Government agencies
Although the FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture routinely label dubious food as “safe,” health-conscious consumers have a tendency to question everything that will end up in their gut. That’s a smart decision since the old saying “You are what you eat” is as vaild today as when the axiom was first uttered.
Ironically, FDA and USDA officials are not immune from their own faulty judgments. Many, like a growing number of the population, develop chronic diseases, need walkers by the time they reach their late 60s, suffer from heart and circulatory disease, are ravaged by arthritis, or die moaning and drugged-up as cancer eats them alive.
They believe its all part of growing old. It’s not. Few of the Ancient Masters ever suffered these diseases. These modern day ailments are primarily brought on by poisons in the food consumed over decades.
Foods that are harmful can be found in virtually every supermart and unless you know specifically what to steer clear of you might slip one or more of these into your shopping cart. Below is a list of five foods that most health experts avoid like the plague, and for good reason. Like a plague these foods can harm your health and may one day lead to debilitating diseases or chronic ailments.
How canned tomatoes can harm you
Medical study after study show that tomatoes have significant health benefits. The fruit is especially beneficial for men as it contains high amounts of lycopene that research reveals may reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
But beware of some canned tomatoes. Why? They can be contaminated with poison.
Because of the high acidic content every variety of tomato has, when steel cans are used the inside of the cans are lined with a protective sleeve that stops the acid from eating into the metal. That lining contains a chemical resin called bisphenol-A (BPA), a synthetic estrogen. BPA’s been positively linked to illnesses that run the gamut from heart disease and obesity to diabetes and reproductive disorders.
Even canned tomatoes that are labeled organic are contaminated with the potentially dangerous chemical resin. So instead of their acids eating into the steel can, the acid in the tomatoes dissolves the dangerous BPA. In turn, the BPA leaches into the tomatoes and they soak it up like thirsty sponges.
Shockingly, recent studies have revealed that the amount of BPA present in most people’s bodies far exceeds the amount necessary to suppress sperm production in human males. It also causes chromosomal damage and mutation in the eggs of mammals.
Advice: use only fresh, organic tomatoes, dried organic tomatoes, or organic tomatoes packed in glass jars.
Why non-organic potatoes are likely poisonous
Why do so many potato farmers swear they’d never consume the potatoes they market? Why do many of them have small, segregated fields where they grow potatoes for themselves and their families without the chemical fertilizers and insecticides they ship off to the grocery stores?.
Because root vegetables soak up more pesticides, herbicides and fungicides than any other vegetable. They can absorb relatively massive amounts of toxic chemicals from contaminated soil.
Potatoes are the worst.
During the growing season, farmers liberally spray their potato crops with strong fungicides to inhibit the growth of molds and fungus. After the spuds are harvested, they’re soaked in harsh chemicals. Those chemicals help to inhibit sprouting and increase shelf life.
Advice: purchase and consume only organic potatoes…unless you enjoy mouthfuls of poison.
Fresh salmon may not be what you think
Although indistinguisable to the eye, two kinds of fresh Atlantic salmon are sold at the fish counters in America’s grocery stores: wild caught salmon and farm-raised.
Farm-raised Atlantic salmon is problematic and may present a health problem for unwary consumers of the fish.
One reason farm-raised salmon is inferior to wild caught salmon is the level of contaminants in the flesh; farm-raised salmon have significantly higher levels of contamination including carcinogenic agents such as flame retardants and pesticides such as dioxin and DDT.
A second reason why farm-raised are bad for long-term health? The entire growing process is artificial. Salmon are confined in small, submerged cages, force-fed soy protein meal; manufactured and hydrolyzed, minced chicken feathers; and ground-up scrapings of poultry litter.
The net affect of that diet causes the flesh of salmon to suffer significant reductions of critical Vitamin D levels and Omega-3 fatty acids. Wild salmon flesh, bursting with Omega-3s, is virtually missing in farm-fed varieties.
Concerns have also been raised about the high amounts of antibiotics and pesticides used on farm-fed fish (similar in some respects to the massive coop factories in the poultry business). Eating fish treated with antibiotics and toxic pesticides exposes the consumer to the same levels the fish receive.
Advice: purchase only wild-caught Alaska salmon. Check the labels carefully. The notice that fresh Atlantic salmon are farm-raised often appears as very fine print.
Corn-fed beef: delicious, but deadly
The meat of cattle can have an array of healthy qualities, but for many decades ranchers have fed their cattle grain: soybeans and corn.
Grains accelerate the production of fat in cattle and produces a more tender beef product. It also increases profits because of a quicker turnaround time from calf to slaughter house. Doing all that also keeps the overall price of beef lower.
Everyone wins, right? Wrong.
This highly developed process creates borderline malnutrition.
A recent study conducted by the USDA and researchers at Clemson University in South Carolina found grass-fed beef, versus corn-fed beef, contains significantly higher levels of beta-carotene, vitamin E, omega-3s, calcium, magnesium, potassium and other nutrients the body needs. Grass-fed beef’s also significantly lower in the type of saturated fats linked to heart disease.
Grain-fed beef are often exceedingly low on many nutrients the body needs to function properly. Like the farm-raised Atlantic salmon, it looks and tastes good, but is cheating the consumer relying on obtaining critical nutrients.
The good news is more ranchers are returning to raising grass-fed cattle.
Advice: Purchase natural range or grass-fed beef. It can be found at most grocery store chains and better butcher shops.
Dairy products to die for
Nowadays, milk and milk products such as hard and soft cheeses, cottage cheese, ice cream and yogurt often come from cows injected with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST). These hormones increase milk production and boost the quantity of milk. The hormones also boost the dairy farmer’s profit margin giving modern dairy operations a huge incentive to use rBGH or rBST.
When the USDA approved the use of rBGH experts at the time believed that it was safe. Yet since then it’s been shown high levels of IGF-1 may contribute to certain cancers such as those that occur in the prostate, colon and breast.
The original panels that approved the hormone additives containing IGF-1 believed it acted like insulin and would subsequently break down in the body and be digested.
Disturbingly, subsequent research reveals it’s not broken down. Instead, the substance casein milk contains serves to insulate most of the IGF-1 in the hormone additives and keeps the IGF-1 from being broken down. Because of this the more milk consumed the greater the exposure to the potentially cancer-causing hormone.
Although most of Europe has banned rGBH, it’s still allowed in the U.S.
Advice: To avoid these hormones carefully check the labels of all dairy products. before purchasing, confirm the product is free of artificial hormones. Certified organic milk will also be free of artificial bovine growth hormones.
Staying healthy means staying informed. Over the long run no one can protect your health better than you. Determining what foods are healthy and which have hidden, adverse health consequences is sometimes a little confusing, but worth it in the years ahead.