Vegetables You Should Never Eat

Vegetables bought from the market are normally rinse by water before eating. It can easily cause pesticides to be swallowed into our stomach, but some ways to wash vegetables aren’t that safe also, we can only help ourselves by taking care of our health.

Taking care of our health

Only if you know to use chemical free and natural products to wash your vegetables and fruits, otherwise you will have to avoid eating the following 3 vegetables.

 

Farmers will ignore the safety limits of pesticides to harvest the corps quicker than normal time

1. Rushing into harvest crops:

To avoid natural disaster to hit the crops, farmers will ignore the safety limits of pesticides to harvest the crops quicker than normal time. Other than that, don’t forget that we are used to buy loads of vegetables before any celebration to store and keep, therefore, farmers will have to follow the demands in the market and harvest the crops earlier than before.

 

 

There are environmental and health impacts to eat out of season produce

2. Out of season vegetables:

Expensive doesn’t always mean fresh! In season vegetables are cheaper and the nutrition value are also higher, instead out of season vegetables aren’t that good compare to in season vegetables because of the unnatural way of planting. Therefore, they need a huge amount of pesticides, chemical fertiliser and even ripening agent to grow.

 

Capsicums has a much higher percentage of pesticide 

3. Continuity harvest vegetables:

So called continuity harvest vegetables are from the same stem, the presence of non harvest seeds from opened flower and ripe seeds. Long beans, peas, four seasons beans and cucumber and others are this type of vegetables. They are harvest when ripe but most of the time are being sprayed with pesticides and even will happen immediate harvest after spraying pesticides situation, thats why they contain high risk of health problems.

 

 

Mix water with Food Wash to wash away the pesticides properly

Right way to wash vegetables: 

Pump chemical free and natural cleaning agent into the water, soak vegetables and fruits for 2 to 3 minutes, can’t be longer than 5 minutes otherwise the the nutrients will be loss. You can rub them during the soaking process then rinse them with water to let the pesticides to leave the vegetables and fruits.

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Detox Your Body

Stop the haze

Lots of unsafe foods around makes us uncomfortable, we try our best to make it safe but forget about the poisonous substances flying around the air. Poison in foods or air, it’s not an easy task.

The air we breathe is often filled toxic and unwanted gasses

1.    Lung Detoxing

Lungs are the most easy organs to accumulate poisonous substance because the respiratory system is to move fresh air in and get waste gasses out of the body. An average of 8000g of air being breath into the lungs letting dusts, viruses to attack on them.

Detoxing: Cough up the poisonous gasses: Choose a confartable and clean space during the morning or after rain, raise your arms and take a deep breathe in (inhale), then coughing up mucus while you inhale deeply. At the same time, quickly place down your arms to let air to flow out your nose. Repeat it 10 times, breath normally in between.

Foods: black fungus, carrots, mushrooms, lilies

Exercise is always good for mental and physical health

2.  Liver Detoxing

Liver is the main poison-detoxifying organ in the body as it can breaks down virtually everything toxic to the body. Regarding to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), 11pm until 3am is an important time for liver to undergoes detoxification process. It is the best to remain asleep to help with detoxing. 

Detoxing: Exercise. Outdoor activities can increase body energy, immune energy and give pressure to the liver to detox, helping with the nervousness of organs and increase blood circulation.

Foods: carrots, grapes, onions, bitter

A glass of warm water after waking up will flush unwanted toxic out of your body

3. Kidney Detoxing

Kidney is the main organ to excrete waste, adjusting water, electrolyte and acid base balance. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) mention that 5am until 7am is the time period kidney to detox. Body going through a night of recovery, all the poison will concentrate in the kidney.

Detox: Drink a warm glass of water after wake up to cleanse your kidney and flush unwanted toxic out of your body.

Foods: cucumber, yam, cherry, melon

Increase fluid intake is a must for good health

4. Intestines Detoxing

The main job of large intestines is to remove water and salts from the undigested material and to form solid waste that can be excreted. However, as many as 20% people struggle with constipation, if it stays blocked up in your body, toxins and hormones have the chance the be re-absorbed back into the body rather than getting out of there.

Detoxing: Drink more water and up your fiber intake. More vegetables and fruits to keep your bowel movements healthy.

Foods: black fungus, bananas, apples, sweet potatoes, flax seed

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Food Poisoning Prevention

We always assume that food poisoning always caused by carelessness of restaurants, however it can actually comes from our daily habits.

Food poisoning can be sever and even deadly for some individuals

Have you:

      1. Prepare meals in the morning, and place it on the table?
2. Store all sorts of food in the fridge?
3. Never washing all produces before you cut, cook or eat it?
4. Eat anything without washing your hand?

If you have two or more YES response to questions above, then you are increase the risk of food poisoning!

