Avoid Food Toxins
Understand that just because your local health food store or wholesome grocery chain carries an item, you can't automatically assume it is better for you than conventional items. There are many items in those stores that I would never buy, usually in the category of being "free" of some ingredient to which a small percentage of people, being replaced by something that is a poor substitute taste-wise and probably from a nutritional perspective.
While I can sympathize with people who are gluten or lactose intolerant, were I in that position, I would focus on wholesome foods that naturally don't contain those ingredients instead of trying to convince myself that an imitation is just as good. That goes doubly so for fake meat: if I were a vegetarian, I would concentrate on eating fresh vegetables, not 3-D printed gook concocted in a laboratory.
My suggestions:
- Buy Certified Organic Foods whenever possible. There is still a potential for pesticide and herbicide contamination, but far less so than non-organic foods. If you just do this one thing, you'll eliminate the majority of risks I've laid out on these web pages. Even better, grow your own if possible. Organic meats and chicken are becoming more readily available, though they can be significantly more expensive.
Some doctors have found that what many believe is a gluten intolerance is actually a reaction to chemical residues in the wheat.
- If you can't find organic, Non-GMO is the next best thing, but is a distant second. There is very little to discourage producers from using glyphosate and other herbicides and pesticides on the crops, as well as antibiotics and hormones in livestock, even if they have not been genetically modified. They can still be certified as non-GMO.
- Opt for uncured meats instead of those with added Nitrates and Nitrites, as long as you can keep them refrigerated. If you are having bacon or sausage from a restaurant, order fresh orange juice with it.
- When you buy Fish, take care to avoid fisheries that source them from polluted waters. That can be a difficult challenge, I know. Try to find antibiotic and hormone-free varieties, and wild-caught if you can't find a non-GMO supplier.
- Certainly, avoid the high glyphosate foods listed on the Contaminated Foods page. If you can't avoid glyphosate for some reason, it may be helpful to take a trace mineral supplement to replace nutrients that have been captured by the glyphosate.
- Avoid the common GMO Food Crops if you're unsure of a fruit or vegetable's status.
- Read Labels! You will be amazed at how many packaged foods contain corn syrup and modified corn starch. Since the vast majority of corn is genetically modified, you get all the Toxicity Concerns with those ingredients. Corn syrup is extremely popular because it is a very cheap way to sweeten products. But the concentrated sugars contained within are also a strain on your metabolism.
- A principle known to nutritionalists is that whole foods (fresh vegetables, grains, etc.) contain all the ingredients needed to properly digest and metabolize that food. Processing removes large amounts of those nutrients, and though some synthetic replacements might be re-added back in, it's never the same.