So most of us today
Talk about eating healthy. We have vegetables. We have fruits. We have legumes, beans
different kinds of dhals if you're from India and
It's all good
but at the same time some of our vegetables fruits are filled with
Pesticides and in today's episode what I want to focus on to have practical ways of what we can do
when we bring our vegetables, fruits
Our legumes, our beans from the supermarket or a local store or local
market of how to be able to wash our vegetables
So that we are taking in the right nutrients that our body requires
We are going to go to the supermarket and it's gonna be a rough video
But at least you get the point of how to clean your vegetables and fruits
So when we walk into any supermarket, you'll be able to see aisles of really
Fresh looking vegetables. You'll find capsicums you'll find
Cabbage, you'll find Avocadoes, you'll find mushrooms and all these vegetables
In the supermarket is trying their best to make sure that it looks decent
it looks clean and we pick those vegetables from
the from the aisle and put it into our basket now many of us are actually
Touching all those vegetables to be able to try and figure out which one we should take for ourselves, right? And
all that touching in the supermarket is also
imposing bacteria from human contamination as well
Not only just the harsh chemical and pesticides that are currently on that particular fruit or vegetable
So I've tried my best to be able to show you at least one tropical fruit
I mean there are different other tropical foods like your
Mangoes, your papaya and some people call it pow-pow
Some people call it pawpaw
Some people call it a different fruit
But you get the point like you can get
Bananas now some of these tropical foods are obviously treated because they are plucked when they are still
Green and in shipment, they are supposed to be ripened so that they're ready for us in our supermarkets
but you know sometimes
Most people have said that these fruits are treated with calcium carbide, which is a ripening agent
That is used in some countries
Officially it is band it's illegal but in some tropical countries
It's still being practice and this calcium carbide is an artificially
ripening agent which
basically helps the bananas, mangoes and
papayas to be able to be
ripened in shipment
We do not want to use these kind of fruits. I mean I see on Facebook sometimes
Mangoes for sales right from India and you know you have a big box of mangoes now
I don't know if this is being treated in the right way if they are being ripened using calcium carbide
that is something that you need to make a decision on and what I would
Recommend is if you are in a different country if you're not in the tropical country
Then it is better to use the local fruits of that
Specific season rather than trying to get something because we miss it from back home
Now when you check the labels on the fruits and vegetables
Sometimes you will get to see a PLU code which is called a
Price Lookup Code and it's in the form for sticker to identify the variety and the status of the type of food it is
Now most labels will have it as four
digits and if it is a four digit, it means it's
Conventionally grown, but it's not organic
So it could be treated with chemicals pesticides and sprayed on fruits as well as your vegetables
Sometimes you'll find the fruit label with having five digits and if it begins with the number nine
That means that it is organically grown and if you go to like overseas countries
I'm not sure this is available in New Zealand but in the United States and so forth, you will find some
Codes which are five digits codes and if it starts with the number eight
That means it's genetically modified GMO
So if you're traveling make sure that you're picking a code
Which is either a four digit code or a five digit code
That it starts with the number nine for organic or at least a four digit code
Try to stay away from a five digit code that starts with eight
In your aisles in your supermarket
sometimes you will find frozen vegetables and it's good to take some of these frozen vegetables because sometimes you know
You're in a hurry and you just want to make some vegetables
now in New Zealand
Specifically you will find different
Brands, and if it says 100% New Zealand produce or New Zealand grown
That is the one that you need to pick because at least you know where the sources which is from New Zealand
Sometimes you will find on packages where they talk about
Local and important ingredients which means that it might packed locally, in New Zealand
But the ingredients could be from different other countries and it's known from the Consumers New Zealand Website
That the top five countries that we import our vegetables from are from China, Chile
USA, Vietnam, Thailand
So it's always a good practice to be able to see on the package if it has the label
100% new zealand grown
We should be eating seasonal fruits and vegetables grown in
New Zealand all year round rather than try and depict a particular fruit or vegetable
That we miss from back home
Especially if you have migrated to a different country and to get to know what's in season, there is a really good website
which is called 5aday.co.nz and I've listed it in the
Description box below as well so that you can actually go and check your fruits and vegetables before you go for your shopping
