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Living Maxwell

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The Health Risks of Eating Conventional Potatoes

Whenever I think about a lot of the food that I ate growing up, it isn’t overly pleasant. It was the standard American diet with all of the processed, fast food that most of the country still consumes today.

Fortunately, my childhood took place before the emergence of GMOs (mid-90s) and growth hormone milk (late 80s), so I escaped some of the really bad things when my body was in its crucial stage of development.

One food that I fondly remember eating, and loving, at family dinners was potatoes. And it wasn’t just the insides of the potatoes. I particularly loved eating the skins. Yet, little did I or my parents know just how toxic they were.

When many people think of the most important foods to be eating organic, potatoes do not immediately come to mind as quickly as apples, grapes, or spinach do. But they should and here’s why.

THE PROBLEMS WITH CONVENTIONAL POTATOES

1) According to the USDA’s Pesticide Data Program, 35 different pesticides have been found on conventional potatoes.

And out of these 35:

– 6 are known or probably carcinogens

– 12 are suspected hormone disruptors

– 7 are neurotoxins

– 6 are developmental or reproductive toxins

The chemical that is found on 76% of all conventional potatoes is chlorpropham, an herbicide that is used to stop the growth of weeds and to inhibit potato sprouting.

Not only is this chemical toxic to honey bees, but according to the Extension Toxicology Network, chronic exposure of laboratory animals to chlorpropham has caused “retarded growth, increased liver, kidney and spleen weights, congestion of the spleen, and death.”

2) As a root vegetable, potatoes absorb all of the pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides that are sprayed above the ground and then eventually make their way into the soil.

With potatoes, however, the chemical treatment is quite extensive.

During growing season – They get treated with fungicides

Before harvesting – They get sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines

After being dug up – They get sprayed again to prevent them from sprouting

3) Quite often, the most important information about a food is what growers or “insiders” have to say about it.

Jeff Moyer, CEO at the Rodale Institute and former chair of the National Organic Standards Board, has been quoted as saying “I’ve talked with potato growers who say point-blank they would never eat the potatoes they sell. They have separate plots where they grow potatoes for themselves without all the chemicals.”

ORGANIC POTATOES ARE THE ANSWER

Needless to say, when I eat potatoes, I only eat organic potatoes because organic production does not allow for the use of all of these toxic chemicals.

Please share this post with your friends and family, so they can be purchasing the safest potatoes possible.

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Living Maxwell

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Beet Kvass – What is it and Why am I Drinking it?

Organic beet kvass isn’t exactly a household name, similar to a coconut water or even kombucha.

And I don’t believe that it will ever come close to having the same name recognition as these other two drinks.

Yet, its health benefits and utility may surpass them both.

A lacto-fermented beverage of Russian origin, beet kvass provides the body with beneficial bacteria and aids in digestion.

It is also touted as a blood purifier and an excellent way to cleanse the liver.

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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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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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