Approximately 700 new chemicals are introduced into the US market each year, and more than 84,000 chemical substances are being used in manufacturing and processing or are being imported. “The scary fact is that we don’t have safety data on most of these chemicals even though they are everywhere—in the air, water, soil, our food supply, and everyday products,” Dr. Conry said. “Bisphenol A (BPA), a hormone disruptor, is a common toxic chemical contained in our food, packaging, and many consumer products.”
This is startling paragraph from an article on Resolve’s Facebook page, and as I enter my 2nd year of eating clean, I am increasingly of the opinion that toxic chemicals in foods we eat might be the biggest culprit in the growing infertility population. Here’s some more from 5 Chemicals In Our Food Toxic and How To Avoid Them.
Bisphenol-A, aka “BPA.”
This estrogen-like man made chemical is pervasive in canned foods. BPA is linked to a wide array of health concerns like Reproductive problems, cancer risk, metabolic disorders like obesity, Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance, heart disease and neurobehavioral effects like ADHD. BPA is particularly risky in canned tomatoes because the acidity of the tomato can leech even more of this toxin in to the food.
The bold italics are mine, to focus on the potential fertility ramifications of eating these foods.
Benzoate Preservatives, aka “BHT, BHA, TBHQ.”
These chemicals are used to help keep fats in foods from going rancid. They’ve been linked with serious concerns like increasing cancer risk, disrupting estrogen balance, urticaria, asthma and hyperactivity. Read your packages carefully – it’s often lurking in cereal, nut mixes, gum, butter, meat, dehydrated potatoes.
So here’s my point.
If you aren’t reading the backs of the containers to see if any of this crap is in the food you are taking into your body on a daily basis, you could be damaging your own reproductive system.
Look at the warnings–EVERY canned food, cereal, nut mix, gum, butter, meat or dehydrated potato could have these chemicals in them.
Just like you want to avoid exposure to radiation, pollution, and EXTERNAL environmental toxins, you want to avoid the toxins you put in your mouth.
Comfort foods and/or easy to prepare foods like the ones listed above are easy to turn to when you are emotionally and spiritually trashed from failing a cycle.
But I wonder if the ‘comfort’ allure isn’t adding an internal element of damage to our reproductive systems, because we simply don’t avoid them the same way we avoid cleaning chemicals, or the more obvious ones that get so much media attention.
So what to do to avoid these chemicals–here’s some more advice from the 5 Chemicals article above.
To avoid BPA:
– Plan ahead to cook from scratch more often.
– Make big batches of fresh tomato sauce and freeze in glass containers.
– Make beans from dried beans and store for later use.
– Choose frozen fruits and veggies when fresh is not available or in season.
– Look for tomato and other packaged products in glass jars or tetra-pak boxes.
– Don’t heat or freeze plastic containers (that includes leaving them in your car overnight!).
To avoid Benzoate Preservatives: (BHT, BHA, TBHQ)
– Dehydrate your own veggies and fruits! It’s fun, easy and super tasty without all the chemicals.
– Look for natural gum flavored with Stevia.
– Mix your own nuts – get a variety of raw nuts you enjoy and roast them with some spices or just mix them together raw.
This may not reverse damage done from years of consuming these foods throughout your lifetime, but it sure can’t hurt to avoid them like the plague now!