I started my health and healing journey around 2006, first getting off of hard drugs, then off prescription drugs, later followed by quitting smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol, exercising, meditating, and eventually cleaning up my diet. That process was not overnight, and I’ve certainly had ups and downs with all of it, but I’ve gotten to a place where I feel confident in my health and my diet yet with an openness and curiosity to learn more, which is why even after thousands of hours of research and experimentation, I continue interviewing and learning from the top experts in the field of health.
My first cleanse was around 2007, a 5-day “master cleanse”, which is eating nothing for 5 days, and only drinking a mixture of water, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and lemon juice. While it might seem scary or straight out ridiculous to some, it was one of the first physically enlightening experiences of my life. It connected me to the inside of my body and to my organs in a way I never experienced before that. I came out of the cleanse feeling like my organs had been renewed, and it started me on a path of deep experimentation with cleansing, fasting and diet that I still continue to this day.
Along the way, I don’t remember exactly when, but I eventually stumbled onto organic. To me, it made perfect sense. Food in its most natural form, without chemicals sprayed on it or genetic engineering to grow it.
If chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, insecticides and fungicides are all used to grow conventional food, and they can be linked to cancer and other chronic diseases, then why would I want to put them in my body? So over time I started adding more organic food into my diet, at one point being so strict I ate 99.9% organic food, and not only organic, but completely raw, uncooked plant-based as well.
Life has changed a lot since then, and with a family of 4 and our busy lives today of work, school, athletics, and so forth, it’s not always practical for us to eat that way, but I feel great that I and my family continue to eat about 90% organic food as of today, completely plant-based, and anywhere from 30%-60% raw on any given day.
But along the way I’ve heard doubts about organic, even from so-called health enthusiasts, who think organic doesn’t really matter. To me it’s a no-brainer, but let’s take a look at the data.
There was a simple study done in Sweden with a family of 5 known as the Palmberg’s. They started by eating conventional food “non-organic” as their normal diet for one week.
Each family member provided urine samples at the beginning of the experiment and their bodies were loaded with a range of different pesticides, insecticides, and plant-growth regulators after only 1 week of conventional food. They then ate only-organic foods and used organic body-care products for the remaining 2 weeks. The results were clear.
Nearly all of the chemicals that were in their urine in the first week of eating conventional food were completely gone after eating organic for the remaining 2 weeks.
The truth about this study, and other similar studies out there is that while eating organic and using organic body care products might not eliminate 100% of chemicals from your body, it can eliminate most of them. There are multiple reasons why some foods will still have slight traces of chemicals in them even though organic, and our bodies absorb chemicals from other places like plastics, water, and poor air quality, but for someone trying to prevent or reverse chronic diseases like cancer, the less chemicals your body has to detox means the better it can focus its energy on rejuvenating and healing the cells that need it most.
Organic might be a little bit more expensive, but the reality is, the more we buy it, the cheaper it will become because of supply and demand. Additionally, the more we invest in our health by choosing organic food and products, the less likely we will have to spend tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars on expensive medical treatments for ourselves and our family in the future.
My opinion is this; organic is not a panacea “cure-all” but it’s certainly 10x better than loading our bodies with toxic chemicals found in conventional food and non-organic products. Not to mention, organic has been proven to be better for the environment, better for the animals, and better for human health in general.
- Are competitive with conventional yields after a 5-year transition period
- Produce yields up to 40% higher in times of drought
- Earn 3-6x greater profits for farmers
- Leach no toxic chemicals into waterways
- Use 45% less energy
- Release 40% fewer carbon emissions
So if you’re ready to go organic, the transition is simple. Just look for the green organic sticker found on your foods and products. Shop in healthy grocery stores that sell more organic products. Grow some of your own organic herbs and fruits and vegetables, and support your local organic farmers at your co-op and farmer’s market.
They more we all eat and buy organic, not only do we regenerate the health of our bodies, but we begin to preserve the health of our planet for future generations.
Yours in health,
Nathan Crane
Director; The Integrative Perspective
Founder, Inner Wisdom
President; Panacea Community, LLC
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