What you put in, and on, your body is critical to your health. You can greatly influence your health and longevity by consuming fresh organic unprocessed foods that you prepare yourself. If that’s not always possible, here are some of the top foods to avoid.
Non-Organic Fruits and Vegetables
Many crops are treated with pesticides. Those in which the peeling or skin is consumed pose the highest risk to people. Root vegetables are particularly bad because they absorb chemicals left in the ground in addition to what is applied above ground. The problem has only gotten worse because over time, farming techniques have caused plants to lose their resistance to pests. Therefore they are sprayed more frequently. Washing your fruits and vegetables thoroughly and removing the skin is recommended, but this may not eliminate the chemical residue entirely. In addition, removing the peeling removes many of the healthful benefits of fruit, such as fiber.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) tests fruits and vegetables for the amount of chemicals they contain each year. They update their “dirty dozen” and “clean 15” lists each year. Here is their list of the top foods to avoid in the produce category: https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty-dozen.php You can see that strawberries are the #1 produce to avoid. EWG’s tests showed that one third of the conventional strawberries tested contained 10 or more pesticides. Conventional spinach comes in at #2 because they found that 97% of conventional spinach contained pesticide residue. These lists can help you shop for good produce that is non-organic and organic versions of the dirty dozen.
Canned and Packaged Foods
Anything canned should be on your list of foods to avoid. According to a recent study, bisphenol A (BPA ) can be found in a daunting two out of three canned goods. Some brands, though, are more notorious for selling cans with the chemical, which has been implicated in a host of illnesses, including cancers, Type-2 diabetes, obesity, and infertility. Campbell’s products, for example, were the biggest offenders, with all 15 sampled cans containing BPA-based epoxy. This comes from a 2016 study done by the Ecology Center: https://www.ecocenter.org/healthy-stuff/food-can-study-2016-report
There has been some progress made in removing the BPA chemical from the linings of metal cans and food containers, but we still have a long ways to go. Part of the problem is the manufacturers of the cans and food containers are not upfront about the chemicals used in their containers. This makes it difficult for the food manufacturer to label their product with accurate information about the packaging. Some of the non-BPA products used are known as “regrettable substitutions”. So your best bet is to cook from scratch using good chemical free cookware and store any leftovers in glass containers. If you are forced to use canned food, rinse the food if possible. That can help reduce the amount of BPA. You can also look for foods packaged in plastics with the recycling labels #1, #2, and #4. They are generally safer choices and do not contain BPA. When possible, avoid #7 plastics, especially for children’s food, as these typically contain BPA.
Microwave Popcorn
Aside from popcorn having little nutritional value, microwaving conventional corn that is most likely GMO and covered in glyphosate (Round-up) makes it one of the top foods to avoid. Two chemicals in microwave popcorn have been linked to serious illness. In January 2008, the top four manufacturers removed diacetyl as a butter-flavoring agent in the products because it was linked to lung injuries. Since then, many other of the large popcorn producers have changed their recipes to exclude diacetyl.
More recently, chemicals such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) have been found to be a part of the lining of the bag, which leaches into the food during microwave cooking. This chemical has been linked to infertility in a recent study from UCLA. In animal testing, the chemicals are linked to liver, testicular, and pancreatic cancer. Olga Naidenko, PhD, a senior scientist for the Environmental Working Group, says “[PFOA] stay in your body for years and accumulate there.” Some larger manufacturers have promised to phase out PFOA, but unless you see it labeled as such, it is best to avoid it.
Farmed Salmon
Salmon is promoted as one of the healthiest foods for the heart because it contains high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. However, when choosing salmon, it is best to choose wild-caught Alaska salmon over farmed salmon. Farmed salmon has been shown to contain 10 times more toxins, including Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and dioxin, than wild salmon. Farmed salmon are fatter, and the PCBs are sequestered into the fat and remain there. In addition, salmon farms can harbor parasites, such as sea lice and kudoa thyrsites, so fishers use pesticides and antibiotics that can become part of your fish dinner. Many industrial salmon farms use artificial colorings to make the fish more appealing to consumers, some of which can be harmful to health. All of this makes farmed salmon another one of the top foods to avoid.
If a package says fresh Atlantic salmon, it is likely farmed, according to David Carpenter, MD, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany and publisher of a major study in the journal Science on contamination in fish. He states there are no longer commercial fisheries for wild Atlantic salmon. If you don’t have access to a good fish store, here is a company I trust that you can shop on-line: https://www.vitalchoice.com/products/wild-salmon
Conventional Beef and Dairy
Cows evolved eating grass, but today’s farmers feed their animals corn and soybeans, which fatten the animals faster for slaughter. A recent study conducted by the USDA and researchers from Clemson University found that corn-fed beef is lower in beta-carotene, vitamin E, omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, magnesium, and potassium than grass fed beef. It is also higher in saturated fat. A study from Purdue University found that corn fed beef contains higher levels of omega-6 fatty acids, which may encourage inflammation in the body and may lead to bone loss. All of this makes conventional beef and related by-products one of the top foods to avoid. Grass-fed beef can be found at specialty grocers and farmers markets. If you’d like to shop on-line, you might want to consider this company: https://www.butcherbox.com/
In addition to the problems caused by grain feeding mentioned above, conventional milk farmers treat their dairy cattle with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST) to boost milk production. These can lead to a higher level of a hormone in the casein called insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) in humans that is linked to breast, prostate, and colon cancer. Organic milk farmers cannot use artificial hormones in their dairy cattle. Other manufactures may list rBGH-free or rBST-free on the package label. I’ve seen this on cheeses at Trader Joe’s.
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