Ever wondered what those numbers on the stickers on your fruits and veggies mean?
Me neither. Until someone brought it up at school (SCHOOL!!!) last night. Now I’m obsessed with reading produce stickers, which will give me just that liiiitle extra strangeness I’ve been looking for in order to keep people from being sucked in by my “talk to me if you’re emotionally disturbed” vibe.
Here ya go. Free info. I had to pay 4 easy installments of $1500 to learn this. You get it for free.
All produce that is stickered (that does not come in bulk bags a la carrots or apples) has a 4 or 5 digit number on it. If you are buying bulked, bagged or bunched produce, it will be on the tag or bag. Easy peasy.
If your produce has 4 digits, it means it was “conventionally grown” but not organic. Conventionally grown food is food grown with seeds that have been using pesticides, fungicides and/or related chemicals.
If your produce has a 5 digit number and begins with a 9, it means it is organically grown. You can also probably tell because the fruit/veggies won’t look picture perfect or be the size of a toddler’s head.
IF your produce has a 5 digit number and begins with an 8, it means it is a genetically modified food. Don’t eat these. Just don’t.
There are tons of arguments FOR eating an all-organic diet, and tons of ARGUMENTS that say organic is no better than conventionally grown food. I eat both, depending (like most people) on how much something costs. I can’t afford organic avocados. I want to eat them, but I just can’t afford them right now.
I do try my hardest however splurge on organic produce that is included in the “Dirty Dozen”, which is the 12 foods most affected by pesticides regardless of how much you wash or peel them. Here they are from worst to still pretty bad:
1. Celery
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Bell Peppers
8. Spinach
9. Cherries
10. Kale and Collards
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes (imported)
On the flipside of this list of baddies is the “Clean 15”, the list of produce you can feel okay about buying non-organic (but NOT GMO!) because the peels and/or composition of the item combats pesticide saturation. I got this info from a number of sources, but EWG and WH Foods are my favorite sites to get nutrition info.
Me neither. Until someone brought it up at school (SCHOOL!!!) last night. Now I’m obsessed with reading produce stickers, which will give me just that liiiitle extra strangeness I’ve been looking for in order to keep people from being sucked in by my “talk to me if you’re emotionally disturbed” vibe.
Here ya go. Free info. I had to pay 4 easy installments of $1500 to learn this. You get it for free.
All produce that is stickered (that does not come in bulk bags a la carrots or apples) has a 4 or 5 digit number on it. If you are buying bulked, bagged or bunched produce, it will be on the tag or bag. Easy peasy.
If your produce has 4 digits, it means it was “conventionally grown” but not organic. Conventionally grown food is food grown with seeds that have been using pesticides, fungicides and/or related chemicals.
If your produce has a 5 digit number and begins with a 9, it means it is organically grown. You can also probably tell because the fruit/veggies won’t look picture perfect or be the size of a toddler’s head.
IF your produce has a 5 digit number and begins with an 8, it means it is a genetically modified food. Don’t eat these. Just don’t.
There are tons of arguments FOR eating an all-organic diet, and tons of ARGUMENTS that say organic is no better than conventionally grown food. I eat both, depending (like most people) on how much something costs. I can’t afford organic avocados. I want to eat them, but I just can’t afford them right now.
I do try my hardest however splurge on organic produce that is included in the “Dirty Dozen”, which is the 12 foods most affected by pesticides regardless of how much you wash or peel them. Here they are from worst to still pretty bad:
1. Celery
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Bell Peppers
8. Spinach
9. Cherries
10. Kale and Collards
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes (imported)
On the flipside of this list of baddies is the “Clean 15”, the list of produce you can feel okay about buying non-organic (but NOT GMO!) because the peels and/or composition of the item combats pesticide saturation. I got this info from a number of sources, but EWG and WH Foods are my favorite sites to get nutrition info.
Here you go, again, for free. You’re welcome.
1. Onions
2. Avocados
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mangos
6. Sweet Peas
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
10. Eggplant
11. Cantaloupe
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet Potato
15. Honeydew Melon
1. Onions
2. Avocados
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mangos
6. Sweet Peas
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
10. Eggplant
11. Cantaloupe
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet Potato
15. Honeydew Melon
So since I started Nutrition school last night, I'll be learning all kinds of awesome things about health and science and wellness and I hope to share a lot with you, but not too much because then you won't want to come be my clients when I graduate.
Keep 'em wantin' more, that's what I always (never) say.
xoxo
devo
Ok so I knew the bit about the organic number, but not the GMO one thanks. I try to only eat fruit that shares DNA with animals (fishtomatoes!)
ReplyDeleteI need that list in a pocketable grocery-store form.
Also I've found that the whole organic-produce-is-smaller thing is not at all universal. Sometimes it's way bigger. I think it's not so much about volume per item as it is total volume / cost of harvesting / etc.
P.S. Hello Latvia!!
I appreciate it very much, at least I know from it someone is reading the contents
ReplyDeletestarting solids babies
sadly, oh so so sadly, they don't differentiate between gmo and non-gmo in canada. Apparently the way many of the farm fields are, there isn't a clear separation between the two.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbc.ca/news/background/genetics_modification/
but but - very exciting!! - ontario hothouse growers' tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet peppers are not gmo, and they don't use pesticides (though aren't organic).
Great bit of info!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I love your blog, love that you were honest about the little whoops you had on day 11 of your cleanse!
ReplyDelete