Podcast Episode 43 – Top 5 Toxins – Food (Part 1 of 5)

[00:00:00] Hi Patryce. Hi Shonda. How are you? Good. How are you doing? Well, thank you. I'm excited about our topic. Yeah, we have a lot to talk about, right. And. We're definitely going to break this up, but, I guess I'll go ahead and just talk about, what we're, we're headed, , today, or today and in the next few podcasts.
[00:00:22] So, we're gonna try our best to take a deep dive into the top five sources of toxins that can be making us sick, you know? It started with a website. It was whatsadetox.com. I'll put that in the show notes. And so let's see, why should you detox? It's a great question. Our bodies have the ability to eliminate toxins and unwanted matter naturally various organs, such as the liver and the kidneys aid in this toxin removal.
[00:01:04] But these organs become overwhelmed over time. So we want to do something about not overwhelming our organs over time. Right. Honestly, I was just glad you brought this up because I see detoxing everywhere.
[00:01:23] Yeah, it's been, a subject for a long time and, you know, I think, I think there's, a right way. Well, let me say there's a, there are drastic ways of doing detox and then there are more simple ways of detoxing and we're just talking about helping your body to do what its normal function is to do, which is to detox. And so if we've overwhelmed though, those organs, that detox, then we may need a little help. You know, we may need to try to avoid toxins so that those organs can work better. You know yeah. Let's concentrate on a specific time of removing toxins and avoiding toxins so that we can heal better during that time.
[00:02:15] And that's why I thought it was so great that we're going to just talk about what are some of the main top toxins, right? Yeah. Okay. So the last point that this website makes is the accumulation of excess toxins caused by poor lifestyle choices and environmental factors. So we're going to be talking about all of those.
[00:02:35] You want to, um, introduce those five sources that we're going to be talking about today and few. Okay. Let me see if I can remember them. If not, I'll look at my notes, but, uh, I think the first was food and then water. And then environment.
[00:02:52] And then the fourth one was uh, the personal care and beauty products. Now that I think about how could I forget? And then last but not least at all would be our mind, our thought life, for sure. Yes. I kind of want to jump into that right away, but you know, we can put a link. We've talked about that a little bit in some segments. So I'll put a link there, but we will talk about that in detail, in an upcoming podcast, you know, uh, and in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned for that.
[00:03:28 ]We just wanted to discuss ways to minimize our exposure to toxins. Right. And so today let's talk about food toxins. Okay. And there's so much there. you're welcome to start. Wow. Well, you said it well, there's a lot, there's a lot there and there's just so many directions.
[00:03:50] You can go with that, but just from the simplest standpoint, the more we get away from food in its natural state, the more toxin it could be. And what I mean by that is if we're eating food in containers and preserved food with long shelf lives, we have toxins to contend with. And then another toxin that you pointed out is before it even gets to the store, it was grown out in a field.
[00:04:27] And we'll talk probably at more length about the environment. Perhaps, well, we know use of different chemicals being used on crops, so that's another toxin. Um, so there's just different, different angles from which toxicity can be discussed regarding food. Where did you want to start?
[00:04:49] Yeah. Um, well, I want to reference, uh, EWG, the environmental working groups website, because they have a lot of helpful articles there. They have a lot of helpful databases that you can look up products to see what type of toxins are there and what levels of the toxins are there.
[00:05:11] You know? So I really like that. And I've known for a while, but I think you are the first person that pointed that out for me was the dirty dozen, yeah. The dirty dozen, I believe that originated from EWG and I believe it's still on their website and it's the dirty-dozen of fruits and vegetables that have the highest amount of pesticides.
[00:05:35] Yeah, I think they have the clean 15. These have the least amount of pesticides on them... I haven't seen that, but I'm glad to hear about that list too. Yeah, I'll definitely find that in post that below in the show notes.
[00:05:53] So I guess number one is we want to avoid pesticides, right. And another good way when we're looking at that list, a little better way to avoid pesticides would be to choose organic when possible, because there aren't supposed to be pesticides sprayed on organic foods. But there is something that we do have to be aware of when we're going to talk about later the environment, but certain crops are sprayed with pesticides. But hey right across the road, we can have an organic farm.
