This article absolutely freaked me out today. I feed my family berries every single day of my life. We love our berries. To think, the things I feed my family, which I think are healthy, may not be healthy after all.
As a teacher, every day I work with children with things like ADHD, Autism, and learning disabilities. Each year I have more and more children in my class with special needs such as these, which require additional support. I know this article is not the first to make these connections between pesticides and children’s development, but this one really has me thinking about what I feed my own children.
Images courtesy of my dinner table a few nights ago.
What do you think?
The Comments
Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Life
Just one more reason to buy organic!
Erica
Organic is definitely the way to go for sure! You can clean all your produce with vinegar (or a vinegar/water solution if you prefer) and it will get rid of most of the chemicals (90th percentile).
Fern Valley Farm
Berries are the one thing that I ALWAYS buy organic! They are on the dirty dozen list, and I have read that the pesticides used on strawberries are the worst and can not be washed off! If you don't buy anything else organic, at least buy organic berries!
Christy
Hey Becca – my son (and myself) were both diagnosed with ADHD. For the last two years, I have switched my family over to organic produce, meats, and dairy – and just buying organic in those 3 categories alone has allowed me to get off of my meds. Strawberries and spinach (lettuce too) are the WORST when it comes to pesticides. If your family can afford it, definitely buy organic produce – or start your own organic garden!
Mary
We had this discussion at lunch yesterday. I haven't seen anything on berries, but my coworkers were saying it was the frozen berries that are the culprits: the farther away you get from the farm, the more pesticides are in it.
Rebecca
Thanks for sharing this. It's so scary to think about what we may be putting in our own and our children's bodies! On a lighter note, I'm awarding you the Versatile Blogger Award! Go check out my blog when you have a chance.
http://happybabydesigns.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-first-award.html