Why Care ab GMO + Bread Class
Life is hard; food doesn't have to be #112 [vol5, 11.2]
Louisville! Learn to make bread before Thanksgiving. THIS FRIDAY at 6:30pm at Valley View. The recipe I’m demonstrating is super easy & one we’ve used on Wednesday nights. However, I will teach many more things bread related and share my fav / easy recipes.
Cost is $5 at the door. Kindly fill out the registration form so I have enough supplies.
Why Care About Genetically Modified Foods
About 13 years ago I first heard the word glyphosate. I was at a Weston A. Price Conference learning about traditional foods and healthy living. I leaned over to a friend and said, “What in the world is the presenter talking about?” Glyphosate it the chemical name for the most widely used herbicide in the world and is decidedly making us all sick. So sick.
Fast forward and I can’t get away from glyphosate. Literally. It is everywhere and in everything. Last week my husband and I celebrated our 25th anniversary (albeit a few months later.) Walking on the beach I began to listen to the Culture Apothecary Podcast by Alex Clark. The episode was called How Crunchy Moms Will Revolutionize America. Highly recommend a listen and the first 17 minutes spurred a deep dive for me.
Disclaimer: I don’t understand everything about the subject. Please do your own research.
Dangers of Genetically Engineered / GMO Foods
Definitions
GMO is short for genetically modified organism. It is a plant, animal or microbe in which changes have been made to the genome, typically using high-tech genetic engineering, in an attempt to alter the characteristics of an organism.
Glyphosate is the chemical used in partnership with GMOs. It destroys gut flora, weakens the immune system and also breaks down cellular walls, allowing toxins in and makes it difficult for the body to remove toxins.
Roundup, a registered trademark of Monsanto, is the most widely used herbicide in the world and glyphosate is the active chemical ingredient: 280 MILLION pounds of glyphosate are used in the US (alone) each year. How much is used worldwide?!
“Glyphosate is going to make DDT look like mouthwash.” Dr Don Huber, plant pathologist, Purdue University
Dr. Stephanie Seneff wrote the book Toxic Legacy: How the Weedkiller Glyphosate Is Destroying Our Health and the Environment. She writes that glyphosate is the major contributing factor to over 40 western medical diseases.
3 Types of GMOs
info mostly taken from conversation on Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark + guest Zen Honeycutt from Moms Across America
1/ BT: bacteria thuringiensis, makes a toxic protein. Plants are genetically engineered with poison built right into every cell of the plant. So when the corn rootworm comes along and eats any part of the plant, that BT toxin will get into the corn rootworm's stomach and kill it.
2/ DT: desired trait GMO. Imagine this: rotting vegetables that smell putrid but look perfectly fine without browning!! The desired traits in plants are edited, have a desired trait like more vitamin A in rice or cold tolerant tomatoes (using antifreeze gene (afa3) from a fish, the winter flounder.)
3/ HT: herbicide tolerant is the most common. It’s primarily Roundup Ready types of corn, soy, sugar beets, and canola. These GMO plants are genetically engineered to withstand glyphosate herbicide. The two (the herbicide + GMO seeds ) work together like a lock and key. It kills everything else that’s not Roundup Ready. There are 750 brands of glyphosate herbicides, not simply Roundup Ready.
How It Works
The entire crop is sprayed with an airplane or a tractor. The crop will not die, but all the other weeds around it will. The earthworms, the microbes in the soil, anything that isn’t genetically modified.
Glyphosate is designed to kill all plants that it touches except those that are genetically designed to withstand it.
It does this by chelating or "tying up " vital nutrients in the plant. It ties up calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, iron, copper, nickel, cobalt, boron, molybdenum, selenium and potassium and makes these nutrients unavailable. psst: this tying up of nutrients is passed along to humans.
Glyphosate also kills good microorganisms in the soil (that would normally protect the plant from disease) and causes a rapid growth of bad organisms that cause disease that kills the weeds. The weed dies because it essentially has a weakened defense system.
Dr Don Huber says, "It (glyphosate) basically gives the plant AIDS, weakens its immune system."
The problem is that glyphosate does not entirely wash off, dry off, cook off, any of that. It remains on the plant it absorbs in. That's why glyphosate is found in almond milk and wine and things that aren’t genetically modified. (Glyphosate is not sprayed directly on almonds or grapes.)
Glyphosate is used to kill weeds in parks, schools and in landscaping. It is sprayed on the soil prior to planting crops. It is also applied preharvest on a wide number of crops like wheat and oats (not GMO crops) to dry the seed heat and increase yield.
What It Does to Humans
By eating food that contains glyphosate residue we have glyphosate in our bodies. Glyphosate attacks the beneficial microorganisms in our digestive tract and triggers a host of varying health issues for us and our children.
Endocrine disrupting issues: a study showed that rats exposed to glyphosate by the 4th generation, that generation of rats were completely not viable. Glyphosate was introduced less than 50 years ago, so we are approaching the fourth generation. Infertility is a very real and present threat to the human race!
Our body is amazing. We can get rid of glyphosate and a lot of these pesticides within one to two weeks of eating organic foods. That's when the body can start to heal. You'll see the gut lining, the integrity of the gut start to come back together.
When the gut lining is compromised (leaky gut), this causes a host of auto-immune and allergic reactions.
This herbicide is not only destroying our gut, it's an endocrine disruptor - disrupts hormones, impacts reproductive systems.
It's a carcinogen, it's a neurotoxin that damages the nervous system. It causes liver and kidney damage.
It is a poison that must be avoided. Please buy organic when you can.
So when you look at the many different ways that glyphosate harms the body, plus the exposure as the most widely used herbicide in the world, no wonder we are all so sick and on multiple prescription medications!
Top Genetically Modified Foods
Corn - high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, + more than 1,800 corn derivatives
Soy
White Sugar (look for CANE sugar instead)
Canola
Animal feed (esp pork and chicken) - the eggs/meat you choose is important. Protein is a huge portion of our calories and nutrients.
Start Small: Foods to Focus on Buying Organic
Corn Tortilla Chips (cheapest is Costco)
bread / pasta / oats / flour - these are not genetically modified organisms but are sprayed heavily with chemicals just before harvest.
Eggs
Foods you eat most often buy the cleanest version available.
Simple Mindful Swap that’s Not Organic
Cane sugar - There are two types of white sugar. Cane sugar is worth a few extra pennies. If you don’t see the word cane sugar, you’re buying GMO sugar beets.
GMOs I Completely Avoid
Industrial oils: vegetable, corn, soy, canola, etc. Most recipes I swap oil for melted butter. I use lard from farmers for frying, or avocado oil.
Anything with soy. Excellent article on health dangers of soy.
Be mindful that if you eat out more than once a week you are consuming a lot of glyphosate, even if you eat “clean” at home.
My heart in writing this is to underscore how important that we think of food as medicine.
Julie
PS - reminder for the Louisville bread class: registration form
PSS - BOGO a bit longer with Beautycounter, plus free shipping and free gift on orders over $125.
PSSS - don’t just take my word about the dangers of glyphosate, listen to the podcast.