Show #4: Pesticides with Tabitha McIntosh

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In Show #4 of the Low Tox Life Podcast…

I talk to a dear friend and one of the smartest, most committed people I know to her work and helping others, Tabitha McIntosh. She’s a naturopath, clinical nutritionist, and owner / founder of the clinic Awaken Your Health in Sydney (although she does skype consults when needed).

 

These are the questions I asked

• To the uninitiated, can you talk about how pesticides came to be used, who’s making them?
• How can we tell they’re on our food? Is there a way? Does EVERYONE who’s non organic use them?
• What are some of the ingredients that make up a common pesticide? (cover metals, hormone disruptors, gut disruptors principally unless you want to really go big on elaborating. We’ll have 50mins)
• What is the health implication of pesticides? Is it different for different ones?
• What is the implication on bee population or other ecology? (maybe reference toxic baby? I’ll be linking that in the show notes)
• What are the major crops that pesticides are used in (GMOs and leafies. I’m interviewing a sustainable farmer and GMO researcher from the US so no need to elaborate on the GMO front other than the basic ‘GMOs are a seed technology that allows plant to withstand higher levels of pesticide or have internal etc thus more pesticides in GM agriculture as it stands today)
• What can we do if we’re on a budget to make organics more affordable? We can discuss together there as I’ll give tips as well as your tips.
• Is there anything that can minimise pesticide residue when we buy non organic produce?
• Is there anything we can do to detox from pesticides from our past?

These are some extra resources and mentions

• Silent Spring – Rachel Carson, Environmentalist in the 60s who first alerted the world to the dangers of pesticides on mass scale.
• Great New York Times article on Rachel’s instigation of the environmental movement
• WEIRD DDT marketing – the early generation of pesticide found to be extremely harmful – OH. MY. GOSH, right? And the continuing use and published findings of the dangers of DDT in infant deaths here in the New Scientist. Buh-bye nasty stuff.

• The EWG “Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen” – Downloadable guide. 

• Alexx’s 10 favourite Organic Savings TIPS from the blog.
• Cracking cruciferous Soup, Nutrient rich pesto two great and very green recipes and my EPIC SALAD veggie inspiration post to help you keep salads fun and exciting.
• Prevention USA’s got a brilliant 25 detox smoothie round up HERE and a favourite of mine is to simply pop a handful of parsley and a handful of coriander in the blender with 1/2 cup each of coconut water and water and the juice of a lime – So refreshing and cleansing, and that coriander in there assisting with heavy metal chelating which is perfect for the task at hand!
• Veggie box delivery – Got a good one where you live? Share in the comments.

My top action for you to take? Swap 5 product items you have on high rotation to organic. That’s it. That’s all you need to do to make a brilliant and big chunky first step towards lowering your pesticide load.

I hope you enjoyed the show! Want to share your fresh produce focused detox smoothie pics online? Or a trip to the market inspired by today’s chat? Be sure to tag @Alexx_Stuart and hashtag #lowtoxlife on instagram, twitter or snapchat.

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Low Tox. Happy People. Happy Planet