IS IT OK TO JUICE NON ORGANIC FRUITS & VEGGIES

There are a three questions that come up over and over again when people start thinking about juicing.

• How much does it cost
• How much time is it going to take
• and lastly Do you REALLY have to buy organic fruits and vegetables in order to juice.

In this article, I am going to tackle the last question (I’ll address the other questions later). The answer to that last question is well, it depends.

Let Me Back Up For A Minute

Let’s tackle an important myth.  Organic fruits and vegetables are expensive and hard to find.

Organic fruits and vegetables are easier to find now than they have ever been, but they can cost (a little or a lot) more than conventional produce, depending on where you buy them.  The good news is more and more big box stores are carrying fresh organic produce, even warehouse stores and discount stores have organic offerings.  This means that juicing will ultimately cost less than it’s ever cost and it probably cost less than you think.  With some good research, I am sure you can find organic produce that only cost $0.25-$1.00 more than you are paying for conventional, so in my opinion it’s worth it.

Now Back To The Question At Hand

If I juice with non-organic produce, will the juice I make be healthy thing or will I be hurting myself?

In my opinion, some juice is better than no juice at all!  Organic fruits and vegetables are the best choice and that is what we should strive for, but everyone can’t do organic all time. Juicing non-organic produce still has many benefits. Juicing will provide your body with good nutrition and way more vitamins in an easily absorbable form (liquid). Additionally, you probably aren’t going to eat as many fruits and vegetables as you would juice, so hands down is juicing is a great option for increasing the number of fruits and vegetables you are eating.  This concept doesn’t change just because it’s not organic.  There all things you SHOULD consider.

If You Are Going To Juice Non Organic Produce, Take Precautions.

Make sure you scrub all produce with more than water.

You can use a homemade produce cleaner (3 parts water and one part distilled white vinegar).

Get Rid Of The Excess

If you are using non-organics go above and beyond cut off the tops and tails and peel the skins. This includes carrots, lemons, limes, potatoes and  apples. We take in enough pollutants and chemicals from the environment and processed foods you don’t want to add more by eating skins that was sprayed with pesticides.  Yes, you will lose some vital nutrients, but you are not losing them all. The upside to juicing vs. blending is that pesticides are stored in the fiber of the fruits and veggies. When juicing you separate the fiber from the juice and discard some of the contaminated portion.

Mix It Up

You can do a combination of organic and non-organic juicing. Live by the lists, the clean 15 and the dirty dozen.  If you can only buy a few organic fruits and vegetables, focus on those on the dirty dozen. The Dirty Dozen are a lists of fruits and vegetables that you should try to buy organic whenever possible because they are sprayed with sooo many pesticides.  Here is the Dirty Dozen List Here.

12 Most Contaminated

• Peaches
• Apples
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Pears
• Grapes (Imported)
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Potatoes

Here are the Clean 15, these are fruits and vegetables that don’t need to be organic.

Clean 15

You can buy non-organic produce that is on the Clean 15 list.  These are clean because they are produce with the least amount of contamination (many of these are common juicing ingredients).

• Onions
• Avocado
• Sweet Corn (Frozen)
• Pineapples
• Mangoes
• Asparagus
• Sweet Peas (Frozen)
• Kiwi Fruit
• Bananas
• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Papaya
• Eggplant
• Honeydew
• Grapefruit
• Cantaloupe
• Cauliflower

How To Save Money, No Matter What You Use

Grow your own fruits and vegetables, share with other local growers, find local organic farms and look for farmers markets.   You can buy seeds from SeedsNow.com and check out the Urban Organic Gardener on FB he tells you how to grow stuff in small places.

Last but not least, if you are buying non organic just make sure that you are not purchasing genetically modified produce. You don’t want to eat or juice that if you can help it.