EWG's 2011 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce

EWG just released its 2011 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce -- an update to the handy guide that helps you avoid the Dirty Dozen, conventional fruits and vegetables that are highest in pesticide residues -- and choose items from the Clean 15 list instead. Eat healthier and save money at the same time!

What's new? The popular apple is now at the top of the Dirty Dozen as the fruit or veggie highest in pesticides. And for the first time, cilantro is also on the list. Testing by federal scientists found 33 unapproved pesticides on 44 percent of the cilantro samples tested -- the highest percentage of unapproved pesticides recorded on any item since EWG started tracking the data in 1995. Mushrooms also make their first appearance on the Shopper's Guide as part of the Clean 15.

What else is new? Click here to see EWG's 2011 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce!

Is your skin crying for help?

Have you heard the saying we are what we eat? Is your skin crying for help? With summer around the corner, many people are realizing that their skin doesn't look as good as they wish. You will find practical tips and suggestions in this article that will help you achieve radiant skin by improving your health on the inside and improving your skin on the outside. Having beautiful skin requires health on the inside and good skin care on the outside.

Your skin is your largest organ and often a reflection of what’s going on inside your body. Whether it's dry skin, oily skin, acne, rashes, lack of skin tone, or premature aging it's important to go beyond covering up our flaws and get to their root causes of why your skin isn’t radiant. The secrets to perfect skin care are NOT just what you put on your skin but also what you put in your body. So just buying expensive creams and potions will not give you flawless skin if you are not taking care of the inside of your body and if those anti-aging potions contain toxic chemicals or simply worthless in the quality of the ingredients you are just defeating the purpose. The majority of the big brand names in skin care carry a whole list of toxic ingredients. Don’t focus on brand and a big price tag, focus on quality ingredients! Just because doctor so and so promotes it or sells it doesn’t mean it is good or non-toxic.

Healthy radiant skin can be achieved through the following:
• Good nutrition with plenty of fresh living fruits and vegetables
• Good hydration with plenty of water (caffeine in soda, tea and coffee increase dehydration)
• Exercise for good blood flow and lymphatic drainage
• Skin exfoliation through dry brushing or loofah pads for the body and gentle cream exfoliants for the face and neck
• Avoid toxic chemicals internally and externally
• Use good quality organic skin care products

Skin-Healthy Diet
Fresh whole foods such as berries, nuts, seeds and leafy vegetable are the main staples of a skin-healthy diet. An occasional glass of red wine or a cup of green tea is beneficial too because of their antioxidant properties. Antioxidants help to combat free radicals and protect your skin from premature aging. Ellagic acid (EA) is a type of antioxidant referred to as a “polyphenol”. Ellagic acid protects collagen. The most plentiful food sources of EA are blackberries, cranberries, pecans, pomegranates, purple/red grapes, raspberries, strawberries and walnuts. Some of the benefits of all of these fruits and nuts may be directly attributable to their EA content. The trace mineral Zinc found in shellfish and pumpkin seeds is also beneficial for skin regeneration.

It is important to avoid all processed sugars and trans fats and be aware of your own food sensitivities. For example if you are sensitive or intolerant to gluten, this will increase inflammation in your body which leads to disease and dull looking skin. Sugar also increases pain and fatigue. A diet high in trans fats such as French fats, processed and junk foods can increase your bad LDL cholesterol and lead to cholesterol ‘plugs’ in your pores.

Vitamins C and E found in fruits and vegetables naturally support skin structure, reduce free radical damage and provide protection from damage caused by sun exposure. "Vitamin C can regenerate oxidized vitamin E, making this antioxidant combination work synergistically on your skin," explains Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP in her article at the Huffington Post. "Together, they can increase antioxidant power up to 70 times greater than when used individually."

Last but not least, don't underestimate the importance of drinking enough water. Chronic dehydration makes our skin look older, and less smooth.

Skin-Healthy Lifestyle
Today we live in a world full of toxic substances. Toxic exposure to x-rays, pollution, cigarette smoke and thousands of chemicals found in your hair products, make-up, lotions, bath soaps, household cleaners, pesticides on food, antibiotics and steroids in food, even the chlorine in your shower water can all contribute to premature aging and worsening of your skin. You can purchase a chlorine filter that goes on your shower head from your local home improvement store.

