Chronic Inflammation: How You Are Causing It and How You To Be Rid Of It

You’re (probably) inflamed right now.

But it’s okay, your body is just trying to save your life.

Somewhere in your body, there is a cell that has been damaged by a harmful stimulus. This stimulus could be from foreign matter that is toxic to the body, blunt trauma, or degeneration caused by a lack of nutrition. In response to the damage, your immune system is activated to help repair or replace the cells. White blood cells and other blood components flow to the site of trauma, blood vessels begin to leak into the damaged tissues, and that area becomes more sensitive to all other potentially harmful stimuli. Once the tissue is repaired and cleaned up by the immune system the injury returns to its natural state, inflammation-free.

This process is known as acute inflammation. This is the way your body heals any damage that is done to your cells, and it only lasts for the duration of the injury.

For example, you most likely experienced acute inflammation the last time you stubbed your toe. You hit your toe really hard on a piece of furniture, so fluid was drawn to the area (swelling) and white blood cells came to the rescue. The damaged tissue was repaired, waste was discarded, and after a couple days you forgot that anything ever happened to your toe. But sometimes inflammation can stick around for months, years, or even decades.

When The Toe Stubbing Doesn’t Stop

If you keep stubbing your toe, the cells will never be able to heal and the inflammatory process will keep happening. Inflammation that doesn’t go away is known as chronic inflammation. But if you have chronic inflammation, it is (hopefully) not being caused by you repeatedly stubbing your toe.

Chronic inflammation is caused by having an internal environment that damages our cells. Consider diet. Food that not conducive to cell health damages cells. Chronic inflammation happens because the body is consuming substances that cause damage.

Reversing Chronic Inflammation

The causes of chronic inflammation are influenced by our environment, our genetics, and most importantly, our habits. Many of us don’t have nearly enough control over our environment to ensure it is the healthiest possible, and genetic manipulation is still l a ways off. For almost everyone, chronic inflammation can be prevented and even reversed by eating the right foods and eliminating the wrong ones. Spoiler alert: the right foods are whole foods and the wrong foods are processed!

What Are Inflammatory Foods?

An inflammatory food is any food that creates an inflammatory response regardless of who consumes it. But how do we know what foods cause inflammation?

Scientists tend to measure the levels of C-reactive protein and specific immunoglobulins in the blood to detect inflammation levels, but it’s not feasible for you to test your blood after every meal, so what can you do?

Pay attention to how you feel after each meal.  Tiredness, anxiety, achiness, depression, a constricted feeling in the abdomen or back, a lack of energy, and decreased cognitive function in response to a meal are all signs that the food that you ate caused an inflammatory response. Food should make you feel better and function more efficiently, it shouldn’t be a crutch.

If you continue to eat inflammatory foods, your body will be in a chronic state of inflammation, which can cause and accelerate the progression of heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, and cancer. Inflammatory foods also damage parts of your brain that regulate your appetite and body weight, which will cause you to eat more, store more fat, and become diabetic.

Fortunately, when we reduce our consumption of inflammatory foods, the cells in our brain, blood vessels, and body can finally heal.

The Foods That We Should Never Eat

Highly Refined Foods

All highly refined foods create an inflammatory response. This includes “foods” like cookies, cakes, chips, doughnuts, pizza, cereal, soft drinks, and french fries. These and many other common “food” products are so far removed from real food that they contain high sugar, high fat, rancid oils, synthetic chemicals like pesticides and flavorings, and almost all of the fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals are removed. This is a recipe for inflammation.

Think about your favorite highly refined “food” – the one you think you can’t do without. Now, let’s explore what happens in your body when you eat that food.

As every bite of that food reaches your small intestine, your body diverts its attention to dealing with the excess fat, sugar, and potentially harmful chemicals. Your body tries to keep your blood sugar at safe levels by shuttling the excess energy into your cells, so it can be used as fuel by the mitochondria (the part of your cell that produces all of its energy).

During this process, harmful molecules called reactive oxygen species are created, which impair the function of the cells throughout your body as they accumulate. To clean up the reactive oxygen species and the damage they cause, our body uses antioxidants. However, the level of antioxidants in your body depends on the food you eat.

For example, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and glutathione are some of the most powerful antioxidants we use to protect and heal our cells, but we can’t create Vitamin C and E on our own and we need specific amino acids and sulfur-rich foods to help boost glutathione levels.

After weeks of eating these highly refined foods, your mitochondria will start to malfunction and your body will become chronically inflamed because it is getting too much fat and sugar with almost no help from vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

Eventually, you’ll go to the doctor, and she or he may diagnose you with a disease like heart disease or diabetes, an autoimmune condition, or cancer. It will most likely be a condition that you are genetically predisposed to, but your genetics are only partially to blame. Eating high calorie, high fat, or high sugar foods that lack fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants are most likely the main culprit.

Eliminating all highly refined foods from your diet is a great way to radically change your health for the better, however, there are many other food items that can cause inflammation regardless of their calorie content.

Vegetable Oils

Dietary fat comes in many different shapes and sizes. For example, vegetable, seed, and soybean oils are filled with polyunsaturated inflammatory Omega 6 fats. Inflammatory omega 6s create an inflammatory response. When most of the fat in our diet comes from omega 6s, this will create higher levels of inflammation within the body.

Unfortunately, all of the most easily commonly accessible oils and processed foods are filled with unhealthy, inflammatory oils. There are anti-inflammatory fats, many of which are within the Omega-3 category. These fats promote the inflammatory reduction process. There are also healthy fats the aid int he inflammatory process. We need both. Both are good for us. But heavily cooked, overly processed, rancid fats are never good for us. And these fats lead to the inflammation cycle that is the cause of most modern diseases.

Rancid Oils and Trans Fat

Before you rush to the store to get a salmon filet or fish oil that is packed with omega 3s, it is important to know that all polyunsaturated fats, including omega 3s, are highly unstable. This means that sunlight and heat can render omega 6s and omega 3s rancid, which will make them both toxic to the body. This happens with cooking fish too, but the method of cooking can make a difference, and less well-done fish has more beneficial fatty acids left. The same thing happens when we ingest trans fats, which includes all fully and partially hydrogenated oils.

Factory Farmed Animal Products

Many studies show that animal products like heavy cream and red meat cause a spike in inflammation after consumption. However, it is important to consider the source of the animal products. It is rare to find a study that will pay attention to the quality of the animal products that are used. Scientists are most likely using cheap animal products that are sourced from sick animals that were fed pesticide ridden foods and antibiotics. This leads to animal products that cause a massive spike in inflammation.

