Thursday, July 7, 2016

I know they're cheap right now, but pleeeaaase don't eat strawberries or feed them to kids...


I know diabetics and people trying to get healthy and lose weight are told to eat their fruits and vegetables. Diabetics especially are steered to the low-glycemic index berries. And right now strawberries are cheap. But don't buy them.

Unless they are organic.

Strawberries are one of the most highly-sprayed fruits and vegetables. It's like eating succulent little bits of poison. Truly. You're better off not eating fruit at all than eating poisonous strawberries.

If you can't afford organic, pick wild blackberries and make preserves to get your berry fix year-round. Or grow your own strawberries. Or just spring for organic. They are only 99 cents more.

The kinds of pesticides they are using these days do horrible things to our bodies. There are some people who think the reason diseases like cancer and diabetes are rampant, the reason autoimmune diseases have formerly-healthy people unable to get out of bed, the reason our digestive systems (and appetites) are so out of control, is not because we are weak-willed lazy human beings but because of all the chemicals disrupting our endocrine and hormone systems.

We're sick. We're out of balance.

Never in history have there been so many sick, overweight people in this country. I used to be one of the few fat people. Now I'm surrounded by them. There are people in their 40s who can't walk around Walmart and have to ride in a little car. Something is doing this to people. There can't be that many lazy gluttonous people. There didn't used to be. Teenage boys have breasts. Our hormones are out of whack because of plastics and chemicals in our shampoo and GMOs and pesticides and preservatives and BPA (and the other chemicals in cans that are also bad for us). The list goes on and on.

So let's start with one small step. Let's get poisonous strawberries out of our lives and avoid huge concentrations of pesticides.

The crazy thing is, I was at the store today watching moms pick up carton after carton of strawberries (presumably for children) because they are 2 for $4 right now in the height of summer. The organic carton is only $2.99. That's 99 cents more.

Now, I remember what it's like being a poor single mom with no money to buy fruit and how I loved it when strawberries got so cheap in the summer. But I'd have been better off not buying any strawberries at all. I should have taken my children out to pick blackberries or grown a strawberry patch to teach them about gardening. Back then, it was hard to find organic strawberries and they cost twice or three times as much.

But today, they are only 99 cents more. You don't have to grow a strawberry patch or pick blackberries (even though that would be wonderful). For a culture that spends almost $5 on a cappuccino, I mean, we have no excuse for buying non-organic high pesticide strawberries for our kids and grandkids--or for ourselves.

When it comes to strawberries, go for the organic.

Even better, grow them yourself (get heirloom seeds) or buy them from a local grower at the farmer's market. Because even organic commercial farms do weird things to strawberries. One of my goals in life is to have a strawberry patch every year.

I'll do research on the latest findings on which types of produce have the highest pesticide residue and should only be eaten organic (like strawberries and peaches and grapes) and which veggies and fruits you can get by with buying non-organic (like avocado and pineapple). Stay tuned for a future post on this subject.

But right now, stay away from non-organic strawberries. Okay? Pleeeeeaaaase.

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