Nutrition is Key to Optimal Health

“We have seen the future, and the future 

is our food.” 

 

~ Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, 

ONCOLOGIST

Most young girls and boys are blissfully unaware of disease or the role nutrition plays in keeping them healthy. Children naturally depend on the adults in their lives to provide the family with delicious, nutritious food and a clean, safe lifestyle.


Good health should be simple, but thousands of unregulated chemicals, heavy metals and toxins pollute food crops, livestock, the water, soil and air, causing much of our food to be contaminated and compromised.

Our eating habits and exposures to toxins in our daily environment greatly influence whether or not we develop disease, including cancer. The good news is that an organic diet rich in fresh wholesome vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, dairy, eggs, beans, herbs and perhaps limited amounts of meat provide nutrients that work together – synergistically – to fortify your immune system and to help prevent disease from developing.

NUTRITION

The American Medical Association agrees on the importance of proper nutrition, yet the average medical school in the United States offers only a few hours of nutrition education, mostly related to biochemistry, not practical, food-related knowledge. After medical students graduate and practice medicine, fewer than 14% believe they are adequately trained in nutritional counseling for their patients. This means that you need to educate yourself about providing proper nutrition for yourself and your family.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that, “Children receive 50% of their lifetime cancer risks in the first two years of life.”

Blood samples show concentrations of pesticides six times higher in children who ate conventionally grown fruits and vegetables compared with kids who ate organic food. That’s alarming because chemicals used to kill or control weeds (herbicides) and insects (pesticides/insecticides) are shown to be linked to causing cancers and other diseases. These chemicals are sprayed repeatedly during the growing season on conventionally grown food crops, and you cannot wash them off because they are inside every cell of the plants! Note that organic food growers do not use these dangerous toxins and chemicals.

CHILDREN MIMIC ADULTS

Researchers tend to blame genes for cancers that occur in families, although only about 5% are responsible. Families often share more than genes. They also have the same food habits, snack preferences, and lifestyle activities that contribute to poor health. Children of all ages tend to accept the foods and lifestyle patterns they see every day.


“New, groundbreaking research shows that many of the diseases we associate with old age – including cancer – actually begin during childhood, and that poor nutrition and unhealthy eating habits take their toll later on in life,” says pediatrician Dr. Myron Winick. Proper nutrition helps children stay healthy in their early developing years as well as when they reach adulthood.

PROCESSED FOOD

“Nutrition is a critical component to therapy for young children with chronic diseases and medical conditions. Proper nutrition support prevents malnutrition, assures appropriate growth and development, and help to maintain a strong immune system.”


~ Cleveland Clinic Children’s Nutrition,

My.ClevelandClinic.com

American food began to change drastically in the 1950s when saving time and convenience became the new trend.  Fast food offers a cheap meal that is processed with dozens of undisclosed chemicals that masquerade as food, to extend shelf life, not your health.

Cancer was rare in adults and unknown in children a hundred years ago. But chemicals sprayed on food crops since the 1940s have contaminated our food and environment. The incidences of cancer have escalated to alarming proportions since World War II and the most tragic are childhood cancers. 


Numerous studies in the United States have demonstrated clear associations between childhood cancers and exposures to carcinogenic chemicals, including residues commonly found on conventionally grown fruits and vegetables. “The developing child is often much more susceptible to carcinogens than adults,” according to Samuel Epstein, M.D. and Ralph Moss, Ph.D.

ORGANIC – CONVENTIONAL – GENETICALLY ENGINEERED (GMO)


WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES?

ORGANIC FOODS is the gold standard for optimal nutrition, delicious flavor, and health benefits. 


Children, teens, pregnant women, the elderly and people with allergies often benefit the most from an organic diet. Recent studies published in peer-reviewed journals report that organic foods have much higher levels of nutrients you need for optimal health.


Organic food is produced without conventional pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or sewage sludge; no antibiotics or growth hormones; and no genetically engineering or ionizing radiation are allowed in organic food.  The farmer has to follow strict rules to meet USDA standards before it is officially certified organic.

The USDA organic seal assures you of the highest quality and integrity of organic foods and products. Because organic food is grown in well-balanced soil, it naturally tastes better with more flavor.



Your family can also enjoy organic dairy, eggs, cereals, grains, bread, beans, nuts, juices, and meats that are higher in nutrients than conventionally produced foods.


Recent studies published in peer-reviewed journals show that organic foods have much higher levels of vital phyto-nutrients and vitamin content. Organic food is marketed as fresh, frozen, or packaged. If your store doesn’t carry a good selection of organic foods, demand it!


Although organic food sometimes costs a bit more, consider it an investment in your family’s health. Cut back on other expenses to be able to afford organic nutrition. Grow a backyard garden with certified organic seeds to save money and know what’s on your plate. You’ll find a great selection of 150 certified organic vegetable, herb and flower seeds to order online at the Botanical Interests website and at some health food stores.

CONVENTIONALLY GROWN FOODS 

CONVENTIONALLY GROWN FOODS are crops that are not produced with the same high standards as organic. Conventional farmers spray crops repeatedly during the growing season with pesticides and herbicides to kill or control insects and weeds. They use synthetic fertilizers derived from chemicals and sewage sludge contaminated with human and animal waste, pharmaceutical drugs and heavy metals!