Animal products that come from pastured, humanely-raised animals contain more CLA, glutathione, and other beneficial compounds than their conventional, factory-farmed counterparts. CLA and glutathione are both anti-inflammatory molecules that play a major role in reversing many diseases and releasing fat from the body. Pastured animal products are also likely to have less omega 6s.

Related: Why Chronic Pain is Such a Pain and What You Can Do about It

Charred, Smoked, Overcooked, and Fried Foods

How you cook your meat and vegetables could make a nutritious meal into a cancerous substance. When we char or smoke our food, it vastly increases its carcinogenic properties and creates a potent inflammatory response in the body.

Cooking your fats and fatty foods at high temperatures will also render the fats rancid, especially if you are using any vegetable oils or other oils that are high in polyunsaturated fats.

It is best to cook your meat at low temperatures for a longer period of time (think “low and slow”). This ensures that the fat will be stable, the meat won’t be charred, and you will be able to reap all the health benefits of high-quality meat (The same applies to pastured eggs, although it may be best to consume them raw).

But even the highest quality meat and dairy products should be eaten in moderation because they may still cause an increase in inflammation and cancer cell growth. If you accompany your meat with vegetables and herbs, you can get all of the benefits of meat with little to no inflammatory response.

Related: Advanced Glycated End Products

Other Things to Consider

Artificial sweeteners like sucralose, MSG, and pesticides like glyphosate all have a substantial impact on our inflammatory response. Sucralose and other artificial sweeteners may actually blunt our immune response, creating an ideal environment for infectious bacteria and parasites.

MSG directly creates an inflammatory response in the liver and can lead to central obesity and type 2 diabetes. Glyphosate creates inflammation indirectly by damaging the gut wall, which causes the immune system to overreact to previously harmless foods. This means consuming pesticide ridden foods like GMOs and conventional fruits and vegetables can cause leaky gut and food intolerance.

The Quickest Way to Reduce Your Inflammation Levels

We covered a lot about inflammatory foods and their effects, but we still didn’t come close to explaining it all.

Let’s sum it up with the four inflammatory food groups that should never be in any human (or animal) diet:

  1. All highly refined foods, high sugar, high fat, and low fiber foods (cookies, cakes, candy, cereal, doughnuts, etc.)
  2. All vegetable, seed, and soy oils
  3. All pesticide ridden foods like GMO corn, GMO soy, and most conventional fruits and vegetables
  4. All factory-farmed, non-pastured animal products

And never buy these things again.

Replace all of those inflammatory foods with foods that contain anti-inflammatory compounds like organic vegetables, fruits, and herbs that are minimally cooked, and raw nuts and seeds. Each one has a variety of vitamins and minerals, high fiber, and other unique beneficial compounds that improve your health. Make sure you eat a wide variety of different vegetables, fruits, herbs, nuts, and seeds. These should make up almost all of your main course with a side dish of high quality pastured animal products at some of your meals.

By eating in this way, we will provide our body the nutrients and antioxidants we need to stave off mitochondrial dysfunction and promote the health of every cell in the body. In other words, your cells will rarely stub their toes.

Related: Understanding and Detoxifying Genetically Modified Foods

How to Check Your Inflammation Levels

To track your inflammation levels, get a normal blood panel and check your C-reactive protein levels. C-reactive protein is created by the liver when there is inflammation in the body, so it is a great indicator for the level of inflammation in the body. It is commonly suggested to keep your C-reactive protein level Below 1 mg/L, but Dr. Chris Masterjohn suggests that it is better to keep it lower than .07 mg/L.

Read through The Most Potent, Anti-Inflammatory Everyday Foods to find out the specific foods that are best at lowering your inflammation levels.

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The Acne Vaccine Is Coming

Scientists don’t know the cause of acne. They know the bacteria Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) is partly to blame, but beyond that, they aren’t sure the cause of the skin condition that affects nearly 50 million Americans every year. Experts can’t be sure as to P. acnes’ role in acne, as the bacteria is also a part of beneficial processes in the body, like secreting digestive enzymes. That doesn’t matter, though. What matters is that there are 50 million people a year diagnosed with acne every year, and someone needs to fix it, quick. Enter a new vaccine.

Which One of These is Not Like the Other

At the University of California San Diego, researchers are developing a vaccine for acne. Lab tests on skin biopsies collected from test subjects suffering from acne have been positive, and the researchers are anxious to begin the next stage of trials. But if they don’t know the definitive cause of acne, what are they vaccinating against? According to the lead researcher of the project, Dr. Eric Huang, “Acne is caused, in part, by P. acnes bacteria that are with you your whole life — and we couldn’t create a vaccine for the bacteria because, in some ways, P. acnes are good for you…But we found an antibody to a toxic protein that P. acnes bacteria secrete on skin — the protein is associated with the inflammation that leads to acne.”

What is Being Treated?

So this vaccine is targeting a protein that causes inflammation that leads to acne. Here’s where the idea goes off the rails a bit. Vaccines are specifically designed to elicit an immune response, which inflammation is. Basically, scientists are hoping to treat inflammation with a different kind of inflammation. That kind of treatment makes sense if you’re thinking like a five-year-old who cleans their room by shoving everything into the closet or under the bed.

What if a pimple was treated as a sign to take care of your body? When the body (kidneys in particular) are not processing waste out of the body quickly enough, excess toxins push out through the skin. When that waste gets clogged in pores and infected a pimple forms. That’s a lot of steps that happen before the pimple forms, and with each step, there’s an opportunity to put safeguards in place. To focus on fortifying and strengthening your system with fresh, raw, organic produce while eliminating boxes, bags, and sugars? Diet is the foundation of health, but no one is perfect. Pimples can be a sign to look at what you’re eating and dial things back to healthy.

Forcing Nature

You have a pimple and you want it gone. The vaccine can accomplish that. But at what cost? You have a pimple for a reason. Scientists don’t know the cause of acne. If this vaccine is brought to market it will likely be labeled not harmful to humans. But there won’t be any long-term studies. The side-effects will likely be worse than what the vaccine is meant to fix. Those promoting it will never look beyond conventional medicine to actually address the cause of infection. After all, it worked so well with antibiotics.

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Greens Nutrition Powder DIY – Could This Replace Our Veggies?

Vegetables are an important part of our diet, but are they really that important?

Yes.

