How Excess Carbon Dioxide Diminishes Nutrients in Plants

Our food system has become a game of Jenga, and we’re running out of blocks to pull from the bottom. Disease and challenging growing conditions threaten popular foods like coffee, chocolate, bananas, and wheat. Bees, nature’s perfect pollinator, are stressed and disappearing rapidly. Plants are also less nutritious, thanks to climate change.

Climate change leads to more carbon dioxide in the environment. Plants enjoy the extra food, growing more quickly, but they are unable to sustain that growth. Too much carbon dioxide affects the amount of macro and micronutrients that in plants. What we eat contain fewer nutrients than ever before due to their “junk food” diet. Do we need to put plants on a low-carb diet?

The Deets

Scientists know that foods are less nutritious than they used to be but previously attributed that discrepancy to modern agriculture’s preference for higher yield crop varieties. Irakli Loladze, a mathematician studying the effect of CO2 on pants for 15 years, finds that climate change has an equal or greater effect on plant health and nutrition content.

Every leaf and every grass blade on earth makes more and more sugars as CO2 levels keep rising…We are witnessing the greatest injection of carbohydrates into the biosphere in human history―[an] injection that dilutes other nutrients in our food supply.”

How diluted are we talking here? A 2017 research paper estimated that by 2050, many of the staple crops we rely on like rice, wheat, barley, and potatoes will lose 7.6%, 7.8%, 14.1%, and 6.4%, of their protein, respectively. This is devastating news for countries that rely on those crops for protein. Eighteen countries could lose more than five percent of their dietary protein, and 148.4 million people will also be at risk.

Plants are also losing many of the essential micronutrients we need. One in three people is deficient in zinc. The concentration of calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, iron, and other minerals in the food we eat has by 8% because of rising carbon dioxide. Scientists and climate deniers alike agree the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is still growing. Will we be able to counter the effects that has on the food we eat?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igLaQ4Gi_0Y

No Easy Solutions, No Quick Fixes

Farming takes time, and results from changes are not always apparent. A new crop takes 15 to 20 years to arrive in stores. Other potential fixes like mass scale composting or reducing carbon dioxide in the air are also time-consuming processes. The well-being of the food we eat and our food system are deteriorating in a world where fewer people have the resources to produce their own food. Are we at the point where we are unable to stay healthy through food alone? Only time will tell…yet it’s the biggest unknown in this entire equation.

Recommended:

• Healthy Sugar Alternatives & More
• Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet

Sources:

• The Great Nutrient Collapse – Politico
• Climate Change is Making Plants More Nutritious – Grubstreet
• Estimated Effects of Future Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations on Protein Intake and the Risk of Protein Deficiency by Country and Region – Environ Health Aspects
• Hidden shift of the ionome of plants exposed to elevated CO2 depletes minerals at the base of human nutrition – ELife

There have been rumblings from farmers dealing with the damage caused by herbicide dicamba for quite some time now, and (legal) shots have now been fired. On Monday, a complaint against Monsanto, BASF, and DuPont was filed in Southern Illinois on behalf of Brian Warren, owner of Warren Farms in Broughton, IL. Filed by an attorney from Classaction.com, Rene Rocha, the lawsuit alleges that dicamba was deceptively marketed as “low-volatility”, a claim that the 2,242 farmers currently dealing with crops ruined by the herbicide would dispute.

Related: Monsanto’s Glyphosate, Fatty Liver Disease Link Proven – Published, Peer-reviewed, Scrutinized Study

Dicamba has been touted as a replacement for glyphosate, whose effectiveness is dwindling as glyphosate-resistant, “super weeds” like Palmer amaranth become more common. For a new product launch, companies commission their own tests and share them with regulatory agencies. Conversations with scientists responsible for initial safety tests run by Monsanto have revealed that the company specifically did not allow them to test their new version of dicamba for volatility. The Environmental Protection Agency allowed to company to release the herbicide anyway.

