Toxins are unavoidable. In today’s world full of harmful chemicals, it is impossible to completely eradicate toxins from your life. From the air we breathe, the furniture we use, our cleaning products, to the toys our children play with and beyond, toxins are everywhere. Regular detox is really the only way to assist your body in purging the accumulation of toxins in your cells. And the first step in detoxing your body and life may be evaluating the toxins you’re putting in your mouth on a daily basis. So, doing all that you can to minimize your toxin intake is essential to maintain your best health. Did you know that the food that you eat can be the biggest source of toxins in your life? It’s true!
Consider this: We eat every day, usually more than once. Food is our only source for many vitamins, minerals, and the building blocks that we need to make muscle, enzymes, hormones, energy, and more. So every day, multiple times per day, we potentially put a huge amount of toxins into our bodies right along with the food that we need.
Get started on your journey to detox your life by taking our unique Toxicity Quiz! This FREE assessment is designed to estimate your cellular toxicity burden and determine if toxins may be the cause of weight loss challenges, pain, low energy, sleep problems, premature aging and other health challenges. We have spent years speaking out and working with clients worldwide on the dangers of toxin bioaccumulation and the need for real detox, and this quiz can help you determine if toxins are at the root of why you don’t feel your best.
How is food possibly your biggest source of toxin intake? Let’s break down a few of the ways in which the food that we eat gets riddled with toxins. You’ll see that while detox is necessary, it’s also mandatory that you do everything within your power to limit how many of these harmful additives make it into your cells.
Pesticides – This is a catch-all term for insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, rodenticides, and algicides. Depending on the crop, any combination of these can end up being sprayed onto your food, or applied to the soil in which it grows. Literally thousands of pesticides have been registered with the EPA. These often artificially created compounds are applied to crops in large amounts. Common ingredients in pesticides include atrazine, ammonia, chlorine, benzene, and formaldehyde. They seep into the plants and soil, often persisting in both in alarming amounts. Arsenic comes to mind as a fine example. The United States banned arsenic containing pesticides in the 1980’s; however, so much of it was used that massive amounts of arsenic still exists in agricultural soil. The plants grown in it take up the arsenic, and the result is dangerous levels of arsenic in our food supply, especially rice. Many pesticides are known carcinogens, or endocrine and reproductive health disruptors1,2. Atrazine, one of the most commonly used weed killers in the world, is known to feminize animals in the wild3. Even some of the “inert” ingredients in pesticides, meaning that they don’t kill weeds or animals, have demonstrated an ability to kill human cells4.
Glyphosate – This pesticide deserves its own category. It tops the list of the most used pesticides in the world. Glyphosate is an herbicide (kills plants) and the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup brand. The only food crops that can be sprayed with glyphosate are those that are genetically modified to withstand this poison without dying. Glyphosate tolerant crops include soy, corn, cotton, sugarbeets, and wheat (used as a desiccant in limited parts of the world, namely wetter states in the U.S. like North & South Dakota and in the United Kingdom). This one is a detox nightmare. The problem with glyphosate is multi-faceted. Firstly, companies that use glyphosate in their pesticide cocktails and government regulatory bodies classify it as safe, claiming it breaks down quickly in the soil. However, tests have shown again and again that glyphosate persists in the soil, in the crops after harvest, and even in our bodies. Glyphosate has also been found in processed food, including feeding liquid given to hospitalized babies5. Evidence is mounting that persistent glyphosate exposure may be contributing to neurological diseases, and diseases of the gut6,7. The GMO crops required to utilize glyphosate as an herbicide have also come under fire. A 2012 study out of France claimed a link between Monsanto’s now deregulated corn NK603 (It’s called Roundup Ready Corn 2 now) and tumor growth in rats. The study demonstrated that tumor growth was not detected until 4-7 months into the study, thereby suggesting that the typical 90 day study required by government bodies for establishing the safety of a modified crop would not be accurate for GMOs. The study was controversially retracted by its publisher, and then republished in 20148.