Skip to How To Make Your Own Greens Powder

The evidence for why we should eat more vegetables keeps on growing. A lower incidence of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, eye disease, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, osteoporosis, and many forms of cancer are all associated with higher vegetable consumption.

Even with all of the evidence supporting the fact that increasing your vegetable consumption is one of the best things you can do for your health, 87% of the United States population did not meet vegetable intake recommendations from 2007 to 2010. This percentage is based on the CDC recommendation to eat two to three cups of vegetables daily, an amount you can easily eat in one meal if you have two sides of vegetables, and only 13% of the population was able to do it.

But that was back before 2010, things must have changed for the better, right?

In a study conducted by the Produce for Better Health Foundation, they found that vegetable and fruit consumption has declined by 7% from 2009 to 2014. They are expecting a growth in vegetable and fruit consumption by 4% in the next 5 years, but an important question still remains. Why are we still struggling to eat more vegetables?

Human Nature Trumps Logic

It doesn’t matter how much evidence supports a specific lifestyle change, humans will always crave certainty and simplicity. Why bother to use fresh produce and spend precious time making something that you and your family may not like when you can get a pre-made meal?

Even though many other factors are involved in our behavior, it is important to recognize that our brains tend to value simplicity and certainty over logic and evidence. Our brains are just not made to handle the complexities of life, but they do know what tastes good and what feels good and would much rather stick to that.

This is part of the reason why most of us will revert back to our old habits after starting a new diet. It doesn’t mean you have a lack of discipline or that you will never be healthy, it simply means that you are fighting against human nature, and human nature always wins, eventually. The key to adopting a healthy lifestyle is to make human nature work for you, not against you.

Related: 8 Easy Steps to Health & Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included

Making Health Easy

71% of American adults consume supplements daily, which is much higher than the 13% who consume two to three cups of vegetables daily. This statistic is a stunningly accurate depiction of human nature. Even without evidence to back up the claims of most supplements, we gravitate toward them like flies to a fly trap. Supplements are so irresistible because, when they work, they make health easier. All you have to do is swallow a capsule and you magically heal your joints or cure your inflammation. Everyone will sign up for that!

Quality supplements are a win-win for your mind and body and a great way to make human nature work for you, not against you. However, it is impossible to take supplements that contain all the benefits and nutrition that are found in fruits and vegetables. The whole vegetable is more nutritious than the sum of its parts, especially when those parts are heavily processed to form a supplement.

But what about greens powder supplements? Over the past decade, green nutrition powder supplements have exploded onto the supplement scene, challenging our definition of what a “whole food” really is.

An Easy Way to Get Your Vegetables?

Vegetable dehydration has been used by humans for hundreds, if not thousands, of years to keep the food from spoiling and maintain the integrity of most of its nutrients. If you then put those dehydrated vegetables into a high-speed blender, you will have a greens powder that is easier to consume than a fast food meal and much healthier than not having any quality produce at all.

Before you order a container of greens powder, you must know that nearly one-third of greens powder supplements don’t live up to their dietary claims and may actually be harmful, according to a report from ConsumerLab.com. One of the supplements mentioned in this report was Vibrant Health’s “Green Vibrance” product, which contained roughly 24 micrograms of the carcinogen arsenic per .4-ounce serving. This far exceeds the 10-mcg-per-34-ounce safety limit established by the Environmental Protection Agency.

This doesn’t mean that you should disregard all greens powder supplements. The same ConsumerLab.com report found that Green Max Powder from Swanson and Juice Plus+ Garden Blend capsules are trustworthy and safe products.

High-quality greens powders still will not have the same benefits as eating whole fruits and vegetables. This is partly because light, air, and heat exposure can render some of the vitamins and other nutrients in fruits and vegetables useless to our body. And there is no way of guaranteeing that the supplement you are taking hasn’t been exposed to too much light, air, or heat, rendering vulnerable vitamins like C, E, K, A, B-6, and B-12 inactive.

Even if some of the vitamins are destroyed during processing, greens powders will still contain many of the same nutrients and antioxidants that you will find in whole vegetables, making this one of the few supplements capable of living up to its health claims. The only way to ensure that you have a nutritious greens powder that lives up to the hype is by making it yourself.  It is a simple and easy way to promote your health and the health of the environment.

The Power of Making Your Own Greens Supplement

In the United States, 30 to 40 percent of the food supply is made up of food waste, and edible food scraps like carrot greens, beet greens, and greens that are not “perfect” make up a portion of this food waste. Carrot greens and beet greens are as nutritious as the carrots and beets that we eat, but what are you supposed to do with them? And what can you do with the leftover greens before they go bad?

Dehydrate them and blend them into a fine powder, and you will have your own nutrient-packed greens powder that helps you and the environment.

How To Make Your Own Greens Powder

You don’t need a laboratory to make your own greens powder – all you need is greens, a source of consistent dry heat, and a high-speed blender.

Step 1

Gather all the greens that will not make it into your meals. Beet greens, carrot greens, spinach, kale, arugula, chard, lettuce, and even sprouts like broccoli sprouts will be perfect additions to your greens powder.

Tip: blanching your leafy greens for four minutes will help to increase the shelf-life of your greens powder, but it comes with the risk of destroying some vitamins. Personally, I have never blanched my greens before dehydrating them, and they have kept well for over 3 months. However, it is important to mention that I have no way of measuring their quality other than smell and taste.

Step 2

Rinse and lay your greens out so that they have consistent ventilation and exposure to heat. This is harder to do by sun drying or using the oven, so it is best to use a dehydrator.

Tip: Make sure your vegetables are dehydrating in an environment with lower humidity. More moisture means longer dehydrating times and a greater chance of spoilage.

Product Suggestion: The Nesco FD-75A Snackmaster Pro Food Dehydrator is a reliable dehydrator that I have used for almost two years without any problems. Its lowest setting is 95 degrees Fahrenheit, so it ensures that the vitamins will not be denatured by heat.

Step 3

Let the vegetables dehydrate at temperatures around 100 degrees Fahrenheit to preserve their vitamins.

Take them out of the dehydrator when they are completely dry and crisp to the touch.

This may take between 12 and 72 hours depending on the quantity and type of greens you are dehydrating.

Tip: If you are dehydrating greens with the stems attached, it will take about 12-24 hours longer for the stem to fully dry.

Step 4

Take your dehydrated greens, put them in a blender, blend them into a fine powder.

Tip: Add powdered stevia if you’d like to give it a sweeter taste.

