Healing Plants Need This Special Attention to Make them Safe!

Healing plants like fruits and vegetables require special attention to realize their natural healing potential.

You likely know they count as healthy foods that provide essential nutrients you can’t live without. But, how do you make them safe with the use of pesticides and the rise of food born illnesses?

The best way to assure safety is to grow or choose organic produce, grown locally. But sometimes that’s just not practical due to expense or availability.

That’s why the Shopper’s Guide was created by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The EWG, a non-profit organization, provides information to protect public health and the environment.

The Shopper’s guide is based on laboratory tests done by the USDA Pesticide Testing Program. The program found that some conventional fruits and vegetables contain less pesticides than others.

The guide provides a produce list called the “Dirty Dozen” that contains higher levels of pesticide residue, and a produce list called “Clean Fifteen” that tested low in pesticide residue.

You can use the Shopper’s Guide to identify which produce is most important to buy organically. Click this link for the free EWG’s 2011 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce.

Now, on to how to clean these healing plants.

What’s The Best Way to Clean Produce?

Cook’s Illustrated (a well-known foodie magazine) compared four ways of cleaning produce to see which is most effective for removing bacteria:

1. Washing with an antibacterial soap (yuk!)
2. Washing with diluted vinegar (one part vinegar to three parts water), then rinsing with water
3. Scrubbing with a brush
4. Rinsing in clean water

The “dilute vinegar solution” worked the best. It removed 98% of the bacteria.

By the way, this vinegar solution makes a great cleaner as well, and is far less toxic than commercial brands. It makes widows sparkle!

Put the mixture in a spray bottle and keep it handy! It works better and costs a pittance compared to commercial products too!

What about Peeling Produce?

You can peel these healing plants to remove some of the pesticide residue, but many essential nutrients are removed too. Essential nutrients are often concentrated in the skins of plants and fruits.

Plus, some plants absorb pesticides systemically, so peeling or washing would have limited effect, say experts at EWG. If you do peel these healing foods, be sure to wash them first so that dirt and bacteria isn’t transferred by the knife.

8 Healing Plants Cleaning Tips

1. Use the Shopper’s Guide to help choose which produce to buy organic.
2. Wash you hands with soap and water for 20 seconds before and after preparing produce.
3. Throw out the outermost leaves of produce like lettuce and cabbage.
4. Gently rub under running water.
5. Spay with the dilute vinegar solution (one part vinegar to three parts water) and rinse again.
6. Use a clean vegetable brush to scrub firm produce (like cucumbers or melons).
7. Cut out bruised or damaged areas where bacteria can thrive.
8. Dry with a clean cloth or paper towel.

Key Points

Use these 8 tips to make fruits and vegetables safe.

Most of all, make healing plants like fruits and vegetables a regular part of your diet. They provide essential nutrients you literally can’t live without!

Sources and Resources

EWG’s 2011 Shopper’s Guide at http://www.ewg.org/foodnews.

Cook’s Illustrated, “Cleaning 101,” (January, 2010).

FDA U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “7 Tips for Cleaning Fruits and Vegetables” at http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm256215.htm.

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