Toxins in Food | What are GMOs? | Effects of Pesticides

We’ve got a biggie for ya today. Seriously, this stuff is NO JOKE.

If you care about your health and wellbeing, this post is a MUST read.

You already know the days where food was grown and harvested in backyards or on small family-owned farms are almost entirely gone. Along with this mass societal transition over the last 50 years, we’ve moved away from this and towards large-scale commercial agriculture.

This not only created a huge disconnect between our bodies and the earth that grows the food that fuels them daily, but a mass confusion around what’s even “good” for us to eat anymore.

Thus begins the era of oblivion – We no longer know where our food comes from, how it’s made or what went on in the process. Nor do we usually even know where in the world it came from.

Our food sometimes travels around the world to get to us. Sometimes it travels across the country. It’s probably doing more domestic and international traveling than you ever will in your life!

Unfortunately, because modern societies are so disconnected now from knowing much of anything about the origins of their next meal (i.e. how it was grown, what chemicals were used in the process, how it was packaged, how these chemicals/pesticides are affecting our biological systems and long term health, etc), we’ve unintentionally allowed these emerging for-profit corporations take control and make choices about our health.

But here’s the ironic part. Their priorities are NOT our health and long term wellbeing.

Their priority is, simply put, the almighty dollar.

More profit, more yields from the same sized crops, more bang for their buck. It all comes down to dollar signs for them.

Nevermind massive amounts of food waste in the process.
Nevermind ecosystems collapsing and struggling to stay healthy.
Nevermind our children growing up with more diseases and risk of cancers than ever before.

This societal transition away from natural, organic “home grown” foods towards big profit-driven agriculture means we’ve unknowingly become victim to incredibly dangerous practices like the genetic modification of food, chemical spraying and the buildup of other toxicities in our soil that promote disease and long term instability.

We care SO MUCH about this, and urge you to take 5 minutes to watch this video we made about this topic.

What are toxins in food?

To start, you may be wondering what a toxin is…

Well, a toxin is an element capable of causing disease or cellular degradation upon entering your body.

Most people think of chemicals like pesticides, heavy metals and industrial pollutants when they hear the word “toxin,” but it’s important to note that toxins naturally occur in “healthy” food like fruits in veggies as a natural mechanism to ward off pests.

Unfortunately, as mass farming and livestock industries grow the use of pesticides and hormones increase.

Large scale farms use pesticides and herbicides to ward off pests, which leaves toxic residues on our food supply.

Meanwhile, the livestock industry uses growth hormones like rBST or rBGH to increase milk production in cows by elevating their insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), which has been tied to breast, colon, and prostate cancers in human studies. Even processed deli meats are often full of nitrates, a preservative linked to cancer.

Think packaged foods are any better? Think again. Packaged foods often contain artificial sweeteners and dyes, both of which are linked to a host of health problems like cancer, ADHD, cognitive function, allergies, and more.

Effects of Pesticides

Pesticides are used intentionally to kill off weeds (herbicides), insects (insecticides), fungus (fungicides), rodents (rodenticides), etc.

The use of pesticides aren’t only used on our food supply either – they are used in homes, parks, and schools to kill off weeds and pests. Pesticides are penetrating the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink with the wide scale use nowadays.

Pesticides are linked to a wide range of health problems, ranging from headaches & nausea to chronic illnesses such as cancer (brain, bone breast, prostate, testicular, liver, ovarian), reproductive problems, and neurologic disorders. Pesticides can also cause nerve damage, skin damage, eye irration, dizziness, fatigue, and poisoning.

The California Department of Health Services and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health found a 6x increase in risk for autism in children of women who were exposed to pesticides.

A 2009 study from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found that children who live in homes where pesticides are prevalent are twice as likely to develop brain cancer.

GMOs in Food – What are GMOs?

To make matters even worse, companies like Monsanto, started genetically engineering food in 1996.

GMO’s use cross pollination from totally unrelated species, which has been proven to create new toxins, allergens, carcinogens, and nutritional deficiencies

Since the introduction of GMOs in American food supply, the percentage of Americans with 3 or more chronic illnesses jumped from 7% to 13% in 9 years. Not only that, but food allergies, autism, digestive issues, and reproductive disorders have skyrocketed.

Studies have shown that GMOs are a contributing factor to organ damage, gastrointestinal & immune system disorders, infertility and accelerated aging due to the fact that genetically modified food leaves behind material inside our bodies which causes long term health problems.

Since 1996, American farmers sprayed an extra 383 million pounds of herbicides and pesticides on GMOs. Most genetically modified crops are engineered to be “herbicide tolerant,” which allows farmers to spray toxic herbicides on the plants to kill of the pests and weeds without killing the plant.

Herbicides and pesticides are linked to sterility, hormone imbalance, birth defects and cancer.

The overuse of herbicides has created “superweeds” that are resistant to the herbicide, which causes farmers to use even more toxic herbicide to kill them off.

Should you buy Organic or Non-GMO?

There’s a lot of confusion around this topic – what do non-GMO and organic labels actually mean.

It’s crucial to understand the difference between the two if you want to ensure you are providing your body with optimal nutrition that will not cause short-term (headaches, fatigue, etc) effects or long term (cancer, neurological problems, etc) effects from buying food with pesticides.

Every time you buy a product you are making a choice so much bigger than your own body and health.

Think about your children, your friends, your neighborhood, your world.

You have control to help shape the landscape of the entire food system and way we live. Everything from your environment, land, water, air and society as a whole — that even means how we produce our food in America.

What does the “Non-GMO Project” label mean?

The non-GMO Project label means that a product doesn’t cont any GMO ingredients. This is definitely a step in the right direction but it does not provide the whole story on how these products/ingredients were produced and what was involved in the production.

If you have the choice between non-GMO vs. Organic, organic always takes the cake.

Why?

Because in order to be certified organic, the product must be non-GMO. That means organic is always free of:

pesticides that are linked serious health hazards like cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, etc
herbicides that are linked to kidney disease, breast cancer, etc.
growth hormones that are linked to weight gain

If you know someone who needs to know the truth about toxins in our food, please share this post!

The more we know, the healthier we can all become together.

xoxo,

Liz, Sara & the whole SSF Squad

P.S. We’re doing something we almost never do. We’re offering one free coaching call to anyone who wants to figure out how to get rid of toxins in their body, once and for all.
If you’re interested in following the exact same guidelines that me, Sara, and other top fitness & nutrition experts out there recommend…