If you are making an effort to eat your five potions of fruit and vegetables a day you might be getting more than you bargained for. Along with your anti-oxidants, phytochemicals, (beneficial plant chemicals) vitamins, and minerals you could be getting a cocktail of toxic chemicals.
Pesticides
Farmers use pounds of pesticides and fungicides, toxic by design, every year to grow their crops and some inevitably end up on the produce you eat. Researchers have found the people who eat the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables consume an average of 10 pesticides or pesticide residues a day.
It’s known now that glyphosate, the toxic chemical in Roundup, that is sprayed on crops gets into our food as well. Roundup is being banned in some countries because of it’s cancer causing potential specifically non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It has been blamed for the rise in adult celiac disease. EWG is urging people to sign a petition to get glyphosate out of our food.
Related reading: Should you Detox your Body from Glyphosate Weedkiller
Fruit and vegetables are not the only produce that contain pesticides. Your meat and dairy products contain them too. Toxic chemicals are applied directly to animals and their feed. I was shocked to discover that although the amounts of pesticides used on crops for human consumption are controlled there is no limit for pesticide use on cattle feed.
Scientists are finding higher and higher levels of pesticides in people throughout the world. Although governments insist that the levels of pesticides we consume are safe more and more research indicates that a combination of chemicals can contribute to a whole host of health problems such as:
- Cancer
- Fertility problems
- Brain tumors
- Childhood leukemia
- Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- Birth defects
- Hormone or endocrine system problems
- Nervous system damage
Mercury
Pesticides are not the only toxins in your food. Some seafood is dangerously high in mercury, PCB’s (polychlorinated biphenyls), dioxins and flame retardants with unknown long-term effects.
Trying to get to the bottom of some of her patient’s symptoms led San Francisco internist, Dr Jane Hightower, to a year long study that associated their high levels of mercury with their fish eating habits.
Methylmercury, the sort you get from fish, can accumulate in and cause damage to your liver, kidneys, brain and blood, can cause genetic damage and harm a child’s developing nervous system. Unborn babies and young infants are very sensitive to methylmercury’s effects.
Related reading: Heavy Metal Toxicity – How To Detox Heavy Metals
Dioxins
Dioxins are environmental toxins that are considered to be one of the most toxic substances known to man. They are mainly by-products of industrial processes but can also result from natural processes, such as volcanic eruptions and forest fires. 95% of your exposure to this chemical comes from eating dairy products, red meat, fish and shellfish.
Once dioxins have entered your body they are likely to stay there a long time as they are stored in the fat tissues. Dioxins have been implicated in heart disease, endometriosis, immune system problems, diabetes, thyroid disorders, reproductive and birth defects.
Bacteria in Ready Meals
Dr Dirk Budka, a microbiologist, and his associates analyzed, for a UK Channel 5 program, a few years ago, six different “Ready Meals” from four major UK supermarkets. They were found to be shockingly high in bacteria and histamine that could make you ill.
Many bacteria present in food are far more resistant to food-processing and storage techniques than expected. They are multiplying while they sit on the shelf.
Histamine in fish
Dr Budka also analysed fish sold in packs as well as so called fresh fish in major supermarkets and found them to be unacceptably high in histamine. He states that good quality fish contain less than 10 mg/kg histamine, a level of 30 mg/kg indicates already significant deterioration. He discovered fish that contained levels of 185 mg/kg and 450 mg/kg! This means the fish is seriously deteriorating. Do you really want to eat it?
Chemical Additives
Processed foods are full of chemical additives such as artificial sweeteners, flavors and colors, preservatives, flavor enhancers, benzoates, nitrites and sulfites. Some products are so full of additives that they are products of food science rather than nature.
Many of these additives have been linked to health problems such as cancer, asthma, hyperactivity, food cravings, weight gain, digestive problems and allergies. Based on accumulating research campaigners in the UK have encouraged supermarkets to remove some of them form their own brands especially in products aimed at children.
How can I stop poisoning myself?
- Eat Organic– Regularly eating organic food reduces the amount of pesticides in your body. If you can’t eat all organic then at least replace the foods that are known to be highest in pesticides.The Environmental working Group list these “dirty dozen” fruit & veg for 2020 as containing the highest levels of pesticides. Its best to replace these with organic produce if you can.1 Strawberries
2 Spinach
3 Kale
4 Nectarines
5 Apples
6 Grapes
7 Peaches
8 Cherries
9 Pears
10 Tomatoes
11 Celery
12 PotatoesMultiple samples of kale showed 18 different pesticides. On average, kale and spinach samples had 1.1 to 1.8 times as much pesticide residue by weight than any other crop tested.Almost 70% of Clean Fifteen fruit and vegetable samples had no pesticide residues.
- Find out more about what is in your food here: www.WhatsOnMyFood.org
- Wash non-organic produce really well and peel fruit if possible as this is where chemicals tend to be heavily concentrated. Better still soak your produce in a bowl of water with baking soda. Use one teaspoon of baking soda to two cups of filtered water and soak for 15-20 minutes. Wash well with filtered water after soaking.
- Avoid commercially produced meat and dairy products that are full of antibiotic and hormone residue. Look for grass fed and free range or preferably organic.
- Avoid fish that contains high levels of mercury. It bio-accumulates so when fish eat smaller fish they absorb the mercury from them. The largest and oldest fish contain the most. Avoid shark, swordfish, king mackerel, albacore tuna, and tilefish. Find out what fish contains here: www.gotmercury.org Avoid farmed salmon which is a major source of PCB’s.
- Do not buy fish in packs and make sure your fresh fish is very fresh.
- Avoid pre-packaged, ready meals and processed foods:
- Avoid salami, bologna and other delicatessen meats. They contain the toxin sodium nitrate which has been linked with cancer.
- Read labels and avoid products that contain artificial additives and colors.
The first step to health is to stop causing disease. This can only be accomplished when you stop eating unwholesome foods and drinks while cleaning out poisonous waste from your body. Detoxing with my Recharge and Energizing Detox Program on a regular basis can help with this.
how to lose belly fat in a week
It may sound impossible to lose belly fat at that rate, but that’s exactly what celebrity health trainer Jorge Cruise promises to deliver in his book, The Belly Fat Cure.
It is essential that all women over 40 consume 25 grams of fiber each day to stay health. A look at various exercises that help to lose belly fat would tell us that there is no single set of exercises that work for all to lose fat from belly and tone up the belly.
Sandy Halliday
Not sure why you made this comment on this post when I don’t mention belly fat. I might think that you just wrote it to get a link! It’s a fact though that the body can hang onto fat when it is being poisoned by toxins.
Belly fat tends to be a hormonal problem. You are right about fiber though. We all need fiber in our diets to be healthy.
Women under 40 need to consume 25 grams of fiber too. Men need about 38 grams. Americans on average consume about half the amount of fiber they should. A fast food or junk food diet provides very little.
Sandy