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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

Why Tradin Organic is Prioritizing Regenerative Organic Farming

At Tradin Organic, we believe that regenerative organic farming is key to growing healthy and nutritious food ingredients — for now and for future generations.

And in Sierra Leone, we have grown the world’s first Regenerative Organic Certified cacao.

Learn more.

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Living Maxwell

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Should You ALWAYS Eat Organic?

Recently, I got a comment from a woman who felt guilty about feeding her kids pesticide-laden, conventionally-grown food and asked if she “should always feed them organic.”

As someone who is very passionate about organic, I am going to be biased about organic food, which should not come as a surprise to anyone.

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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.

Organic Insider

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These Two GMO Experiments are Beyond Frightening

With the ag-biotech industry having made incredible progress brainwashing consumers and politicians into thinking that GMO foods are perfectly safe, the fact remains that no independent, long-term safety studies of these foods have ever been conducted on humans.

And because the general public has been falsely convinced into believing that GMOs are safe and government oversight has been minimal, scientists are pushing genetic engineering into other areas that could spell potential disaster for our planet and our survival.

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Living Maxwell

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Another Reason to Eat Organic – Arsenic, Caffeine, Antidepressants and Banned Antibiotics are Fed to Chicken

Last year, I put up a post about how arsenic was temporarily banned for use in conventional chickens.

Whether conventional chicken growers actually paid attention to the ban is anyone’s guess, but a column I read yesterday in the New York Times just made me shake my head even further.

In his column, Nicholas Kristof talked about recently released studies that suggest that poultry on factory farms are routinely fed caffeine, active ingredients of Tylenol and Benadryl, banned antibiotics and arsenic.

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livingmaxwell: a guide to organic food & drink