[00:06:34] That's going to get that same, you know, pesticide residue on it. So, this is just a fact of life, but, uh, it's going to have less pesticides if we choose organic, you know, this is just all possibility. And I don't know to what depth EWG has listed, these pesticides, the contamination amounts. They've done studies. And there is one one, one particular, one that I really want to talk about though.
[00:07:07] And yeah, the chemical that's sprayed very often is glyphosate. Okay. So we spell that G L Y P H O S a T E. And it is something that I learned about a really long time ago. They have many articles dating back as far as 2013, probably even before then. But I found a new article and, um, they're trying to make the public aware, but these are in our children's foods such as cereals Cheerios.
[00:07:46] Is a brand that has a lot of this glyphosate in it. And so does Quaker oats. So I will definitely link that below, but that is really something that we need to think about and what it is is it's the Roundup weed killer. Oh, okay. I've heard of Roundup. You've heard of Roundup. It was specially manufactured for GMO crops and it's soy and wheat and corn, and I don't know, I'm going to have to look up the specifics, but one thing to note about soy is all the soy tofu that's on the shelves. They are non-GMO. But the crops that's being sprayed is that's the soybean for the soybean oil.
[00:08:41] So that's just something to consider. So we really want to avoid soybean oil in our food. So that's an ingredient that would be on the back. Now, glyphosate would not be on the ingredient list, but, um, soybean oil is one.
[00:08:57] What are some other things that you think about avoiding when ... if you are looking at packaged foods? Do you have any specifics? One that comes to mind now that you've I mentioned it and I've seen it more in drinks, especially when the kids did track the Gatorade, the Powerades, and even the track coach used to say, "Hey kids, if you're going to use Gatorade instead of water, water, or coconut water, which is really good, um, please avoid the red Gatorades."
[00:09:26] He would always say, drink the clearest in color that you could, if you're going to drink Gatorade. Because I mean, on the labels that says like FD, different numbers for colors. that's what I've noticed a lot in some of the drinks, but I'm sure in some of the food, there are colors or dyes as well.
[00:09:46] And those are not good either. Yeah, so when we're, when we see colors, F D and C number, whatever there's, yellow, there's blue there's red take note that preservatives are probably included in that food too. I've just noticed that when one's in there they just throw everything in there and, you know, they do that to extend shelf life of those foods. Wow. Okay. Yeah. The colors. And now that you mentioned it, the other thing I've seen is natural flavoring.
[00:10:20] And I always just thought, oh, well, it's natural. But I read somewhere, and I haven't looked it up, but those are not natural really at all. Um, there are things to avoid. You're so right. Yes. I've definitely seen that.
[00:10:34] And we definitely need to put a link to more information about that. And because I have seen lists of what those natural flavors are actually. Yeah, so, okay. There's just so much there, you know, and one that I know... potassium sorbate, that's a preservative and I'll put a link to that and what what's bad about it.
[00:10:57] And these are just some things that I just remember seeing, hydrogenated oils, Although they're supposed to be a move to get those out, but they're just replacing it with something else, you know, some other preservative because they need the food to last on the shelf.
[00:11:12] Right? True. Yeah. So we want to avoid preservatives. We want to avoid colors. We want to avoid all these, you know, oils like specifically soybean oil and there are a few others, I think, canola oil, unless it's listed as non-GMO. Um, wow. Because you know what?
[00:11:37] Like I'm just going to have to call it out the uncle Ben's rice. You know, those little packets that you can get for microwave, which I don't recommend. I know the microwave anyway. Okay. I won't go there. I try and warm up everything in the oven or stove, but those microwave packages of rice.
[00:11:57] If you look closer, these days you'll see manufactured with genetically modified ingredients"- is on that package. Oh, wow. I did not notice that, but I, I'm not surprised. And now that we're going through some of these things to avoid. I don't know if they're in the same category that we're speaking of, but an overabundance of sugar is not good period.
[00:12:23] And, and I, you know, more and more studies are showing that we probably need to detox from sugar sometimes because we just have too much going on in our products, all kinds of sugar from, yeah and then the artificial sugars, which I've read that those may be even worse than the cane sugar.