Growth Inhibitors – Generally used with root vegetables, growth inhibitors like maleic hydrazide9 or chlorpropham10 (also known as Bud Nip or Sprout Nip) work to slow the rate of eyes that tubers like potatoes and sweet potatoes grow while being held in storage warehouses for months at a time before hitting the markets. These compounds have been found to penetrate the outer skin. So, while washing your veg helps reduce your toxin load, you won’t be able to fully eliminate it. Certain pesticides like fungicides might also be used after harvest to prevent rotting while the crop is in storage. Apples come to mind as one crop that gets fungicide treatments after being harvested. Apples may be warehoused for up to a year before making it onto store shelves.
The takeaway is that while government regulatory agencies may establish what they consider to be safe levels of each chemical separately, very few scientists are researching what happens to our bodies when they are exposed to these toxins as a group, taken together. Nothing exists in a vacuum in our bodies. Reactions happen all of the time at the molecular level, making it possible, if not probable, that some of these toxins can work synergistically with others to mount negative effects. Also, with many of these chemicals being linked to gut issues, as glyphosate has been for example, it’s not a big leap of the imagination to see how our detox organs might become clogged, and lose their efficiency at clearing toxins. The result is toxic build up, driving cellular inflammation, often leading to chronic health issues. This is hardly looking like a recipe for “safety.”
The bottom line is that the only way to sidestep as many of these harmful toxins as possible is to buy organic. If you can find local sources of food at your neighborhood market or farmers market, that is so much better. That especially includes meat and dairy products! You don’t have to fear what’s in your food. Just find better, REAL food to eat. Organic foods are the way to go for minimizing your family’s toxic load, cleaning up your pantry of chemical laden foods, and beginning to detox your life!
If you’re concerned about how many toxins you might be carrying around, take action. Start by accessing your FREE Toxicity Quiz, which can give you an idea of how your toxic burden may be connected to how well you feel. Taking this assessment will also give you access to a personalized video, tips and tools to help you get started with the right detox for you. Empower yourself with knowledge today!
1. Dich, J., S. H. Zahm, A. Hanberg, and H. O. Adami. “Pesticides and cancer.” Cancer causes & control : CCC. May 8, 1997. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9498903.
2. Mnif, Wissem, Aziza Ibn Hadj Hassine, Aicha Bouaziz, Aghleb Bartegi, Olivier Thomas, and Benoit Roig. “Effect of Endocrine Disruptor Pesticides: A Review.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. June 17, 2011. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3138025/.
3. Hayes, T. B., V. Khoury, A. Narayan, M. Nazir, A. Park, T. Brown, L. Adame, E. Chan, D. Buchholz, T. Stueve, and S. Gallipeau. “Atrazine induces complete feminization and chemical castration in male African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis).” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. March 9, 2010. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20194757.
4. Benachour, Nora, and Gilles-Eric Séralini. “Glyphosate Formulations Induce Apoptosis and Necrosis in Human Umbilical, Embryonic, and Placental Cells.” ACS Publications. 2008. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx800218n.
5. “Glyphosate (Monsanto Roundup) Found in Hospital Feeding Tube Liquid.” GlobalResearch. January 5, 2015. http://www.globalresearch.ca/glyphosate-monsanto-roundup-found-in-hospital-feeding-tube-liquid/5424996.
6. Samsel, Anthony, and Stephanie Seneff. “Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases III: Manganese, neurological diseases, and associated pathologies.” Surgical Neurology International. March 24, 2015. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4392553/.
7. Samsel, A., and S. Seneff. “Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance.” Interdisciplinary toxicology. December 6, 2013. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24678255.
8. Séralini, Gilles-Eric, Emilie Clair, Robin Mesnage, Steeve Gress, Nicolas Defarge, Manuela Malatesta, Didier Hennequin, and Joël Spiroux De Vendômois. “Republished study: long-term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize.” Environmental Sciences Europe. June 24, 2014. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5044955/.
9. Dias, A. I., and H. J. Duncan. “Residues of free and bound maleic hydrazide in potato tubers.” SpringerLink. January 28, 1999. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02358394.
10. Chlorpropham. http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/carbaryl-dicrotophos/chlorpropham-ext.html.
3 Tips for Anti-Aging: A 90-Day Program
I have read that 40% of organic foods is fake! Not Organic!
There is no good farmers market in this area.
So where do we find good organic foods?
Thrive market is great. Butcher Box for organic meats. Produce is a little harder to get online, but many mainstream markets are starting to carry it. You could also grow your own, which is always ideal.