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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.

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Living Maxwell

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Another Reason to Eat Organic – Higher Levels of Antioxidants in Onions

When people ask why they should be eating organic, there are several answers.

First, organic prohibits the use of super-toxic pesticides, such as glyphosate.

Not only is glyphosate the primary ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup and the most widely-used chemical in the world, but the State of California has said that glyphosate causes cancer!

Even more shocking is that 93% of Americans have tested positive for glyphosate. So, we need to be doing everything we can to avoid ingesting this dangerous chemical.

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Organic Insider

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The FDA/USDA/EPA launch a GMO Website, But the Bigger Plan is Much More Worrisome

This post originally appeared in Organic Insider. If you would like to receive Organic Insider every other Wednesday, you can sign up for it HERE.

If consumers are seeking fair and balanced information about GMOs, they certainly will not find it on the new FDA/USDA/EPA website called Feed Your Mind.

This site is part of the Agricultural Biotechnology Education and Outreach Initiative, which was funded by Congress, and is intended “to share science-based information that educates, informs and broadens understanding about agricultural biotechnology for consumers.”

Not surprisingly, it presents a very one-sided view of GMOs.

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Living Maxwell

Must-Read

Another Reason to Buy Organic – The Link Between Genetically-Modified Foods and Fertility Problems

For people who are new to organic, the first question they generally have is “Why should I be eating this food?”

The easy response is “because organic food does not contain synthetic and toxic chemicals”.

Organic food also forbids the use of genetically-engineered ingredients, often known as GMOs (genetically-modified organisms).

Since GMOs are a little bit more complicated and a little less tangible, this point either gets overlooked or is not fully understood.

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livingmaxwell: a guide to organic food & drink