[00:12:42] I'm sure they're worse than the cane sugar because they're not natural sugars. So the whole idea of just all the sugars, definitely the ones that are the artificial sweeteners, we probably don't want to do a lot of those. Yeah. The others too. The like the ones you said that in the O-S- E. Those are not natural because they have been refined, you know, they're removed from their natural state. And I do want to say though, a lot of the sugar that listed, unless it says organic, that sugar that's listed on many items are from GMO crops. Oh, well, see, I would not have known that. Oh yeah. They're from GMO crops. Beets. Beets is a GMO crop. Yeah. Unless it's organic. Most sugar on products today are from beets and they're GMO beets. Wow. Well, I knew at trader Joe's, once we went to inquire about the corn chips or different chips that were made from corn, , they sit all of our chips are non-GMO.
[00:13:50] So I wonder if. Hold true for everything at their store. I don't know, but I, I will find out because I had never, I just see beets. I'm not thinking non-GMO beets or not. So, um, anyway, that's good information Shonda.
[00:14:04] We do want to let people know that, you know, we're talking about all these things to avoid, and it could sound like a lot. It can sound overwhelming, but it's just a matter of just educating ourselves and making changes. Making changes that make sense for our family and part of making changes that will be healthier for us is eating a more plant-based whole food diet versus more of a standard American diet. So then if you're doing more of a plant-based whole food diet, you won't have to worry as much about these different toxins, um, because you hopefully know where you're getting your food from.
[00:14:46] But, what would you say to that? Because I know when I was a young mother and I start reading all this stuff and learning more and and having a smaller budget. And at one point I did get a bit overwhelmed, to be honest, um, with a young family.
[00:15:00] The only thing I, I would say is don't become stressed out about this. You know, you pray. We know God provides for us our health and our provisions and, and also resources like EWG. If, you know, there are some fruits and vegetables that have more of the, um, the pesticides, then you can go to the other ones that don't.
[00:15:21] So I love how we're providing the EWG link. And on there, it sounds like not only are they telling you which ones to try to avoid, but they're telling you go to these 15 and those are good to go.
[00:15:34] Yeah, you said it exactly. That's exactly a good thing because we don't want to become overwhelmed because that takes us back to creating toxic stress, you know, in our, with our thinking and things like that. But yeah, we are just bringing this to you so that you can become more aware and you can make some wiser choices, you know?
[00:15:55] Um, Just for better health. And like you said, go for more whole foods and it's easier to avoid all of this if we're eating whole foods, you know, and I like to add that whole foods can be made into some really delicious scrumptious food. You know, if, if, if that's what you need to do, I mean, it takes a little bit more work.
[00:16:19] It does, but if that's what you need. Sugar, you know, dates, use dates, you know, and, and just, there are lots of great recipes that use whole foods to make the same food that you may be used to eating, in the standard American diet. You know, you can make cobblers using dates and oats and apples and peaches, you know, there, there's still ways to do this, but you know, it takes learning a different method.
[00:16:52] I mean, just think about it. Well, you learn to bake that cake, you know, you had to learn, if you're making a cake from scratch, I suppose, you know, you learn the steps to make that. So it's just about learning a different method, you know? Exactly. Exactly. I love that encouragement. And, and now with the internet, Hey, you can Google anything, find a video, find people doing it.
[00:17:15] You can have fun watching someone prepare something a new way, and then you can do that and then put your own spin on it. But, um, so we can be encouraged by these different videos out there and, and the food doesn't have to be boring because we're eating it in its whole form.
[00:17:32] Uh, there's just so many things for, for example, carrots, I just like chewing on a carrot, just like it is, but if that's not enough for you, my sister told me. She and her husband chop up the carrots and they cut up the dates that you just mentioned and sprinkle a little salt and that caramelization in the oven, when you bake it with just a little salt... delicious. Sounds like a dessert.
[00:17:58] Yeah. Yeah. For some, yeah. For some, it could be dessert and it could just be a side or something just new to try, right? Yeah okay. That's all great stuff. They're just some really good reference material out there to help get you started. And remember, just start slowly and, and make a little change here and there, and to not be overwhelmed, but just think about, you know, I made a change. I made a positive change and it's good.
[00:18:30] And I'm gonna benefit from it and, and carry on, right? It's all good stuff. I love the idea that we're sharing resources. And if anyone else has any resources, please share them with us because that's part of building a community and encouraging one another. That like you said it's one day at a time.
[00:18:49] It's one day at a time. Yeah, definitely, one day at a time. Okay. Thanks. Thank you. We'll see you all next time.