You Don’t Want To Know What They Do To Oranges (And It’s About To Get Even Worse)

(Natural Blaze by Meadow Clark) Something is happening to oranges. The solution may be worse than the problem and there’s about to be a lot more solution.

Oranges are cast as the pinnacle of American wholesomeness. Orange juice is a marketing empire in its own right. The “OJ” industry has successfully made its product synonymous with life-giving vitamin C and a complete breakfast. But is that really the case?

The truth is, you don’t know what they do to oranges.

You probably think I’m talking about swaths of pesticides being sprayed on orange groves, but no, no, no. That’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Did you know that oranges are routinely sprayed with antibiotics?

Yeah, how odd, right?

The same antibiotics that are used to treat humans and animals for bacterial infections. We already ingest many antibiotics through our food if we are not careful, because of the antibiotics given to livestock, meat especially, but also eggs, farmed fish, milk, and cheese.

Now we ingest antibiotics from oranges?

Doesn’t that make the problem of antibiotic resistance much, much worse?

Yes, it does. And the problem isn’t just what we eat, it’s also the runoff of antibiotics into our waterways.

But how did that happen?

America’s orange groves have been facing a major problem with a widespread disease called citrus greening that has reportedly ripped through the citrus industry.

If you think that sounds bad, the Trump administration reportedly gave approval for an unprecedented amount of antibiotic use. Agricultural operations are allowed to spray two kinds of antibiotics on nearly a half-million acres of Florida citrus fruits.

Florida Phoenix Journal reports:

Federal officials are allowing greatly expanded use of streptomycin and oxytetracycline –  antibiotics often used on people — as a pesticide on commercially grown citrus. Agricultural operations plan to use the antibiotic sprays to combat the widespread disease called citrus greening, which has devastated the citrus industry. The antibiotics won’t cure the disease, and will have to be sprayed repeatedly over years just to keep the trees alive and producing fruit until they succumb to citrus greening.

Allowing so much antibiotic residue in Florida soils, runoff, and air is unprecedented. It’s unclear how much of the antibiotics – sprayed on leaves and taken up into the plant’s vascular system – will end up in fruit; it’s never been sprayed on this scale before. Test results the citrus industry provided to federal officials reported low antibiotic residues. (source)

The EPA expressed concerns for potential harm to the environment, people, and wildlife, but ultimately decided the economic benefits “outweighed” the risks.

The USDA reasons that the amount of antibiotics people will ingest from citrus will be far less than those ingested during prescription use.

Despite the outcry from various environmental and antibiotics interest groups, Florida’s Department of Agriculture and many citrus growers made the request to use more antibiotics.

Antibiotic resistance affects more than just humans.

The Journal continues:

…One EPA analysis notes that “uncertainty exists regarding the potential for development of resistance, or cross-resistance with other antibiotics, that could result from pesticide applications.”

Both the European Union and Brazil have banned the use of oxytetracycline and streptomycin for use as a pesticide on agricultural plants.

…The concern is that the antibiotics which now work on human problems like pneumonia, tuberculosis and other deadly infections will become ineffective. Another concern is that the antibiotics will affect bees, which pollinate citrus flowers, as well as small mammals like rabbits. In the environment, antibiotics can change the chemistry of soil and water, knocking ecosystems out of balance.

For citrus growers, the last 10 years have been a nightmare as citrus greening spread from South Florida north, affecting groves in dozens of counties. They spray pesticides to kill the imported insect that carries the disease, but it hasn’t stopped citrus greening’s forward march up the peninsula. They are also working to develop new strains of citrus that resist the disease. The antibiotics, they argued in numerous comment letters to federal officials, are the only known way to stay in business. The press office of the Florida Department of Agriculture did not respond to requests for comment. (source)

So, as you can see, farmers are in a hard place and they argue that a proposed solution of “cycling” between the two antibiotics may not work. But the short term fix may lead to either antibiotic resistance or… the development of even more genetically engineered crops.

You don’t want to know what they do to oranges

Did you know that orange juice is fake news?

In my article, “3 TOTALLY FAKE Foods in Just About Everybody’s Kitchen,” I reported on how orange juice is really made.

As Gizmodo explained a while back, OJ is anything but natural:

Once the juice is squeezed and stored in gigantic vats, they start removing oxygen. Why? Because removing oxygen from the juice allows the liquid to keep for up to a year without spoiling. But! Removing that oxygen also removes the natural flavors of oranges. Yeah, it’s all backwards. So in order to have OJ actually taste like oranges, drink companies hire flavor and fragrance companies, the same ones that make perfumes for Dior, to create these “flavor packs” to make juice taste like, well, juice again. (source)

This is why nearly all orange juice tastes exactly the same, no matter which carton you open. Some companies add pulp-dissolving enzymes to the mix.

