What is the dirty dozen & clean fifteen food list?
Each spring, the EWG publicly publishes a list of the top 12 fruit and vegetables that they say contain elevated levels of pesticides and that may be concerning to people. It explains what is the dirty dozen & clean fifteen list. Details on amounts and percentages you can check out the website directly on
Why should I care what the dirty dozen & clean fifteen is if I am a menstruating women?
This is not meant to be a scare mongering blog. It is one to highlight the point of understanding where food comes from and the choices you make can affect your health and wellbeing. Most women I work with are between the ages of 32-45. It is a time where hormones are running the show ladies, especially around managing stress, more balanced moods, less angry mommy, weight that’s creeping on and not budging. We are going through one of the biggest shifts apart from puberty. And what we put into our body influences them either negatively or positively so its worth paying attention.
What are the signs of imbalanced hormones in a women?
What are the signs of imbalanced hormones? Great questions and something all women should be educated on from an early age. Would you agree?
Symptoms vary from person to person which is why it’s important not to self-disguise. Examples of the ladies I have worked with include
- Difficulty shifting weight and over exercising.
- Some experience Period problems such as painful, irregular, heavy, clotty which by the way may be common but are not normal.
- Are you Waking up with Foggy brain, low moods, low energy?.
- Libido has gone walkies back to the year 2000 where parties still exist.
- Problems getting pregnant or staying pregnant which was how I got into Women’s hormonal health having experienced 4 miscarriages over a no of years trying to get pregnant.
What sort of things negatively impact a woman’s hormones?
Hormones are heavily influenced by endocrine disruptors such as pesticides and chemicals in food and skin products. Other hormone disruptors include stress, over exercising, inflammation, mis managed blood sugar levels and impaired gut function. Which is why on my Nourish- Move -Thrive programmes we focus on managing all of these week by week in order to create long term habits that change lives(My clients words not mine in case you think I am tooting my own horn).
Do I have to buy everything organic to help balance hormones?
Listen I am a big believer in Imperfect action. Why? Because it gets the ball rolling, right! My mission is to encourage women to understand their bodies better to make their own individual choices. I have a little girl and I want her to understand how food and her body is connected. I want her, as I want you, to make choices because you understand the connection. Not because you read in a magazine it was something you should do by a celebrity. Of course, there will be armies of different opinions on these lists but we can’t dispute that food is heavily sprayed now. Another point worth mentioning is our soil is not an nutrient rich as it perhaps once was. The link below is a great overview if you wanted to know more on the effect of soil on human health.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5800787/
How to shop organic on a budget
Look at the list. Do you identify any foods that you eat a lot of? Then I would recommend you swap that particular food to organic if it’s something you consume on a daily basis. Make your budget work by choosing organic for the foods on the list that you eat a lot of.
- If you are on a budget, or just a savvy women or mum who wants to be smart with choices around food and their health. Sounds like most of the amazing women I work with 😊 Swap out some of the culprits for a food on the clean list (I will be adding a post on this next week with some recipes including clean 15 foods) that is similar in nutrients. For example, swapping out Potatoes for sweet Potatoes which on the clean list.
- Always wash your fruit and vegetables in an acidic base (check out https://foodrevolution.org/blog/how-to-wash-vegetables-fruits/) They have lots of different options on how to get rid of some of the pesticides from non-organic foods.
- Aim to eat season by shopping at local food markets when possible.
So I know you are waiting for me to tell you exactly what is the dirty dozen and clean fifteen food list. So here it is..
The 2021 dirty dozen list (sourced from the EWG site)
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Kale
- Nectarines
- Apples
- Grapes
- Peaches
- Cherries
- Pears
- Tomatoes
- Celery
- Potatoes
The 2021 clean fifteen list (sourced from the EWG site)
- Avocado
- Asparagus
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Cantaloupe
- Eggplant
- Honeydew melon
- Kiwi
- Mushrooms
- Onions
- Sweetcorn
- Pineapple
- Papaya
- Frozen Peas
It’s so overwhelming where do I start with balancing hormones?
The world of Nutrition is a busy and noisy space where information is constantly changing and being updated. Would you would like some information and support on overcoming any of your symptoms which are causing you un-necessary stress and anxiety ?
Step 1 Book in a free 30 minute no obligation chat where I can listen and advise you on the best possible place for you to start. Allowing some time for small consistent habits to develop is why I have helped hundreds of women such as yourself live a more balanced, less anxiety filled life. I hope you have got value from this blog What is the dirty dozen and clean fifteen food list and do sign up to the monthly newsletter on tips and recipes to help incorporate more of these foods.
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