Getting sick from eating store bought fruit and vegies

[janiejoey]

I've noticed lately when I eat my fruit and vegies from a grocery store or even Costco, I get a chemical sickness feeling and get irritated at the slightest things. I do wash them with running water and rub them with my fingers. But it doesn't seem like that's enough. I can't afford organic because they are so high priced.

Lately I've been eating Costco's strawberries, blueberries, lettuce...

I'm now very concerned what to purchase in our own grocery store. That is just not right!

Is there anyone else feeling sickly/funny feeling from the food in our grocery stores?

Does anyone out there know what product I can use to clean my fruit and vegies with? I think I should start cleaning our food the best I can before consuming it.

I'm kinda scared what the effects will do later down the road.

Janie

 

[kathryn]

Strawberries and blueberries are both on the list of top 12 produce that has the highest level of pesticide residue : the "dirty dozen" list:http://www.foodnews.org/methodology.php .

I would encourage you to consult that list, and buy organics for those 12 items (and perhaps all produce that you do not peel), conventional for the safest (the 12 safest are listed here: http://www.ehow.com/how_5266363_buy-safest-nonorganic-produce.html ) , and organics when you can for others. I've found that organic apples are often about the same price as conventional around here, and sometimes they cost less, for example.

For cleaning produce, there are specific products you can buy, like this: http://www.amazon.com/Environne-Fru...ef=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1281551776&sr=8-3

Many washes will remove bacteria and surface stuff, even soap and water will, but water alone won't (even hydrogen peroxide and/or white vinegar will do that: the best to remove bacteria is a spray of either H2O2 followed by a spray of white vinegar, or vice versa, but not mixing the two together), but I wonder if pesticide and other chemical residue is that easy to remove. I'd think some of it would become part of the produce. That's one reason to go for organic when buying foods you don't peel, like berries.

HTH!

 

[Marlene815]

I've noticed lately when I eat my fruit and vegies from a grocery store or even Costco, I get a chemical sickness feeling and get irritated at the slightest things. I do wash them with running water and rub them with my fingers. But it doesn't seem like that's enough. I can't afford organic because they are so high priced.

Lately I've been eating Costco's strawberries, blueberries, lettuce...

I'm now very concerned what to purchase in our own grocery store. That is just not right!

Is there anyone else feeling sickly/funny feeling from the food in our grocery stores?

It really is sad that we have to be afraid of the food we eat. I feel the same way about buying fish and seafood at the market. If it isn't caught in USA territorial waters I'm reluctant to buy it.

 

[kathryn]

Another thing I forgot:
I would recommend avoiding conventional produce grown in Mexico. They often use agricultural chemicals that are banned in the U.S., then sell the produce to us (chemicals that it's illegal to USE in the U.S. because of the high risk of health problems, such as cancer risk, but which some companies--Monsanto at the head---still produce and sell to other countries).

 

[cindi1]

I buy organic from the dirty dozen list and otherwise by US or Canadian produce only if it's conventional. Except for bananas which don't grow in this region.

I've not experienced any problems.

 

[PhyllisG]

I haven't had any problems but my general rule is organic (if I can afford it) and at the least US grown. Was it here on this forum it was mentioned about "US Organic Certified" frozen produce was being sold that was actually a product of China? That was definitely something to watch out for and I have seen these frozen vegies in a number of health food stores.

 

[nancy324]

I stopped eating berries completely for awhile because I used to get so sick. Maybe it's all in my mind, but I use a fruit and veggie wash now for all berries and grapes and cherries and I feel fine. I wash and rinse them very thoroughly. This is the stuff I use: http://www.vegiwash.com/store.php#fruit (same stuff Kathryn mentioned in her post).


It's easy for me to find organic apples and lettuce, but berries and cherries are much more difficult to find, so I use the wash instead of doing without.

 

[RapidBreath]

Have you tried Veggie Wash? Its citrus based you rinse it, spray it, rinse again. www.veggie-wash.com

You might be getting molded or you might be reacting to the plastic that the fruit is stored in/transported in. Also, some fruit is sprayed to keep it from molding so it might be a pesticide/fungicide. I don't eat Costco's berries anymore, I got molded from the blueberries really bad once and it hurt a lot. Do you have this problem with frozen fruit? I know most Cathletes prefer the fresh cause its 'clean' but I don't think there is a problem with frozen fruit (watch out for any added sodium/dextrose/sugars.) I use frozen fruit in smoothies, its like flavored ice. It can also work in pies if its been defrosted (not that I should eat a pie )

Do you have the same reaction to fruits that have a peel? Such as citrus or bananas?

 

[Stephanie0523]

I quit buying a lot of organic because of the price and just use veggie wash. It's great! You can find it usually in the produce section of your store. My mom makes her own, but I just buy the stuff at the store. I am bad, though to just rinse my berries and not use the veggie wash. I need to start buying organic berries, I suppose.

 

[janiejoey]

Thank you for all your information.

I got a recipe on how to make the expensive stuff to wash your fruits and vegies. I did it and I'm so glad I did. I tested it and there were no lasting effects. How dare our food supply be so contaminated! I am so angry at this. I truly didn't realize how awful this is. Makes me wonder now if I really do have GERD or if it's because of what I'm purchasing at the food store. Jeesh! What can be done about this?

Janie

 

[kathryn]

Janie, can you share the recipe with us?

As for what can be done: if more consumers bought and demanded organics, we'd get them (though there has to be a watchdog organization to make sure the standards are kept high, as producers are always wanting to find ways to bypass standards).

Growing as much as you can on your own is one way of having more control of how your food is produced. You can do this outside or inside, iin all seasons. In the cooler months, I do lots of sprouting (both because it's harder to get fresh greens, and because there is less heat and humidity that can make sprouts go bad).

In the summer, buy from farmers' markets, where you can get local produce that is organic (and even the non-organic often uses fewer chemicals than commercially grown stuff: and you can talk to the growers directly to ask how the produce was treated).

IMO, we're living in a time when the future of the safe food supply is in danger. Monsanto (one of the two or three big companies that make agricultural chemicals, and the evil geniuses behind genetically engineered foods) has stated something like they want to control global food production, which I think is a very frightening concept. A recent study estimates that somewhere near 80% of wild rapeseed/canola has been contaminated with genes originating from Monsanto's GE canola.

 

[janiejoey]

Fruit And Vegetable Wash

Absolutely! From what I understand, these are the same ingredients in the expensive stuff that are in the stores or on line.

Fruit And Vegetable Wash

@ 1 squeezed lemon or squeezed half a grapefruit

@ 2 Tablespoon distilled white vinegar

@ 1 cup of tap water

@ 1 tablespoon baking soda.

Mix together in a large bowl or container. It will fizz a lot, once it's done fizzing, put it into a spray bottle.

Spray sparingly fruit/vegies with solution and soak a few minutes in a colander. Scrub lightly or rub the fruit or vegetables with the solution. Then put the colander with the fruit/vegies into sink of cold water and swish around. Let them soak again for another few minutes and swish around again. Paper towel dry.

That's how I do it and it seems to work so far. But, if I start to feel sick again, then I'm going organic, and will continue to wash my fruit and veges in this solution.

To good health,

Janie