I don’t know if you’re like me but if you are, you hate the hassle you have to go through to wash fruits like grapes and berries before you eat them. I’d like to just be able to grab a handful of the stuff, straight from the container and gobble them right down. But you know washing is a must, especially if you want to protect your health, because these crops have been inundated with herbicides and pesticides. In fact, even though foods like corn, wheat and soy have been previously recommended as healthy choices, today health professionals are advising against the consumption of these foods; primarily because of the dangerous carcinogenic herbicides and pesticides employed during their cultivation.

Of course blue berries, strawberries, raspberries, etc are all grown under similar conditions as the aforementioned grains, so you are likewise exposed when consuming these super fruits. However, given the net benefits of these fruits, wellness professionals continue to recommend them as part of a healthy diet, but they must be thoroughly washed prior to consumption to minimize any health risk. It is assumed that if you allow the berries and fruits to sit under running water for at least two minutes, the level of risk from the herbicides and pesticides should be minuscule.

Before I knew better, I rarely washed store-bought fruits. This is partly because where I grew up 95% of our fruits came directly from the tree, ripe and ready to be eaten and in most cases getting water was a hassle so we didn’t indulge in the habit of washing fruits. But bear in mind that these were all organic fruits that grew naturally without the aid of any artificial fertilizers or chemical sprays. So in our minds, it was quite safe to eat them without the washing preliminaries. Consequently, when I began to eat the store-bought fruits very little attention was paid to washing because it was assumed that they were ready to be eaten straight from the pack. Plus, I was not aware of the many dangers these produce harbored at that time. Unfortunately, despite the abundance of knowledge with respect to the dangers of the agricultural chemicals, many people continue to eat fruits without washing them on a daily basis.

We now know that because of the mass cultivation of many crops including berries, chemicals are pumped into the ground and into the air to help control growing conditions. Residual traces of these chemical, which are poisonous to humans if consumed in large quantities, are carried from the farms to market where they may be consumed if the produce is not washed thoroughly before consumption. To minimize your exposure, it is highly recommended that you wash fruits and berries under running water for at least two minutes. Some folks are in the habit of grabbing a handful of berries and holding their hand under the tap for a few seconds. This is not good, all you did was wakeup the chemicals. You need to get rid of them totally and this means chasing them with a steady flow of tap water for at least two to three minutes.

You need to get your full serving of antioxidant rich berries daily, but don’t cancel out the benefits by concomitantly gulping down the carcinogenic chemicals. Always wash all fruits and berries thoroughly before consumption.