How To Choose The Right Produce

The wonderful thing about summer is there are endless choices of fruits and vegetables to choose from. Whether you find yourself hiking, biking or swimming, it’s important to stay hydrated and nourished and fruits and veggies will help you meet that need. Dr. Mark Hyman however recommends to steer clear of produce that may be high in pesticides. Here are Dr. Hyman’s recommendations:

“Organic agriculture offers a safer alternative, but not one that’s easily available (or affordable) for everyone. If our only choice is non-organic produce or no produce at all, we should choose the former. But I believe we can do better than that. Some of us can grow at least some of our food. That way we can make sure no harmful chemicals were used, and we save money, too. Second, we can choose the vegetables and fruit that are proven to have the least amount of pesticide residue.

“There really is no need to buy everything organic. If we buy in-season produce at farmers’ markets from small local growers, we probably also wind up eating healthier food. Finally, we can use the research done by the Environmental Working Group to guide us: the EWG analyzes USDA figures to come up with its famous Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists—the produce that have the most and least amount of pesticide residue.”

Below is the EWG's 2023 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce to help guide you when shopping for fruits and vegetables.

Note: * A small amount of sweet corn, papaya and summer squash sold in the United States is produced from genetically modified seeds. Buy organic varieties of these crops if you want to avoid genetically modified produce.

For more information about the Environmental Working Group please visit their website.