Product Suggestion: The NutriBullet works really well for making greens powder.

Step 5

You now have your own greens powder!

Store it in a glass container in a dry environment.

Tip: Store it in a tinted jar, like a Miron violet glass jar, to protect it from light damage. You can also add a silicone moisture packet to ensure that moisture doesn’t spoil your powder.

The Easiest Way to Supplement Your Diet With More Vegetables

Now you have your own homemade greens powder with (almost) all of the vitamins and antioxidants intact, along with some of the enzymes and phytonutrients. Add a tablespoon or two of your homemade greens powder to soups, salads, dressings, sauces, or smoothies. With just one tablespoon, you will supplement your meal with almost two cups of vegetables without any extra preparation. Then add in these salad and lemonade recipes into your life and see how that feels.

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How to Regrow Your Favorite Herbs and Save Lots of Money

It’s so easy to get food – just go to the store, find what you want, come back home, prepare it, eat it, and repeat. But what if you just had to go to your windowsill?

Although many fruits and vegetables won’t fully grow on your windowsill, many of your favorite herbs can easily be grown in your house and your garden, so you will always have an abundance of herbs available.

Herbs will not provide you with all the calories that you need to survive, but they are packed with what you need to thrive. They have more vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds than almost any other fruit or vegetable, which make them flavorful and medicinal at the same time.

Featured image credit and cool DIY project: Window-Mounted Hanging Herb Garden

How to Grow an Abundance of Herbs

In this article, we will focus on how to regrow herbs from kitchen scraps with as little effort as possible. It all starts with buying the herbs that you want to grow from your local organic grocery store, and if you are successful at growing them you will never have to buy your favorite herbs again.

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Mint

This herb is most commonly consumed as herbal tea, but it also can be added to dishes like raw carrot salad or cacao-based deserts to make it more flavorful. Mint may help relax your gastrointestinal tract, improve the health of your nervous system and immune system, and prevent cancer. To grow it yourself and get all of these benefits, all you need is a healthy mint stem with leaves.

Here’s how you grow it:

  1. Pick a healthy 3-inch stem with leaves from your bundle of mint. Remove the lower leaves for use in your recipe, but leave a couple healthy leaves on top.
  2. Put the stem in a glass of water on a windowsill that receives plenty of light. When the water starts to look murky, dump it out, and replace it with fresh water to keep your plant healthy. Your mint will develop roots within a couple of weeks.
  3. Once your mint’s roots have grown in, plant it in a pot with soil and water it enough to keep the soil moist.

Tips:

  • Choose an indoor or outdoor location where it receives morning sun and afternoon shade.
  • Mint spreads easily and can take over your garden, so it’s best to grow it in its own pot.
  • Harvest the mint leaves before it flowers.
  • Extend your harvesting season by pinching off the flowering buds as they appear.

Lemon Balm

Lemon balm is a member of the mint family and comes with many of the same health benefits as mint. It was used as far back as the Middle Ages to reduce stress and anxiety, promote sleep, improve appetite, and ease pain and discomfort from indigestion.

Follow the same steps as you do to grow mint.

Tips:

  • It grows best in full sun and will tolerate shade.
  • It prefers slightly moist soil.
  • It will die back to the ground in freezing weather, but regrow from the roots in spring.

Basil

Another member of the mint family, basil is one of the most popular herbs used in cooking across cultures. Not only does it make sauces, curries, and even watermelon taste better, it also fights bacteria, viruses, and chronic diseases.

Here’s how you can grow it:

  1. Take a 4-inch basil cutting right below a leaf node, and remove the leaves off of the basil cutting about 2 inches from the end.
  2. Put it in a glass of water and keep it in your house where it can get sunlight throughout the day.
  3. Change the water every few days.
  4. When the roots grow 2 inches or longer in about two to four weeks, put it in a planter where it can get direct sunlight.

Tips:

  • Grows very fast in 80 to 90 degree Fahrenheit weather.
  • Harvest leaves by pinching them from the stems after the plant has reached 6 to 8 inches.
  • Harvest all the basil before the first frost.
  • Freezing basil best preserves its flavor.
  • Always cut leaves from the top of the plant to encourage more leaf growth and to discourage the plant from seeding.

Rosemary

Most of us can tell when rosemary is around because of its potent fragrance, but do you notice the cognitive boost the smell can give you? Studies show that the smell of rosemary can improve our quality of memory and increase our alertness. The positive effects only increase when we consume rosemary because of its potent antioxidant activity. Add about a 1/2 teaspoon of rosemary to your roasted vegetables and you can increase their flavor while you boost your cognitive function.

To regrow your rosemary:

  1. Snip a sprig of rosemary from 2-3 inches off the top of a healthy rosemary sprig.
  2. Use the lowest leaves for cooking and keep the others that are further up on the sprig.
  3. Place the sprigs in a small glass with the stem fully immersed in water on a windowsill. Change the water every few days and rinse the stems at the same time.
  4. After about 2 months you will begin to notice roots coming from your rosemary sprig. Give the roots about 1 to 2 weeks to sturdy up before you plant them in soil.

Tips:

  • Rosemary takes time to grow. It should pick up speed in its second year.
  • Make sure it gets full sun and light, although partial shade is fine.
  • Let the soil dry out between watering.
  • Use mulch to keep roots moist in summer and insulated in winter.
  • Prune dead wood from the plant in the spring.

Thyme

Thyme has anti-inflammatory properties, making it the perfect herb to fight off diseases that are linked to inflammation like heart disease, asthma, arthritis, Crohn’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease. Simply put it in your soup, stew, or roasted vegetables to infuse your food with delicious flavor.

Rosemary and thyme grow similarly at first. You can start growing your thyme and rosemary in the same cup. However, once you are ready to plant them, put them in separate pots or areas of the garden. Thyme will grow faster then rosemary, and will need to be pruned by one third in the spring. It requires full sunlight just like rosemary.

Parsley

Parsley is packed with Vitamins C, A, and K. It also contains a flavone called apigenin, which can destroy cancer cells. To make the most of this herb you can add parsley to your vegetable juices or smoothies, or have it in salads, dressings, sauces, or soups.

Here’s how you can grow it at home:

  1. Cut a stem of parsley to around 3-4 inches long and leave a few leaves on the top for regrowth.
  2. Place it in a glass of water in a sunny spot on your windowsill.
  3. Transfer it into a pot with soil when roots appear.

