Ordering Organic Produce to Help Prevent Swine / Seasonal Flus And To Help My Pregnancy

I was watching Dr. Oz the other day and he did an episode on the dangerous germs lurking in the grocery store. For obvious reasons, I was all eyes and ears when it came to the produce department. Would you believe they showed a woman (on hidden camera) actually climbing on the produce with her dirty shoes? And, many people licking their fingers to open plastic bags and then touching the produce with their germy fingers?

Here is what it says on Dr. Oz's website regarding this episode:

THE PRODUCE SECTION

Dirty little secret: When you grab an apple for lunch, your hands may be the 20th pair to touch it. That’s right, veggies and fruits are picked, sorted, thrown on a truck, taken off a truck, sorted again, boxed, and unboxed all before they reach the display case where they’re fondled by other customers before they meet you. Experts say, all in all, 20 people will touch a tomato before you slice it up for your salad. And that’s in addition to all the animal waste that can mingle with produce on the long journey from farm to table.

Quick fix: Carefully wash all fruits and vegetables before eating, even if you don’t plan on eating the skin. When you peel or cut vegetables and fruits, the bacteria from the exterior can travel inside. Keep any prepped veggies, such as sliced tomatoes, at 41 degrees or cooler until you eat or cook them.

After seeing that episode, and with the swine and seasonal flus going around, I started thinking about all of the hands that could have the flu bug on them, or other germs, that are touching the produce I buy. From people licking their fingers to open the plastic bags or touching their faces and then picking through the produce bins... it's scary. (I've even seen women leave the bathroom without washing their hands at Whole Foods!!!) Unfortunately, washing the produce doesn't dispel my fears because I'm not completely confident that my vinegar wash (or any other wash I use) is eliminating 100% of the germs.

As a pregnant woman, this alarms me, especially during the flu season. For starters, I'm not going near the vaccines (see blog post with videos here). So, I'm taking other necessary precautions to avoid the flus and stay healthy. One of which is how I handle buying my organic produce (more things I'm doing to stay healthy toward the end of this post).

Here is my plan...

Currently, I get a weekly allotment of fresh organic produce from our local CSA. This is the best choice of keeping my produce from too many hands because it touches the farmers and that's it. Since I'm part of the CSA, I don't have to think about other farmer market customers touching my produce at the market because our food is set aside for pickup every Saturday (see why I love our CSA so much here). But... the limitation with a CSA is that, even though I pick out what I want every week, my farmer doesn't grow everything I need and want. Therefore, I usually go to Whole Foods for produce I can't get from our local CSA.

However, after seeing the Dr. Oz show, I'm second guessing that and I've up with a great plan! There is a local organic delivery company (they deliver nationwide, too!) called Boxed Greens. They get mostly locally grown, organic produce from farmers and when I place an order, it's shipped straight to my door. Whoo-hoo! This is my answer to limiting the number of hands that touch my produce. In this scenario, the only people touching it are the farmers and the workers at Boxed Greens... meaning no grocery store employees and no 10-20 consumers picking through the items looking for their favorite.

Upon inquiry with Boxed Greens, the owner (whom I've known for years and trust) assured me that the workers wash their hands AND wear gloves when handling the produce. Plus, because most of it is locally grown and it's not stored for extended periods of time (like at most grocery stores), I'm getting more nutrition in my food -- it's Super Qi! See my blog post about Super Qi food.

Boxed Greens produce does indeed cost more than what I would pay at Whole Foods, and it's a heck of a lot more than the CSA (that's a perk about the CSA though - GREAT DEALS on produce!), but I'm worth it! My baby's health is worth it! If necessary, I'm willing to make sacrifices in other areas of my life so that I can feed my family only the best. Do I need the coolest car on the block? Hell no! I want the greatest food for my body! And... did I mention that Boxed Greens gets a number of organic fruits and veggies that I can't get at Whole Foods.

But, that's not the only thing I'm doing to limit my exposure to germs and the seasonal/swine flus. After scouring the Internet for information on pregnant women and the seasonal / swine flus, I came have a list of things to do (I came up with most of these from Mothering.com's forum):

1. Wash hands for 30 seconds with soap OFTEN (avoiding anti-bacterial gels). A good trick is to hum the "Happy Birthday" song three times while hand washing.
2. PLENTY OF REST!
3. Don't touch face
4. Get Vitamin D!!! (I get mine from the sun, 15-25 minutes daily or every other day)
5. Gargle with warm salt water twice a day
6. Take warm salt water and dip a q-tip into it and swab the inside of nostrils daily (or use a neti pot)
7. Eat fresh, organic, raw garlic
8. Drink warm liquids
9. Consume plenty of vitamin C-rich foods
10. Stay hydrated
11. Avoid crowded places (I even returned my opening night tickets to New Moon!)

And, speaking of being pregnant... my aforementioned plan of ordering produce has another awesome benefit. As most of you know, I have all-day-long-morning-sickness (which I love in a bittersweet way), and the last thing I want to do is leave the house. So, having my produce delivered is awesome! I also imagine that once I have the baby, having my produce delivered will be extremely beneficial, too! This will save me time and energy. :)