Do you ever wonder which fruits and veggies are ok to buy non-organic, and which ones aren't?

Because let's face it, we don't always want to shell out the big bucks for organics, but we don't want to expose ourselves to too many toxins, either. Amiright? So, how do we choose when to save and when to splurge?

Well, peeps, I've got you covered! Today, we’re going to explore exactly that topic.

Welcome to Episode 57 of Ask Dr Emily, a podcast where we explore the what, the why, and the how of optimizing health naturally, with Paleo and low carb eating, intermittent fasting, easy lifestyle hacks, and herbs and supplements.

So, how do we know how to best prioritize our spending for organic and non-organic fruits and vegetables?

Well, every year, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) analyzes the latest USDA data on produce and compiles a list called the Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen.

These lists tell us the types of fruits and vegetables that are currently being grown with the most and least pesticides, and are intended to help guide your produce purchasing choices. 

If you want to focus your purchases of organic produce on only those that are essential, then the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists are exactly the guides you need! These will show you which produce you should prioritize buying organic from a health perspective (though there are environmental and worker's rights reasons to buy organic when you can, too).

To come up with this year's list, the EWG parsed through USDA data on nearly 50,000 samples of the most popular fruits and veggies.

Even after washing, the EWG found that nearly 75% of non-organic fresh produce sold in the U.S. contained residues of pesticides. To rank each type of produce from "clean" to "dirty," the EWG assigns each one a score based on the:

·         percent of tested samples that had detectable pesticides; 

·         percent of samples with two or more detectable pesticides; 

·         average number of pesticides found on a single sample; 

·         average amount of pesticides found per sample; 

·         maximum number of pesticides found on a single sample; 

·         and total number of pesticides found on the crop.

All 6 of these categories are weighted equally in determining the rankings, since they convey different but equally relevant information about pesticide levels on produce. So the “Dirty Dozen” list tells us which crops are currently showing up with the highest volume and variety of pesticides – and these are the ones to always buy organic this year.

Here is the 2023 Dirty Dozen list:

1. Strawberries
2. Spinach
3. Kale, collard, and mustard greens
4. Peaches
5. Pears
6. Nectarines
7. Apples
8. Grapes
9. Bell & Hot Peppers
10. Cherries
11. Blueberries
12. Green Beans

Blueberries and green beans are new additions to this year's Dirty Dozen list. Both crops have troubling concentrations of pesticides that can harm the human nervous system, called organophosphate insecticides. Tests of 765 non-organic blueberry samples collected in 2020 and 2021 found more than 90 percent had pesticide residues, up from 81 percent with detectable residues in 2014, and the EWG found that several green bean samples had residues of acephate, a toxic pesticide.

In addition, more than 90% of non-organic strawberries, apples, cherries, spinach, nectarines, and grapes sampled this year tested positive for residues of two or more pesticides.

The 2023 Cle