I recently took an amazingly romantic camping trip to Canada’s East Coast with the man who, on that trip, became my fiance. We drove from Montreal to Maine and popped onto the Digby Ferry where he asked me to marry him.
On to Nova Scotia, we camped for two weeks. The nausea and fatigue that plagued me in the first trimester had dissipated. Because I’m pregnant, we brought along super comfy foam mattresses, and it turned out to be the most comfortable camping experience ever! We decided if it was too much for me, we would spend the trip in hotels and B&Bs, but I had no issues while camping pregnant.
The issue I did have, however, was making sure I wasn’t ingesting too many pesticides. It’s a little harder to make sure your fruit is as clean as possible when you don’t have a nice big sink to soak it in. Sometimes I soak my food in the sink with salt and lemon juice. Sometimes I add a little vinegar. (I pretty much wash everything in my house with vinegar!)
Even if we aren’t trying to remove pesticides, food was grown in dirt, and is handled by many people before it makes it to our fridge so it should always be washed.
When we’re camping, often the only thing we have access to is a sputtering tap of cold water, and that’s not too effective in washing fruits.
When we can’t do a thorough job of washing our fruit, we must especially be careful with what’s known as the “Dirty Dozen.” The below list was compiled by thedailygreen.com where you can see their slide show and read about other dangerous foods to eat.
With the following foods, whether you’re camping or not, organic is always the best choice, especially when you’re pregnant.
- strawberries
- peaches
- blueberries
- celery
- nectarines
- apples
- peppers
- cherries
- potatoes
- grapes
- celery
The dailygreen’s list also warns us against non-organic meat, milk, tomatoes, coffee, pears and carrots.
I don’t know about you, but I eat a lot of the above food. I admittedly don’t always buy organic. The other day we took my fiancé’s goddaughter apple picking and ate an apple or two straight off the tree. I try not to drive myself crazy over rules about pesticides and toxins, but I do try to stay educated and do my best to avoid the bad stuff.
