Foods NOT To feed to the next generation

So I've been doing a lot of research lately about food. I seriously think that a lot of the cancer, arthritis, and infertility going around have a lot to do with the foods we eat. I want to give my children the best possible life and if changing the way we eat will help with that then I want to do everything I can.

When you start looking around it is amazing what you will find. I know that you have to take everything with a grain of salt. One day the media will tell you not to eat something because it is bad for you and the next day they will tell you to eat it because it prevents something else. It is all very confusing but I have a good, solid list of things that are supposedly "the worst".

One food that is not on the list that should be - chicken. I still strongly believe that all the hormones they inject into chickens has a lot to do with a lot of common issues I have.

So with that being said. These are the 7 foods that most experts would not eat:

1) Canned Tomatoes. I know the reaction the acid in tomatoes has with tin foil so it is no surprise that tin cans have to be lined with something powerful to withstand the acid in tomatoes. Canned tomatoes cause reproductive problems (particularly with sperm), heart disease, diabetes, and obesity due to very high BPA levels. You can get 50 mcg of BPA per liter of canned tomatoes which in young men can greatly impact their fertility and their hearts. This one is SO simple to remedy - just buy canned tomato products in glass only containers.

2) Corn Fed Beef. This one definitely concerns me and that is why we are trying to switch to organic meat in general. It will be more expensive but well worth the extra cost I think. Europe has BANNED U.S. beef if that is any indication of how scary this one is. Basically ranchers have gotten lazy and cheap. Grass fed cows have beta-carotene, vitamin E, omega-3s, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), calcium, magnesium, and potassium; lower in inflammatory omega-6s; and are lower in saturated fats that have been linked to heart disease. So many benefits to organic meat because you are not eating artificial HORMONES.

3) Microwave Popcorn. This one shocked me so I will just give you the excerpt:

The problem: Chemicals, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), in the lining of the bag, are part of a class of compounds that may be linked to infertility in humans, according to a recent study from UCLA. In animal testing, the chemicals cause liver, testicular, and pancreatic cancer. Studies show that microwaving causes the chemicals to vaporize—and migrate into your popcorn. "They stay in your body for years and accumulate there," says Naidenko, which is why researchers worry that levels in humans could approach the amounts causing cancers in laboratory animals. DuPont and other manufacturers have promised to phase out PFOA by 2015 under a voluntary EPA plan, but millions of bags of popcorn will be sold between now and then.

I prefer air popped popcorn over microwave, but I've always enjoyed the convenience of microwave. Guess my kids will get to experience the "old fashioned" way of making popcorn (and the old way is much much cheaper so score!)

4) Potatoes - Again this one was surprising. Supposedly potato growers will not even eat the own potatoes they grow. root vegetables absorb herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides that wind up in soil. In the case of potatoes, they're treated with fungicides during the growing season, then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting. Plus treated again to prevent sprouting in the grocery store. They claim since the potatoes are grown in the ground that washing the potato off is not enough because the chemicals are absorbed into the potato.

5) Farmed Salmon - now if you catch your fish this isn't a problem but a lot of restaurants and stores use farmed salmon. If you eat farmed salmon more than once every 5 months you are at an increased risk of cancer (supposedly) due to carcinogens, PCBs, brominated flame retardants, and pesticides such as dioxin and DDT fed to these fish. This one is no big deal for us since we don't eat fish.

6) Grocery store Milk - This one is disturbing. Farmers give their cows bovine growth hormones to increase milk production which increase udder infections and puss - we drink this. They put dye in the milk to cover up the puss and blood (gag) The U.S. is one of only a few countries who allow farmers to give their cows growth hormones, most countries have stopped due to increased risks of breast, colon, and prostate cancer. Seriously how dumb are we? So the best advice is to drink organic milk. This one is a lot more tricky if you ask me. Organic milk is really expensive and the "other" milk is in so many foods that it would be tougher to make this change.

7) Apples - This one doesn't surprise me except that it is on the definitely don't eat list. Apples are the most pesticide treated fruit. Farmers do claim that the pesticides are safe to eat but logically the best way to avoid exposure to pesticides is to avoid the most treated fruit - so apples it is. More farming workers (who are around pesticides) are diagnosed with cancer than any other specific labor force. What does that tell you? Pesticides are also linked to Parkinson's Disease. You can still eat non-organic apples just wash them and PEEL them before eating them.