Currently, more than 3 million acres of crops have been damaged by dicamba drift. States with substantial acreage devoted to growing soybeans, like Iowa, are experiencing record numbers of complaints from farmers. According to Scott Partridge, Monsanto’s vice-president of global strategy, as much as three-fourths of the problems occurring with dicamba application are caused by operator error. This actually makes sense.  The insert that accompanies XtendiMax seems more suited for a meteorologist, with instructions like “If fog is not present, inversions can also be identified by the movement of smoke from a ground source or an aircraft smoke generator…” and a chart designed to inform farmers of the ideal wind speed to apply the product during (3 and 10 miles an hour).

Related: Understanding and Detoxifying Genetically Modified Foods

Where is the Recourse?

If your neighbors have applied the product incorrectly (and they likely have: check out these instructions!), you don’t have much recourse. Insurance companies are unlikely to find in your favor, and Monsanto has made it clear where they feel the blame lies. In fact, the damage caused by dicamba is likely to be a good thing for Monsanto. Farmers hoping to avoid a repeat of this year’s devastated crops could end up purchasing dicamba-resistant crops.

So we arrive back at the newly filed lawsuit. Farmers like Brian Warren who sue frequently lose, or spend so much money and time in court with biotech companies that a win ends up costing more than the initial loss. At this point, many farmers will have to write off this year’s crops and make a big decision about next year. They can purchase dicamba-resistant seeds and grow the demand for a product that isn’t safe and doesn’t behave as promised or they can potentially lose their livelihood. What kind of choice is that?

Sources:

• Monsanto Sued for Allegedly Killing Farmers’ Crops – ClassAction.com
• Iowa Farmers Make Record Number of Pesticide Misuse Claims – Des Moines Register
• Farmers Say It’s Nearly Impossible to Follow Monsanto’s Dicamba Directions – Modern Farmer
• PCBs, Roundup, and Dicamba – Monsanto’s Current Problems – Organic Lifestyle Magazine
• Monsanto Prevented Key Independent Testing of Herbicide – St. Louis Post-Dispatch

In the fish version of a great escape, thousands of Atlantic salmon have escaped from their holding pen at a fish farm in Washington state. The official estimate is currently at 4000 to 5000 escapees, and crews are currently working to recover as many fish as they can. Even so, this is hardly good news for anyone involved, as the invasive Atlantic salmon may breed with native Chinook salmon and pose a threat to the food supply. There were higher than usual tides in the area due to the eclipse, but most of the experts investigating the breach conclude that the culprit was faulty holding pens.

No Concrete Answers

Cooke Aquaculture, the owners of the farm the salmon escaped from, are not sure of the number of fish that escaped, leaving marine ecologists and Washington state wildlife officials to guess at the extent of the damage done. Wildlife officials have invited fishers in the area to help in the repair effort. In a statement from Ron Warren “Our first concern, of course, is to protect native fish species…So we’d like to see as many of these escaped fish caught as possible.” There is the possibility that these escaped fish will also pass diseases onto the delicate Pacific salmon populations.

Future Implications

Michael Rust, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researcher, brings up a good point when he points out that these fish are unlikely to pass on diseases to other salmon, saying “These things are kind of couch potatoes. They are domesticated. Imagine a dairy cow getting lost out in the Serengeti. It doesn’t last very long.”

Perhaps a salmon disease epidemic is unlikely with these particular fish, but there is no way to measure the effect it would have on the animals consuming it. This also calls into question the industry’s ability to handle the ramifications of the new genetically modified salmon, the first genetically modified animal available for consumption. Many of the supporters of the fish claim the chance of escape will be unlikely should feel very uneasy after a mishap of this magnitude.

