Prioritizing Organic Food
Hey guys! I’m super excited to talk about my recent push to buy organic produce, some research connections I just learned and why it matters for all of us, health issues or not!
When I got diagnosed with POTS and Dysautonomia, they couldn’t tell me why I had developed this condition; Was it genetic? Was it bad luck? Was it an accumulation of years of neurotoxin exposure that had done enough damage to mess up my nervous system? Unfortunately, I will never know the true answer, but regardless, my body is messed up and there were things I needed to do to help it out. A lot of people with these types of conditions/ autoimmune issues, or just severe/excessive allergies, have the same struggles. Our bodies do not handle toxin exposure well. We have much lower limits than most people, are affected much easier, and our bodies get overwhelmed quicker. So, what do we do? We limit exposure as much as possible!
I know there are some naysayers out there who say the body is capable of dealing with toxin exposure on its own. I want to address that really quick. It is true that our body is an amazing machine, with an incredible capacity to help us survive our environment and all the less-than-ideal things we come into contact with. However, with industrialization, the speed at which chemicals have been created, modified and used has FAR outpaced our body’s ability to keep up. Some people still manage just fine (although I would argue there are long term consequences for everyone) but others, like me, and I’m sure most of you, have bodies that just don’t manage quite as well. We might be more sensitive to them and we might just have a much lower threshold for becoming symptomatic. Either way, reducing exposure to help our already struggling bodies is essential in managing our conditions.
Now, there are a lot of ways to accomplish that, but one of the first ways (without having to buy new products swaps for everything in your household, which I suggest too!) is to buy organic food in place of the food you would already be buying anyway. Yes, it is more expensive, but here me out and make then decision for yourself.
Organic means that the way the produce was grown and farmed without human-created chemicals like pesticides and herbicides and fertilizers in the soil (or in the feed given to the animals). It also means all the produce and food given to the animals cannot be GMO either. This hugely reduces your toxic burden from food from the beginning, and then when you wash everything prior to eating it you’re removing germs, but not having to stress about getting all these harsh, synthetic chemicals off your food. Unfortunately, a lot of these chemicals don’t just stay on the surface. They penetrate the skins of produce, and get inside the animals eating them (just like they do with us) and then they are impossible to avoid. This is another big reason why picking organic is so important, you can’t take these chemicals out of your food if they are already there!
Back to why this applies specifically to me (and y’all). POTS and Dysautonomia tend to affect your Gi system pretty severely. They slow it down, make it work less efficiently, cause mineral deficiencies and can cause leaky gut (which can cause a whole host of food sensitivities and allergies in people who wouldn’t have had them otherwise). If that weren’t enough, I recently stumbled on some research that blew my mind. It turns out there are pesticides that are completely legal in the US that are known to break down the intestinal barrier (AKA cause leaky gut) in humans that are otherwise completely healthy. That is just not okay. It’s actually infuriating. No one just trying to eat healthy food, which happens to be grown and covered in chemicals the entire time, should have their body impacted like that. But that’s where our country is right now, so we have to find ways to combat the system.
Like most changes I have made in my life since getting all those diagnoses, it can feel like a lot of extra work, especially in the beginning. It can feel overwhelming and impossible and put you at a loss for where to begin and how to move forward. BUT it’s worth it. Even if you switch just one food a month, every little bit counts. And I also know organic food is more expensive, and not everyone can make the choice to buy it. I will say we have made choices to be able to accommodate higher quality food. We buy organic produce, and cleaner meat, but in exchange we don’t eat out as often and we don’t buy as many processed snack foods (because those can really add up). It’s just deciding which choices you want to make! And if at the end of the day you decide making that switch is not for you, that’s okay too. But I think it worth educating yourself on all the pros and cons and deciding what is best for you and your family. Let me know your thoughts on if buying organic is worth it!