I recently came across an article talking about how the following foods can be detrimental to your health.  I wanted to pass this information on!  Please let your friends and family know as well, it is very important…so if you don't want the guilt of knowing, stop reading here!

1.  Microwave Popcorn.  The issue here is due to the chemicals in the lining of the bag.  Perfluoroctanoic Acid (PFOA) are in a class of toxins that are known to be linked to infertility, and cause liver, testicular, and pancreatic cancer (according to a recent study from UCLA).  When microwaved, these chemicals vaporize themselves right into your popcorn.  Once you eat it, it accumulates in your body and basically gets stuck there until a proper detoxification program is done.  So get some pop 'rice' (so much healthier than corn for reasons I won't get into here) at your local health food store and pop it the old fashioned way.

2.  Corn-Fed Beef.  I remember my mom telling me when she was growing up that all the 'cool' farmers fed their beef corn, it was the new greatest thing.  Well, we now know that cows were meant to eat grass.  But corn (and soybeans) fatten up those cows faster than ever.  That means more money for farmers and lower prices for consumers.  Sounds like a win-win at first.  Too bad that it also means less nutrition, and more chronic disease.  The USDA reported a recent study showing that when compared with corn-fed beef, grass-fed beef is higher in beta carotene, vitamin E, omega-3s, conjugated linoleum acid, calcium, magnesium, and potassium; lower in inflammatory omega-6's; and lower in bad fats.  The solution here is to buy local grass-fed beef.  There are plenty of farms around that will sell you a whole cow for a great price.  Then you can share the cow with other family members as well.  So you end up saving money and being healthy at the same time-now that's a TRUE win-win!

3.  Canned tomatoes.  Remember that the linings of tin cans contain bishphenol-A.  This is a synthetic estrogen linked to everything from heart disease, to diabetes, obesity, reproductive problems, and more.  The big issue with tomatoes is that because they are so acidic, the BPA leaches easier into them than other foods.  According to endocrinologist Fredrick Vom Saal of the University of Missouri, you can get 50 mcg of BPA per liter out of a tomato can, which is a level that can cause chromosomal damage and suppress sperm production.  Instead, choose tomatoes in glass bottles, tetra pak boxes, can your own (in glass), or find the BPA free lined cans.

4.  Non-organic potatoes.  Hello people, potatoes are root veggies.  They absorb everything.  This includes all the herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and other junk that ends up in non-organically farmed soil.  Plus, potatoes are treated with fungicides during growing season, then sprayed with herbicides to kill of the vines before harvest, and then after harvest they're hit again with yet another chemical to prevent sprouting!  Yikes.  Try this:  set out an organic potato and a non-organic.  Naturally the potato should sprout.  The organic one will and the conventional one won't.  And get this, Jeff Moyer, the chair of the National Organic Standards Board, has spoken with potato growers who say point blank that they would never eat the potatoes they sell!  They actually have a separate plot for their own potatoes.  Craziness.  There is no real way to scrub the chemicals off.  Its just not going to happen since they're already absorbed.  If you want potatoes, buy organic.

5.  Conventional Apples.  Guess who won the prize for 'the most doused in pesticides'?!  You got it.  Apples.  The reason is that they take these apples from a single tree and keep reproducing to ensure the exact same taste and texture.  That means the apples don't have a chance to create any resistance to pests.  Which means frequent spraying.  Mark Kastel of the Cornucopia Institute showed these specific farmers to have higher rates of many types of cancers as well, and the new studies are linking this higher pesticide burden to Parkinson's disease.  So my opinion is, buy organic.  Don't peel it, the junk is already soaked in.

6.  Hormone treated milk.  Rick North (former CEO of the American Cancer Society of Oregon) explains that cows are treated with rBGH or rBST to boost milk production.  But now these levels are being found in the people consuming the milk along with an increased incidence of breast, prostate, and colon cancers.  Initially (when the government had approved these hormones), it was thought that our digestive tracts could break it down.  Turns out a certain portion of the milk protects this break down.  Most industrialized countries have banned this milk.  My solution would be to check the labels, there are several brands out there without the hormones, but for many other reasons, I would avoid milk from any cow for now.  Try some unsweetened almond, rice, or coconut milk instead (no, not soy).

7.  Farm Raised Salmon.  Its another no-brainer people.  Do you really think fish should be crammed into pens and fed soy, chicken poop, and hydrolyzed feathers?  Something about that just doesn't sound quite right.  Farmed salmon has low vitamin D, and high contaminants (carcinogens, PCBs, flame retardants, antibiotics, pesticides, etc.).  According to Dr. David Carpenter who published his study in the journal Science, if you eat more than 1 dinner of this salmon in a 5 month period, your chances of getting cancer will increase.  Make sure you check your packages or meat counter for WILD caught (don't be fooled by 'fresh Atlantic').  And if you find yourself skipping deep sea fish because the wild is not available, make sure you are supplementing with a QUALITY omega 3 supplement.

Sorry if this was a downer article, but its information that's important to me so I want to be sure you have it as well!  The key is to eat as close as possible to the way nature intended.