Thursday, January 21, 2016
Posted in
Health
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Life
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All my life I've struggled with an addiction to unhealthy foods; but recently, for reasons I don't understand, I started to make headway in improving my diet. Among other things, I started to eat a large salad every day. My preferred lettuce has always been romaine, which is darker and more nutritious than iceberg. However, I've always hated preparing it (rinsing it, shaking it dry, cutting off the brown spots, and breaking it into pieces). In fact, at times I have tried eating salads made of only non-leafy vegetables, such as tomatoes, cucumbers and broccoli. When I did use lettuce, I would give it only a cursory rinse, or I would simply eat it without rinsing it. But then I read an article about pesticides, and I decided that I had to rinse it a little better.
Before I continue, let me say that I tried using the pre-washed greens that come in plastic boxes at the supermarket, but they were always soft and wilted.
I decided that the best way to wash the lettuce was to submerge it in water. I already had a beige-colored plastic bowl which was perfect for the task. I filled the bowl with water and shook three lettuce leaves in the water vigorously. I then dried the leaves and shredded them in the salad bowl. When I looked in the plastic bowl again, I was astonished by what I saw: There was a fine film of brown dirt all over the bottom and sides of the bowl -- and all that dirt came from just three leaves of lettuce, lettuce which had looked clean before I rinsed it.
From this experience, it became clear that vegetables must be rinsed. It horrifies me now to think of all the dirt and pesticides I have eaten over the years. Since lettuce fields are sprayed with pesticides, there would be pesticides on both the lettuce and in the dirt. Pesticides can cause cancer, parkinson's disease and other neurological disorders, among other things. I'm now thinking about rinsing my vegetables twice.
I read on the internet that holding vegetables under streaming water will remove more dirt than simply submerging them in water (because of the force of the stream), but holding lettuce under streaming water hasn't worked well for me. I tend to miss part of each leaf, and some bits of lettuce may break off and fall in the sink. Also, I think it wastes a lot of water. Submerging the lettuce in water and then shaking it vigorously seems to work well.
Before I continue, let me say that I tried using the pre-washed greens that come in plastic boxes at the supermarket, but they were always soft and wilted.
I decided that the best way to wash the lettuce was to submerge it in water. I already had a beige-colored plastic bowl which was perfect for the task. I filled the bowl with water and shook three lettuce leaves in the water vigorously. I then dried the leaves and shredded them in the salad bowl. When I looked in the plastic bowl again, I was astonished by what I saw: There was a fine film of brown dirt all over the bottom and sides of the bowl -- and all that dirt came from just three leaves of lettuce, lettuce which had looked clean before I rinsed it.
From this experience, it became clear that vegetables must be rinsed. It horrifies me now to think of all the dirt and pesticides I have eaten over the years. Since lettuce fields are sprayed with pesticides, there would be pesticides on both the lettuce and in the dirt. Pesticides can cause cancer, parkinson's disease and other neurological disorders, among other things. I'm now thinking about rinsing my vegetables twice.
I read on the internet that holding vegetables under streaming water will remove more dirt than simply submerging them in water (because of the force of the stream), but holding lettuce under streaming water hasn't worked well for me. I tend to miss part of each leaf, and some bits of lettuce may break off and fall in the sink. Also, I think it wastes a lot of water. Submerging the lettuce in water and then shaking it vigorously seems to work well.
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