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Have you heard of glyphosate (aka round up)? It’s a popular herbicide with wide spread use both commercially and residentially and frankly it should be outlawed. Glyphosate is a cancer causing, endocrine disrupting chemical that is not only harming our health but it’s also harming our ecosystems. I could write an entire blog on the detrimental impacts that this herbicide is having on plant biodiversity and the effect that has on bug and animal life but that’s a post for another day. Today I want to focus on the impact of glyphosate on our health and what we can do about it.

Glyphosate is everywhere. It has been so over used both commercially and residentially that it’s very difficult to avoid. Big agriculture actually sprays it on their large mono crops like corn, beets, soy beans, and wheat. These crops have been modified to resist herbicides and are literally sprayed with glyphosate. These mono crops make up the vast majority of processed foods that line the grocery shelves. In fact nearly 80% the Standard American Diet (S.A.D) consists of these heavily processed mono crop foods.

Studies within the US have shown glyphosate to be present in placentas, urine samples, and blood samples in approximately 90% of all samples. It’s also been highly debated about whether or not glyphosate can be found in breast milk. You’ll find an equal amount of articles and studies supporting the claim as you will find articles and studies debunking the claim. Americans have detectable amounts of glyphosate ten fold when compared to Europeans.

Test samples show glyphosate to be on our produce in the US in much higher concentrations than in Europe. It’s in our water and even the very air we breath.

All this to say, glyphosate is literally everywhere and because our exposure to it is accumulative (meaning it’s builds up in our system) it’s destroying our health at an alarming rate.

The Impact of glyphosate on our health is deep and wide. On the surface glyphosate is a known carcinogen and endocrine disruptor. There are several links between glyphosate and a number of cancers, but that’s really only the begging.

There’s a direct link between glyphosate toxicity and infertility. In males it has been shown to decrease sperm count by more than 30%. It’s also been shown to reduce sperm mobility. Glyphosate has been shown to impact the development of the placenta in mammals leading to a variety of birth defects and even miscarriages.

Glyphosate tricks the body into storing it by mimicking essential minerals. This means exposure to glyphosate accumulates in the body, and it’s very hard to eliminate glyphosate from the body. At the same time, glyphosate depletes our body of those same minerals that it’s mimicking.

Additionallylyphosate has been shown to damage our gut lining leading to a host of issues related to “leaky gut”. There are thousands of personal testimonies from people who were gluten free for years and once they stopped eating conventional produce and healed their guts they were able to start eating freshly milled flour or einkorn flour. You can read our personal story in this blog post.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of the negative impact of glyphosate on our health the alphabet agencies continue to spew the company line that it’s safe. That without the use of this harmful herbicide our crop productions would suffer. Despite the fact that there are better and safer ways to farm regeneratively and sustainably without the widespread use of herbicides like glyphosate.

It’s up to us to be the change. But you might be wondering, with glyphosate literally being everywhere what can you do?  Let’s dive into that.

For your personal health and wellness you need to reduce your exposure as much as possible. This means avoiding processed foods made primarily with those glyphosate sprayed mono crops mentioned earlier in the post. Choose real, whole food instead.

If you can grow and raise as much of your own food as possible. Or look for small farms or homesteads that use regenerative and sustainable practices and buy from them. Supporing these smaller operations not only benefits your health but sends a clear message that we are done buying the poison the big agriculture sells. When these options are not available buy organic. While commercial organic farming is far from perfect, the levels of glyphosate and other chemicals found on organic produce is far less than the levels found on conventional produce.

Avoid buying bottled water and filter your drinking water. Also consider a filter for your shower and or bath. Your skin is your largest organ and absorbs everything, including the glyphosate in your bath water. I highly recommend this one.

Look for other areas that you can reduce your toxic load to help ease the burden on your detox pathways. Plastic, fragrances, and synthetic vitamins are all things I highly recommend people research more on and remove from their homes.

Support your detox pathways and consider doing a gentle detox, you can read more about how to do that here. I highly recommend Bioray and Earthley Wellness for tinctures to help support your detox pathways. Dry brushing is another great way to support your detox pathways. I highly recommend this dry brush.

Lastly, don’t stress over it! Elevated cortisol levels will do just as much damage to your health as the toxins you’re trying to avoid. Even if you do everything “perfect” you will not be able to avoid it all. Do the best you can to reduce your exposure and support your detox pathways and don’t stress the rest.