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Better Choices

Another Reason to Eat Organic – Decrease Pesticide Exposure by 90%

Here are a few things that we know.

1) In its pioneering testing several years ago, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) identified up to 493 chemicals in Americans of all ages, including 287 industrial chemical pollutants found in the cord blood of 10 babies born in 2004.

So, from the time we are in the womb of our mother, our body is flooded with synthetic toxins.

2) Even though this EWG data was collected a decade ago, not much has changed since then, in terms of our exposure to chemicals.

This is largely because consumers remain completely unprotected when chemical companies bring a new product to market.

The nation’s toxic chemical regulatory law, The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976, allows chemicals on the market without meaningful safety assessments and gives the Environmental Protection Agency almost no authority to protect the public health.

NEW RESEARCH

Given that our government deems the profits of chemical companies to be more important than the health of its citizens, is it any surprise that 41% of Americans will get cancer and 21% of Americans will die from cancer?

Not to the President’s Cancer Panel.

In its annual report called “Reducing our Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now”, the President’s Cancer Panel, among other things, recommends that in order to decrease exposure to pesticides, individuals should choose “food grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers”.

Previous studies have shown that children who switch to an organic diet will reduce their pesticide load, but no similar study has been completed with adults.

Until now.

In a report published in Environmental Research, Dr. Liza Oates and her team at RMIT University in Australia found that people who adopted an organic diet for one week saw an incredible 90% reduction in pesticide exposure.

The randomly selected 13 adults were fed both an organic diet and a non-organic diet, and urine samples were taken to determine the presence of dialkylphosphates, a class of chemicals that are produced as the body tries to break down organophosphate pesticides.

In case you are not familiar with organophosphate pesticides, they are some of the most widely used chemicals sprayed on food today.

What harm do they cause?

According to the Pesticide Action Network, long-term exposure to organophosphates has been linked to cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and serious reproductive and developmental problems.

WHAT TO DO?

Clearly, switching to an organic diet will greatly help to decrease pesticide exposure. (Make sure you read this post – Should You ALWAYS Eat Organic? – to help guide you and answer any questions that you may have.)

While food plays a big role in reducing pesticide loads in your body, it is not the only thing that we need to be paying attention to.

Other areas of chemical exposure are household cleaning products and body care products.

One great resource for body care products is EWG’s Skin Deep Database, which provides safety and other information on nearly 70,000 personal care products.

In terms of household cleaning products, I LOVE the Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds.

IN CONCLUSION

While our bodies will never be 100% chemical-free, it is important that we take the necessary precautions to reduce our pesticide exposure as much as possible.

And this study out of Australia is just more evidence that adopting an organic food diet is an essential way to accomplish this.

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

Better Choices

Another Reason to Eat Organic — No Potassium Bromate in Your Bread

If you are a bread lover, which so many of us are, there is just another reason why you should be eating organic: potassium bromate.

Potassium bromate is an additive used in flour which strengthens the dough and allows it to rise higher. Furthermore, it gives the finished bread an appealing white color.

But, the problem is that this additive is also linked to cancer.

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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.

Living Maxwell

Better Choices

Want to Learn More About the Vegan Ketogenic Diet? If So, You’ll Definitely Want This Book

Everywhere you turn these days, you’ll find news and stories about the ketogenic diet.

This low-carb, high-fat, high-protein diet is helping people lose weight and giving them much needed mental clarity.

However, one of the misconceptions of the keto diet is that animal products are an essential component of it. And for people who only eat plant-based, this can be quite disconcerting.

Along with her co-author Nicole Derseweh, my good friend Whitney Lauritsen — also widely known as the EcoVegan Gal — has just come out with a fantastic book called The Vegan Ketogenic Diet Cookbook, and it is a phenomenal resource for people looking to explore this lifestyle.

Not only does it clear up a lot of the confusion about the keto diet requiring the consumption of animal products, but it provides 75 delicious recipes. And when I was sent an early version of the book, I literally read it cover-to-cover in one sitting. I was that impressed by it.

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Organic Insider

Better Choices

Is Non-GMO Better Than Organic?

In a recent online survey of a 1,000 health-conscious consumers conducted by Market LOHAS – Mambo Sprouts Marketing Research, it was found that 80% of shoppers seek out non-GMO products, with 56% saying non-GMO was key to brand buying versus 52% for organic.

Hence, a product that has the words “Non-GMO” on its packaging is going to carry more weight with consumers than “Organic”.

On many levels, this is incredibly worrisome, mostly because shoppers are making the absolute wrong and unhealthy decision at the supermarket.

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