By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
The old diet and exercise routine just doesn’t seem to be working anymore. You eat your fruits and veggies, avoid carbohydrates (well, you try to), and are physically active at least 3 times per week. Yet, when you step on the scale it won’t budge past your old plop-down-on-the-couch-with-a-bag-of-chips weight. What is it going to take to drop the next 10 to 15 pounds? Scientists have discovered that it’s not your diet or exercise routine to blame, it’s a little endocrine-disrupting chemical known as EDC’s or “obesogens” making it impossible to shed the extra fat. In a White House Task Force report, EDC’s are largely faulted for America’s childhood obesity epidemic.
These obesogens can be both natural and synthetic, and work by mimicking estrogen, which promotes weight gain (and is linked to heart disease, blood clots, stroke, and breast cancer). This chemical is duping us, entering our bodies via the means that make us feel the safest and healthiest—through produce. Pesticide-laden produce. 9 of the 10 most widely used pesticides are EDC’s, and they are throwing our endocrine regulation askew. Thus, not only are pesticides linked to a slew of diseases and disorders, they are also making us fat.
The solution: knowing when to go organic. The Environmental Working Group has identified the 12 fruits most highly contaminated with EDC pesticides. Referred to as “The Dirty Dozen,” they are “celery, peaches, strawberries, apples, blueberries (domestic), nectarines, sweet bell peppers, spinach, kale/collard greens, cherries, potatoes and grapes (imported).” Contrarily, the EWG has also provided a list called “The Clean Fifteen,” which are fruits and vegetables that carry low levels of pesticide residue. They are “onions, avocado, sweet corn (frozen), pineapples, mango, sweet peas (frozen), asparagus, kiwi fruit, cabbage, eggplant, cantaloupe (domestic), watermelon, grapefruit, sweet potatoes and honeydew melon.” Attack those unwanted pounds by simply tacking these lists to your refrigerator, so you know which produce to buy organic.
But it’s not over yet, as pesticides are not the only culprit. We ingest EDC’s through plastics, conventional beef, and non-filtered tap water. However, there is always a defense plan to set your scale in downward motion. Check out this article on Shine from Yahoo entitled, Why You Can’t Lose Those Last 10 Pounds to find out more about obesogens and how to battle them at every turn.
