Healthy Living Starts at the Store

1. When buying produce, make sure that if the fruits and vegetables that you are buying are listed on the top 12 of the "Dirty Dozen" list, that you buy them organic. Every year the Environmental Working Group puts out a list of the top 12 produce items to avoid due to the high amounts of pesticides being used on them, as well as a list of produce with the least amount of pesticides used. Below is the list for 2016. Remember, you can't wash or cook off pesticides and these toxins get into the cells of the fruit and vegetables that they are sprayed on.

The items that contain the highest amount of pesticides are:

The items containing the least amount of pesticides are:

2. sweet corn (BUT over 80% of corn is genetically modified, so you still want to buy this organic)

6. onions

7. asparagus

8. mangoes

9. papayas

10. kiwi

11. eggplant

12. honeydew melon 

2. Breakfast is the most important part of the day, so start your family off right. Organic eggs are great and so is oatmeal! Buy both, and make sure that the oatmeal is the old fashioned, slow cooking kind (which doesn't actually take all that long to cook!).

The time it takes to cook the oatmeal determines with how it will deliver energy to your body. The energy given from the slow cooked kind will 'simmer' in your body, dispersing it in even and balanced amounts, while the kind found in the instant oatmeal will deliver it all at once, thus spiking your blood sugars before sending them and your energy crashing. Also, the instant kinds contain added refined sugar. If you buy the slow cooked you can add your own healthy toppings. I add raisins, apple, and peanut or almond butter for protein. If I feel that I need more veggies on a particular day, I add pureed sweet potato or butternut squash. I top it with a little bit of honey.

3. Save yourself money and skip the juice. Water is the ONLY liquid a human needs after he/she turns anywhere from one to two years old and NEVER does anyone need juice. Juice is adding unnecessary sugar to a diet for no reason.

According to Dr. Jerry Lee Hover in ‘The Natural Cancer Cure,” "Eating white sugar will paralyze and hinder your white blood cells from fighting off an infection. Eating 25 teaspoons of sugar will paralyze 92% of your white blood cells for approximately five hours. The average American eats over 42 teaspoons of sugar per day. For example: A banana split has 24 teaspoons of sugar. A 12 oz coke has approx. 8-10 teaspoons, a piece of white bread 2 teaspoons. It must be remembered that sugar or empty calories and junk foods interfere with the working of the body’s immune system." Instead of a sugary drink, go for the whole fruit where you can receive the fiber and all the nutrients it has to offer. If your family is currently juice dependent, start by cutting the juice they drink with water and 'wean' them off. You can then add fresh lemon, lime or orange juice to their water if flavor is required.

4. Don't be fooled! If a product says that it is all natural, it doesn't really mean much of anything! If you are looking for something to be sincerely natural and organic, it must say 100% organic. In order to determine just how natural a product is, you NEED to read the label and the list of ingredients yourself. If you can't pronounce something or there are lists of letters, such as TBHQ, it's not natural.