HOW TO SHOP GROCERIES LIKE A HEALTH COACH

The 2022 Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists are officially out!!! and I wanted to share them with you as well as key findings.

I'm often asked how important it is to eat organic foods? I think it's a game changer if you're trying to turn around or protect your health. You see, environmental toxins, such as pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals found in our food are obesogens. They alter our metabolism, alter our fat cells structure, and increase fat storage and cause obsesity. Worse, not only do they cause weight gain but they also cause resistant weight loss because they wreck havoc our entire endocrine system (and achieving hormonal balance is a central goal in order to achieve optimal health as our hormones are responsible for the way we feel and look, where our weight is distributed, etc.). Obesogens also cause thyroid issues, cancer, ADHD, diabetes, etc.. Obesogens are also found in beauty products, hair products, food packaging, building material and even the sole of our shoes... But coming back to our food supply, I try to buy organic as much as I can but even as a holistic nutritionist, I don't supply all of my food organically and we don't have to thanks to the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 lists (save the picture below on your phone). These lists are produced yearly by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) who is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment. They research what’s in our tap water, the safety of our cosmetics, genetically modified organisms (GMO / GE), and the amounts of pesticides in and on our food, among other things. The EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ (aka Dirty Dozen and Clean 15) is updated each year and ranks pesticide contamination on 46 popular fruits and vegetables. The guide is based on results of more than 35,200 samples tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. The top 15 foods with the least pesticides are called the Clean 15, while the 12 foods with the most pesticides are called the Dirty Dozen. These lists are fantastic to take with you on your shopping trips to know when to buy organic and when it’s ok to buy conventional.