Tips:

  • Parsley is a biennial, which means it grows for two gardening seasons then dies. The first year is when it produces the leaves that we commonly eat, and in its second year it goes to seed.
  • It grows well with annuals, perennials, and herbs in full sun or partial shade.
  • Don’t eat the leaves when the plant begins to flower, they will be bitter.
  • You can eat the parsley root as well. Cook it after its sliced or cubed like you would prepare turnips or parsnips.

Cilantro

One of the most pungent smelling and tasting herbs, cilantro is filled with  phytonutrients, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds that may help rid the body of toxic heavy metals like lead and mercury. It is also a good source of vitamins A & K, calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Add it to guacamole, salsa, or sauces to give them more flavor, or juice it and add it to your favorite vegetable juice.

Although cilantro grows better from seed, you can still grow a full plant in a few months from a cilantro stem cutting. Simply follow the same steps as you do to regrow parsley.

Tips:

  • Cilantro thrives in full sun and grows faster than most other herbs.
  • Harvest by cutting the leafy stems near ground level
  • Avoid cutting more than one-third of the leaves at one time.
  • For maximum flavor, chop the leaves and add them to your meal at the last minute.
  • To preserve flavor, store cilantro by freezing it in cubes of water or oil.
  • Let the plant self sow its own seeds and regrow itself or dry the coriander seeds and use them in curry, poultry, relishes, and pickles.

Sage

Sage is a natural antiseptic with preservative and bacteria-killing abilities. It adds a delicious flavor to almost any meat dish, and it can also be brewed as a relaxing tea.

Here’s how to grow it yourself:

  1. Cut a 1-2 inch long stem. Remove all leaves except the top ones.
  2. Place in a glass with the stem fully emerged in water. Place on a sunny windowsill and after two weeks roots should appear.
  3. Plant in soil.

Tips:

  • It grows well in medium to full sun indoors or outdoors.
  • Let the soil dry between watering.
  • For the richest concentration of their aromatic oils, harvest sage leaves in the morning, after the dew has dried.

Oregano

Oregano was revered as a symbol of happiness by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and for good reason. It contains antioxidants and phytochemicals that fight off common happiness destroyers like infections, inflammation, and cancer. Add to your favorite sauce or salsa, or you can use it as a medicine to kill off infections by drinking it as tea or making your own oregano oil.

Oregano is also one of the easiest herbs to grow at home:

  1. Cut a stem measuring 2-3 inches long; just below a leaf node. Remove all leaves except for the ones on the top, and cut off all flowers.
  2. Place the cutting in a glass with water covering at least one of the leaf nodes.
  3. When roots appear within a week, transfer the plant to a pot with soil.

Tips:

  • Only water the oregano when the soil is dry to the touch.
  • It prefers sun with a bit of afternoon shade.
  • Cut out dead stems in the spring before the plants begin new growth.
  • Begin harvesting as soon as the plant is several inches tall.
  • The herb has a stronger taste when it is dried than when it is fresh.
  • For a big harvest, cut the stems just above the plant’s lowest set of leaves. This stimulates new growth for another harvest in late summer.

Marjoram

Marjoram has one of the most subtle flavors of all the herbs we covered in this article. It is a member of the mint family, and a subspecies of oregano, so it comes with the digestive benefits of mint and the anti-bacterial, anti-fugal, and anti-viral benefits of oregano. This makes it a perfect addition to soups, sauces, and salads, as well as home-made skin care products.

Here’s how you can grow marjoram:

  1. Cut a stem a few inches long and remove all the leaves except a few from the top.
  2. Place in a glass of water with the waterline fully covering the stem.
  3. Transfer to soil when roots appear.

Tips:

  • Prefers full sun
  • Trim the plants when buds appear to ensure continued growth
  • Begin picking fresh leaves as needed 4 to 6 weeks after planting
  • Keeps its full flavor fresh or dry.

Lavender

If you want to calm your anxiety, just break off some lavender flowers, grind them between your fingers, and take in its aroma. Lavender is similar to rosemary because one sniff can change your state of being. However, lavender will sedate you and relax you rather then increase your alertness like rosemary.

Lavender also can help calm skin inflammation, so it will be a perfect herb to add to your homemade soaps and lotions. If you think you’ll like the taste of lavender then you can add it to roasted rooted vegetables and your favorite sweets like cookies, chocolates, and frozen deserts. Lavender goes especially well with honey.

Here’s how you can regrow lavender at home:

  1. In the spring, Cut 3-4 inches from the soft, pliable tips of new growth on a lavender plant.
  2. Remove all of the leaves from the lower 2 inches of the stem and then gently scrape the skin off the bottom portion of the stem on one side with a knife.
  3. Fill a small pot with a homemade mix of half vermiculite or perlite and half peat moss
  4. Stick the lower end of the cutting about 2 inches into the soil and firm the soil so that the cutting stands up straight. Cover with plastic to form a greenhouse-like environment for the cuttings.
  5. Remove the plastic when the cutting has roots. This will take two to four weeks.
  6. Set the plant in a sunny location and water it when the soil is dry an inch or so below the surface.

Tips:

  • Gently tug your lavender cutting to see if it has roots. If it resists the tug then it has roots. (Only tug the cutting once every 3 to 4 days.)
  • Put the lavender in a container with adequate drainage. Lavender doesn’t like to be damp.
  • It will grow best when it receives 8 hours of sun a day.
  • Lavender thrives in warm temperatures.

Garlic

Garlic is delicious to our taste buds and  spectacular for our health. It contains a miraculous compound called allicin, which prevents cancer, boosts our immune system, reduces blood pressure, and improves cholesterol levels. Garlic also helps reduce oxidative stress, heal inflammation, and detoxify heavy metals.

And it’s easy to grow:

  1. Separate the cloves from your organic garlic bulb.
  2. Plant them pointy sides facing up  two inches deep in the soil (pot or garden.)
  3. Harvest when the green tops begin to yellow and fall over. This will be in July or August in northern climates.
Related: Garlic – The Most Amazing Herb On The Planet

Tips:

  • Plant it a month before the ground freezes.
  • Fertilize it with nitrogen from things like crushed egg shells.
  • Cut off any flower shoots to encourage bulb growth.
  • After harvest, let the bulbs cure in an airy, shady spot for two weeks.
  • Save your largest, best-formed bulbs to regrow in the fall.
  • Northern gardeners should mulch heavily with straw for over-the- winter outdoor gardening. Remove mulch after the threat of frost has passed.
  • Water every 3 to 5 days from May through June.
  • Ensure they get full sun.

