Foods to Avoid, Experts Say

Liz Vaccariello, blog post writer for the Prevention section of “Shine from Yahoo,” talked to several food safety experts.  The following blog, has highlights of her article, which can be found at the link at the bottom of the page. 

Keep in mind while reading this information that the solution is to live more in balance with our environment.  Anyone watch “Centennial,” the 1978 TV series based on the James Michener novel?  Living in balance with our environment is a big theme of that story and is not solely a granola-crunching idea but also an idea of anyone living close to the earth, cowboys, ranchers, native Americans, and even cows and farmed plants.  In essence, for health to exist in our bodies we have to look outside of ourselves.

In short of the major undertaking to care for and maintain our environment, here’s the best you can do to avoid chemical contamination:
1. Eat foods closest to their original form (whole grain, unprocessed foods, non-packaged foods, and foods cooked from vegetables and meat that come directly from growers whom respect soil composition and animal health).
2. Eat organic produce.  At the very least, avoid the dirty dozen (see next blog post).  And, eat 1/2 to 2/3 your plate in vegetables.
3. Eat grass-fed, free range (pasture-raised is best) meat, and minimize your meat consumption to 1/4 your dinner plate. 
4. Drink organic, hormone-free milk.
5. Do not eat farm-raised fish and anything labeled Atlantic salmon.  Atlantic salmon is a synonym for farm raised fish.
6. Use a water filter (and for some health conditions a shower filter), that not only excludes chlorine, but also lead, arsenic (esp in Seattle), asbestos, VOCs and other environmental chemicals, pesticides/herbicides, pharmaceutical medication, and unwanted organisms from your drinking water.  [See my future blog post comparing water filtration systems.]
7. Avoid ingesting synthetic chemicals yourself.  A good, shall I say, rule of thumb is if the ingredient list is longer than the width of your thumb, it’s probably not good for you.

Here are Liz’ highlights

Canned Tomatoes: Fredrick vom Saal, PhD, endocrinologist at University of Missouri, says the linings of tin cans contain bisphenol-A, a synthetic estrogen linked to heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and infertility.  While the chemical is in all linings of tin cans, acidity leaches it out into the food.   Tomatoes are one of the most acidic of foods in cans.

Corn-Fed Beef: According to a USDA/Clemson University study, grass-fed beef is higher in beta-carotene, Vit E, omega-3’s (anti-inflammatory), conjugated linoleic acid (important for weight maintenance and may be anti-cancer), calcium, magnesium, and potassium and is lower in omega-6’s (pro-inflammatory) and saturated fats (directly linked with cardiovascular disease).

Microwaved Popcorn: Olga Naidenko, PhD, Environmental Working Group scientist, says the chemicals that line the bag of microwaved popcorn may be linked to infertility and cancer.  Major manufacturers have agreed to phase out the use of one of the chemicals, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), by 2015.

Nonorganic Potatoes: Jeffrey Moyer, chair of the National Organic Standards Board, says these root vegetables absorb many chemicals that are in soil, and they are highly chemicalized during farming and marketing.

Farmed Salmon: According to David Carpenter, MD, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment and the University of Albany, farmed salmon is lower in Vit D and higher in contaminants (including carcinogens, PCBs, brominated flame retardants, and pesticides).  His 2004 fish contamination study concluded that “you can only safely eat one of these salmon dinners every 5 months without increasing your risk of cancer.”

Milk Produced with Artificial Hormones: Rick North, project director of the Campaign for Safe Food at the Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility and former CEO of the Oregon division of the American Cancer Society, says that recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST) given to cows increases the hormone insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and this comes out in the milk of animals.  High levels of  IGF-1 can contribute to certain cancers.  In other industrialized countries, rBGH/rBST is banned.

Conventional Apples: Mark Kastel, codirector of Cornucopia Institute (a farm-policy research group that supports organic foods), says apples are sprayed with large amounts of pesticides and are sprayed frequently.  He says, “Farm workers have higher rates of many cancers.”  And, high body burden of pesticides may be linked to Parkinson’s disease.

The 7 Foods that Experts Won’t Eat by Liz Vaccariello: http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/the-7-foods-experts-wont-eat-547963.html

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