Why Your Salad Bowl Just Got a Lot Emptier

I'd found a genuinely good trick lately: eat a serving of leafy greens or any vegetable before a plate of pizza, pasta, or rice, and it blunts the blood sugar spike that usually follows. Simple, cheap, and it worked. Then my wife walked into the kitchen a couple weeks ago and dumped my container of spinach straight into the garbage.

She wasn't taking chances. The Cyclospora outbreak tied to recalled iceberg lettuce had already sickened nearly 2,000 people nationwide, and she didn't want our house added to that count.

We're Not the Only Ones Skipping the Produce Aisle

Turns out we're part of a much bigger trend. A CBS News/YouGov survey found that 40% of Americans are now buying or eating less produce because of the outbreak — a number that jumps even higher among people closely following the news. Only 4% report eating more. The rest, 56%, say nothing's changed for them.

The FDA's handling of the situation hasn't exactly built confidence, either. Just 13% of those surveyed say they trust the agency "a lot" to manage the outbreak, while nearly half report having little or no faith in its response.

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

What This Means for Wenatchee Valley Shoppers

Here's the frustrating part: the actual recall covers specific lots of iceberg lettuce, not the entire produce section. Treating every vegetable as suspect trades a small, targeted risk for a much bigger nutritional one — especially for people relying on greens to manage blood sugar, like I was. Last week my wife and mother-in-law went to the Wenatchee Farmers Market to stock up on lots of locally produced fruit and vegetables.

As for my recent favorite box of greens, I made a compromise. I now buy whole heads instead of pre-washed bagged salads, and peel off the outer leaves before rinsing the rest. It's not foolproof, but it beats emptying the produce aisle out of your diet altogether. For those of us in Central Washington, apple and cherry country, staying informed matters more than staying scared.