Don’t be fooled by false advertising on labels that products are natural, organic, dermatologist recommended, etc. Dermatologist tested and recommended can simply mean that the dermatologist getting paid by that company making the product tested it and recommended it or it can be a complete lie altogether. You really have to be informed about what ingredients are and read labels as you can pick up a product that says natural and just see a long list of chemical names or a product touted as organic and you may see only 1 organic ingredient or none in a long list of chemicals.

Women use more products than men, and are exposed to more unique ingredients daily, but men use a surprisingly high number of products. The average woman uses 12 products containing 168 ingredients every day. Men use on average 6 products daily with 85 unique ingredients. Chemical exposures add up. All of these chemicals have an accumulative effect and take their toll on our bodies’ ability to fight off these toxins.

Chemical exposure includes known or probable human carcinogens, known or probable reproductive and developmental toxins, linked to infertility or developmental harm for a baby in the womb or a child. Phthalates are a toxic family of chemicals used in everyday household products and nail polish, lipstick, perfumes and many other personal care products. If you see fragrance or fragrant oils on the label, avoid these products. Buy unscented or products that only use good quality essential oils for scenting.

Protect Your Skin Naturally
Sweat the toxins out of your skin and body with dry or infrared type saunas and steam baths. The dry heat of a sauna penetrates your tissues and releases poisons, heavy metals and chemicals. In the process, the blood flow to your skin increases, bringing more nutrients for the surface and subcutaneous tissue. As a result, the quality of your skin gradually improves.

Dry skin brushing is another technique that can improve your skin’s appearance. Of course, dry brushing should not be done on the face or neck but can be done on the body. Dry brushing moves the lymph, improves circulation, reduces cellulite, wakes up your immune system, sloughs off dead skin cells and makes your skin soft. You can purchase a natural bristle brush with a long handle at a health food store. Loofahs are also good for daily dead skin removal.

Use only non-toxic anti-aging products on your skin. Look for products that contain ingredients such as Organic Aloe Juice, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Rooibos Tea Extract, Organic Olive Oil, Organic Papaya Extract, Organic Pineapple Extract, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, MSM, Organic Pomegranate Extract, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Vitamin B, Vitamin A, Rosehip Oil, Evening Primrose Oil, Organic Blue Green Algae Extract, Cranberry Seed Oil, Carrot Oil, Hyaluronic Acid, etc. to feed your skin on the outside. Avoid the use of Vitamin A as a leave-on product for your skin. Vitamin A is fine in a cleanser because you are washing it off. Vitamin A should be avoided if it is an ingredient in a leave on product such as a toner, moisturizer, sunscreen or eye cream as Vitamin A makes your skin more sensitive to sun damage which can lead to skin cancer.

Everyone should start thinking of anti-aging when they are young, if you wait until you have wrinkles, you can’t remove them without some type of cosmetic procedure, and you can only reduce the appearance. Prevention is the best medicine! Products with Alpha Hydroxyl Acids for example Bilberry Extract, Sugar Cane Extract, Sugar Maple Extract, Orange Fruit Extract, Lemon Extract, Cranberry Extract, etc. can be beneficial for those with teenage or adult acne.

Don’t wash your skin with commercial bath soaps and shower gels which contain toxic sulfates and detergents that dry out your skin and lead to premature aging. Detergents containing sulfates come by many different names: sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, ammonium lauryl sulfate, ammonium laureth sulfate, and sodium C14-16 olefin sulfate.

Avoid anti-bacterial soaps which contain a toxic ingredient called Triclosan. Studies have shown that anti-bacterial soaps don’t get your hands/skin cleaner than regular soaps. If you are concerned about bacteria, you can use soaps with tea tree in the ingredient list as tea tree is a natural anti-bacterial agent. However, unless you have acne, skin infections, stinky feet or smell more than others when they sweat, antibacterial soaps shouldn’t be used routinely as your body may build a tolerance or resistance to even a natural antibacterial substance. If your feet stink, you may have foot fungus and if your sweat smells more than normal, you are probably not eating a healthy diet or drinking enough water and the toxins are coming out in your sweat.

Avoid fragrances in any product. Your skin will noticeably improve if you use only natural or organic soaps. Good quality soaps provide lather and last a long time without drying out your skin.

Many times, people talk about how dry their skin is in spite of using lotions. The majority of the time, it is because they are using sulfates on their skin, using poor quality lotions and not drinking enough water. If you are doing everything right and still have dry skin, ask your doctor to check your thyroid levels including reverse T3. Look at your lotion and see if the first ingredient is water. The majority of the commercial brand lotions list water as the first ingredient. Water is great when taken internally for hydration but doesn’t do much when applied to the skin as a moisturizer. Ingredients are listed on the label in order of percentages/concentration so the ingredients at the beginning have the highest concentration and the ingredients towards the end of the label have a smaller amount of that ingredient.

