We may never be able to completely eliminate the presence of toxic chemicals in our environment, but we can reduce our exposure by paying attention to those things we can control, like personal care and home cleaning products, and, especially, the food we eat.
With this in mind, a food coop in Sweden challenged a typical Swedish family, the Palmbergs, to take part in a 21-day all-organic diet experiment. The first week, the family ate their standard non-organic diet, providing daily urine samples each day to establish a baseline of toxicity. An independent lab test performed by the Swedish Environmental Research Institute found that eight of the chosen 12 pesticides were in their systems. This included a number of insecticides, fungicides and plant growth regulators.
For the remaining 2 weeks, the Palmbergs adopted a 100% organic diet. Again, daily urine samples were taken. Incredibly – within just a few days – almost all the pesticides were completely gone from their systems!
Others have corroberated this effect. Research published in Environmental Research found that a single week of eating mostly organics reduced pesticide levels by nearly 90% in Australian adults. The study included 4,466 participants.