Wash hand before eating to prevent food poisoning

Wash Hand Properly

Snacking isn’t that big of a problem but not washing your hands before eating can easily transfer bacteria on your hands to the food. Personal hygiene is very important in food safety, you should wash your hand properly before or after preparation and eating.

Cooked food should be kept out of the danger zone

Store Cooked Foods In Fridge 

You may think that placed cook food on the table with a cover or container are totally safe. The fact is: Cooked food should not be left our of refrigeration for more than 1 hours. 

Regarding to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the temperature range between 5'c to 60'c is known as Temperature Danger Zone where germs can grows most quickly and easily, and the food can become unsafe to eat.

Bacteria multiply by split in two. Under the right condition their double their number every 10 to 30 minutes, means that we would have over 2 million bacteria in 7 hours if we let cooked food sit at room temperature!  

Refrigerator is one of the important equipment to keep foods safe

Keep Your Food At Appropriate Temperature
Chilling foods at the right temperature is a must. To ensure that you refrigerator is doing its job, you should keep your refrigerator at 5'C and below and your freezer should operate at a temperature of -18'C.  

Besides, you can take additional steps to make sure your refrigerated foods stay as safe as possible:
a. Do not overloading
b. Clean the refrigerator regularly
c. Store refrigerated foods in covered container
d. Do not clutter up the refrigerator. Leave space in the fridge for perishable foods
e. Check expiration dates on foods

Wash fruits and vegetables before you eat

Washing Fresh Produce

No matter its organic or none organic, wash the fruits and vegetables before cut or cook is a must! Even you peel the skins off before eating, you still have to wash them to ensure they are clean and safe to eat. 

Soil can sometimes carry harmful bacteria. Plus, most of the produces contain pesticides residue. We advice you to wash the fruits and vegetables with clean water and EnviroHome Food Wash to remove pesticides, wax, insecticides, bacteria, preservatives and soil.

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The Dirty Truth

Do you know that chopping vegetables on chop boards are dirtier than toilet seats? As a matter of fact, the truth are always hurtful, the kitchen is the dirtiest place in the house.

Kitchen is dirtier than toilet

Toilet seats aren’t that dirty

University of Arizona has done some research about bacteria on excrete objects and found out that toilet seats aren’t the dirtiest thing in a household. 

Research states that every square inches has approximately 50 types of bacteria on a toilet seat, a chopping board has 3 times the number of a toilet seat, a cloth has 6 thousands types of bacteria every square inches, a kitchen basin has 3 times the number of a toilet seat, but this isn’t as scary as you think.

Kitchen Sponge has 200 times more bacteria than toilet seat

You must know that a sponge has approximately 10 million types of bacteria every square inches making it placing at the highest rank as it has 200 times more than toilet seat! Normally a sponge is for doing the dishes, logically it should be the cleanest but it isn’t.

不当的处理食材方式令厨房变细菌温床

Why fecal bacteria will appear in the kitchen?

Excrement won’t be locate in the kitchen but fresh meats or intestines will have fecal bacteria.

Use one chopping board for meat and another one for vegetables

Chopping board

When preparing ingredients, we normally will forget about separating the equipment for raw and cooked foods. For convenience, chopping boards will be reuse after preparing raw ingredients for cooked ingredients, that is why bacteria will stay on the chopping board.

Tips: Use to chopping boards each for raw ingredients and cooked ingredients to avoid bacteria staining. Use a sponge to scrub it clean and air dry after used.

Replace kitchen sponge regularly

Sponge

Being the dirtiest object in the household, sponge has the most bacteria due to long term staying in a wet state. That is why things that has been touched by it will leave behind bacteria.

Tips: After using the sponge to scrub a chopping board that has been used to chop fresh meat, immediately wash the sponge once more and let it air dry.

Put the sponge in boiling water once every week to kill bacteria. If the sponge has change colour or has holes with mold, it means the sponge has been used for too long, change a new one immediately.

Kitchen sink provide an excellent environment for bacteria growth

Kitchen sink

Some people like to put fresh meats under the tap to rinse. This not only won’t kill bacteria but the flowing water will spread the bacteria.

Tips: Place the fresh meat in a bowl and use cold water with natural ingredients cleaning agent to go through the process.

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Avoid being poisoned

Although most people say that food poison can be cause by any types of reasons but food preparation is also one of the reason food poisoning happens.