Related Reading:

• Safe Seafood and What to Avoid in 2017
• Genetically Modified Salmon Is On Its Way To Your Store
• Wild Caught? Maybe Not – Salmon Sold to You May Have Been Farm Raised

Sources:

• Thousands of Atlantic salmon escape from fish farm into Pacific  – The Guardian
• Please go fishing, Washington state says after farmed Atlantic salmon escape broken net – Seattle Times
• Genetically Modified Salmon Is On Its Way To Your Store – Organic Lifestyle Magazine

“Meat” grown in a lab is a hot trend right now, with manufacturers jumping over each other in a quest to be in on the next big food craze. Scientists, environmentalists, and entrepreneurs are extremely excited by the prospect of meeting the world’s growing demand for meat with only a fraction of the resources needed by our current factory farming system. One company, Impossible Foods, has been carried away in that excitement. They began selling their soy leghemoglobin derived Impossible Burger in 2016, despite not being generally recognized as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.

Putting Sustainability First

Cultured “meat” is an enticing proposition. The Impossible Burger uses 95% less land, 74% less water, and creates 87% less greenhouse gas emissions than its cow-sourced counterparts. It’s also free of antibiotics, artificial ingredients, and hormones. This particular cultured meat is made from soy leghemoglobin genes and a genetically modified yeast not unlike that found in common Belgian beers.

Leghemoglobin is a hemoprotein found in the root nodules of leguminous plants – in this case, soy. Once these hemoproteins are broken down, they release heme. Heme contains iron and carries oxygen in the blood, making the veggie burger “bleed” and giving it a meaty texture and flavor. Making the burger entirely out of these root nodules would be expensive and would increase its negative environmental impact, but Impossible Foods, the company behind Impossible Burger, combines the soy leghemoglobin gene to a yeast strain and then grows the yeast via fermentation.  

Can You Eat It?

Sustainable? Yes. But is it safe?

Impossible Foods says yes. The burger has been reviewed by a panel of experts, with scientists from the University of Nebraska, University of Wisconsin and Virginia Commonwealth University generally recognizing it as safe. Rats studies have been conducted, and there were no adverse effects from the soy leghemoglobin protein, even when feeding the rats 200 times the amount a human is expected to consume.

But the magical yeast that allows the company to produce their burger causes other problems. There are more than 40 other unidentified proteins in the impossible burger. In the words of Michael Hansen, a senior scientist at Consumer’s Union, “It’s only 73 percent pure, the other 27 percent is from proteins from the genetically engineered yeast that produces it, and these [proteins] have an unknown function…” Due to these unidentified proteins, the FDA told Impossible Foods that the burger was unlikely to be recognized as safe.

What is Progress?

The Impossible Burger has been available at select restaurants since 2016. Impossible Foods does not need the FDA to categorize the burger as generally recognized as safe to sell it. This isn’t actually illegal, as the FDA’s self-affirmation program does not require new ingredients to be approved. We only have any of this information because Impossible Foods tried to go one step further in the regulation process, applying for the FDA’s GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status.

Impossible Foods has a mission, and that mission is an admirable and necessary one. Forget about figuring out if it’s real or not, climate change is here. Factory farming is not sustainable, even as the demand for meat is still growing. More consumers are looking for quality sustainable or vegan/vegetarian options, and Impossible Foods wants to serve that market. Their website emphasizes their sustainability.

They also make a point to push transparency and encourage questions. That will be crucial for a generation that is looking for corporations to step in where the government is not addressing their needs and concerns.

The food system has to change or it will collapse. Many companies have been stepping up their environmental bona fides in response the Environmental Protection Agency’s current irresponsibility. It remains to be seen if the FDA can cope with the demands of the rapidly evolving demands and realities of a sustainable food system. 

