Thursday, November 6, 2014

On Dirty Dozen: When too "OC" becomes careless! (sometimes?)

Honey, my eldest, loves to eat fruits. She's familiar with apples, oranges or grapes as early as when she was 2 yrs old. But for some time in between, I stopped buying those fruits just because they are in the Dirty Dozen list.
And...somehow not buying those fruits affected my second child, Jiggy.
Ok! Ok! I admit! I had doubts and become paranoid when I read the article about dirty dozen thingy.

The Dirty Dozen List:
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a non-profit American environmental organization that specializes in research and advocacy in the areas of toxic chemicals, agricultural subsidies, public lands, and corporate accountability (source: Wikipedia).
This group checks the pesticides content on fruits and vegetables. These fruits and vegetables, as I understand, are rank according to the pesticide absorption amount. Thus Dirty Dozen is created to list down top-12 fruits having the highest substance content from pesticides.
Don't be alarm though, they also rank fruits and vegetables with less absorbed pesticide and called it Clean Fifteen.  
Based on the list, Apple ranks first!
Photo Credit: Trina from www.paleonewbie.com
I don't know how the group tested it but reality is that farmers put pesticides on their crops. And no matter how we, as consumers, washed and cleaned it, is that part of the pesticide substance may have been absorb by the fruits or vegetables which we may also absorbs it.
 

And me, as a mom, upon reading this thought of being careful on what to give to my children.
Being careful not to bring those dirty dozen fruits.
​I thought b​eing careful can do no harm!
I thought wrong!
 

Just recently, almost forgetting about this dirty dozen stuff, bought some apples and oranges. My kids have colds and thought of boosting their immune system through vitamins and minerals from fruits.
Well Jiggy, although knows what an apple or an orange is (from books), sees the fruit...
examines it...;
holds it...;
smells it...;
yet didn't bother to eat, not even a small bite.

He didn't even dare to imitate ate whose nibbling the apple with gusto :(
​And forcing him to eat it does not good either as he'll definitely spit it out.

Don't get me wrong, he loves loves banana, mango and avocado. 
He's just not familiar with apples and orange! (Just because the mom did not introduce it to him!)

I guess denying them to what is norm is absurd so minimal consumption of apples and oranges is "okey" for him to get acquainted and not be naive. 
"Tama ba, mommies?"

P.S.
We mix the apple with the banana and mango to make a smoothie and let him taste it.
Though he didn't consume the whole glass, its a wonderful start.

21 comments:

  1. There are now farms selling organic produce and fruits, kaya lang honestly, I haven't been able to get to them yet. There's a lot of truth to what you say that yeah pesticides are really being used to protect crops, and yes, I agree that the plants absorb these pesticides somehow. :( It may have a lot to do with the state of health the world has now.

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    1. I heard farm-to-market projects but not sure if its organic produce they are selling. Haven't found one yet here too. I heard organic produce are pricey. Naku!, wala akong lusot kaya hindi na ako mag-iinarte!

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  2. Oh my! Most of our favorite fruits are under the dirty dozen category :( It's good that you have started to introduce apple to your son. Little by little, he'll eventually get used to it.

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    1. A realization on our part. I thought he is picky, he's just not familiar lang :D

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  3. For me, you are right, it doesn't hurt to eat something from that Dirty Dozen list. You just need to know where you get your fruits from.

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    1. I agree with you mommy, we make an effort to ask the sellers when we buy fruits locally available in markets, we are not just sure if imported fruits are okey.

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  4. It's easy for us moms to get paranoid whenever we read or hear studies like this. I try not to panic though and just practice one of my life mantras, "everything in moderation". :) My kids love apples and grapes too. But we don't let them eat those everyday. We vary the kinds of fruits and veggies that we serve them.

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    Replies
    1. I'll keep that in my mind mommy - "Everything is Moderation". Thanks much! :D

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  5. Oh I see. Favorite pa naman ni Rhian yung apples and grapes. Good to know na yung kiwi, avocado, papaya and mangoes is clean and less absorbed pesticide. Good thing, ginawa mong smoothie yung apple with other fruits at least kahit papano nakatikim na sya ng apple.. hihi

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  6. At some point, I have been that OC too pero I'm thinking with the attitude baka wala na kaming kakainin. That includes that only fruits and vegetable but also chicken, fish, milk, etc! I choose to get the more healthy, sometimes organic to put fruits and vegies on the table and it's not that easy! If only we can grow and make our own produce no?

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  7. Aw, Mommy, that's hard. At least you were able to think of an alternative way of eating apples by making smoothies! :)

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  8. That's what I do to with my girls. I don't let them eat chocolates and ice cream. One time, I craved for Drumstick when my daughter so me eating. She was so fascinated with it and ended up eating everything. Believe it or not, she's 2 years, 10 months when she had her first taste of ice cream :))

    Anyway, I was surprised to find out that apples are included in the dirty dozen list. My kids love it pa naman.

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  9. It's my first time to see the list..pero yes careful lang kung saan binibili. And soak it sa vinegar for around 10 mins :)

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  10. It's my first time to see the list..pero yes careful lang kung saan binibili. And soak it sa vinegar for around 10 mins :)

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  11. Thanks for sharing these lists. I'm a mango eater.. pero yung madalas na kinakain ko yung galing mismo sa farm namin so I know they're perfectly safe. :)

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  12. There are many organic farms now that sells those :) Holy Carabao by Hindy Tantoco. Malipayon Farm that supplies our major hotels. And many sellers in Salcedo and Legaspi weekend markets :)

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  13. I think as long as you pick fresh fruits and wash them before consuming that it's the best way to make sure our kids are eating clean food. Surprising though that apples are on the top of the list.

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  14. It is really hard to avoid those chemicals, fertilizers, or pesticides used in any of our foods today. What I did before I give these fruits to my children is to remove the skin. I think the very healthy fruit is banana.

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  15. Thanks for this informative post, Mommy :) I think it's great that parents are more conscious about what they feed their children these days. Sana may organic apples na lang dito sa Pilipinas! We love apples! Our baby still eats apples, we just take the peel off. He also eats other produce that are thankfully on the Clean Fifteen List.

    And just to chime in on the farm-to-market projects, I know of and have tried Good Food Community. Their pambahay bayong is all-organic...mostly vegetables but sometimes, they include some fruit, too. I'll be blogging about my experience with their service after my crazy NaBloPoMo madness. I'll let you know once it's up...or you could just Google them now ;) Hehe :p

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  16. Thanks Mommy Vicky.. I'm happy to know lots of mommies are also food conscious :D
    Looking forward on your blog regarding Good Food Community. I tried googling it, but seems like they venture in Luzon pa.. Hoping they'll expand across Philippines :D

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