March Madness with the Dirty Dozen

March rolled around and it occurred to me that I seemed to have missed the new year, new you memo on January 1^st. So instead my girlfriends and I finally got down to business with a renewed Pure Barre membership (love to L.T.B.) and a March Madness challenge- 20 classes in 30 days.  

Work out routine down, check.

Now on to the fun part...food. Getting back on track with all my faves- smoothies, salads, and superfoods.

Let’s start with the basics: The Dirty Dozen and The Clean Fifteen

This list changes yearly based on the amount of pesticides that are found on fruits and vegetables tested in the United States. Meaning that when buying produce from the Dirty Dozen list, you should make sure to buy organic. If that is not an option then peeling the skin off of the fruit or vegetable helps.

Why are pesticides an issue?

They are designed to be toxic in order to kill “pests” such as insects and fungi that can attack the growing produce. The problem is that pesticides get caught up in our colon and then start attacking our body.  They have been confirmed to caused major health risks such as cancer, Alzheimer’s Disease, nervous system toxicity, ADHD, hormone disruption, and skin irritations.

Beyond overwhelming right? Don’t worry, the benefits of eating commercially grown fruits and vegetable’s far outweigh not eating them at all so do your best.

For an extended Dirty Dozen list or if you are just hungry for more info check out EWG:

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/list.php

Ps. Just finished my 20th class today! Challenge completed.

xo Goldie