Know what is in your food, know your farmer

A week or so ago I wrote a little something on Glyphosate and how to avoid overexposure in your food and although I think it was fairly informative, I’d like to add some more to what I wrote and fill in some of the finer details.

I’m specifically talking about Glyphosate in this blog, but I’m fully aware that there are many other toxins and “enhancers” that go into our food every day that we consume without even thinking about it. I keep hearing comments about cancer and the questions like “why is there so much more of it these days?”. The answer is simple, the reason we get cancer is two-fold: #1 The absolute chemical onslaught on our food sources (meat or veg) and #2 The amount of sugar consumed (bread/grains = sugar by the way). We’re all born with our DNA, can’t change that unfortunately. Some of the genes that make up our DNA are programmed to create disease once activated. To keep it really short and simple, chemical (environmental) exposure turns these genes on and the sugar we consume feeds the disease once activated. It really is that simple.

A combination of convenience and a “modern” lifestyle encourages us to turn a blind-eye and continue to put those chemical laden sugars in our mouth each and every day…and then wonder why we’re getting sick.

The research is overwhelming, the medical journals are littered with case studies that confirm our beliefs, but still nothing changes. Conspiracy? Maybe, but that’s another story. For now, let’s stick to what we know.

We know that Glyphosate is an antibiotic and inhibits a plant enzyme involved in the synthesis of three amino acids: Tyrosine, Tryptophan and Phenylalanine…these amino acids happen to be pretty important to us humans as well.

We know that Glyphosate has a glycine component (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine). Glycine is very prevalent in our collagen, our connective tissue and our fascia. The glycine component of Glyphosate literally helps the Glyphosate fit into collagen and soft-tissue. So then if you feed animals GMO corn and soy animal feed, it’s going to get glyphosate in its collagen and then we’re going to eat it and it gets into our collagen and soft tissue.

We know that the World Health Organization has stated on the record that Glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic in humans”…but nothing seems to be done about the fact that it remains in our foods and the foods we feed the things we eat.

We know that Glycine is a ubiquitous non-essential amino acid in kid’s diets and is very important in their function and development especially in the brain.

We know that when you spray glyphosate on soil in which the mold species Aspergillus (which makes most of the really nasty mold toxins) is present, increases its toxin output by 100 times.

We know that glyphosate removes the beneficial bacteria Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria which help keep the fungi in your gut in check. We all have fungi and bacteria in our body, but it’s in a balance. Glyphosate screws up that balance.

There’s a whole lot more but for this discussion that’s where I’ll leave it.

So knowing all this I couldn’t take it anymore and so this past weekend my family and I drove out to Stellenbosch to find an ethical, organic and environmentally honest farmer from whom we could source our meat free of all the toxic waste. Our mission was to find meat that wasn’t laden with chemicals and hormones, meat that wasn’t going to destroy the bacteria in our gut but also to find a farmer that practiced grazing methods that restored the soil instead of destroying it. Modern farming practices deplete the soil of its nutrients which force farmers to “supplement” the feed with all sorts of “nutrients” that end up in your body.

We already buy our organic produce from the Clack family at Metro Organics in Noordhoek (check them out on Facebook) but finding a clean meat source was our next mission. We met with Angus from the Farmer Angus brand who runs his farm on the Spier estate. His passion for education and farming ethically to restore our depleted soil stocks while producing clean meat was impressive and inspiring to say the least. We got to take a behind the scenes look at the entire operation and I’m happy to say we found what we were looking for. Check him out on www.farmerangus.co.za or on Instagram @farmerangusspier for more information.

The point to take away from all of this is that we have a choice albeit inconvenient at times and sometimes more expensive, but then again what is the cost to the planet and our kids of a society that has chronic disease rates 10s and 100s of times higher than 30 years ago all the while we’re supposed to be getting more and more advanced.

So now what?

Eat as Organic as you can. Buy from the source (a clean source) if possible. Avoid processed foods. STOP EATING SUGAR for Pete’s sake! Take a Probiotic every single day of your life and occasionally change the strain. By removing as many of the environmental toxins as you are aware of your health WILL improve.

There is a lot more you can do, but just following these fairly simple steps can have some profound effects on your health. Start with food first and go from there. If you need more detailed advice, give me a shout I’ll be glad to help.

Remember, when you’re sick it’s not because you have a deficiency of Antibiotics or some other medication, it’s because you have a deficiency of either exercise or micronutrients.

Regards

Dr. Peter J Solomon