Conventionally grown food is often irradiated, dyed, treated with fungicides, waxes, and a whole host of treatments before being trucked an average of 1,500 miles to your market. Many foods are imported from countries where regulations are minimal and toxic DDT pesticide (banned in the U.S.) is sprayed on fruits and vegetables exported to the United States. Produce grown conventionally will have a sticker that begins with a 3 or 4, depending on the size of the food, such as oranges. 


There are unlabeled carcinogens (a carcinogen is anything that causes cancer) and toxins added to 93 conventionally grown foods. To learn more, visit the searchable database on the Internet at WhatsOnMyFood.com for the startling number of pesticides and chemicals on conventionally grown fruits, veggies, and grains that are linked to leukemia, brain cancers, and other health problems.

There is no safe level of toxins! Even extremely low dose exposures to pesticides during fetal development, infancy and childhood are linked to cancers, birth defects, developmental delays and other diseases. Because toxins accumulate in the body, they also contribute to slow-growing adult cancers traced back to childhood exposures.

For example, an apple grown conventionally has 42 pesticide residues including:


  • 7 known or suspected carcinogens
  • 19 suspected hormone disruptors
  • 10 neurotoxins
  • 6 developmental or reproductive toxins

SWEETENER CONSUMPTION

The average American adult consumes 150 to 170 pounds of sugar annually, says the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, compared to only 4 – 6 pounds a year in the 1800s.  With each passing decade, there has been a steady increase of sugar in our diet. Kids typically consume 13 teaspoons and teens 22 teaspoons of sugar every day, according to the National Health and Nutrition Survey.


Sugar is addictive and is linked to several health issues, including cancer because sugar feeds cancer cells! Parents need to greatly limit how much sugar kids and teens consume since it reduces the immune system by 50%, and depletes your life forces of nutrients.

GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS

Genetically engineered foods are also known as GMO, GE or Biotechnology, and were developed by Monsanto and other Biotech companies. Many health experts call GMOs “Frankenfoods” because they are bizarre combinations created in crude laboratory experiments.  Biotech scientists remove the DNA from genes in one or more species and force them into the genes of another unrelated species in ways never found in Nature.

More than 90% of non-organic foods are genetically engineered with foreign genes that come from viruses, insects, toxins, bacteria, animal and even human genes! These foreign genes are spliced into plant genes in what is known as “transgenic.”


Biotech claims their “GMO foods are safe and help to feed the world,” many independent scientists say genetically engineered food safety is highly questionable. 

More than 815 scientists in 82 different countries say “GMO foods are not safe.” They are banned, or require clear labels in 64 countries but not in the United States.

Several independent scientists, especially in Europe, have documented frightening studies that show GMOs can impact your health by causing: cancers, miscarriages, damage to major organs, severe allergies, stunted growth in the young, sterility, burst intestines, leaky gut syndrome, accelerated aging, toxic reactions, and deaths.


The average grocery store in the United States sells about 150,000 cheap food items and 90% are genetically engineered! GMO foods include soy and soy products, corn and corn products, canola oil, sugar beets, rice from China, flax, Hawaiian papaya, yellow crookneck and zucchini squash. Note that if they are labeled “organic,” they are free of GMO products.

BIZARRE COMBINATIONS OF DNA SPLICING

The two main traits in GMO foods are tolerance of herbicides (weed killers such as ROUNDUP), and the ability of the plant to produce its own pesticide, which studies have shown continues inside your stomach and intestines!

  • Tomato inserted with fish or frog genes
  • Broccoli mixed with rat DNA
  • Salmon spiked with human genes
  • Corn spliced with Hepatitis B virus
  • Cabbage infused with scorpion venom
  • Human genes inserted into rice and corn
  • Corn with chicken genes
  • Norwegian rat genes in soybeans
  • Sugarcane infused with human genes 
  • Lettuce spiced with tobacco genes         
  • Corn inserted with pig genes

Vegetarians and conscientious religious groups find this perplexing, not knowing what to avoid, since most GMOs are not labeled in the United States.

Biotech companies and food manufacturers spent more than $ 70 million to fight laws in the U.S. that require labels. They realize that if you know what’s in your food, you won’t buy their products and they will lose money.

U.S. Congress passed a GMO labeling law in 2016 that would allow people with a smartphone to scan a bar code on a food product to find out if it contains GMOs or not. BUT food manufacturers don’t have to disclose that information. When is a label not a label?

“If you put labels on genetically engineered foods, you might as 

well put a skull and crossbones on it,” admitted Norman Braksick, president of Asgrow Seed Company, a subsidiary of the Monsanto Biotech company.

               ~ Kansas City Star, 7 March 1994

WHO IS IN CHARGE OF FOOD SAFETY?

You probably believe that food for sale in your grocery store or restaurant is safe. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be allowed to be sold to an unsuspecting public, right? But the startling truth is different. In their own words:


“Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech (GMO) food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA’s job.” ~ Phil Angell, Monsanto Director of Communication.  New York Times Magazine, 24 October 1998.


“Ultimately, it is the food producer who is responsible for assuring safety.”

~  Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Federal Register, Statement of Policy: Foods Derived From New Plant Varieties, Vol. 57, No.104 (1992), page 229

National polls show that 98% of Americans want clear labels on GMO foods, not a confusing bar code.

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Please note: This website is intended for informational purposes only and is not the practice of medicine. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease. Children Against Cancer assumes no liability or responsibility for the accuracy of information provided by health experts or how it is used. If you have health questions, please consult a qualified physician. Thank you.