How to Be a Conscious Eater

5

RADICALLY PRACTICAL TIPS

FOR BUYING PRODUCE

I

n the spirit of being a conscious eater while making your

meals as satisfying and downright joyful for yourself as pos-

sible, here are my top tips for buying produce you can feel

good about:

Just eat them. Only once you’ve found a way to afford, access,

and feed yourself and your family sufficient servings of fruits

and vegetables should you worry about anything else. Eating

at least five servings a day is far and away the number one

priority.

Be strategic on organic. It’s unrealistic for most of us to have the

budget to buy organic everything. But if you’d like to choose

some organic produce and want to know where you get the

most bang for your buck, follow the Environmental Working

Group’s Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen. The Dirty Dozen lists

the types of produce with the highest levels of pesticide resi-

due. Strawberries and spinach are at the top of the list, along

with apples, grapes, tomatoes, bell peppers, and more. As a

general rule, if you eat the skin, opt for organic. If not, and it

has a peel instead—bananas, avocados, oranges, and so on—

buying organic is less important. The Clean Fifteen are the

produce categories with the lowest levels of pesticide residue.

The list includes avocados and sweet corn as the cleanest,

along with asparagus, eggplant, cauliflower, pineapples, and

more. Read more at ewg.org.

18 how to be a Conscious Eater