Sources:

• Impossible Burger’s ‘Secret Sauce’ Highlights Challenges of Food Tech – NY Times
• Untested GMO Ingredient Illegally Sold Without FDA Approval – Cornucopia Institute
• Frequently Asked Questions – Impossible Foods
• Silicon Valley’s Bloody Plant Burger Smells, Tastes And Sizzles Like Meat – NPR

They say bad news comes in threes, and biotech giant Monsanto can certainly attest to the truth of that statement right now. Their newest product line, XtendiMax (better known as dicamba), made it to market without proper volatility testing. This refers to the product’s tendency to vaporize and travel. Subsequently, dicamba is drifting, causing major damage to neighboring crops, and currently banned in one U.S. state. There have also been two separate instances of newly released documents confirming that Monsanto knew two of their products, PCBs (from 1935 and 1977) and glyphosate, are harmful and continued to defend and sell them in spite of that.

For years, Monsanto has presented unsafe products as safe with little to no repercussion. Yet it is still on track to further dominate the food supply due to the company’s merger with Bayer. So why are the agencies charged with regulating food and environmental safety ok with Monsanto’s market control in the face of their shady practices?

Recommended: Lyme Disease – Holistic Protocol to Completely Rebuild the Immune System

Past Indiscretions with PCBs

PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were banned pretty much everywhere in 1979 after being linked to cancer and environmental degradation. PCBs began manufacture in 1935, and the first evidence of their toxicity appeared in 1937, after three workers who handled the chemicals died from acute liver damage. Serious health and environmental concerns continue to be reported to this day, even though the largest manufacturer of these, Monsanto, halted their production in 1977.

Monsanto is currently being sued by the state of Washington and eight cities for PCB contamination. Recently released documents have confirmed that Monsanto was aware of the effect of PCBs as early as 1969, eight years before they stopped selling them. A 1969 pollution abatement plan from the company acknowledged the product’s risks, stating “…“The evidence proving the persistence of these compounds and their universal presence in the environment is beyond questioning.” In another letter from a Monsanto manager in 1975, the company knew that “There is a potential real effect to humans – including death…”

In Monsanto’s own words, PCBs are dangerous in more ways than one. Yet they made money and Monsanto is first and foremost a business. But this wouldn’t be the only instance of company records showing corporate profits trump health, safety, and environmental concerns.

Related: Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases

Present Problems with Roundup

More court documents exposing Monsanto’s behind the scenes manipulations were released by attorneys pursuing claims against the company in regards to the link between Roundup and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Attorneys from the law firm Baum Hedlund Aristei Goldman released more than 700 pages of internal documents, detailing Monsanto’s behind the scenes activities. Numerous emails, texts, and other documents confirm that employees at Monsanto ghostwrote and manipulated scientific studies and expert panel discussions, failed to disclose conflicts of interest, discredited multiple negative glyphosate studies, and colluded with the Environmental Protection Agency. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) labeled glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans in 2015, but it’s clear from the recently released documents that Monsanto has known this since before 2008.

These documents also make Monsanto’s strategy for avoiding regulation clear: government collusion. Many of the documents released are communications with high ranking individuals at the Environmental Protection Agency, imploring them to delay scientific reviews of glyphosate multiple times. Monsanto’s has a clear modus operandi once they learn their products cause human harm – muddy the scientific waters, defend it furiously, and make as much money as possible. Their experience with PCBs was a learning experience. The lesson? Get the agencies regulating you to do the dirty work.

Related: Understanding and Detoxifying Genetically Modified Foods

Future Uncertainty with Dicamba

The Environmental Protection Agency approved Monsanto’s newest version of dicamba, XtendiMax, in November of 2016. Poised to replace glyphosate now that many weeds are developing resistance to that product, many farmers instead experienced serious crop loss after illegal versions of it used prior to that release drifted onto their fields from neighboring farms. With the product officially released, Monsanto is now facing a class actions lawsuits from farmers reporting severe losses for the second year in a row.

Testimony from researchers, regulators, and a company employee indicate that Monsanto used its influence to bring the product to market without all of the proper tests, including a proper volatility test. In fact, testing contracts for the product explicitly forbade it. Yet the EPA approved the product without it.