Be careful when buying food is the first step to ensure food safety

Foods that are polluted maybe is because of the discipline that isn’t that strict, or bad producing company, supplying company or even black market products. But for humans in the food chain, we can’t do anything about it, we just have to know the right way of food processing and knowledge to ensure the safety of health. Be careful when buying food products is the first step to ensure food safety. When picking ingredients, follow the following steps:

Reducing the risk of food poisoning when purchasing food

Safe purchasing:

• Stick to safe and qualified store
• Stick to buying dry ingredients, cans and packaged foods
• Check the package for any damage
• Buy frozen, fresh or cooked foods the last
• Check the expiring dates for dairy, seafoods, breads and cans to ensure that it is safe to consume
• Place meat, fish or seafood in the front of you shopping cart and separate them when putting in plastic bags to avoid leaking and mixed
• Purchase frozen ingredients below the load line
• Separate hot and cold foods in the shopping cart
• Cleaning agents and other products must be separated

Leaking products 

Don’t purchase:

• Rusted, bend or expand can foods
• Opened or damaged packages
• Leaking products
• Damaged opened packages
• Dirty and broken eggs
• Changed coloured and moulded products
• Peculiar smell and unpleasant colour looking fishes and meats
• Damaged skin fruits and vegetables
• Green or with bud potatoes
• Frozen food that aren’t being frozen
• Expired products

Go back home instantly after shopping

At the same time, after paying:

• Go back home instantly
• If the journey to home is longer than 30 minutes, then place hot foods separately
• If you still have other places to go, then pay them later
• after reaching home. immediately wash fresh and frozen ingredients Cut them to store in the freezer
• Clean you hands before and after managing seafoods and meat

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Food Safety Alert

Wash the produce before you cook to prevent pesticides

The biggest threat of food safety is pesticides. You may want to follow your friend's healthy diet plan but don't blindly follow it, wash away pesticides and insecticides from our produce before cooking is the best way to have healthy meal!

For those ripen and spoil quickly, you may try the following cleaning process regarding their botanical families:

Rough surface must take extra care 

1. Solanaceae: Potatoes, Tomatoes, Eggplants

Tips：Brush off the soil from potatoes with soft brush, then soak it with EnviroHome Food Wash, and gently rub with your fingers. Soak for 2-3 minutes and rinse with flowing water. For rough surfaces, cut or peel the skin thicker than usual after wash to thoroughly remove unwanted pesticides. 

 

Soak and rub with fingers to remove the wax

2. Brassicas： Cabbages, Broccolis, Cauliflowers, Radishes, Mustard Greens

Tips：Remove damaged leaves from cabbages and mustard greens, pluck the leaves and soak them into water with EnviroHome Food Wash for few minutes, and then rinse with flowing water. For broccoli and cauliflower, soak it with EnviroHome Food Wash for 2-3 minutes, and gently rub with fingers to remove the wax, then rinse with flowing water.   

Use Soft brush to brush of rough surface

3. Cucurbitaceae : Cucumber, Pumpkins, Melons 

Tips：Soak with EnviroHome Food Wash for few minutes, use soft brush to brush off  rough surface, and rinse with flowing water. Kindly cut off pedicel before you eat.

Wash before you eat

Must Know:

Peeled Skin Fruits: Papayas, mangoes, watermelons, pineapples, bananas

Tips：Even if the skin has to be removed, you still have to wash them before you eat to prevent pesticides enter your body.

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Tips For Choosing Fresh Vegetables

Choose produce carefully

When you accidentally choose vegetables with loads of pesticides, these poisons can end up in your food and potentially harmful effects on your health. Be careful when you buy vegetables. 

Make sure vegetables have consistently colored

Appearance: 

Most of time, vegetables can be separated into dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, amaranth and light green leaves like lettuce and cabbage. Those that ‘lost’ their original greens and look may have been sprayed or soaked in pesticides. 

Tips:  Pay attention to the surface of the vegetable and make sure it's consistent, evenly colored, and firm all the way around.

Choose the regular size of vegetables to avoid growth hormone

Shape: 

Vegetables which larger than regular are usually inject with growth hormone and raised with chemical fertilizers, this cause the shape to look odd. For example, leeks have narrow leaves and generally more strongly flavored, while the leeks raised with chemical fertilizers will have leaves wider than usual. 

Tips: Choose the ones that go through normal planting and without any growth hormone injected that have normal looking shapes.

Fruits and vegetables taste best when eaten in season

 

Freshness:

Fruits and vegetables in season are usually at the peak of its freshness, flavor, and nutritional content. However, the out-of-season produces need more chemical fertilizers, growth hormone, pesticides to enhance the growth of plant.   

Tips: Fruits and vegetables taste best when eaten in season, there are also rich in nutrient and even more cheaper.

At least 3 dishes of vegetables and 2 portion of fruits per day

 

How to Eat Healthy?

Taiwan's Department of Health (DOH) suggested a daily intake of 2-4 portion of fruits, 3-5 dishes of vegetables and 1.5-4 bowls of whole grains. DOH also recommend 3-8 portion of fish, meat and eggs per day, 1.5-2 cups of low-fat dairy products, 3-7 teaspoons of fats and 1 portion of nuts.

Before you eat/cook, don't forget to wash your produces with EnviroHome Food Wash, and rinse with flowing water to wash away pesticides and insecticides. 

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