Follow these steps for beautiful radiant skin!

14 Foods to Buy Organic

By Joanna Dolgoff, M.D.
Huffington Post
May 24, 2011

The growing consensus among scientists is that certain doses of pesticides and other chemicals can possibly cause lasting damage to human health, especially during fetal development and early childhood. Some scientists are warning of the long-term consequences of ingesting these powerful chemicals and advise that we minimize our consumption of pesticides.

According to the Environmental Working Group, consumers can reduce their pesticide exposure by 80 percent by avoiding the most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating only the cleanest. If consumers get their USDA-recommended five daily servings of fruits and veggies from those that are most contaminated, they could possibly consume an average of 10 pesticides a day. Those who eat the 15 least contaminated conventionally grown produce will likely ingest fewer than two pesticides daily.

EWG has been publishing guides to the “dirty dozen” of the most pesticide contaminated foods since 1995, based on statistical analysis of testing conducted by the USDA and the FDA. The dirty dozen list only reflects measurable pesticide residues on the parts of the foods normally consumed (i.e. after being washed and peeled). Below is the latest EWG guide to the “dirty dozen,” along with recommendations for foods other than fruits and vegetables that are best bought organic, along with information about antibiotics, hormones and the impact of producing food on the surrounding environment.

Meat
A recent USDA Inspector General report found that the government is failing to even test meat for the harmful chemicals the law requires.

Raising animals with conventional modern methods often means using hormones to speed up growth, antibiotics to resist disease on crowded feed lots and both pesticides and chemical fertilizers to grow the grain fed to the animals. Additionally, it takes many times the water and energy to raise one meal’s worth of meat than it does one meal’s worth of grain.

To meet USDA standards, certified organic meat can come only from animals fed organic feed and given no hormones or antibiotics. Searching out cuts from grass-fed animals ensures that you’re eating meat from an animal that was fed a more natural diet, and looking for a local source of meats lets you question the farmer directly about the animal’s diet and the farmer’s method of raising it. It cuts down on the environmental cost of transportation, too.

Milk
Pesticides and other man-made chemicals have been found in dairy products —milk is of special concern because it is a staple of a child’s diet. Organic dairies cannot feed their cows with grains grown with pesticides, nor can they use antibiotics or growth hormones like rGBH or rbST.

Celery
Celery has no protective skin, which makes it almost impossible to wash off the chemicals that are used on conventional crop making celery rank number one in the 2010 analysis, up from number four in 2009.

Peaches
Multiple pesticides are regularly applied to these delicately skinned fruits in conventional orchards.

Strawberries
If you buy strawberries out of season, they’re most likely imported from countries that use less-stringent regulations for pesticide use.

Apples
Like peaches, apples are typically grown with the use of poisons to kill a variety of pests, from fungi to insects. Scrubbing and peeling doesn’t eliminate chemical residue completely, so it’s best to buy organic when it comes to apples.

Blueberries
New on the Dirty Dozen list in 2010, blueberries are treated with as many as 52 pesticides, making them one of the dirtiest berries on the market.

Nectarines
With 33 different types of pesticides found on nectarines, they rank up there with apples and peaches among the dirtiest tree fruit.

Peppers
Peppers have thin skins that don’t offer much of a barrier to pesticides. They’re often heavily sprayed
with insecticides.

Spinach
New on the list for 2010, spinach can be laced with as many as 48 different pesticides, making it one of the most contaminated green leafy vegetable.

Kale
Traditionally kale is known as a hardier vegetable that rarely suffers from pests and disease, but it was found to have high amounts of pesticide residue when tested.

Cherries
Even locally grown cherries are not necessarily safe. In fact, in one survey in recent years, cherries grown in the U.S. were found to have three times more pesticide residue then imported cherries.

Potatoes
America’s popular spud reappears on the 2010 dirty dozen list, after a year hiatus.

Grapes
Imported grapes run a much greater risk of contamination than those grown domestically (only imported grapes make the 2010 Dirty Dozen list). Vineyards can be sprayed with different pesticides during different growth periods of the grape, and no amount of washing or peeling will eliminate contamination because of the grape’s thin skin.