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Living Maxwell

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Why Conventional Spinach is NOT a Smart Choice

The next time some expert tells you that the most important thing to do for your health is to consume large amounts of fruits and vegetables, regardless of whether they are organic or not, you may want to educate this person about the latest scientific research and government data.

As I wrote about the other day, a study out of Harvard found that women undergoing infertility treatment in the U.S. — and who were also consuming fruits and vegetables with high amounts of pesticide residue — were associated with a lower chance of pregnancy and a higher risk of pregnancy loss.

Men are equally as impacted by the harmful effects of pesticides.

Researchers out of Harvard said that men exposed to the highest levels of pesticide residues — through fruit and vegetable consumption — had almost 50% fewer sperm and more abnormally shaped sperm than men who consumed the least amount of pesticides.

And when it comes to which is fruit or vegetable is the most toxic, spinach is the second highest on this list, as per the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen.

According to the Environmental Working Group:

– Out of the 683 conventionally-grown spinach samples collected by the USDA in 2015, spinach contained far more pesticides by weight than all other crops tested.

– The tests detected an average of almost seven pesticides on every conventionally-grown spinach sample collected, with a maximum of 16 different pesticides or breakdown products on a single sample.

75% of the spinach samples contained residues of permethrin, a neurotoxic insecticide that is so toxic that it has been banned in Europe since 2000.

– DDT, a pesticide banned in the U.S. since the 1970s, also showed up on spinach.

Residues of DDT and its breakdown products were found on half of spinach samples. This is because DDT residues remain in the soil and are picked up by spinach grown today.

IN SUMMARY

According to the President’s Cancer Panel, 41% of Americans are going to get cancer and 21% of Americans are going to die from cancer.

And it is my belief that environmental factors, such as pesticides, play a very, very large role in these incredibly high cancer rates. The State of California has even said that glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide in the world and one that is almost always sprayed on GMO crops, causes cancer.

That is why we should be buying organic as much as we can, particularly with spinach. Organic prohibits the use of super-toxic chemicals, such as the ones found on conventional foods.

Also, when you consume fruits and vegetables, even organic ones, you must use a fruit and vegetable wash.

The only one I use and recommend is from Vermont Soap Organics called Produce Magic.

Please share this post with anyone you know who is still eating conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables. It is important that they know the truth about what they are putting into their bodies.

A message from Tradin Organic

How Tradin Organic is Helping Coconut Farmers in The Philippines

For more than a decade, Tradin Organic has been working with local partners in The Philippines to bring a diversified range of organic products to the market, such as coconut oil, tropical fruits and even cocoa.

The company is helping to support local farmers by assisting them with technical support and organic certification, in addition to paying Fairtrade premium on top of the organic premium.

Learn more.

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Living Maxwell

Must-Read

Genetically-Engineered Trees????? Yes, and Why Humanity Should be Petrified

The more time that you spend in the organic industry, the more you learn about what is truly going on and what you find is pretty scary.

While I try to remain as optimistic as possible, the reality is that the organic industry is under a constant existential threat from genetically-modified organisms (GMOs).

Even though organic food has never been more popular, nearly 80% of the food on supermarket shelves contains GMOs and organic remains less than 1% of all farmland acreage in the U.S. While 64 nations around the world require GMOs to be labeled, the U.S. does not. Why?

Because the ag-biotech industry has “purchased” agricultural policy in our country, by spending $572 million on campaign contributions and lobbying from 1999-2010.

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A message from E3Live

"My Everyday, Must-Have Green Organic Aquabotanical"

The best testimonial that I can give is that I drink this every single day, as it impacts my mood in an incredibly positive way.

E3Live + BrainON is certified organic, fresh-frozen AFA (Aphanizomenon flos-aquae) with a concentrated, aqueous, organic extract of Phenylethylamine and Phycocyanin.

Learn more.

Organic Insider

Must-Read

The Calculated Strategy to Take Down Journalist Carey Gillam Can be Seen as a Step to Dismantle Organic

For anyone who cares about the integrity of organic and the future of our industry, what has transpired with Carey Gillam should be of incredible concern.

Recently released court documents revealed that Gillam, a journalist and author of Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science, was the target of a carefully-crafted campaign by Monsanto to discredit her.

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Living Maxwell

Must-Read

BREAKING: Impossible Foods is “Misleading Consumers” About its GMO Protein, FDA Rejects the Claim That it is Safe for Consumption

* Impossible Foods is “misleading consumers” about the key ingredient in the Impossible Burger.

* The Company told the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) that its soy leghemoglobin was  “substantially similar” to proteins consumed daily by the global population, in the form of meat and other vegetables.

However, on the Impossible Foods website, it claims that the heme in the Impossible Burger is “identical” to the heme humans have been consuming for hundreds of thousands of years in meat and other foods. 

* The FDA told Impossible Foods that its arguments “do not establish safety of SLH (soy leghemoglobin) for consumption.” The company decided to sell the Impossible Burger to the public anyway.

* Impossible Foods relied on the expert testimony of scientists who have worked for or have links to Monsanto, the Gates Foundation, Philip Morris and all of the major biotechnology companies.

* 20 minutes after eating an Impossible Burger for the first time, a man Tweeted “went into anaphylactic shock & taken to ER.”

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One of the biggest stories in the food world over the past few years has been the Impossible Burger, the plant-based burger that bleeds when you bite into it.

The goal of the Impossible Burger is to help make a dent in climate change by offering a plant-based burger that does not come from an animal. Animals require a tremendous amount of water and feed, and also produce greenhouse gases. Because the burger is made from plants, the other thing that the Impossible Burger would do is to help alleviate the killing of animals.

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