Plant-Based Diets & Ditching Pollutants Keys to Fighting Autism?
Autism rates continue to climb, a sure sign that it is mostly an environmental problem and not entirely a genetic one. My home state, Utah, leads the nation with 1/54 boys affected. This is a moral tragedy of major proportions, accentuated by the fact that we are doing very little, if anything, to solve the root of the problem.
No doubt it is the politics of environmental issues that paralyze our communities. But, we could still raise awareness to limit exposure to toxins like pesticides in the environment. We could also feed our children better. There are politics involved here, too, which keeps a nutritional approach from infiltrating our clinics and schools. But, nothing can keep us from improving our children’s diets in the privacy of our own homes.
Unfortunately, medical schools are not teaching doctors this simple concept:
“By emphasizing the powerful role of nutrition in medical training and practice we stand to dramatically reduce suffering and needless death-not to mention the colossal cost savings.”
We have known that emphasizing plant based foods improves the symptoms of autism and ADD. Avoiding processed foods full of chemicals and eating more fiber improves the gut flora where we detoxify and metabolize. This approach is gaining momentum in the medical journals. It has been found to help with practically all diseases. The latest shocking news is that a messed up gut flora from jet travel increases the risk of obesity.
A recent article showed that eating more broccoli lowers the risk of Autism. Why? Because the micronutrients like sulforaphanes therein help our liver detoxify better.
Politics are Polluting Our Plate
Money is the root of our environmental problems; this is where the battle lines are drawn. A glaring example of this is Monsanto. You may want to read the October issue of the National Geographic. This excellent magazine has been running a series of articles on food for the past few months.
Their article on GMOs is quite informative and sheds light on these battle lines. While we all agree that it is good and safe to “naturally” tweak the DNA of our crops by cross-breeding and other well established techniques, we disagree on injecting chemicals, especially pesticides, into their DNA.
Pesticides have been linked to neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. This is easy to understand: pesticides are derivatives of Nerve gas used in WWI and WWII. The European Union has banned GMOs, but, in the USA we call you a conspiracy nut if you don’t conform with what the media puts out. Incidentally, our media is now in the pocket of big corporations like Monsanto.
Are Pesticides Killing Our Bees?
We have also ignored the proverbial “canary in the mine”: our rapidly declining bee population. They have been dying in alarming proportions, a problem now dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder. I am sure you can imagine how seriously affected our crops, plants and flowers will be if this problem worsens. Even though the root of the problem has been clear to many for a while, it is only until recently that I dare say the cause of CCD is pesticides.
If you think that is terrible, wait to read this: Monsanto has recently bought the company Beeologics, which has been researching CCD. It seems that Monsanto not only wishes to keep the light of day from shining on them, but they plan to use Beeologics’ technology to expand their GMO production! This was reported on the internet site naturalnews.com, which, granted, may not be a solid source. However, all we have to do is keep an eye on Beeologics and see who will be running it in the near future.