Current Health Articles And News
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The Toxic Five: Why Are They Still in Our Food?
Posted By Dr. Mercola | August 14 2010
The Destruction of Our Food Supply
In this interview, Dr. Chopra covers a lot of ground, including the fact that so much of the foods you find in your local grocery store aren't even real food anymore – and far from safe to eat.
Again we see politicians colluding with big business, which inevitably results in less safety for you and more money for them.
I highly recommend listening to this interview in its entirety, or reading through the transcript, to get the full story.
The use of veterinary antibiotics, for example, has now become a major public health hazard, yet little is being done to curb its overuse.
Seventy percent of all antibiotics used in the US are used in animals raised for food. You need to understand that commercially raised livestock are given these drugs indiscriminately – not because they're sick, but to prevent infections – which are inevitable in factory farm environments, but not in organic farming -- and to stimulate increased growth.
This is one of the driving factors behind the rise in antibiotic resistant bacteria, such as MRSA.
You are literally ingesting antibiotics every time you eat factory-farmed meat, and such regular consumption of antibiotics is an open invitation to develop hardier antibiotic-resistant bugs.
A variety of hormones are also used to promote growth in animals raised for food, and many of them are 'complete carcinogens,' Chopra says.
"Animals don't live long enough to get cancer. Animals are slaughtered and eaten. But there are leftover hormones in their meat. Some of them are synthetic hormones that have been proven to be complete
carcinogens. In other words, they can initiate a new cancer, or they can promote an existing cancer. They'll do both. Therefore they are called complete carcinogens.
They are in the food supply!
If something is a carcinogen, you cannot determine the safe limit for such a product because a single molecule of such a product can attach to a single cell in the body, and if it's done on a daily basis for life, it can trigger and promote cancer.
So therefore, it takes a long time to develop, and the government is saying there is no proof that it causes cancer…
But how are you going to get proof unless there are lifetime studies? And lifetime studies in animals have not been done. They're not allowed to be done. And the governments are not asking for them."
What Can You Do to Protect the Health of Your Family?
If you listen to Dr. Chopra's interview, it will surely drive home the importance of eating organically-grown and raised foods… Ideally, you'll want it to be from a local source as well, for several reasons, one of which is to ensure optimal freshness.
Chopra's descriptions of factory farming conditions and practices are enough to send chills down your spine and question what's really in the food you eat every day. And then, of course, there's the issue of genetically engineered food ingredients, and pesticides, and processing practices that denature the food, ridding it of all its health-promoting goodness, and the list goes on...
There's no doubt in my mind that if you want to maintain good health, you simply must educate yourself about how the foods you eat are produced. When you compare unadulterated, organic foods to conventional processed foods, there's simply no question that one is real food, and the other is anything but!
You may spend more money on organic food today, but your payoff of good health should more than make up for it; and reduce your health care costs in the future.
For more information about the benefits of organic, grass-fed beef, see this previous article, which discusses several of the benefits of grass-fed over factory farm-raised meats. If you're on a tight budget, but want to improve your diet by shopping organic, this is definitely where you'll want to start, as animal products tend to bioaccumulate toxins, concentrating them to far higher concentrations than are typically present in vegetables.
Here's also a listing of great resources to obtain organically-grown, wholesome food:
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Alternative Farming Systems Information Center, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
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Farmers' Markets-- A national listing of farmers' markets.
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Local Harvest -- This Web site will help you find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies.
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Eat Well Guide: Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals -- The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs from farms, stores, restaurants, inns, and hotels, and online outlets in the United States and Canada.
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Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) -- CISA is dedicated to sustaining agriculture and promoting the products of small farms.
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FoodRoutes -- The FoodRoutes "Find Good Food" map can help you connect with local farmers to find the freshest, tastiest food possible.
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