Ginger

Ginger is commonly known for its ability to treat indigestion and nausea, but it also contains potent anti-inflammatory compounds that can prevent heart disease and reduce the symptoms of osteoarthritis. You can easily make it into a delicious tea or supplement with a slice of ginger with every meal to promote digestion and gain its other healing effects.

Ginger can easily be grown in its own pot indoors. Here’s how:

  1. Find an organic ginger root that is plump with tight skin, not shriveled and old. Soak it overnight in warm water to get it ready for planting.
  2. Stick the ginger root with the eye bud pointing up and cover it with 1-2 inches of soil, and water it well.
  3. Keep the soil moist, and make sure the ginger is in a reasonably warm area that doesn’t get too much direct sunlight. After a few weeks, you will see shoots popping out of the soil.
  4. Small pieces of ginger can be harvested 3-4 months after growth begins. Just cut off what you need and place it back in the soil to regrow.
Related: The Amazing Herbal Power of Ginger

Tips:

  • Ginger grows well in partial or full shade, making it a great indoor plant.
  • If your root has several eye buds, it can be cut into pieces, and each bud can be placed in a separate pot to produce several plants.
  • Ginger thrives in shallow and wide pots.
  • If you prefer a larger harvest, take ginger out of the soil when the plant begins to die back, and replant the healthiest looking ginger.
  • If you need a slice of ginger, you can slice a piece off at any time and replant it.

What To Do With All These Herbs?

If you put these steps into action you will be rich (in herbs). Each one can be used in a variety of ways, and when you have more than enough you can start donating them or you can make them last for 1 to 3 years by dehydrating them.

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How to Read Food Labels and Avoid Toxic Ingredients

Grocery shopping has become hazardous to our health. We are told that whatever is sold from a grocery store shelf has been approved as safe, and the health-isle food is healthy. The truth is that there are actually many harmful additives in processed food and very little nutrition. It’s difficult for the layman to know this when the chemicals are disguised or not labeled. Shopping with an untrained, uneducated eye is becoming detrimental to our health.

In the not too distant past, foods without pesticides and herbicides were the norm. Our soil was rich with nutrients and the ingredients we used for recipes were not enriched or processed. It was easier for families to eat more wholesome and natural foods baked from scratch. Nowadays, the majority of our food supply is manufactured in a laboratory from substances that were not intended for the body. Even cooking from scratch has become a health concern because the individual ingredients going into the freshly cooked food are either genetically modified or loaded with pesticides and herbicides. Without a trained eye and an understanding of how to read labels, even home cooked meals can be hazardous to your health.

Processed Food, Comes In a Package With Ingredients Listed

If you are sick, do not trust anyone else with your health, especially not a corporation. That means you prepare your own food. Processed foods are stripped of many of the natural nutrients, and when fortified, it’s done with synthetic vitamins and minerals that are not bioavailable. Food products are often bleached, pasteurized, deodorized, and have chemical ingredients added to them that are not put on the ingredients label. Often times, artificial preservatives are used in order for the product to taste fresh when it’s purchased a few years later. There are preservatives that do not have to be listed.

But everyone eats processed foods sometimes, so how do we make the best choices? The first dead giveaway that a product is laden with food additives and chemicals is the long list of hard to pronounce ingredients that don’t sound like food. Unfortunately, the food additives lurking in most packaged foods are dangerous to your health. Studies have shown that many of these toxic additives can make you fat, and are a catalyst for the onset of debilitating diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, hormonal imbalances, and more.

Related: Foods That Feed Candida

Enriched and Fortified = Synthetic Nutrients

You can be certain that a product will contain synthetic nutrients if the packaging is labeled with the term “enriched” or “fortified” in the description. This ambiguous term describes most of the refined conventional grain products such as pasta and spaghetti, macaroni, white rice, and white breads. Baked goods will also usually contain this indication on the label.  Lately, even the preferred organic versions of these grains also contain enriched ingredients, so be absolutely certain to check the labels and stand clear of “enriched” products!

Be aware that during the processing, all of the much needed natural nutrients are unfortunately stripped out of the grain to make it appear white. Then, synthetic B nutrients known as Niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate and riboflavin are added to the ingredients in order to make the food “appear” healthy. Synthetic B nutrients are chemically derived using formaldehyde and petroleum and as you may have guessed, they are actually very unhealthy! In the long run, it is easy to avoid synthetic nutrients if you want to by purchasing organic whole grains and organic pasta without the “enriched” ingredients. In fact, Basmati and Jasmine rice are naturally white grains that can be found next to the conventional brands on the shelves of your local supermarket. Mix it up a little bit and try other healthier grains such as couscous, nutritious quinoa, organic polenta (corn meal–to avoid GMO), amaranth, brown rice, millet and more.

Genetically Modified Organisms, GMOs

The four primary genetically modified cash crops in the USA and abroad are soy, corn, canola, and sugar beets. Derivatives of these foods can be found in over 70 percent of the products in your local grocery store, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s included. The main reason the plants are genetically modified is so they can handle higher amounts of herbicide. Bacterial genes are inserted that allow them to survive doses of herbicide that would otherwise kill them under normal circumstances. Luckily for us, the current regulation ensures by definition that Certified Organic food cannot be GMO, therefore, it should be fairly easy to buy organic soy milk, tofu, tempeh, cornmeal, polenta, and canola oil if you visit the local health food store. The challenge comes with the packaged food. Most packaged foods contain fillers like soybean oil, soy protein, and high fructose corn syrup. Those packaged foods produced by healthy brands may have all organic ingredients but many do not.

The surest way to protect yourself from eating these foods is by making recipes from scratch from whole foods without fillers and preservatives.

Related: Understanding and Detoxifying Genetically Modified Foods

High Fructose Corn Syrup

High fructose corn syrup, a.k.a. HFCS  is a sugar derived from corn. The corn from which it is derived is almost always genetically modified. Currently, it is unfortunate for the consumer that genetically engineered ingredients are not labeled in the U.S. Just knowing that corn is typically genetically modified will help you choose organic versions of corn products.

High fructose corn syrup has been known to cause gastrointestinal distress and elevated triglycerides. It is also associated with blood sugar problems, depression, fatigue, B-vitamin deficiency, hyperactivity, heart disease, diabetis,  tooth decay, and periodontal disease. Large amounts of HFCS has caused tumors in mice and may cause a similar result in humans if consumed frequently.

