Our Health is above all, what we breathe and what we eat. Today it is very difficult to know what is healthy or not. Marketing and rumors are fake friends and can become your enemies!
A few tips, dos and don’ts from our Naturopath will help you be clairvoyant.
Naturopath, Dr Sara Jefferson, remembers : “several years ago I got very excited in Mainland China, when I found a place to buy passion fruit vines. I had a vision of a beautiful vine across my 14F balcony like we used to have in my backyard in Melbourne. Within 2 weeks, tiny thrips had flown up the 14 floors and totally devoured my vine.”
An unfortunate reality in modern agriculture is that herbicides, pesticides and growth enhancers are used in almost every aspect of our food production. The ramification for our health is that our gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and detoxification systems have higher burdens and have to clear out more toxins. This is particularly true for Hong Kong, where we have the added challenges of air and soil pollution and that most of our food is not sourced locally.
Health problems where we see the biggest impact of poor quality foods include:
- Lowered immunity causing more colds and ‘flus
- Acne
- Joint / muscle aches and pains
- Brain fog
- Allergies
- Fatigue and poor energy
- Irritable bowel symptoms
What Can We Do?
Organic foods are a better choice, of course! But they are expensive, come by plane from the other side of the world in plastic packing and are often not as pure as we want to believe. Different countries have different regulations where herbicides and pesticides are used, some countries are more stringent than others. Every year the US puts out a ‘Dirty Dozen’ of foods that have found to have the most contamination, often up to 50 different chemicals.
This is a list from 2017 of fruits and vegetable which should be eaten organic:
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Nectarines
- Apples
- Peaches
- Celery
- Grapes
- Pears
- Cherries
- Tomatoes
- Sweet bell peppers
- Potatoes
These are the foods I encourage you to make a choice for organic, particularly those in bold. I personally worry about potatoes as the leaves are sprayed and the high presence of chemicals found in potatoes means that the plant has absorbed it into their roots – it is not just a matter of peeling them.
On the other hand the following list shows fruits and vegetables considered ‘clean’.
- Corn
- Avocados
- Pineapples
- Cabbage
- Onions
- Frozen sweet peas
- Papayas
- Asparagus
- Mangoes
- Eggplant
- Honeydew
- Kiwifruit
- Cantaloupe
- Cauliflower
- Grapefruit
Corn can be eaten inorganic. While corn is included on this list, it does bring me to another controversial topic, and that is GMO’s or Genetically Modified Organisms. Almost all the corn we eat is GMO which means that DNA from another organism has been introduced to enhance some property. Often the new gene sequences are added to increase resistance so that not as many pesticides and herbicides are used.
Foods most likely to be GMO’s and to avoid are:
- Corn
- Soy
- Rice
- Tomatoes
- Milk
- Potatoes
- Papaya
- Canola oil
- Yellow squash and Zucchini
- Alfalfa
Problems with GMO’s are more of a moral nature. Some issues include the farming of GMO’s increases super resistant bugs and weeds and there is some evidence pointing to an increase in antibiotic resistance in those eating GMO’s, we know they contribute to the decreasing numbers of bees and butterflies, GMO crops can cross pollinate with regular crops and it is illegal to grow certain GMO’s if you don’t pay their creator, there is a cost in decreasing biodiversity and there is still little government oversight. The genes inserted into plants could originally be a sequence from animal, causing a dilemma for vegetarians and vegans. If you choose Certified Organic, this will ensure that your food is not a GMO.
At Dr. Susan Jamieson Integrative Medical Practice we believe that education is an important part of your journey to better health and strive to inform you about topics we believe are important.
Dr Susan Jamieson, GP and Dr Sara Jefferson, Naturopath can help you to improve your health in case of digestion or allergic problems and as an integrative and holistic practice, we will definitively help you to adopt an awareness to protect yourself from our industrial environment.
You can call 2523 8044 or email info@drsusanjamieson.com to book an appointment.