Overuse of pesticides takes its greatest toll on children. Relative to their size and weight, children eat more food and drink more fluids than adults do, exposing them to a greater amount of toxins. For example, infants under age one consume fifteen times more apple products per unit of body weight than the national average. According to the Environmental Working Group, apple products alone are responsible for exposing more than half of the nation's children to unsafe levels of organophosphate pesticides every day.

Children absorb and handle toxins differently than adults, too. For instance, children absorb about 50 percent of the lead to which they are exposed while adults absorb only 10 to 15 percent. Plus, children have greater relative exposure to environmental toxins because they crawl, play outside, and put things in their mouths more than adults do. In studying eight carcinogenic (cancer-causing) pesticides, the National Resources Defense Council found that, on average, preschoolers received four times greater exposure to carcinogenic pesticides than adults.

The problem is that pesticide exposure has been linked to certain cancers, birth defects, and immune disorders. Protect your children-and yourself-by choosing organic and low-pesticide produce whenever possible.

Produce with the highest/lowest pesticide levels
According to the Environmental Working Group, the following items have the highest levels of pesticides: Apples, Peaches, Strawberries, Spinach, Pears, Grapes (imported), Sweet Peppers, Celery, Red Raspberries, Cherries, Green Beans, Oranges (in order of most to least).

Those fruits and vegetables with the lowest levels of pesticides are: Corn, Onions, Cauliflower, Mangoes, Peas, Pineapple, Watermelon, Cabbage, Kiwi, Broccoli, Bananas, Plums (in order of least to most).

Here are a few recipes from the upcoming Generation Green Cookbook.

Mini Whole Grain Banana-Nut Muffins

These moist mini-muffins are perfect for the lunch box or as an after-school treat. Of course, they're delish at breakfast or brunch too.

(Makes 36)

2 cups whole-grain pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe bananas
1/4 cup 2% milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Coat thirty-six 1 3/4" x 3/4" muffin cups with oil spray. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs. Stir in the bananas, milk, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Stir in the walnuts.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes. Transfer the muffins to cooling racks to finish cooling.

Helping Hand: To make standard-size muffins, replace the mini-muffin pans with 2 12-cup muffin pans. To freeze these muffins, cool completely and freeze in a ziplock freezer bag. Reheat at 350ºF for 10 minutes, or until heated through.


Rise and Shine Strawberry Banana Smoothie

This scrumptious smoothie is named after one of children's singer Raffi's most popular albums, "Rise and Shine." Sliced frozen bananas and strawberry yogurt give it an extra-rich and creamy texture. For those who don't like to eat in the morning, this refreshing shake may be a good compromise.

(Makes 1 serving)

1 container (6 ounces) organic strawberry yogurt
1/2 cup organic milk
1 frozen banana, sliced
2 to 4 ice cubes

In a blender, combine the yogurt, milk, banana, and ice cubes. Blend just until smooth and creamy.

Helping Hand: To make this shake even easier to whip up in the morning, cut a ripe banana into slices, toss with a little lemon juice, and freeze in a ziplock freezer bag.

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About the Author
The Generation Green monthly column previews the forthcoming Generation Green Cookbook. It provides articles, features and recipes to help parents get educated about children's environmental health issues, and to make fun, healthy foods for their children. Generation Green is a nonprofit that helps parents protect children from the harmful effects of toxins in foods, homes and the world in general.