Tag: exposure
-
Saturated animal fats as dietary sources of toxic chemicals
Advice recommending the consumption of saturated fat, including from beef tallow, has been in the news lately.1,2 I won’t go into the health issues associated with eating this, as I’m not a medical doctor. My concern focuses more on beef and other animal fats as delivery devices for fat-soluble, toxic chemicals like dioxins, organochlorine pesticides, and…
-
Safe foraging
It’s blackberry season in my area, one of my favorite times of the year. There’s nothing like fresh-picked berries over store bought for flavor. In addition to what we grow in our yards, it’s nice to go collecting in the wild. However, there are a few guidelines to follow to make sure you avoid fruits,…
-
“One word: plastics.” Health concerns and tips to reduce exposure in your diet.
In the nearly sixty years since that line was uttered by Dustin Hoffman in the movie The Graduate, plastics have spread far and wide across the surface of the earth. They, or their breakdown products, are present in samples collected from the deepest oceans, on mountain tops, in air and clouds, our homes, our food, and…
-
Plant-based eating made easy: cookbooks and resources
As I mentioned in a prior post, animals accumulate fat-soluble chemicals such as PCBs, dioxins, and some pesticides at much higher levels than plants, up to millions of times higher. Because it can take years or decades to clear these chemicals from your body, it’s best to reduce your exposure to them in the first…
-
Resources for Finding Less Contaminated Food
The amount of information online about toxic chemicals in food can be overwhelming. However, there are resources that make it easier for you navigate finding safer food. There are apps you can download to your phone, as well as guides you can take with you shopping. I’d recommend trying each of them to see which…
-
Why Gas Stoves are in “Hot” Water
Ordinarily I write about how toxic chemicals get into your food. How you cook also matters— your greatest potential exposure to toxic fumes occurs when cooking on a gas stove…
-
Join #OctoberUnprocessed!
During the month of October, I’ll be tweeting (@Laurel_Standley) on the benefits of an unprocessed diet on reducing exposures to toxic chemicals. This was inspired by Andrew Wilder’s annual event called October Unprocessed (follow @eatingrules). I highly recommend visiting his site (https://eatingrules.com/october-unprocessed-2014/) and signing up for the month as a way to reconnect to ‘real’ food and good…
-
Environmental Toxins and Pets: Suggestions for Reducing Their Exposure
Over the last couple of decades we have learned much about the wide range of toxic chemicals that people are exposed to at home and elsewhere. These exposures are associated with illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, and disruption of reproductive and other hormonal systems. Our companion animals are also exposed to many of these…
Dr. Laurel Standley 