2019 dirty dozen list

The “dirty dozen” list, of pesticide residue in produce, is out. As always…if you’re going to eat any of these, buy organic wherever possible!!! These fruits and veggies are the ones that typically have the highest concentrations of pesticides present.

Here’s the list, starting with the worst offender, strawberries:

  1. Strawberries
  2. Spinach
  3. Kale
  4. Nectarines
  5. Apples
  6. Grapes
  7. Peaches
  8. Cherries
  9. Pears
  10. Tomatoes
  11. Celery
  12. Hot peppers

Read more here. Or view the full list here.

Microplastics…they’ve made their way into your kitchen now

Microplastics are just what the name implies….tiny bits of plastic from a myriad of sources, like washing fleece material in a washing machine for example. It’s been described as a problem affecting the food chain in oceans, but guess what? Around 90 percent of table salt brands were found to contain these (since I had of our salt comes from the ocean). So, we’re all ingesting these, not just marine life. Unfortunately, no one’s really sure what health risks, of any, this poses. Read this article for more on this:

apple.news/AJXMEllyITvutRKlwht1myQ

How do we dig our way out of this one?

Treehugger posted a story saying that all is lost, using the sales stats of the Ford F series trucks as an argument…and am admittedly compelling one, as they sell one every 4.5 seconds! It just adds to a similar train of thought in my life lately though..how do we dig ourselves out of this pit we’ve created for ourselves…how do we transition to a sustainable society? The Global Footprint Network attempts to calculate the difference between how much natural resources we use, and how fast nature can replenish that. If you hadn’t figured it out already, that date falls on August 2nd this year, and has been getting worse every year (follow this link for more on that). We’re on a dead-end path here, robbing from future generations so we may live lives of luxury.

So what’s the solution? There’s is insufficient public willpower to effect change, sadly. Change of the magnitude needed will only happen if there is a sizable natural disaster of global proportions…otherwise these days will go down in history as the peak of this civilization and perhaps even of this species. If anyone is left to record this history, that is. This frustrates me…I feel we have the technology and the ability to change the course we’re on…but how to reach people, that’s the challenge…

How coffee helps protect the heart

Coffee’s health benefits are nothing new (a topic I cover occasionally at Coffeeopolis.com).  There’s a steady stream of scientific studies that generally support that conclusion…which I guess is not surprising, I mean, considering coffee’s popularity, I imagine there’s no shortage of scientists eager to study the topic more!  But I digress.  A team in Germany has made progress in understanding exactly how coffee helps your heart.  More specifically, it’s the caffeine that in this case is responsible…it triggers the action of a protein called p27, which basically helps cell repair processes in the heart.  However, the data comes from studies done with mice…whether it works the same in humans is less certain.  Read more at this link if you’re curious (or the published paper in the journal PLOS)

Do you want to know the best news?  The optimal caffeine intake to achieve these benefits is about for or five cups of coffee a day!  So, drink up!

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