Which Fruits and Vegetables Should I Buy Organic? The Dirty Dozen

Heard about the dirty dozen? These are the 12 fruits and vegetables that are considered the "dirtiest" (meaning most pesticide-ridden) and that should (as recommended by experts, I'm just relaying the info here) be bought organic whenever possible. Even though I'd heard of the Dirty D, I never took the time to find out which fruits and vegetables they were. Except today I did and here's the list:

DIRTY:

• apples
• bell peppers
• celery
• cherries (good to know, this time of year I'm so tempted but I'll hold off for organic)
• grapes (imported)
• nectarines
• peaches
• pears
• potatoes (whoa, very good to know)
• raspberries
• spinach
• strawberries

Then again, there is also a list of fruits and veggies that are considered clean enough whether you buy organic or factory-farmed:

CLEAN(er):

• asparagus
• avocado*
• banana*
• broccoli*
• cauliflower*
• corn*
• kiwi*
• mango*
• onion*
• papaya
• peas*
• pineapple

* indicates fruits/vegs that are widely available organic and from personal experience don't really cost that much to buy the organic version (at least in the southwest US where I live). So, I don't think this CLEANer list will affect my past shopping habits as far as stopping buying these items organic (fresh and frozen); I'm going to keep doing just that. However, I'm super-happy to see asparagus and pineapple on the CLEANer list because they are not as readily available organic and are both favorites.

Here are a couple of website stories that get deeper into this information (and that I used as sources):

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/13737389/page/2/

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-12-Most-Pesticide-Ridden-Fruits-and-Veggies&id=73473

-Lindsey