If You're NOT Eating Organic, You ARE Eating Pesticides.

If you’re not eating organic fruits, vegetables, and protein- you are eating pesticides. Amongst harmful pesticides are other additives like synthetic hormones, preservatives, steroids, and anti-biotics. Our guts need probiotics to function well, and anti-biotics strip away the good bacteria and weaken your immune system. Ever wonder why you always feel sick and tired, or catch a cold even in summer? It may be your food choices.

Big Agricultural and Big Food companies have taken over so much production of our food that they use these toxic substances to keep pumping quantity rather than quality.

In organic agriculture and food processing, the use of synthetic chemical pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, irradiation, sewage sludge, synthetic food additives, artificial colors, and chemical preservatives and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are strictly prohibited! Instead, organic practices use compost fertilizers, blood meal, rainwater, ash, biochar, plant-based colors, and more to ensure what you’re eating always comes from natural sources.

Today in North America, whoever is practicing organic methods, must label everything as “organic, non-GMO, or sustainable.” But if they aren’t organic, these big companies don’t have to label anything! Not even a warning stating the product could be toxic or hormone disrupting. In fact, a plain label that simply says what the product is without traceable packaging, will absolutely have something toxic to it.

For example, a simple label of 2% Milk in Québec means these cows were raised in a factory, pumped with hormones and anti-biotics, basically turning your milk into a hormone disruptor.

VS

Organic 2% Milk comes from dairy cows that are “guaranteed access to pasture during the grazing season and are fed organic, non-GMO diets with no routine antibiotics or added hormones.”

(Resource: https://quebecbio.com/produits/decouvrez-le-lait-biologique-du-quebec).

The same can be said for Québec Strawberries, no label other than a local one.

VS

Organic Québec Strawberries, which are local and don’t use harmful pesticides. If they’re not organic, those producers are using pesticides right in our own backyard.

Did you know?

Any organic produce can be tracked with the bar code. All organic produce starts with the #9 if they have PLU: Price-Look Up code.

For organic packaged items, look for the official organic certification logos, such as the USDA Organic or Canada Organic, instead of a PLU code.

Dirty Dozen vs Clean Fifteen

This is the 2026 list of non-organic produce that tested the highest for pesticide toxins and many even tested positive for PFAS: forever chemicals.

1. Strawberries

2. Spinach

3. Kale, collard, and mustard greens

4. Grapes

5. Peaches

6. Pears

7. Nectarines

8. Apples

9. Bell and hot peppers

10. Cherries

11. Blueberries

12. Green beans

There is also the Clean Fifteen list that shows non-organic or conventional produce that can be purchased even if pesticides were used, but only 60% of this next list had zero trace of pesticides (after thorough washing), so what about the other 40% of this list? Sure, produce with a hard outer layer like avocados and pineapples are hard to penetrate, but mushrooms, onions, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots… I definitely buy these or grow all these organically!

Nonetheless, here’s the 2026 Clean 15 list:

1.      Pineapples

2.      Sweet corn (fresh and frozen)

3.      Avocados

4.      Papaya

5.      Onions

6.      Sweet peas (frozen)

7.      Asparagus

8.      Cabbage

9.      Cauliflower

10.  Watermelon

11.  Mangoes

12.  Bananas

13.  Carrots

14.  Mushrooms

15.  Kiwi

Harmful to health

Most consumers believe that buying organic food is more costly; but in my experience, this is only true for packaged goods, like cereal boxes… but you shouldn’t be having sugary carbohydrates for breakfast anyway, so skip the cereal all together.

However, organic fresh fruits and vegetables are so affordable that I like to show my family, friends, and clients what I paid, and they’re always surprised.

I pay a bundle of organic rapini $2.99, instead of the conventional one at a whopping $5.99 per bundle! Or organic green onions at 0.99¢ for 6, not $3.99 for 6… Then I stretch that 99¢ by cutting the bottoms off the green onions, make them sprout in water for 3 days, then plant them in my organic garden and I have green onions all summer long.

So, the harms are not in your wallet, but in your body. Wouldn’t you spend $1-3 more if it meant you weren’t consuming pesticides, preservatives, hormones, antibiotics, and steroids?! When we ingest these toxins over and over again, they show up as dis-ease in the body. As mentioned at the beginning of the article, you can find yourself constantly with congestion because these toxins cause inflammation, which drives up mucus, but even worse than the common cold, these toxins are linked to cancer, Parkinson's disease, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, miscarriages, birth defects, ADHD, autism, and more!

These are the true cost of these harmful practices. Once you become aware of this, you don’t even want to give your money to these big companies anymore, rather you start wanting to support organic farms who do things the all-natural way, which is good for your health.

We must eat from organic or regenerative farms to help save our health and the planet because pesticides are harmful to our soil as well.

For more about regenerative farming, check out my past articles here:

Part 1: https://www.thebodyblog.ca/post/regenerative-farming-good-for-you-the-planet-part-1

Part 2: https://www.thebodyblog.ca/post/regenerative-farming-good-for-the-planet-for-you-part-2