by: Dr. Craig A. Maxwell
A fresh salad for lunch, an apple for a snack, and a nice lean chicken dinner with spinach on the side sound like very healthy food choices, and they are. However, if each of these foods is conventionally-grown or raised the health benefits greatly decrease while the risks soar.
What is Glyphosate?
Glyphosate is a synthetic broad-spectrum herbicide used to kill weeds. The most familiar name for glyphosate is Roundup, but it is also in more than 750 other products in the United States.
Roundup Gets in Your Body Even When You Sterilize Vegetables
Conventionally-grown produce looks healthy enough. It’s filled with lively color and has a pleasing taste but just beneath the surface lurks a toxic poison that’s slowly damaging your health. Even when you take conventionally-grown produce home and scrub it vigorously with hot water and food-grade hydrogen peroxide, you’re still very likely eating toxins with every bite.
This is because glyphosate doesn’t just get on your food during chemical spraying it also gets in your food through ground water and soil contamination. Thirsty, growing plants drink the water and absorb Roundup into their roots, where it stays locked inside until it reaches your plate. So, even plants which were not directly sprayed with glyphosate often absorb it through ground water and soil contaminated with it. Livestock is also fed glyphosate-laced crops.
This is one of the primary reasons for the invention of genetically modified “Roundup Ready” crops. Not only is glyphosate terrible for your health, it would quickly kill the crops just as effectively as the weeds. This is why the crops have been genetically-altered; to survive the toxic spraying!
Multiple Health Dangers from Herbicides in Your Food
The health dangers associated with herbicides in your food supply are staggering. Consuming foods laced with Roundup on a regular basis may lead to the following serious health problems:
- Autoimmune Disease
Your immune system is quite amazing. It is designed to protect you against foreign invaders such as bacteria, viruses, mold, fungus, and dangerous chemical toxins. It can easily tell the difference between a food and a toxin so you’re well-nourished and protected throughout the duration of your life.
But what happens when what looks like food is actually a carcinogen called glyphosate? Your immune system gets very confused. Each time you eat foods containing this toxin, your immune system is alerted that your body is in danger.
It attacks, signaling your adrenals to produce defensive chemicals like epinephrine and norepinephrine. Old cells die under the onslaught of the toxins and new cells are born, creating a type of chronic inflammation that doesn’t go away.
You might not even notice it right away. You feel a little more tired than usual, cranky or irritable. You may have unexplained muscle aches or bouts of insomnia. After a visit with your doctor, he may prescribe pain medication or anti-depressants. The symptoms are under control for now but you unknowingly continue to ingest this horrible chemical.
And the symptoms just get worse.
Pretty soon tests may reveal you have chronic fatigue syndrome, adrenal fatigue, fibromyalgia, lupus, or another chronic pain or autoimmune condition. Your immune system simply cannot keep up with the onslaught of chemicals in your body anymore. It’s beginning to malfunction and your body is paying the price.
- Digestive Disorders
Millions of people struggle with chronic digestive problems and it’s no wonder. Glyphosate has been being used as an herbicide for over 30 years. If you suffer with chronic diarrhea, constipation, bloating, nausea, abdominal cramping, indigestion or acid reflux disease, genetically modified food, or glyphosate in the food, could be the cause.
- Hay Fever
Believe it or not, there was a time when there was virtually no such thing as allergies. The only people who sneezed, sniffled or coughed when exposed to pollen or hay were people who had compromised immune systems and that was once very rare! It seems now that few people enjoy healthy immune system function or even know what that feels like.
Continued consumption of glyphosate makes your body work overtime. The Roundup you’re probably consuming each day causes chronic inflammation and keeps your immune system on high alert. Pretty soon, anything and everything looks like a threat. You can hardly leave the house without loading up on antihistamines.
Unfortunately, when you treat allergies with antihistamines, you’re only controlling the symptoms, but you’re not addressing the underlying cause.
- Multiple Food Allergies
I found a disturbing and sad article on the Internet a few days ago about a 3-year-old boy who is dependent on a specific type of formula because his body literally rejects any other source of food. He cannot eat anything else.
What could cause something like this?
One theory is Roundup. If it is estimated that 80% of unborn babies are exposed to chemicals like glyphosate in the womb, the chances of his immune and neurological system being compromised are greatly increased.
Multiple food allergies occur because the immune system can no longer tell the difference between food and a chemical danger. Everything is seen as a threat. Gluten, lactose, nut, shellfish, corn, soy, and citrus allergies are becoming increasingly common as more and more of our foods are changed as in the case with genetic modification.
A steady diet of chemical-laden foods can also cause a condition called leaky gut syndrome. With leaky gut syndrome, the lining of the gut and intestines are more porous than they should be, allowing undigested food particles and chemicals to enter the bloodstream and create chronic inflammation, allergic reaction, mental health problems, and immune system breakdown.
- Infertility
One of the most alarming pieces of evidence I’ve come across about the dangers of glyphosate is its possible ability to chemically sterilize the population. That’s right; sterilize the population. According to a study performed by a Russian Scientist, hamsters fed a diet of Roundup-ready corn and soy experienced complete inability to reproduce by the third generation. Glyphosate seems to cause infertility by altering DNA and interfering with both sperm count and egg viability.
- Antibiotic Resistance
As if glyphosate that gets on and in conventionally grown produce wasn’t bad enough, genetically modified crops bring another alarming health danger to the mix.
In future articles, we’ll discuss the addition of antibiotic resistant genes to the food chain. When ingested, these can affect your gut bacteria and cause antibiotic resistance. If you were ever to become ill from a bacterium containing antibiotic resistant genes, it would be extremely difficult to treat.
- Cancer
Glyphosate is a known carcinogen. Multiple research papers reveal it is involved in the increase of both multiple myeloma and non-hodgkin’s lymphoma. Research into its ability to cause other cancers is ongoing.
Preventing Herbicide-Related Diseases
Even in a world that has become largely toxic, you can still prevent herbicide-related disease so long as you’re armed with knowledge.
- Buy Organic
First and foremost, buy organic food whenever possible. This includes your produce, beans, grains, meat, poultry, and fish. The less herbicides you consume, the less your risk of developing a debilitating or life-threatening disease. Even in major supermarkets, it can be difficult to find the organic food you need to stay healthy. And sometimes, even when you do, the product is incorrectly labeled.
For my patients who struggle to find organic products in their area, I recommend an Alaskan distributor called Vital Choice. At VitalChoice.com, you can be absolutely assured that the food you buy is one hundred percent organic and safe. At Vital Choice, you can choose from organic berries, vegetables, seafood, nuts, dried fruit, beef, sausage, tea, and more. All of it organically-grown and herbicide-free.
- Choose the Right Supplements
Oftentimes, patients come to me with terrible health problems and don’t understand the reason they still don’t feel well. They eat healthy, exercise, and take supplements yet they still suffer chronic pain, allergies, and digestive distress. Imagine their surprise when I tell them that their dietary supplements might be harming their health as well.
Many store-bought supplements contain additives, preservatives, and chemicals that are just as dangerous for you as the herbicides in conventionally-grown and raised food. This is why I created Diamond Nutritionals. My superior line of supplements are naturally derived.
Through thirty years of research, clinical practice, laboratory testing and observation, I know there are tremendous differences in the quality of supplements.
Now that you know you can’t wash the poison off your food, you’re able to make more informed food choices for you and your family. Organic food and quality supplements are worth the extra expense because they help stave off dangerous disease in the future. Invest in your good health today. You’ll feel better than you have in years!