Here’s an article with a photo of an orange juice factory that shows whole oranges sitting right in the juice.

If that’s a typical occurrence, then it stands to reason there are pesticides and antibiotics floating around in that glass of juice.

Don’t want the yuck that comes from conventional oranges?

Here are some ways you can mitigate some of these problems:

  • Choose organic oranges when possible
  • Reduce how often you handle citrus with your hands
  • Wash hands immediately after handling
  • If you have time, gently scrub oranges with baking soda and veggie wash before putting them in the fruit bowl
  • Only buy organic orange juice or brands from this list
  • Make your own fresh-squeezed juice.
  • Simply eat oranges instead of drinking orange juice.

Are citrus antibiotics going to cause more (genetically engineered) mosquitoes?

One more weird aspect to this news: genetically engineered mosquitoes have been released in testing trials in parts of Florida, the state that’s known for having the best oranges.

At first, the company pushing the mosquitoes argued that it would reduce scary diseases like Dengue fever and Chikungunya. But those haven’t occurred in Florida for years… Oh, look! here comes Zika, what a coincidence.

Anyway, these mosquitoes were developed by private biotech companies to mate with Florida mosquitoes so that the offspring will all die off.

But wait? Couldn’t that eventually kill off the entire mosquito population and cause a negative domino effect in the animal kingdom?

Here is something most people don’t know about these modified mosquitoes.

They can only be rescued from their genetically engineered die-off by being fed tetracycline

Yes, the same family of antibiotics that oxytetracycline belongs!

Is this not a crazy situation, or what?

We now face a future where we must either keep feeding antibiotics to citrus groves to eat and face antibiotic resistance or use a similar antibiotic if something goes terribly wrong by the release of engineered pests into the wild…

Peachy.

You can read more from Meadow Clark at The Organic Prepper.

Plant-Based Diet Could Help Cut Risk of Heart Disease by 42%, Say Scientists

(Independent) Going vegan or vegetarian could help you live longer, according to a new study.

 Scientists say a plant-based diet may help to reduce the risk of deadly heart failure. According to a study of five different kinds of diet, people who eat a lot of fruit and vegetables are 42 percent less likely to develop the condition than those who consumed fewer plant-based foods.

Another team of researchers found that increasing coffee consumption by one cup per week reduced the risk of heart failure by seven percent and stroke by eight percent

 Heart failure is a potentially fatal condition that occurs when the heart is too weak to pump blood efficiently around the body.
Recommended Reading: NSAIDs Warning – These Drugs Are Not Safe (Motrin, Advil, Naproxen…)

Scientists from Icahn School of Medicine in New York recruited 15,569 participants for the diet study and monitored their health for four years.

They studied five different diet types:

  • Convenience – red meats, pastas, fried potatoes, fast foods
  • Plant-based – dark leafy vegetables, fruits, beans, fish
  • Sweets – desserts, breads, sweet breakfast foods, chocolate, candy
  • Southern – eggs, fried food, organ meats, processed meat, sugar-sweetened drinks
  • Alcohol/salads – salad dressings, green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, butter, wine.

The researchers found that the participants who followed the plant-based diet had the strongest association with a lower risk of incident heart failure when adjusted for age, sex, and race of the participants and for other risk factors.

Recommended Reading: 10 Vegan-Friendly Sources Of Protein

There were no associations for the other four dietary patterns found.

The findings about coffee consumption came about after re-analysing data from the Framingham Heart Study, a long-running US investigation of heart disease risk factors involving thousands of participants.

The researchers found that each additional cup of coffee drunk per week was associated with a lower risk of heart failure and stroke compared to those who consumed no coffee.

The study was carried out using an artificially intelligent machine-learning system.

First author Laura Stevens, from the University of Colorado, US, said: “Our findings suggest that machine learning could help us identify additional factors to improve existing risk assessment models.”

Victoria Taylor, senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, added: “Previous research has suggested that intakes of three to five cups of coffee a day shouldn’t affect the risk of developing heart and circulatory disease.

 But, she says, more research is needed before we can be confident about how coffee affects our heart health.

“Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, cutting down on salt, and maintaining a healthy weight are all important parts of a balanced diet that helps lower the risk of heart disease and stroke,” Taylor recommends.

“Our advice for people trying to improve their lifestyle is to focus on their whole diet, rather than the amount of individual foods or drinks they consume.”

Recommended Reading: Stop Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet

Findings from both studies were presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions meeting in Anaheim, California.

