Dr. Mercola is known to be an advocate for organics and against highly processed foods and chemicals in the food supply, so it’s not too surprising that he would share — and then expand on — a list of seven foods to avoid that was originally published by Yahoo.
To quickly recap the deadly seven:
- canned tomatoes, which make the list because of the bisphenol A content in the cans, which is more likely to leach out when acidic foods are involved
- corn-fed beef, because grass-fed has been shown to be more nutritious and cows weren’t built to eat corn
- microwave popcorn has compounds like perfluorooctanoic acid in the lining of the bag that some studies link to cancer and infertility
- non-organic potatoes, because root vegetables soak up a lot of chemicals from the soil
- farmed salmon, because the unnatural settings under which such fish are raised makes them less nutritious and more likely to harbor contaminants
- milk with artificial hormones, which may promote cancer growth
- conventionally grown apples, which have the highest pesticide levels of all produce
But wait, there’s more
As if those seven foods weren’t enough to avoid, Mercola expanded on the list, saying that fresh foods are always better than canned, and if you can’t get produce fresh try for products in glass containers (or, I’d think, frozen).
He also says it’s a good idea to avoid eating any fish, because of recent reports that mercury was found in every sample of fish tested by the United States Geological Survey. He says there’s only a small part of water in Alaska that’s still pristine enough to eat the fish there safely; otherwise, big fish ought to be avoided entirely.
Adding to the list of food horrors, Mercola also notes people should skip unfermented soy because, for one thing, it’s impossible to judge whether organic soy is actually organic. He says unfermented soy has been linked to reproductive disorders, cancer, heart disease and thyroid problems and can lead to gastric distress when consumed in large quantities.
Rules for healthy eating
Mercola also distills the basics of healthy eating into a few general criteria you should always look for: grown without pesticides and other chemicals, not genetically modified, no added hormones, antibiotics or other drugs, and nothing artificial, including preservatives.
He further calls for food that is fresh, didn’t come from a factory farm, is grown in line with nature’s way (meaning animals are raised eating the sorts of food they’d eat in nature) and is sustainable.
No problem, right?
(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
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