In every season it is important to pay attention to the words detox, fruits, vegetables, and the “dirty dozen.”. Let me explain why it is so important to pay attention to your detox options and the list of fruits and vegetables that have the highest level of pesticides. and why sometimes even healthy foods can make you sick.

For example, we may make a resolution to try to incorporate more vegetables and fruits into our diet, but a couple of weeks or months later we feel worse than we are supposed to, so we go back to our old eating habits.

Does that sound familiar? The worst part is that most of the time you feel guilty, see yourself as a failure and blame yourself for your excuses. True? Well, don’t!

We may feel obligated to start eating more fruits and vegetables, because we know from TV, books, media, etc. they are very important for us to stay healthy. But do you know that all fruits and vegetables are treated with pesticides, even those that are organic.

Unfortunately, the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink contain dangerous chemicals and toxins. Everything is full of toxins nowadays, and when I say everything I mean literally everything: the make-up you apply on your face, lipstick for your lips, tooth paste for your teeth, soap for your hands, detergent for your clothes, shall I continue? Did you know that while using the shower for 10 minutes, the chemical in the water penetrates through your skin into your blood?

As for fruits and vegetables, some of them we can eat in large quantities and be happy about it, but for others it is better to avoid  them because even if they are organic, they can do more harm than good for our health.

Have in mind that organic produce doesn’t mean pesticide free. Organically grown fruits and vegetables are grown in better soil and have less pesticide.

So as you can see, it is very important to know which fruits and vegetables make up the dirty dozen. Since celery, strawberries, apples absorb pesticides easily, we have to think twice before buying them even if they are organic. If you really have to buy from the list of the dirty dozen, you can buy organic only in smaller amounts, you can buy local (if you know that the farm is small and they care about their produce), or you don’t buy at all.

Below are the rankings of the “dirtiest” fruits and vegetables based on an Environmental Working Group Survey.

These fruits and vegetables you should buy only USDA certified organic (i.e. the “dirty dozen”):

1. Peaches  100
2. Apples  93
3. Bell Pepper-  83
4. Celery – 82
5. Nectarines – 81
6. Strawberries – 80
7. Cherries – 73
8. Kale – 69
9. Lettuce – 67
10. Grapes – if imported from outside U.S. – 66
11. Carrot – 63
12. Pear – 63

Now that you have learned about the “Dirty Dozen,” read about the clean fifteen fruits and vegetables you don’t have to buy  organic, because they don’t retain or absorb pesticides easily (but you still have to wash them).

Breathe, smile and be happy.

©Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health Coach and Counselor

NaturalCounselorBlog

Do you like strawberries, peaches, pears, bell peppers? Do you know why you should buy them only organic.

Summer is a time when we can enjoy lots of fruits and vegetables, and use them for natural weight loss and detox. Unfortunately, even healthy foods can be dangerous for our health. Why? All fruits and vegetables are treated with pesticides and chemicals, and some of them contain a high level of toxins that can cause cancers, allergies, hair loss, heart disease, headaches, hormonal imbalance, etc.

If you want to stay healthy, you must buy the so called “dirty dozen” fruits and vegetables only as organic or locally grown, and without fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides.

The good news is that we do not need to buy all fruits and vegetables organic, only “the dirty dozen“.

Here is a list of “clean foods” – fruits and vegetables with the lowest level of pesticides, that we can buy  in any grocery store (from Environmental Working Group – EWG), which means that we don’t need to buy at an organic market, organic shop or organic food stores.

List of the “clean fifteen” fruits and vegetables with low levels of pesticides and toxins:

• Onions
• Avocado
• Sweet corn
• Pineapple
• Mango
• Sweet peas
• Asparagus
• Kiwi fruit
• Cabbage
• Eggplant
• Cantaloupe
• Watermelon
• Grapefruit
• Sweet potato
• Sweet onion

P.S. Summer is the time to visit farmer’s markets as often as possible for really fresh produce.

P.P. S. Click to learn more about natural detox -“Detox – 101 – Super Simple Detox, The Ultimate Guide for Beginners”.

Breathe, smile and be happy.

© Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition and Relationship Coach and Counselor

Did you know that to stay healthy, your diet should be about 70/% alkaline.

Alkaline foods can be used to achieve easy detox cleanse naturally to rid your body of toxins and to help prevent cancer and promote weight loss.

Eating alkaline foods, especially organic, is the first step to a super simple detox.

Why? Because alkaline foods help get rid of harmful toxins – substances that create irritating or harmful effects in the body, which can sometimes even damage our tissues and organs.

For a healthy alkaline diet, next time you go shopping, make sure to buy foods from the following list.

 Vegetables:

• Alfalfa sprouts
• Beets
• Broccoli
• Brussel sprouts
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Collard greens
• Corn
• Cucumbers
• Daikon
• Dandelion
• Dulse
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Green beans
• Green peas
• Kale
• Kelp
• Kohlrabi
• Lettuce
• Mushrooms
• Mustard greens
• Okra
• Onions
• Parsley
• Peppers
• Parsnips
• Radishes
• Sauerkraut
• Sea Vegetables
• Spinach
• Squash
• Sweet potato
• Turnip greens
• Watercress
• Yams
• ******

Fruits

• Apples
• Apricots, fresh & dried
• Avocado
• Bananas
• Berries
• Cantaloupe
• Cherries
• Dates
• Figs, fresh & dried
• Grapefruit
• Purple Grapes
• Lemons
• Limes
• Mangoes
• Melons
• Nectarines
• Oranges
• Papaya
• Peach
• Pear
• Pineapple
• Raisins
• Tomatoes
• Watermelon
• *******

Nuts and Seeds:

• Almonds
• Flax seeds
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• *******

Spices:

• Cinnamon
• Curry
• Ginger
• ******

Oils:

• Coconut Oil
• Beans:
• Lima beans
• ******

Grains:

• Millet
• Amaranth (closer to neutral)
• Buckwheat (closer to neutral)
• Quinoa (closer to neutral)
• ******

Sweeteners:

• Maple syrup
• Molasses
• ******

Plus:

• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Bee Pollen
• Chlorella
• Cottage Cheese
• Fresh Juices
• Herbs
• Organic raw milk
• Sea salt
• Teas
• Tempeh (fermented)
• Tofu (fermented)
• Yogurt

Let us be smart grocery shoppers and healthy and mindful eaters to feel and look fabulous, shall we?

P.S. For more tips on how to feel and look fabulous naturally click to listen to my radio show for women “Feel and Look Fabulous with Irina”.

Breathe, smile and be happy.

© Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition Coach and Relationship Expert

Have you ever sprinkled your face with water to try to moisturize and reduce your face wrinkles?  One day when I was spraying my roses, my mother told me to do the same with my face. Hmmmm, to spray my face?  Yes, indeed. She gave me this tip a long time ago and as always, she new what she was talking about.

With age our skin loses ability to hold moisture, so here is a tip how easily we can help our face get more moisture and reduce fine lines.

We can spray our faces with water the way we spray flowers, orchids in particular. The only difference is that the water should be purified. By the way, do you use shower head filter? As I  mentioned  in the article Why Strawberries, Peaches and Cherries Can Be Dangerous for Our Health, it’s better and safer to use purified water while showering in order to avoid toxins overload ( toxic chemicals penetrating through our skin, especially if water is hot and our pores are open).

To mist our skin from time to time during the day we can use rose or lavender water from a store or the one we can make ourselves: all we need is a bottle with a pump sprayer and purified water. We can also add some rose or lavender essential oils, but plain water will work perfectly well.

If you work at home and are not wearing makeup, you can use any spray. If you worry about disturbing your makeup, then try to find a very fine spray. Mist your skin at least three times a day – the more often, the better especially for wrinkled and aging skin.

P.S. If you missed my interview with naturopath Pamela Reilly on my radio show for women “Feel and Look Fabulous with Irina”, it’s the right time to catch up. Click here to listen to Tips On How to Take Care of Our Dry Skin.

Don’t forget to breathe, smile and be happy if you want to feel and look fabulous.

©Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition and Relationship Expert