If fruits are something we like to indulge in, vegetables are more of a must for healthy eating; fruits too, of course, but while you would eat fruits for the pleasure of it, vegetables – not so much. So vegetables are more along the lines of foods we should and must eat but not necessarily prefer.
Vegetable-aversion is quite common, and not just among children. This is partly good, partly bad.
It’s bad because vegetables are healthy and nutritious foods that provide many good things to the body so it can perform well and stay healthy. Plus, they make burgers taste so good.
Therefore, if you don’t eat vegetables, you are missing out on a lot of stuff that is healthy for you.
On the flip side, if you don’t eat vegetables you actually protect yourself from the harmful chemicals that so many contain nowadays. So it’s a good thing sometimes that you don’t eat them.
And, to discourage anyone who believes that vegetables are the holy grain in the food pyramid, let’s just say that eating too much of them can cause unpleasant reactions that have nothing to do with chemical contamination.
It’s a long way from there, however, to not eating vegetables at all. The worst to consume are those that contain many, many pesticide residues. And there are a few of them widely available in conventional form.
These are the vegetables that you should avoid eating excessively if you can’t buy them organic.
Potatoes
There isn’t a single household in America where potatoes are not a pantry staple. Farmers grow over 1 million acres of potatoes every year, and the vegetable is one of the most consumed.
Most crops are treated against pests and infections with chemicals that remain inside and outside of the potato and are ingested along with the food. Sweet potatoes contain fewer chemicals, but they are still found to be cancer-causing and disruptive.
Corn
Corn has literally begun to be associated with genetic modification. Most of the corn produced nowadays in the States comes from genetically modified crops. This poses a serious threat not only because corn is a staple food for people, but also because it’s being fed to cows whose meat we consume often.
So the amount of corn we consume doubles probably triples with the beef we eat and the dairies that come from corn-fed animals.
Bell Peppers
One of the most adored vegetables and one that gives food such a nice flavor are bell peppers. They have been a favorite in America since thousands of years, but never in the history of American vegetables production have they been more chemically produced.
Peppers, specifically bell peppers are sensitive vegetables, and this is one of the reasons why they are produced with so many pesticides. Three chemicals commonly used to grow and treat bell peppers are probable carcinogens, and over 20 are suspected as hormone disruptors.
Other extremely contaminated vegetables are celery, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce.