Each growing season approximately two billion pounds of pesticides are applied to crops, forests, homes, parks, roadsides, and schools. “If you were born before 1974, you may have been exposed to dieldrin, a pesticide that was found in 96 percent of all meat and 85 percent of all dairy products tested in the United States,” says nutritionist Brenda Watson, CNC. There are still plenty of dangerous chemicals around, like dicofol (a potential carcinogen used on alfalfa, beans, citrus, grapes, lettuce, tomatoes, and other produce) and lindane (an insecticide linked to birth defects, cancer, fetal toxicity, kidney damage, and more). Over 1,300 such toxic chemicals are registered as pesticides in this country and even more abroad.

Buy Organic
Currently “certified organic” is the only label to guarantee that foods and beverages have not been produced with synthetic, toxic herbicides and pesticides or antibiotics, synthetic growth hormones, and genetically modified organisms. Nor do national organic regulations allow the use of sewage sludge (a source of unwanted pharmaceuticals, hormone disrupters, and toxic heavy metals).

Also consider the findings of Johns Hopkins researchers who analyzed 41 studies conducted over a 50-year period, adds nutritionist Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS. “They discovered that organic produce contained nearly 30 percent more vitamin C, more than 20 percent more iron, about 30 percent more magnesium, and 14 percent more phosphorus, as well as 15 percent fewer harmful nitrates than conventionally grown produce. Clearly, you get what you pay for.”

Toxins and Fat
For an overweight nation, there’s another concern. Body fat is “a great toxic waste dump,” explains research scientist Barry Sears, PhD. Many of the synthetic chemicals used in the last 70 years are fat soluble, and what fattens up livestock appears to be contributing to weight gain in humans.

Avoid yo-yo dieting. “If fat loss is slow (about a pound a week), the liver can convert [environmental toxins] into water-soluble compounds that can be excreted from the body,” rather than going into fat-rich organs like the brain, he adds.

“If you want to lose weight and keep it off,” Dr. Gittleman says, “the only really effective way to do so is to eat organic.”

Why Detox?
Even low-level exposure to environmental toxins may partially explain the growing problem of liver disease in this country. To support this organ, so critical to the body’s natural detoxification processes, consider brief, periodic cleanses.

Fall is a traditional time for detox—even if you consume only organic foods, pesticide runoff in water and environmental toxins in the air can increase your body burden for dangerous chemicals. Chinese medicine recommends the period 10 days before and after the autumnal equinox. But “Detox Doc” Elson M. Haas, MD, advises fasting while the weather is still warm, as this process tends to cool the body down.

Try a juice fast or detox diet that incorporates healthy, organic foods, particularly antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables. Drink plenty of clean water, organic broth, and herbal teas. Then keep eating organic afterwards. “All the detoxing in the world won’t keep up with the load of chemicals you’re consuming if you continue to eat conventionally farmed food,” adds Dr. Gittleman.

Also irrigate your nose twice daily with salt water to clear out air-borne pollutants, she suggests. Enjoy gentle exercise (like rebounding, walking, yoga) during fall cleansing. Rest, reflect, and regenerate your body and mind.