Fruits & Vegetables to Buy Organic

There are a lot of reasons to seek out well-raised fruits and vegetables. For many people, pesticide residue and other health concerns are a big motivating factor to spend the extra money organic fruits and vegetables often cost. Some fruits and vegetables have higher pesticide use and residue than others; much higher. These pesticides include known or possible carcinogens, suspected hormone disruptors, neurotoxins, and developmental and reproductive toxins. These unlucky thirteen fruits and vegetables should be at the top of your list for buying organic:

1. Apples are some of the most pesticide-laden of all non-organically grown produce, with samples from around the country exhibiting over 40 different pesticide residues
2. Berries (including Strawberries) are like sponges (that's why I recommend not washing them until just before you're ready to use them!), so exposure to pesticides if of particular concern with these fruits
3. Cherries are fruit we tend to eat whole - the fact that they carry more pesticide residue than other non-organically grown produce is thus especially alarming
4. Celery has soft skin and samples show exposure to 67 pesticides
5. Cooking Greens soft leaves that absorb rainwater as well as pretty much everything else they come into contact too means that it's worth seeking out organically grown bunches
6. Grapes, like cherries and berries, get eaten whole and have relatively soft skins, making them an excellent produce to buy organic
7. Lettuce, just like cooking greens, picks up what it's around super easily
8. Nectarines samples returned with over 90% of the samples carrying pesticides
9. Peaches, like nectarines, had amazingly high rates of pesticide residue on samples from around the country
10. Pears were found to have over 2 dozen pesticide residues in samples tested for residue: 6 carcinogens, 13 suspected hormone disruptors, 8 neurotoxins, and 4 developmental or reproductive toxins
11. Potatoes had 37 pesticides, 8 of which were known or possible carcinogens, and peeling doesn't necessarily get rid of them all
12. Spinach samples had over 50 pesticide residues in USDA samples
13. Sweet Peppers had almost 50 pesticide residues, including over 25 suspected hormone disruptors