Avoid pesticides and other toxic substances in food and water

Consumer Reports (CR) recommends to always buy organic foods to avoid pesticides
but notes that eating many conventionally grown foods is low risk and that
high consumption of fruits and vegetables is more important to health than limiting
fruit and vegetable consumption just to organics. If you can’t afford to buy organic
produce, buy the fruits and vegetables with the lowest pesticide levels and avoid
the most contaminated ones. Because specific foods have a higher risk of pesticide
contamination, based on their 2020 analysis, CR considers it particularly important
to choose organically grown celery, kale, fresh green beans, spinach, apples, blueberries,
nectarines, pears, cherries, fresh peaches and potatoes. Higher than desirable
levels of pesticide contamination were also found in imported summer squash,
lettuce, strawberries and watermelon.

Choose fish that are less contaminated with mercury. Find information on healthy
and environmentally sustainable fish at www.prhe.ucsf.edu/prhe/tmlinks.html#mercury.
Check local fish advisories. Fish advisories are warnings about the safety of
eating fish. Don’t eat the fish you or others catch before checking these warnings
to make sure the fish is safe to eat.

Limit foods with a lot of animal fat. Many toxic substances build up in animal fat.
Avoid canned foods and beverages as much as you can. Eat fresh or frozen fruits
and vegetables. This helps you avoid exposure to BPA because BPA is a toxic substance
used in the lining of most cans.

To learn how to reduce toxic substances in your drinking water, go to www.prhe.
ucsf.edu/prhe/tmlinks.html#foodandwater. Learn more about reducing your exposure
to pesticides from food at www.prhe.ucsf.edu/prhe/tmlinks.html#foodandwater.

This blog presents opinions and ideas and is intended to provide helpful general information. I am not engaged in rendering advice or services to the individual reader. The ideas, procedures and suggestions in that are presented are not in any way a substitute for the advice and care of the reader’s own physician or other medical professional based on the reader’s own individual conditions, symptoms or concerns. If the reader needs personal medical, health, dietary, exercise or other assistance or advice the reader should consult a physician and/or other qualified health professionals. The author specifically disclaims all responsibility for any injury, damage or loss that the reader may incur as a direct or indirect consequence of following any directions or suggestions given in this blog or participating in any programs described in this blog or in the book, The Building Blocks of Health––How to Optimize Your Health with a Lifestyle Checklist (available in print or downloaded at Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble and elsewhere). Copyright 2021 by J. Joseph Speidel.