Here is the truth on 8 common foods and the recommended alternatives:
1. The Pink Slime: It is often called “lean finely textured beef” (LFTB) and “boneless lean beef trimmings” (BLBT). In reality it is a mixture of waste meat and fatty parts from quality cuts of beef. It is often treated with ammonia gas to kill Salmonella and E. colibacteria. It is added to ground beef as a filler.
Food microbiologists assure us that it is safe. There is a lot of controversy surrounding it.
Want to be safe? Opt for organic and/or grass fed ground beef.
2. Beef: It can contain drugs like antibiotics and Flunixin, an anti-inflammatory that can cause kidney damage, stomach and colon ulcers.
Support your farmers: not only will you offset carbon print, you will also get a better quality of beef. Beef from a local grass-fed beef operation rotates the animals on fresh grass paddocks regularly. Select organic meats to avoid drugs in meat if you are shopping at the supermarket.
3. Imported shrimps: Food safety experts refer to shrimps as the dirtiest of the seafood’s dirty dozen list.
They are loaded with contaminants such antibiotics, cleaning chemicals used in farmed shrimp pens, residues of toxic pesticides banned in the U.S. Less than 2 percent of all imported seafood is inspected.
Look for a reputable fish source.
4. Farmed salmon: Farm-raised salmon have been found to have much higher levels of PCBs, dioxin, and other toxic cancer-causing chemicals than wild salmon.
Salmon raised in farms in Northern Europe have the highest contaminant levels. Followed by salmon raised in North America and Chile. Farm-raised salmon have more antibiotics administered by weight compared to any other kind of livestock. They do not have the same omega 3:6 profile as wild salmon.
Give a chance to wild salmon, as it is healthier. The best kind of salmon is wild salmon from Alaskan waters. It is professed to be one of the purest ocean species of fish. The salmon from Alaskan waters have a shorter life span, consequently fewer contaminants in their bodies than the larger types of ocean fish that have longer life spans.
5. Oatmeal: The easy instant-oatmeal packets are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). According to tests from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, may be contaminated with mercury.
Buy organic bulk oats at your local market and add fresh organic fruits.Trader Joes and Whole Foods offer a decent selection of organic oats.
6. Turkey: Half of the U.S. supermarket meat sampled contain staph bacteria, including potentially lethal MRSA.Turkey was the bad champion. Nearly 80 percent of turkey products samples contain staphylococcus bacteria. The overuse of antibiotics is the cause.
Consider pastured turkey and support you local farmers at the same time.
7. Non-organic lettuce: Lettuce is a good source of antioxidants. However, most of the lettuce grown in California is irrigated with water from the Colorado River. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reveals that the Colorado River water is contaminated with low levels of perchlorate, known to harm thyroid function.
Eat organic, locally and in season. Ask your local farmers whether it is a problem in their irrigation water supply.
8. Eggs: Eggs are raised in egg factories where the chickens are crowded together in multi-hen cages. It is a breeding ground for disease, so farmers fill the hens’ food with antibiotics to ward off disease, and the antibiotics end up in eggs. Hens laying conventionally raised eggs may be given hormones and are often fed genetically modified or pesticide laden feed, which can also end up in the eggs.
The key is to look for eggs from pasture-raised or pastured chickens.
Pastured poultry is a sustainable agriculture technique that calls for the raising of laying chickens on pasture, as opposed to indoor confinement and unhealthy crowded cages. These chickens are also fed better food
The eggs are higher in omega-3 fatty acids and free of antibiotic, residues.They are also arsenic–free, as arsenic is added to factory-farmed chicken-feed to prevent infections and spur growth.
The next best choice is organic eggs, followed by cage-free eggs.
Note: None of the information in our website is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any illness or disease. The content on our website is for educational purposes only.
