Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Elimination Diet Truths: Are Your Veggies Making You Sick?


Since I released The Elimination Diet I’ve been bombarded by emails from people asking me just how strict one needs to be with their nutrition in order to get the benefits I often speak of.

Nowhere more so than in the area of organic vs. non-organic fruits and vegetables.

“Do I really have to buy organic?” they say “Does it really make that much difference? After all, I an afford twice as much non-organic fruits and vegetables as organic ones. Wouldn’t it be better to have more than to be ‘fussy’ about it having to be organic?”

These are the most commonly asked questions and, to be fair, they’re all good ones, especially as we’re always being told to eat our 5 servings a day, right? After all, we all know that organic costs a fair bit more than non-organic and, especially if you’re a parent trying to feed your family on a budget, it would seem to make more sense to buy more so that your family could consume more wouldn’t it?

Wouldn’t it?

Well, some argue that the pesticide contamination on crops is so minimal as for it to be of no concern to our health, yet increasing numbers of health and medical experts are now suggesting that even small doses of pesticide exposure (which are, after all, poison) can have a negative impact on health. Especially if consumed over longer periods of time… like in our foods every day.

And alarmingly, the more diligent you are at feeding yourself and your family their 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, the more likely you are to see the negative effects of toxicity. In fact, an Environmental Working Group study recently showed that if you consume the daily average non-organic fruit and vegetable intake, you would in fact be consuming a cocktail of no les than 15 different pesticides PER DAY!

And the main culprits for this toxic insult to our bodies?

Here they are, ranked in order of worst first:

1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Sweet Bell Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Pears
9. Grapes (imported)
10. Spinach
11. Lettuce
12. Potatoes
13. Carrots
14. Green Beans
15. Hot Peppers
16. Cucumbers
17. Raspberries
18. Plums
19. Grapes (Domestic)
20. Oranges


Quite a list, right?

That’s practically every fruit and vegetable that the average family would eat over the course of a week, meaning that in EVERY MEAL or snack, there are adding to the overall toxic load of the body and making more susceptible to these medically linked conditions:

• Cancer
• Fertility problems
• Brain tumors
• Childhood leukemia
• Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
• Birth defects
• Irritation to skin and eyes
• Hormone or endocrine system problems including weight gain
• Nervous system damage


And that’s not to mention conditions that haven’t yet been proven to link to pesticide ingestion, though new studies are coming in all the time.

So, what can you do about this?

Well, contrary to popular belief, simply washing or soaking your fruits and veggies isn’t enough to remove the build-up of pesticides. After all, these crops have been sprayed throughout every single phase of their growth. Washing and peeling will remove some of the build-up, but nowhere near enough.

The only way to be 100% sure is to eat organically grown produce.

Yes, it’s more expensive, there’s no getting away from that, but that’s because growing crops without pesticides is harder, longer and more labour intensive. However, the end result of organic farming is healthier, more nutritious and more likely to contribute to the long term health of you and your family, which cannot be said about non-organic.

Don’t let the greater quantity fool you into thinking that non-organic is ok. In truth, eating more simply means that you’re poisoning yourself with pesticide faster, right?

Food for thought isn’t it?
Dax Moy

Dax Moy

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7 comments:

Patrícia Grade said...

Hi Dax,

food for thought indeed!

People everywhere are wondering, where is this going to end? First is the sugar everywhere you look, even in bread! Then the pesticides and coming to really think of it, someday I'll be glad to not eat at all!

To choose is painfull these days. You don't really know where to start and where to end. Organic is indeed better, but is it sure that the producer is really doing it organically?

The facto of the matter is, people do everything for the money they can get and if organic becomes fashionable, even though expensive, then everybody becomes an organic producer and that will determine how all of them do things!

Now I'm just gratefull for being able to resist the sugar and caffeine, and of course the bread!
But with conscious choices comes the consciousness that nothing is that simple!
As you can see, my elimination diet is not being that easy... Hope the humour changes soon, even I can't handle me!

James Davis said...

crikey, scarey stuff. Organic from now on for me.

James.
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Sean Ryan said...

Hey Dax - Good article. One small little thing, the link is not correct. It should be:

www.eliminationdietblueprint.com you have a stray 'n' in yours.

Thanks,

Sean Ryan

JudeK said...

Great Post Dax! I will be sharing this with my people as I am always on at them about the importance of eating organic produce and how the benefits far outweigh the extra costs.

Cheers Judith

www.judithkennedy.co.uk

skinnymalinky said...

I'd like to read more about this. Can you give me a reference for the Environmental Working Group Study please?

kellz said...

well im even more impressed with myself, after reading this, for all the hard work i put in to setting up my veggie patch on the weekend :)

K said...

Dax, do you base this post on US data or UK/European data? I've lived so far in the hopes that agriculture in the old world is not THAT crazy yet.