Health 101: Produce

A few weeks ago I began a series that I called “Health 101”, beginning with a discussion about meat and dairy. Today we will continue this series with a discussion on produce.

There once was a time when people primarily lived off of the food they grew themselves and buying what they hadn’t grown themselves from their neighbors or someone who lived in their village or community. Americans seem to “romanticize” the rural Italian villages and towns where the residents visit the local outdoor market several times a week to purchase their food from a fresh, local source. Although farmer’s markets are a growing trend in America, there aren’t nearly enough of them to be accessible to everybody.

Purchasing produce in America has become anything but natural. It all starts with the seed. Seeds used to be acquired from the last season’s crop. However, modern technology and greedy corporate conglomerates no longer allow that. Instead, farmers are required to purchase new seed every year. And the seeds made available to them have been genetically modified with the goal of producing larger fruits and vegetables, and an enormous quantity per acre.

I have a friend who used to be a corn farmer in Colorado. Every year, the huge seed company would roll into town to sell corn seed. They brought several varieties for the farmers to choose from. One was engineered to withstand certain pests. Another was engineered to produce a higher yield. Another was engineered to be more drought-resistant. However, they were all engineered in a laboratory.

In recent years, we have heard more and more about the tampering that has gone on with our food supply, particularly beginning with these genetically modified seeds. Some seeds have even been engineered to contain pesticides within the seed itself so that the crops don’t have to be sprayed later! Worse yet, many seeds have even been injected with human and animal DNA! For example, a number of years ago, there was an experiment to inject DNA from flounder (fish) into tomatoes. Flounder produces its own anti-freeze to enable it to swim in Arctic waters. Bioengineers captured that anti-freeze component from the flounder and introduced it to tomato seeds to see if they could produce a tomato that could freeze and then thaw without turning mushy. Apparently the experiment failed, however, there are many similar experiments that did NOT fail and are now in our food system.

When purchasing conventional produce from the supermarket, here are some things that you must understand about those beautiful fruits and vegetables that are uniform in size and color, that are larger than they were fifty years ago, and that are enticingly shiny.

1. If it is not certified organic, it is overwhelmingly likely that it has been genetically modified. GMO’s introduce increased cancer risk, increased food allergies, and dramatically decreased nutritional value, just to name a few.

2. If it’s super shiny, it has been coated with a wax that contains pesticides and fungicides. (Some supermarkets that sell organic produce will coat their organic products with vegetable oil to make them shiny, but they feel oily, not waxy, and are not glossy.)

3. If it has a beautiful color, the chances are pretty high that it was injected with dye. Many conventional fruits and vegetables are harvested before they are ripe and they never develop the color expected of their ripe counterparts. In order to give them eye appeal, they are injected with dye.

4. Because so much of the produce is harvested before ripening, they are gassed with highly toxic substances in order to ripen them. Some conventional produce has been known to last for weeks at room temperature without rotting due to these gassing agents. Certified organic produce goes bad within a week or so, just as God designed.

5. Let’s not forget all the pesticides, herbicides and fungicides that are applied to these crops while they are still growing! Massive crops of one fruit or one vegetable also mean massive pest problems. These are routinely treated with toxic chemicals that are absorbed into the plant and into the fruit itself.

Another problem that has developed in our food system has to do with the number of miles your food has traveled before reaching you. It has been determined that the average American meal has traveled 1,400 miles to get to your table. We have been conditioned to want our produce year-round. If apples are not in season in America, we have them shipped to us from New Zealand. If grapes are not in season in America, they are delivered to our supermarkets from Chile. Tomatoes from Florida are shipped all over our country when they cannot be found locally. When produce has to be shipped that far, it must be harvested before ripening and gassed to make it edible. Have you ever noticed how apples purchased out of season are not very appetizing? And tomatoes that have been gassed to ripen are mushy and tasteless?

When a person wants to begin healthier eating habits, often the first thing they think of is eating more fruits and vegetables. But it is vital that we understand that we are slowly being poisoned through the conventional produce we eat, even though we think we are “eating healthy”. What can we do about it?

1. Eat organic. Organic foods is another topic that needs to be discussed so you can understand what this word means in our American food system. However, you are much better off if you purchase organic. This means no pesticides, no gassing, no genetic modification.

2. Eat in season. This really takes some planning on our part. Just because it’s available in your supermarket doesn’t mean that it is in season here. Get to know the natural growing seasons for your fruits and vegetables. Say “no” to apples in the summer and grapes in the winter.

3. Eat local. Depending on where you live, this might really be challenging. But it is worth the effort for your health if you do your best to find a local source for your food. In eating local, you can meet the person who is growing your food, you can see where and how they are growing it, and you can guarantee that it is in season!

4. Grow your own food. It is much easier than most people think, it is much less expensive, and you know every aspect of that food. You know what variety, what kind of seeds, what was put in the soil, and when it was harvested. And the satisfaction of eating something you grew from seed is enormous!

Many people balk at the cost of purchasing organic food. But considering the cost of health care and medication to treat the poisonous state of our bodies that creates a breeding ground for disease, the cost is quite worthwhile. We can eat cheaply now and suffer sickness and disease and the associated costs for treating ourselves, or we can spend a little more now and enjoy good health and good nutrition all our lives.

Here are some tips to help you get started on your quest to eat more organic foods.

THE DIRTY DOZEN: These are the foods that should never be eaten unless you know they are organic, for they contain the highest levels of toxic substances:

Celery
Peaches
Strawberries
Apples
Blueberries
Nectarines
Sweet bell peppers
Spinach, kale and collard greens
Cherries
Potatoes
Grapes
Lettuce

FIFTEEN THAT ARE MORE CLEAN: These are conventional foods that can be eaten if you cannot find them in organic form. They contain little to no pesticides:

Onions
Avocados
Sweet corn
Pineapples
Mango
Sweet peas
Asparagus
Kiwi fruit
Cabbage
Eggplant
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Grapefruit
Sweet potatoes
Sweet onions