Can 5 Portions of Fruit and Veg a Day Harm your Brain?

are vegetables healthy


Can eating 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day harm your brain?

In a way, yes if you choose the wrong type.

Diets to improve physical appearance are all good, but you need a great mind to run your body. Your brain is in charge of how you feel, move and perform. Even if you look great, if you feel tired, anxious and depressed all the time, you can’t enjoy your life and of course your sex life to the full. Smart is becoming the new sexy.

What you eat also has an enormous impact on your brain, which makes tweaking your diet key in;

  • Mental clarity
  • Anxiety
  • Libido
  • Mood
  • Sleep

Your brain is an energy hog, if you fill it with good fuel it will run beautifully for years. Fill it with rubbish, it will let you down when you need it most. Sometimes we eat something bad because the food is contaminated, for example with pesticides or herbicides,  so by trying to be healthy, we end up making ourselves ill. Regardless of what the agricultural or chemical industries say about pesticides being ‘safe’, they are designed to kill living cells. They act as an extra burden for your body and brain, getting in the way of functioning like a superhuman.

Losing 5% brain power from extra ‘toxins’ on a ‘big day’ can stop you getting the job at the interview, winning on the sports field or you or your child getting that college place.

As we live in a world of information overload, I have so much information to give I am guilty of this too. The ‘one thing’ I’m going to talk about today in the blog is pesticides on fruit and vegetables. Which are the cleanest vs which are the most toxic? We are told to eat 5- 8 portions of fruit and veg a day, but if they are covered in pesticides then for some people this will cause just as much harm as good.

Switching to organic fruits and vegetables has several benefits. This is more important for some plants than others.  If you are worried about pesticides, but can’t afford or can’t find a place to buy an organic version of your favorite fruit or vegetable then you might find that the non-organic version is still relatively pesticide-free.

These lists are based on pesticide residue testing data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration. For more detailed information on specific produce from the study by the environmental working group visit here. The data will vary a bit from country to country, depending on farming methods, climate and regulations, but fruit or vegetables with a ‘coat’ will be more protected than tasty exposed produce like strawberries and spinach.


Top 10 least pesticides – ‘The Winners’

  1. Sweet corn
  2. Avocados
  3. Pineapples
  4. Cabbage
  5. Onions
  6. Frozen peas
  7. Papayas
  8. Asparagus
  9. Mangos
  10. Aubergines/eggplants
  11. Honeydew melon
  12. Kiwi



Top 10 most pesticide  ‘The Losers’

  1. Strawberries
  2. Spinach
  3. Nectarines
  4. Apples
  5. Peaches
  6. Pears
  7. Cherries
  8. Grapes
  9. Celery
  10. Tomatoes

This means that love fruit like spinach, pears and cherries, but want to protect your brain, you are way better off buying organic, washing alone with water isn’t good enough. It’s not really possible to scrub your cherries and grapes clean. If you like melons, avocados and peas, then you can get away with buying non organic, if an organic version is not available.

Thank you for reading my blog if you have any questions or comments please get in touch

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