Arkansas was the only state to ask for additional testing. Monsanto denied that request. Arkansas has now banned dicamba, and other states are now assessing damage from the herbicide for the second year in a row. This damage occurs when dicamba drifted to other, non-modified crops, the exact scenario further testing could have predicted. A class action lawsuit is pending.

Is It Too Late?

Monsanto wields incredible influence with government agencies, scientists, and researchers. This allows the company to continually deny and create confusion around health and environmental damages that their products are actually causing. And it’s scary. What chance do we have when those charged with upholding regulations created to protect the public are on the Monsanto Christmas card list?

It took nearly a decade from when Monsanto privately acknowledged the damage PCBs were causing for regulatory agencies to do something about it. The new formulation of dicamba, XtendiMax, has been on the market for less than a year and has been banned in both Arkansas and Missouri. The times are changing.

Recommended Reading:

• Total Nutrition – Make your own Homemade Multivitamin and Mineral Formula
• How to Detoxify From Antibiotics and Other Chemical Antimicrobials
• What Causes Chronic Inflammation, and How To Stop It For Good

Sources:

• Scant Oversight, Corporate Secrecy Preceded U.S. Weed Killer Crisis – Reuter’s
• Monsanto Sold Banned Chemicals for Years Despite Known Health Risks, Archives Reveal – The Guardian
• New ‘Monsanto Papers’ Add To Questions Of Regulatory Collusion, Scientific Mischief – Huffington Post
• Monsanto Weed Killer Roundup Faces New Doubts on Safety in Unsealed Documents – NY Times
• Monsanto Roundup Lawsuit – Baum Hedlund Aristei Goldman
• Class Lawsuit Takes Aim at Dicamba Producers, Accuses Monsanto Reps of Condoning Illegal Spraying – St. Louis Post Dispatch

For many people, sleep is one of the first things to go when their schedule becomes overwhelming. But that starts a damaging cycle where too little sleep leads to sleep conditions, weight gain, and heart disease, among other issues. One of these issues is sleep apnea, a condition where the sleeper stops breathing or only takes shallow breaths while asleep. Someone who wakes up between 5 to 15 times an hour has a mild case of sleep apnea, and someone with severe sleep apnea wakes up more than 30 times.

Sleep apnea can cause serious health problems, but as many as 90% of people with it don’t even know they have it. So what is sleep apnea? How do you detect it? Most importantly, how do you treat it?

The What

There are two types of sleep apnea.

The most common type is known as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and it happens when something blocks airflow while you sleep. The archetypal OSA candidate is overweight, male, drinks, and smokes. Enlarged tonsils or tongue, sinus problems, gastroesophageal reflux, and allergies are other OSA risk factors.

Central sleep apnea (CSA) is much less common and affects less than 1% of people. CSA occurs because the brain stops sending the body signals to breathe while sleeping. It’s more likely to occur in men over 65 who are already suffering from heart problems.

It is possible to suffer from both types of sleep apnea at the same time. Both types increase the likelihood of stroke, diabetes, heart disease, falling asleep while driving, and obesity. In addition, people with sleep apnea already have high blood pressure.

How Do You Know You’ve Got It?

Signs of sleep apnea can include snoring, gasping noises, grinding teeth, brain fog, sleepiness, impotence, depression, and high blood pressure. Dry mouth or drooling may be another sign of sleep apnea, as conditions that cause mouth breathing like sinus infections, colds, or deviated septums also block the airway.

Many of the symptoms of sleep apnea are also treated conditions in their own right, like depression or impotence. This can lead to professionals suggesting treatment for other things before considering sleep apnea. Often family or friends are more likely to notice the snoring or gasping episodes, and a diagnosis usually occurs after a sleep study.

Treatments

For sleep apnea treatment, we can divide them into two different types: medical interventions and lifestyle changes.

Sleep Apnea and Medical Interventions

Surgery is the most invasive of the three options, and frequently performed surgeries include tonsillectomies (to create more space in the throat), rhinoplasties (fixing deviated septums), and maxillomandibular advancement (moving the upper and lower jaw forward).

