Pollution in Newborns

Pollution in NewbornsI’m sorry to say that most people just don’t know this.  I didn’t either, despite the fact that it was published by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in 2005, the year my older son was born.

In their landmark report, Body Burden:  The Pollution in Newborns, the EWG pointed out that an AVERAGE of 200 toxic chemicals were in the cordblood of newborns, meaning that there is only one place these could have come from:  the mother.

They found a total of over 280 carcinogens, heavy metals, endocrine disruptors, plastics, neurologically damaging pesticides and other nasties in these babies.

I remember telling our former pediatrician about the shocking levels of heavy metals that I had discovered in myself and my sons.  She said, “But you don’t live in a toxic waste dump!”

The point is, I don’t think you have to anymore to be this toxic because we’re all being exposed to these toxicants on a daily basis, then unknowingly passing them onto our children, whose toxin load will accumulate over time, and they’ll pass it on to their children.

It’s one of the main reasons we’re seeing such an epidemic of chronic illnesses like cancer and autoimmune diseases as well as developmental delays and disorders such as autism, ADHD, PDD-NOS and sensory processing disorder in children these days.

The good news is that people can be recovered from these conditions.  I’ve recovered my own sons from sensory processing disorder, asthma, eczema and acid reflux.

Here’s the trailer from the well-thought-out documentary, “Unacceptable Levels“.  It’s 2 minutes long and worth it for you to get a glimpse of what’s going on.

Top 10 Reasons Why Fresh Food Is Best

Top 10 Reasons Why Fresh Is Best

Eat like your grandma did, and your health will improve!

  1. Fresh food tastes best: I think we’ve gotten away from knowing what real, fresh food tastes like. Chef Jamie Oliver is famous for going into schools and asking children to name the vegetables he holds up. Very few can correctly identify them because they never eat them!
  2. “The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison” (quote by Ann Wigmore): If we have to detoxify from the processed food that we eat, then our bodies are not able to properly detoxify. Eating whole, fresh foods made from scratch ensures high nutrient levels.
  3. Our “food” isn’t food if it’s packed with artificial colors, flavors, preservatives and long chemical names: “The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children” is a book that shows us how food additives contribute to declining mental health. Your brain and your child’s brain are starved for nutrition, and they’re not getting it if your “food” comes with a long list of chemicals in the ingredients.
  4. Artificial colors, flavors and preservatives can cause ADHD symptoms: The Feingold diet for ADHD shows how all of those pretty blues, yellows, reds and other colors in our kids’ fun foods can cause spaciness or hyperactivity, especially in children. Artificial flavors and preservatives, especially BHA and BHT, do the same. Food isn’t fresh if it’s got these ingredients in it.
  5. Canned foods have high levels of endocrine-disrupting BPA, BPS and phthalates: That plastic lining on the inside of your canned food is doing more harm to your health than you think, as it can lead to hypothyroidism and gunk up your cells’ mitochondrial dysfunction. Plus, the food is definitely not fresh!
  6. Even frozen food isn’t fresh: The late Dr. Annemarie Colbin, author and founder of The Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City, said that freezing fruits and vegetables ruptures the cell walls of the plants, thereby reducing the nutritional value of the food.
  7. You can add love to your food when you cook it: Have you ever noticed how much better food tastes when it’s homemade or made by your mom? Some people think it’s love that makes the food taste better.
  8. Processed food contains more sugar and/or high-fructose corn syrup: Robert Lustig teaches how harmful sugar is to our health. I know you’ve read that statement before, but did you know that sugar is the most inflammatory food there is AND it feeds cancer?
  9. Processed food typically contains unhealthy canola, soy and other harmful vegetable oils: I know you’re scratching your head at this one. It took me a while to wrap my head around it, especially because many “healthy food” magazines tout the benefits of canola and other vegetable oils. The Weston A. Price Foundation shows us how the extreme processing of these oils leads to rancid oils containing high amounts of inflammatory free radicals. Grandma didn’t eat these oils, and neither does my family!
  10. Fresh food has more nutrients: Compared to “healthy” fast food alternatives, fresh, homemade food has more nutrients plus the love you put into it!

TRICLOSAN LINKED TO MUSCLE WEAKNESS

hand sanitizerGreat.  Not only is triclosan, the drug in many anti-bacterial hand sanitizers and soaps, an endocrine disruptor (it damages your thyroid and hormonal system) and a pesticide (it kills your good gut flora), but now researchers are finding out it leads to muscle weakness, including cardiac weakness.

So not only is triclosan linked to allergies and any other chronic conditions with a gut dysbiosis component (like autism, ADHD, allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases, but now it might be linked to Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and heart disease.

Please pass the word.  This is a product no one should be using!

 

TOTAL LOAD THEORY: HOW TOXINS CONTRIBUTE TO AUTISM, ADHD AND MORE

smokestacksLearn how toxins and lifestyle factors contribute to autism, PDD-NOS, ADHD, sensory processing disorder, hypotonia, retained reflexes and developmental delays.

In this video presentation, Patty Lemer, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Developmental Delay Resources, explains the top toxins and their effect on the health and development of fetuses, babies and children.

Patty shows us how endocrine disruptors like soy, fluoride, chlorine and flame retardants as well as heavy metals like mercury contribute to these disorders.

Patty also tells us how to enhance our body’s ability to detoxify as well as how to avoid exposure to toxins.

 

MOST DOCTORS DON’T ADVISE PREGNANT WOMEN ABOUT TOXINS

Most obstetricians do not warn their pregnant patients about toxins like pesticides in food, like phthalates or endocrine disruptors in consumer products, or like heavy metals in the environment that could harm their unborn child.

A great resource on toxins that harm the neurodevelopment of fetuses, babies and children is the Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health CenterRead more…

SOURCE:  Environmental Health News

 

 

 

ALLERGIES LINKED TO CHLORINE

Chlorine in tap and pool water has been linked to a rising number of people with food allergies.  Chlorine is an endocrine disruptor that also kills good gut flora.  Read more…

SOURCE:  Daily Mail

 

FLUORIDE LEADS TO HYPOTHYROIDISM

Fluoride suppresses the thyroid by displacing iodine.  To help support optimal function of your thyroid, limit fluoride exposure and add iodine into your diet.  Read more…

SOURCE:  Dr. John Douillard

PLASTICS AND BREAST CANCER

A new study strengthens the tie between breast cancer and toxic exposures to plastics and carcinogens in the workplace.

Specific industrial sectors with elevated risk included: agriculture, bars-gambling, automotive plastics manufacturing, food canning, and metalworking.

Premenopausal breast cancer risk was highest for automotive plastics and food canning.  Read more…

SOURCE:  Environmental Health Journal

EARLY-ONSET PUBERTY

It’s common these days for girls to enter puberty before discovering “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret”.

“Over the second half of the 20th century, the average age for girls to begin breast development has dropped by a year or more in the industrialized world.

And the age of first menstruation, generally around 12, has advanced by a matter of months. Hispanic and black girls may be experiencing an age shift much more pronounced.”  Read more…

SOURCE:  ScienceNews

FLAME RETARDANTS DECREASE NEUROLOGICAL FUNCTION

Brominated flame retardants are neurotoxic and are linked to neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, ADHD and SPD.

“This study is one of few studies and so far the largest one investigating the neurobehavioral effects of brominated flame retardants in humans.

Consistently with experimental animal data, PBDE (flame retardant) exposure was associated with changes in the motor function and the serum levels of the thyroid hormones.”  Read more…

SOURCE:  Environmental Health Journal