commercial veggie washes can be sprayed on fruit and then washed off with water. They are usually derived from plant-based ingredients like citrus, coconut, and corn. Other veggie washes require you to soak the fruits and veggies in a solution for a little while.
The problem with commercial veggie washes sold in stores is that they tend to be expensive and contain unwanted ingredients, like chlorine to kill bacteria. Some lab tests show that these commercial washes are no better at cleaning veggies than distilled water.
If you don’t want to shell out money for questionable veggie washes you can make your own using equal parts of white vinegar and water.
If you want to get fancy and increase efficacy you can use a solution that combines: 1 cup water with 1 cup of white vinegar, 1 Tablespoon of baking soda and juice of ½ a lemon. This type of solution is particularly good at washing greens.
To clean berries, which are delicate and tend to take on flavor easily, it’s best to spray them in a solution made from 2 cups water and ½ cup of lemon juice, then soak for 15 minutes in fresh water.
Some people may just use water to wash their produce, but think about it: pesticides were specifically designed to resist being washed off by rainfall.
That means that pesticides are complex oil based molecules that are primarily water-insoluble (meaning that washing alone will not remove them).
Veggie washes help clean produce better than water by loosening, emulsifying and holding surface residue in suspension so they can be easily rinsed away.
Not only do veggie washes remove pesticides, they also help remove unwanted contaminants from handling such as human perspiration, oils, dirt and exhaust fumes from shipping and transportation.
Using a veggie wash is the best way to consume the cleanest produce possible. Another great way to keep your body clean and healthy is to do regular detoxes.
The 21-Day Body Makeover is a great way to clean toxins from you body that may have been mistakenly ingested through improperly cleaned or pesticide-ridden produce, along with the world’s other hidden toxins.
Almost every health expert agrees that eating fruit and veggies is a good idea for health. But choosing the right veggies and washing them well is important if you want to avoid the health disruption of ingesting pesticides. The biggest reason most people use veggie wash is to wash the pesticides, wax, dirt, and other residues off of their vegetables.
Others use veggie washes to extend the life of their produce in the fridge, since the bacteria that causes more rapid decay has been removed. Make sure to let produce dry fully before putting it back in the fridge.
It’s important to use veggies wash even if you buy organic veggies, because you never know what’s on your veggies and what they’ve come in contact with during their trip to the supermarket.
Also, only buying organic can be expensive. A great compromise is to buy the organic version of the “dirty dozen” and shop conventional when it comes to the “clean15”.
The dirty dozen are the produce grown with the most pesticides. They include strawberries, nectarines, apples, peaches, celery, grapes, cherries, tomatoes, pears, potatoes, cucumbers, sweet bell peppers, lettuce and spinach.
The produce above doesn’t just contain one or two pesticide residues. An environmental working group study found as many as 11 different pesticides on some bell peppers and as many as 9 different pesticides on apples, peaches, celery and lettuce. They also found that eating the contaminated fruits and veggies on this list may expose someone to as many as 14 different pesticides per day, on average.
The clean 15 by contrast are the fruits and veggies that use the least amount of pesticides to grow. They include: onions, avocados, sweet corn, pineapple, mangos, sweet peas, asparagus, kiwi, cabbage, eggplant, cantaloupe, watermelon, grapefruit, sweet potato, and honeydew melon.
Most commercial veggie washes can be sprayed on fruit and then washed off with water. They are usually derived from plant-based ingredients like citrus, coconut, and corn. Other veggie washes require you to soak the fruits and veggies in a solution for a little while.
The problem with commercial veggie washes sold in stores is that they tend to be expensive and contain unwanted ingredients, like chlorine to kill bacteria. Some lab tests show that these commercial washes are no better at cleaning veggies than distilled water.
If you don’t want to shell out money for questionable veggie washes you can make your own using equal parts of white vinegar and water.
If you want to get fancy and increase efficacy you can use a solution that combines: 1 cup water with 1 cup of white vinegar, 1 Tablespoon of baking soda and juice of ½ a lemon. This type of solution is particularly good at washing greens.
To clean berries, which are delicate and tend to take on flavor easily, it’s best to spray them in a solution made from 2 cups water and ½ cup of lemon juice, then soak for 15 minutes in fresh water.
Some people may just use water to wash their produce, but think about it: pesticides were specifically designed to resist being washed off by rainfall.
That means that pesticides are complex oil based molecules that are primarily water-insoluble (meaning that washing alone will not remove them).
Veggie washes help clean produce better than water by loosening, emulsifying and holding surface residue in suspension so they can be easily rinsed away.
Not only do veggie washes remove pesticides, they also help remove unwanted contaminants from handling such as human perspiration, oils, dirt and exhaust fumes from shipping and transportation.
Using a veggie wash is the best way to consume the cleanest produce possible. Another great way to keep your body clean and healthy is to do regular detoxes.
The 21-Day Body Makeover is a great way to clean toxins from you body that may have been mistakenly ingested through improperly cleaned or pesticide-ridden produce, along with the world’s other hidden toxins.
