Eat organic or not??

To eat organic or not eat organic?  One of the strongest selling points for eating organic food is the fact that doing so can significantly lower your exposure to pesticides and other harmful chemicals used in conventional agriculture.  Both the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics and a US Endocrine Society task force warn that pesticides pose a major threat to human health, and should be avoided by everyone.  Recent studies confirm that eating an organic diet can significantly reduce your toxic load.  A study published in the October issue of Environmental Health Perspectives showed that pesticides build up in the body.  The study included 20 children living in Oakland, California, and another 20 living in Salinas, California, a major agricultural community.  For the first four days, all of the children ate a conventional diet. The following seven days, they ate only organic food, followed by another five days of conventional food. As reported by The New York Times:  "About 72 percent of their urine samples, collected daily, contained evidence of pesticides. Among the six most frequently detected pesticides, two decreased by nearly 50 percent when children were on the organic diet, and those of a common herbicide fell by 25 percent. Three other frequently detected pesticides were not significantly lower on the organic diet. Levels were generally higher in the Salinas children than in the Oakland children." Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's best-selling herbicide Roundup, is one of the most commonly used herbicides in the world, both on conventional and genetically engineered plants. An estimated one billion pounds a year is sprayed on our food crops, resulting in the average American eating several hundred pounds of glyphosate-contaminated food every year.  Last year, the World Health Organization classified Glyphosate as a class 2 probable carcinogen (causes cancer).  The general rule of thumb is to buy organic produce always.  Safer, healthier.  It’s the way to go.  If you cannot always purchase organic produce, here is a list of the foods that have the most pesticides in them and should be avoided (especially children) due to the toxicity.  Always eat the organic versions of these fruits and veggies.  Peaches, strawberries, sweet bell peppers, tangerines, cranberries carrots, green beans, hot peppers, nectarines, sweet potatoes.

Thought for the Week:  It's bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children's health than the pediatrician. ~Meryl Streep

Chiropractic Thought for the Week:  The “original” definition of chiropractic:  “A philosophy, science and art of things natural; a system of adjusting the segments of the spinal column for the correction of the cause of dis-ease.”  Dis-ease is a chiropractic term that differs from the medical term of disease (meaning illness or condition). Dis-ease means the absence of ease, the lacking of something, the incoordination of the transmission, flow, adaption and soundness of the body caused by disrupted nerve flow.  Chiropractors restore ease to the body by adjusting spinal segments and restoring interrupted nerve impulse flow to the body. The chiropractor helps the body to be healthier by allowing the body to function as nature intended, with the proper functioning and flow of the nervous system.  That is what the chiropractor can offer to your individual health care program.  In addition, chiropractic care has a major influence on immune system function.  Research shows that chiropractic care increases the rate at which the body’s DNA repairs itself.  This is an important marker for immune system health.  In addition, science shows that when the middle back area of the spine is adjusted there is an immediate increase in white blood cells.  White blood cells are the infection fighting, immune system blood cells.  Lastly, in blood serum lab testing, chiropractic patients are shown to have higher levels of resistance enzymes.  The higher the level of these enzymes, the better your immune system functions and the healthier you are. 

Pregnancy Prenatal Chiropractic Info:  New research on the subject of drinking alcohol during and prior to pregnancy shines the light not just on mothers to be or pregnant women, but on the future father.  New research has now demonstrated that it takes much longer than previously believed, longer than a month, for the effects of alcohol consumption to leave the father's sperm. Because of this, it's crucial that couples planning on getting pregnant know how far in advance to stop drinking in order to prevent birth defects.  Male drinking habits prior to conception can have a negative effect on fetal development -- with semen from men who regularly consume alcohol ( as little as 3-4 beers a few times per week)  impacting placenta development, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)-associated brain and facial defects, and even IVF outcomes.  According to research at Texas A & M University, it's crucial that couples planning on getting pregnant know how far in advance to stop drinking in order to prevent birth defects.

Health First Chiropractic Clinics has 3 locations in Atlantic County, NJ

Smithville section of Galloway Township on Rt. 9

Wolf Fitness Center on Tilton Rd in Northfield, NJ

3137 Fire Rd.  Egg Harbor Township, NJ

Author

Dr J. Zimmerman, Chiropractor Dr. Zimmerman is a practicing chiropractor from Galloway, NJ with 30 years of chiropractic practice.