For most moderate or serious cases, the most common treatment option is a continuous positive airway pressure device (CPAP) or automatic positive airway pressure (APAP) device. These are usually a plastic facial mask attached to a tube and a device that reinforces the airway with pressurized air. While the positive airway pressure treatment methods have been shown to reduce many of the health risks that come with sleep apnea, it’s also uncomfortable and can cause dry mouth, chest discomfort, and nosebleeds. The CPAP device may keep the airway open during sleep, but most people stop using it due to the discomfort. Studies are finding that positive airway pressure therapy doesn’t notably reduce the cardiovascular risk associated with sleep apnea.

Related: Insomnia – A Comprehensive Look with Natural Remedies

Sleep Apnea and Lifestyle Changes

When treating sleep apnea through lifestyle changes, many of the usual suspects apply. Sleep on your side. Stop smoking. Quit drinking. Lose weight.

These are all excellent ideas. It’s important to eliminate inflammation. Soft tissue like the tonsils, tongue, or airway relaxes when you’re asleep. If it becomes inflamed, swollen, or enlarged, it can obstruct the airway.

To deal with inflammation, stop eating processed foods and refined sugars as they trigger the body’s immune response. Make sure to get some sunshine and stay on top of your b vitamin levels, as vitamin D and B deficiencies can also cause inflammation. Easily obtained anti-inflammatory foods include turmeric, ginger, blueberries, chia seeds, broccoli, and red peppers among others.

Must Read: What Causes Chronic Inflammation, and How To Stop It For Good

Another factoring in managing sleep apnea involves clearing out the sinus passages. The buildup of mucus makes it difficult to breathe clearly during the day and results in shallow, fitful sleep at night. If you’re seeing other symptoms of sleep apnea, it’s time to clear out the sinuses. Gargle with apple cider vinegar or a fire cider. Avoid dairy, sugar, processed foods, and other foods likely to cause phlegm and mucus. Hot and cold hydrotherapy can also help things drain out the sinuses.

Many of the steps that deal with inflammation, sinus infections, and sleep apnea in a sustainable way overlap. Everything in the body is connected. Eating a healthy diet that’s 80% fresh, raw organic veggies without processed food will result in less inflammation, better quality sleep, and make it easier to clear out the sinus passages. A diet bereft of vegetables and dependent on processed foods guarantees that any health issues will continue and eventually worsen.

The Importance of Sleep

Inadequate quality sleep is a factor in developing a multitude of health issues, from heart disease to Alzheimer’s to weight gain. Sleep apnea is a stealthy thief, as people suffering from it often don’t realize they’re waking themselves up. If you find yourself waking up in the morning feeling as though you haven’t slept at all, you owe it to yourself to find out if it could serious and reclaim a good night’s rest.

Related Reading:

• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• How to Detoxify and Heal the Lymphatic System
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones
• Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease
• How to Cure Lyme Disease and Virtually Any Other Bacterial Infection, Naturally

Sources:

• Sleep Apnea – Web MD
• Unexplained Fatigue? Sometimes It’s Sleep Apnea. – Washington Post
• The Real Reason You Grind Your Teeth – Ask a Dentist
• 10 Surprising Signs of Sleep Apnea – verywell.com
• Positive airway pressure doesn’t reduce heart risk with sleep apnea – Reuters
• What Causes Chronic Inflammation, and How To Stop It For Good – Organic Lifestyle Magazine

Millet is not sexy. A staple grain in India and the semi-arid regions of Africa, Americans are more likely to associate it with bird seed than delicious dinners. Millet refers to a family of small-seeded grasses. The most commonly available one in the U.S. is called Proso millet, and it resembles a small yellow bead. Other kinds of millet include Pearl millet (popularly grown in India), Foxtail or German millet, Finger millet, and fonio. The grain is also used to feed livestock and brew alcoholic beverages.