Drinking Cherry Juice Could Give You An Extra 84 Minutes of Sleep Every Night, Study Finds

cold cherry juice in a glass with water drops and pitcher on wooden table with ripe berries in pottery bowl

(Independent) If counting sheep doesn’t help you drift off into a deep sleep at night, you might want to consider downing a glass of Montmorency tart cherry juice.

Recommended Reading: Cherries, the Superfood You Should Know About

The bittersweet drink was distributed to a group of insomniacs in a recent study conducted by Louisiana State University.

Published in the American Journal of Therapeutics, the study found that drinking the scarlet juice extended periods of sleep for an average of one hour and 24 minutes each night.

They found that the juice contains compounds which inhibit the production of chemicals in the brain that lead to poor sleep.

It’s also rich in procyanidins and anthocyanins – found in blueberries – which are often praised by scientists for their health benefits and have been linked to reducing inflammation.

Drinking the juice also reduced levels of kynurenine in the blood, which has been linked to sleep deprivation.

Participants were given a survey which questioned them about their sleeping habits.

They were then randomly assigned either a large glass of cherry juice or a placebo which they drank twice a day, right after they woke up and right before they went to sleep.

After two weeks, those who had been drinking the cherry juice switched to the placebo drink and vice versa.

They were then given the same survey to monitor how the drinks had affected their sleeping pattern.

Researchers concluded that those who drank the cherry juice increased their sleep time by 84 minutes and their overall sleep efficiency increased on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.

Recommended Reading: Insomnia – A Comprehensive Look With Natural Remedies

Insomnia affects one in three British adults, according to the NHS.

The Health Benefits of Lemons

Lemons are a powerful healing fruit that contain phenomenal antibiotic, antiseptic, and anti-cancer properties. Lemons are rich in vitamins C and B-complex and minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium, silicon, copper, and potassium.

They are considered to be a wonderful tonic and can help to cleanse and detoxify the entire body. Although lemons have an acidic taste they actually have a very strong alkaline reaction on the body and can help to alkalize blood, cells, lymph, organs, and tissues. Lemons are known to help destroy putrefactive bacteria in the mouth and intestines which can help alleviate flatulence, indigestion, and constipation. Lemons contain a compound called limonene which is used to dissolve gallstones and kidney stones and can help to fight oral, lung, skin, breast, stomach, and colon cancer.

Lemons are also rich in bioflavonoids which can significantly boost the immune system and reduce inflammation in the body. Lemon juice is known to be particularly beneficial for colds, coughs, sore throats, hiccups, ear infections, fevers, arthritis, heart disease, COPD, atherosclerosis, diabetes, high cholesterol, autoimmune disorders, stroke, and cancer.

Topically, lemon juice is a great remedy for wrinkles, warts, toothaches, corns, sunburns, poison ivy, acne, psoriasis, and as a hair rinse and facial astringent. A tall glass of lemon water upon waking is an excellent way to hydrate and cleanse the body first thing in the morning.

Fresh lemon in tea and green juice and added to salads, wraps, hummus, guacamole, and nori rolls is another great way to add this healing and nutritious fruit into your diet. Fresh lemons can be found at your local grocery and health food store.

 

The Health Benefits of Figs

Figs are a highly prized and nourishing fruit that have been used to treat nearly every known disease since ancient times. They can provide phenomenal amounts of energy and vitality to the body as well as aid in the repair and restoration of the digestive, cardiovascular, lymphatic, reproductive, muscular, immune, and skeletal system.

Figs are one of the most alkaline fruits available and are rich in minerals such as calcium, iron, copper, potassium, selenium, and zinc. In fact, figs are one the highest sources of readily assimilable calcium in the plant world which makes them a great choice to help prevent osteoporosis and their potassium content can help to prevent hypertension as well.

Figs have the ability to bind to acids in the body that accumulate as fat globules and flush them from the body making them a good addition to any weight loss program. They also work as an excellent laxative and their high mucin content help to eliminate toxic wastes and mucus from the colon. Similarly, they also also very beneficial for people who suffer from asthma as they can help to drain phlegm from the body.

Figs have the ability to kill off bad bacteria while promoting the buildup of good bacteria such as acidophilus in the bowel. Figs contain chlorogenic acid which can help lower blood sugar levels and control blood glucose levels in Type 2 Diabetes. There are hundreds varieties of figs, but some of the more common ones found in supermarkets include Black Mission, Kadota, Brown Turkey, and Calimyrna.

Fresh figs are a decadent treat when in season, but when fresh figs are not available, try soaking some dried figs in water for a few hours and blend into a sweet and creamy fig pudding or add to a smoothie for a flavor and nutritional boost. Snack on fresh or dried figs for a powerhouse of nutrition and energy that can help your body function optimally all day long.