Related: Is Agave Nectar Healthy?

Sneaky HFCS Synonyms

  • Maize syrup
  • Glucose syrup
  • Glucose syrup
  • Fructose syrup
  • Tapioca syrup
  • Dahlia syrup
  • Fruit fructose
  • Crystalline fructose
  • Dahlia syrup

MSG – Monosodium Glutamate

MSG is monosodium glutamate, a flavor enhancer added to most processed food to make it taste good. This substance crosses the blood-brain barrier and quite literally excites your brain cells to death. In infants and children, the blood-brain barrier is not fully developed, sadly making MSG even more harmful to young ones.

The harmful component of MSG is the glutamate. Glutamic acid is an essential amino acid found in protein and required for the human body to be healthy. It is the L-glutamic acid that is the part of the protein that your body needs. When glutamic acid is manufactured, it contains both L-glutamic acid and D-glutamic acid. D-glutamic acid occurs as a result of the manufacturing process only. It is not a part of the protein and your body does not have a need for it. MSG is a neurotoxin, making it highly toxic to your nervous system. There is a loophole in MSG regulation that allows food manufacturers to include some MSG in your food without labeling it. In order for food companies to list MSG as an ingredient, the glutamic acid content in the food must be 79% or greater. If there is 78% or less of glutamic acid in the substance, the food companies are not required to include MSG in the labels. They are also not required to list the chemicals that are used to derive certain ingredients on the label either. Therefore there is loads of MSG in foods that the untrained and uneducated shopper are not aware of.  MSG can be hidden in many ingredients that the average consumer is not aware of. Ingredients that contain MSG but are not labeled MSG are known as clean label ingredients and used to deceive the consumer.

“Clean Label Ingredients” You Should Avoid

The “Clean label Ingredients” is a marketing phrase to replace “all natural.” There are many MSG “clean label” ingredients identified by Truth in Labelling.org that you should be aware of. The list includes, but is not limited to the following substances:

  • Glutamate
  • Glutamic acid
  • Monosodium glutamate
  • Magnesium glutamate
  • Natrium glutamate
  • Gelatin
  • Calcium caseinate
  • Sodium caseinate
  • Textured protein
  • Hydrolyzed protein (anything hydrolyzed)
  • Yeast nutrient, yeast extract
  • Yeast food
  • Autolyzed yeast
  • Vetsin
  • Ajinomoto

Ingredients That Contain MSG or Create MSG During Processing

According to Truth in Labelling, there are also quite a few ingredients that will often contain MSG or create MSG during the processing:

  • Carrageenan
  • Maltodextrin
  • Malt extract, Malt flavoring
  • Barley malt
  • Citric acid
  • Soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, soy protein
  • Whey protein concentrate, Whey protein isolate, whey protein
  • Seasonings
  • Protease, Protease enzymes
  • Pectin
  • Natural Flavor, flavorings
Related: MSG’s Many Side Effects and Aliases

Some Ingredients Work with MSG

You should also be aware that some ingredients work along with MSG and their use typically suggests that the product has MSG in it. Truth in Labeling notes that these ingredients are not likely to be used as food additives if there were no MSG present in the product.

  • Disodium 5-Guanylate
  • Disodium 5-Inosinate
  • Disodium 5-Ribonucleotides

Hydrogenated oils

Fully hydrogenated oils may not contain trans-fat, but research shows that it may be worse than trans fat in that it lowers the good cholesterol more than trans fats and raises blood sugar levels. Hydrogenated oils are associated with heart disease, breast and colon cancer, atherosclerosis and high cholesterol.

Partially hydrogenated fats and oils contain trans fats and are also associated with heart disease, breast and colon cancer, atherosclerosis and high cholesterol. Even if a package claims that No Trans Fats are used, you must read the label to see if it contains partially hydrogenated oils because the government allows companies say “No Trans Fats” if it contains less than 0.5 g of trans fat per serving.

Related: Everything You Should Know About Fat

Cancer Causing Additives

Nitrites and nitrates are used in processed meats and form powerful cancer-causing agents in your body. The FDA knows they’re dangerous but allows these ingredients in food because they prevent botulism. Nitrite-free meets can be found in your health food store. But be sure to read the ingredients on the label and ensure that the food does not contain sodium nitrite, potassium nitrite or anything that has nitrite or nitrate in the name.

According to trusted sources, sodium benzoate is the most widely used preservative in the world. It is typically used in foods, beverages, foods, liquid supplements, toothpaste, oral care products and pharmaceuticals. Sodium benzoate has caused birth defects in lab animals. It can cause skin rashes, gastrointestinal issues, hyperactivity, neurological problems and more. When Sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate are used in a product that contains ascorbic acid or vitamin C, it can form benzene. Benzene is known to cause cancer and cancer kills.

Aspartame

Aspartame is one of the most dangerous food additives on the market today. Drinks, candy, and chewing gum are potential sources of hidden MSG and/or aspartame and neotame. Aspartic acid, found in neotame and aspartame ordinarily causes MSG type reactions in MSG sensitive people. Aspartame is found in some medications, including children’s medications. Neotame is relatively new and we have not yet seen it used widely in the United States.  Aspartame is commonly known as Equal and Nutrasweet. In Europe, it’s called E951. The FDA stopped monitoring adverse toxicity reactions from aspartame in 1995, however before that 92 different adverse reactions from aspartame were reported. Recent studies have shown that aspartame causes cancer in amounts approved for human consumption and it is genetically modified. It’s best to stay away from any products that lists aspartame as an ingredient. Beware of aspartame in chewing gum, breath mints, cereal, frozen desserts, ice cream, gelatin desserts, puddings, cookies, yogurt, frozen yogurt, fruit spreads, sugar-free maple syrup, hard candy, chewable vitamins, laxatives, supplements, medications, prescription drugs, orthodontic elastics, pediatric antibiotics and more! Read the ingredients on the labels very carefully and make sure you do not use any products that contain aspartame.