Millet doesn’t have a very distinctive flavor and can be difficult to find in your average grocery store. There are also several articles warning you not to consume millet. So why bother with millet? A healthy diet has variety, and millet has something to offer the environmentally friendly eater, the gluten-free eater, and the eater on a budget. Let’s dive in!

Good Millet

Sustainable food is a big deal these days, as climates are more unstable than ever before. A crop like millet plays into what will potentially be the new growing sweet spot – tolerant of drought, high temperatures, and poor soil. Millet also grows quite quickly.

Millet popularity is on the rise in the U.S., in large part due to the demand for gluten-free grains from health-conscious eaters and people with celiacs. In addition to being gluten-free, millet is especially mineral heavy. Like other ancient grains (quinoa, amaranth, and spelt), it contains high levels of magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, calcium, and iron. It’s also a great source of amino acids, protein, antioxidants, and fiber.

Related: Is Wheat Poison? What’s Behind the Rise of Celiac Disease and Gluten Intolerance

With its many nutrients, millet has been shown to support the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and respiratory systems. It has the potential to protect against diabetes and cancer. Millet can also slow the development of cataracts. Scientists have been slow to research millet, so it’s possible that there are even more reasons to add millet to your diet.

Bad Millet

At this point millet probably sounds like a dream come true. The ancient grain-ness of quinoa. The versatility of rice. All without the environmental difficulties, sustainability issues, and arsenic. There has to be a catch…and there is.

Millet (especially cooked millet) contains goitrogens, substances interfere with iodine uptake in the thyroid. This interference triggers the pituitary gland, releasing thyroid stimulating hormones, prompting thyroid tissue growth, and ultimately resulting in a goiter. Goiters are still prevalent in regions with a history of regular millet consumption like India, China, and Central Africa.

Related Hypothyroidism – Natural Remedies, Causes, and How To Heal the Thyroid

This thyroid issue is a more extreme version of the issues people have with eating too much kale and other cruciferous vegetables. Leaky gut seems to be a possible cause or at least exacerbates the symptoms. For someone with these issues or other thyroid conditions, millet may not be the best gluten-free grain option to eat regularly. It can be argued that millet is much more effective as a way to increase the diversity of your diet rather than as a pantry staple.

Related: Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases

Available Millet

So you want to give millet a try. Good news… it’s cheap! Pre-prepared millet most often takes the form of bread, but the real savings are in purchasing millet in bulk and preparing it yourself. Your best bets for finding millet are the bulk/bean and grain sections at the grocery store or online. Even though whole millet with the hull retains more nutrition, the majority of the millet for sale is already hulled.

Despite the loss of nutrients, hulled millet is much easier to cook, and roasting it seems to retain the most protein overall. It makes an easy substitute for rice or quinoa in salads, Buddha bowls, wraps, stuffed peppers, soups and anything else you would use a small grain for.

Diversity is Worth It

Millet has some great things to recommend it from both a health and sustainability perspective. It’s also hard on the thyroid, an organ already experiencing a range of difficulties due to the modern diet and environment. When those two factors cancel each other out, it’s important to remember one thing – everything starts in the gut. A more varied diet leads to a greater variety of gut microbes which in turn improves the overall health of the body. Adding in a side of millet every couple of weeks allows you to increase your culinary repertoire while also inviting some new nutrients and microbes into your life. Don’t you think it’s about time to join the millet party?

Recommended Reading:

• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• How to Detoxify and Heal the Lymphatic System
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones
• Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease
• How to Detoxify From Chemotherapy and Repair the Body

Sources:

• What Is Millet? 6 Reasons to Add it to Your Diet – Global Healing Center
• 7 Amazing Benefits Of Millet – Organic Facts
• Is Millet the Next Super Grain? – Civil Eats
• Beware of Millet – Healthy Home Economist
• How Gut Bacteria Help Make Us Fat and Thin – Scientific American