So now we're gonna have some fun and they're going to be washing some of these fruits and vegetables
I mean
I've just taken a sample so that you get an understanding
So for any of your fruit and vegetables when you are deciding to cook it
Just soak it in water first for five minutes, and then drain that water out
Then again put the fruits and vegetables in that pot if possible use
Filtered water rather than the chemical water that we get from our taps. And in that water I
Want you to put a 1
tablespoon of
Baking soda. All right now baking soda comes in different forms and
I'll try and show it to you from the supermarket's that we went and visited
So most baking sodas will just have the word baking soda, make sure it's not baking powder
It's baking soda and baking soda again. There are different types
If you can it would be good to get the aluminium free
But if the supermarket doesn't have it
It's better to have baking soda, then not wash your fruits and vegetables with something that's gonna atleast extract those
pesticides that are sitting on top of the vegetable
So when you have soaked your vegetables in baking soda now, which is 1 tablespoon keep that
Those vegetables soaked into the bowl for about 15 minutes
Do not try to just do it in five minutes, and then throw the water out. It's better to keep it for 15 minutes
once it's done 15 minutes then again wash it under the tap water if you have a
Filtered water system then use the filtered water
But then thoroughly wash it before you start cutting your vegetables and your fruits
Now when it comes to cleaning mushrooms, I was told that you don't need to wash your mushrooms
but now after doing a little bit of research I have recognized that when you know when mushrooms just sit in the
Supermarket and you're trying to pick up some mushrooms
It's better to wash your mushrooms, and it's really easy because mushrooms do not soak in water
So the first thing to do is just put the mushroom the amount that you're gonna be using for your cooking
into a bowl of water, let it soak over there for about a minute then rinse the mushrooms and then again put
Water into your bowl and keep it soaked for a little while say about two minutes before you can then
use like a paper towel or
normal cooking towel to be able to just dry them before using your mushrooms now if you have
access or
Excess of mushrooms that you don't want to use for your cooking
Just wipe them dry and put it into a brown paper bag or a paper bag rather than keeping it into the plastic
Packets because mushrooms will last longer in a paper bag. I
Want to talk about legumes
beans
dhals, I mean you get them in different grocery stores your local store your Indian stores
Your Bangladeshi or Sri Lankan stores, but it's important that we recognize that even these beans
legumes
dhals have got pesticides in them and it's important
That's the only reason why people soak the beans
Overnight because these beans have a particular
Acid that helps
Themselves to be able to protect them from insects and so forth in the wild nature
It's called lectin and the lectin is not good for the human body
and that's why a lot of people sometimes complain about having gas, you know feeling an upset stomach
Especially if you're just boiling those beans and eating it, right?
So it's always good to soak that overnight and then drain that water and wash those beans
Well really well and what I do as an extra step, I mean it's not being proven from research
But it said that it is gonna be good for the system
when you put those beans into
water and just give it a boil for about one or two minutes when the water is boiling and drain that water out and
then
Do the whole process of cooking your beans the right way in that way
The beans let go of the lectin and you are removing any of that stuff before you can actually enjoy a meal
so when you look at
Potatoes you have like I don't know how it is in other parts of the world but in New Zealand we have like washed potatoes
And then potatoes that have soil now both these potatoes
It is advisable again to wash it
Probably you do not need to do the whole baking soda method
But at least use good water to be able to scrub those potatoes so that you're removing any dirt or contamination
from human hands during the whole process
You see beans
When you see fish tins in the supermarket, it's very
Very important or it's very easy for us to forget that we need to wash that tin
Lid before we open the tin lid. Okay, because you don't know what's been sitting on it
Probably even in your kitchen
You know in the shelf there could be a cockroach that actually goes around on that
Lid and you don't want that to be, you know, getting into your foods. So it's important that you wash those lids. Okay, and
Another thing about beans if you are
Going down the path where you want to have
Just canned beans rather than you know
The whole overnight process that I spoke about then make sure atleast your canned beans are bpa-free
Rather than just getting you know a can which is not BPA free. Now don't ask me why
Bpa-free, and why not bpa-free, of course
You'll pay a little bit more for a bpa-free can but remember it's your health at the end of the day
So I hope you have enjoyed this video
It is a short video that I've tried to make and give you like a rough sketch of how to wash your fruits and vegetables
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