Sugar Negatively Affects the Absorption of Vitamins and Nutrients

Contrary to popular belief, not all sugar is created equally and most of us are aware of the dangers of consuming too much sugar, whether it be processed sugar from GMO beets or natural sugars.  Some of these dangers include well-known ailments like obesity, insulin spikes, high blood sugar, diabetes and yes, cancer. Too much glucose, a form of sugar can lead to deficiencies in the nutrients that reach your cells. What actually happens is the sugar reduces the absorption of the vitamins and minerals you are getting from the food you consume. There are a few specific vitamins that are affected by the surplus of sugar in your system. Because vitamin C and glucose use the same transporters to the blood, too much sugar intake will slow down the absorption of this nutrient in your body. This can be detrimental as vitamin C is responsible for cell tissue regeneration and a well-functioning immune system. Magnesium is a nutrient that becomes depleted by an over intake of sugar. This is dangerous as magnesium is utilized by all metabolic functions of the body and too much sugar increases magnesium excretion by the kidneys.

I hope you are getting enough Vitamin D which is essential to protect the body from infections, autoimmunity, dementia inflammation and other diseases like cancer. Eating too much sugar in your diet will definitely increase vitamin D deficiency.

Calcium is another nutrient that the body needs. It’s important for bone health among other things. Interestingly, vitamin D works with the calcium in absorption to the cells. In a roundabout way, too much sugar consumption inhibits the body’s ability to take in this nutrient, because the less vitamin D in your system, the less your body is able to absorb calcium from your food.

Related: Healthy Sugar Alternatives and More

Be Mindful of the Ingredients in Your Food

You can start living a healthier lifestyle today by being more mindful of the ingredients in your food. Unfortunately, there isn’t much help from official sources because they are controlled by big corporations interested in raking in the cash — from government agencies to big agricultural and food companies, to research institutes and even congress. They lie and tell us that something is nutritious as long as it helps corporations make a fortune and keeps government officials in office. As a result, people are getting bad information about basic health information. Take control of your life and your diet today, you owe it to yourself!

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Antibiotics and Rectal Cancer – There’s a Connection You Should Know About

Colorectal cancer rates are more than doubling in a particularly disturbing way. A new study from the American Cancer Society (ACS) analyzing cancer occurrences discovered that diagnoses of colorectal cancer have increased every generation since 1950. Scientists are unsure of the cause. But luckily for them, another new study has discovered that prolonged use of antibiotics can be linked to the increased the likelihood of bowel polyps, a precursor to rectal and colon cancers. Together, both studies make a compelling argument for the long-term consequences of our current antibiotic use and food system.

They Get Younger Every Year

Cancer is now a fact of life. The likelihood that you or someone you know well has been diagnosed with cancer is already high, and the number of cases diagnosed is predicted to rise to more than 21 million people in 2030. Colon and Rectal cancers are some of the most common cancers, 90% of colon and rectal cancer cases occur in people over the age of 50. According to Rebecca Siegel, the lead author of a new study from the American Cancer Society, “People born in 1990…have double the risk of colon cancer and quadruple the risk of rectal cancer” compared to the risk someone born in 1950 faced at a comparable age.

The American Cancer Society expects to see 13,500 new cases of colon and rectal cancer in people under 50 in 2017. At this point, someone under 50 is more likely to be diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer than the likelihood of anyone of any age is to receive a diagnosis for a less common cancer like Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The conventional Western diet induces and intensifies inflammation in colonic mucosa within two weeks of being on a conventional Western diet, and that inflammation is one of the precursors of cancer. While the study from the ACS does address diet briefly, it also gives the impression that cancer is something that is just going to happen. But this is where that other study comes in.

Polyp, Polyp, Polyp

For every disease or condition that develops in the body, there are warning signs as it develops. For rectal cancer, one of those signs is small growths on the lining of the bowel known as polyps. Not all bowel polyps are cancerous, but they can develop into cancer later if the issue isn’t addressed.  But how do the polyps get there? A study looking at data from a long-term nurses’ health study found that nurses from ages 20 to 39 who had taken antibiotics for at least two months were later in life more likely to be diagnosed with adenomas (a specific type of bowel polyp) than nurses who had not taken antibiotics for a sustained period of time.

Polyps are not the same thing as rectal or colon cancer. It’s likely that if you have polyps that you will never notice their presence. But imagine you took antibiotics for a prolonged period from the ages of one to twenty. Then you took antibiotics for a prolonged period of time from ages twenty to thirty. You also have to contend with the possibility that you are ingesting a steady stream of antibiotics if you consume conventional meat regularly. Each time you come into contact with antibiotics for an extended period of time, the likelihood of developing adenomas increases.

The Steps Are There

These two studies make a compelling argument for the management of cancer risk through lifestyle. Choose to limit antibiotics in the food you eat and medicinal purposes, either through vegetarianism, veganism, natural remedies, or informed consumption. Replace typical health pitfalls like a sedentary lifestyle and a conventional western diet with regular movement and load up on fresh, raw organic produce. With each positive choice, the likelihood of rectal cancer (or any cancer at all) decreases. There is no cancer treatment available that can replicate the benefits of taking care of yourself first.

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USDA Drops Glyphosate Testing Plans, Makes Monsanto’s Life Easier

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is no longer planning to test samples of corn syrup for glyphosate residue. Plans to test for the herbicide were coordinated between the USDA and the Environmental Protection Agency and scheduled to begin in April of this year.

The cancellation of this program is good news for Monsanto. The company is currently embroiled in litigation, with plaintiffs in the case alleging that Roundup caused non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The extent of the EPA’s involvement in the lawsuit is not known, although the federal judge presiding over the case has indicated he is likely to subpoena the chair of the EPA’s Cancer Assessment Review Committee. Regardless of the lawsuit, the decision by the USDA to drop scheduled glyphosate testing is disheartening and further erodes their food integrity credibility.

Agencies in Disarray

The USDA’s failure to properly test for glyphosate residue is baffling. The agency’s reasons for not testing for the world’s most used pesticide center around that process being too expensive and inefficient. If that argument sounds familiar, that’s because it echoes Monsanto’s own thoughts on glyphosate tests. The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t necessarily agree. Last year they set in motion a testing program that found glyphosate in every sample of honey tested. Launched in February, it was indefinitely suspended by November.

When Demand Isn’t Enough

Europe and Canada have glyphosate testing programs in place, with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency planning to release their findings in the near future. This is the most used herbicide in the world, with over 250 million pounds of it used in the U.S. every year. Any layperson looking for it has only to walk into the nearest supermarket, restaurant, or convenience store. But we don’t know for sure, although we definitely want to.

The entire motivation behind the FDA’s short-lived was public demand. The American public and the U.S Government Accountability Office both have issues with the current ill-advised and unsustainable system. For a brief, shining period the USDA got it. The taxpayer need and demand for testing didn’t change. So what did?

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