Did you know that exposure to pesticides in pregnant women may increase the tendency that their children will be obese? That’s what Mark Bittman had to say about their obesogenic qualities. From his 12-11-12 article (See link below):

This reminded me of recently disclosed evidence showing that pesticide exposure in pregnant women may be obesogenic — that is, it may cause their children to tend to become obese. The mechanism for this is beginning to be understood, and it’s not entirely shocking, because many pesticides have been shown to be endocrine disruptors, changing gene expression patterns and causing unforeseen harm to health.

So pesticides in a pregnant woman’s diet may be “obesogenic,” causing her children to be obese.

In his article, Mr. Bittman provides a great deal of information about pesticides and their ever-increasing use in agriculture around the world. He talks about genetically modified seeds that produce corn and other grains that are resistant to spraying; hence opening the door for more spraying than ever.

He also talks about the “dirty dozen” list of fruits or vegetables containing the highest pesticide residue and the “clean fifteen” with the least. But not once does he mention the simple fact that—our greatest source of pesticide in our diets is in the meat & dairy that we eat.

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Very knowledgeable but consistently confusing

The article probably leaves most readers thinking about avoiding those “dirty dozen” plant foods but thinking nothing about reducing the #1 driver of pesticides in our diet. Like so many of Mark’s articles, he presents more food-related data than any other journalist but always seems to come up short in providing clarity regarding what the reader should do with that information.

How about this factoid for clarity on the topic of pesticides in our food? In Chapter 9 of our book, Healthy Eating, Healthy World, we presented well-documented facts regarding the origin of toxic chemical residues in the American diet:

Almost all, 95% to 99%, comes from meat, fish, dairy products and eggs.”

Looking for CLARITY? This book is for you.

So why didn’t Mark tell us this part? Is it because of his newspaper’s ties to the industries that produce all of that meat, fish, dairy products and eggs? It’s got to be something like that because I know that this great journalist knows more about the damaging consequences of our food choices than almost any other human.

Just so you know, I am a big fan of Mark Bittman—I read all of his stuff, I quoted him frequently in our book and his work has inspired dozens (See several below) of my 685 consecutive daily blogs.

I just wish that he would fully utilize his New York Times global platform to provide clear and consistent information regarding the link between our food choices—and our health, our environment, and the long-term sustainability of the human race.

Consecutive daily blogs.

• Source article. Pesticides: Now More Than Ever – NYTimes.com.
• Pro-Bittman blog. NY Times Columnist Mark Bittman “gets it” about food
• Pro-Bittman blog. Getting it right when it comes to the cost of “disease care”
• Pro-Bittman blog. Unsustainable…by any measure
• Pro-Bittman blog. Mark Bittman getting much tougher on the dairy industry.
• Pro-Bittman blog. Got Milk? You Don’t Need It – NYTimes
• Pro-Bittman blog. Meatless Monday, Mark Bittman & the USDA
• Great Bittman article. Rethinking the Meat Guzzler
• Earlier blog. “The World According to Monsanto” (a documentary)

Happy Holidays! Everyday is a shopping day on Amazon. Want to give the gift of health this year? This may be the answer to your shopping dilemma:

Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

• The movie that’s changing the lives of millions: Forks Over Knives DVD 
• Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
• An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
• Dr. McDougall’s new book, The Starch Solution, with lots of great recipes.

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic Survey. It takes less than five minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com

International. We’re now reaching people in over 100 countries. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter or get daily blog notices by “following” us in the top of the right-hand column. For occasional updates, join our periodic mailing list.

J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at Lisa’s 4Leaf Kitchen.

Got a question? Let me hear from you at jmorrishicks@me.com. Or give me a call on my cell at 917-399-9700.

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Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

—J. Morris Hicks, board member, T. Colin Campbell Foundation