Are organic foods better for weight loss strategies than conventionally grown ones? Should I be paying more for these fruits, veggies and even meats to get better results on my bathroom scale? These are some of the questions I’ve been asking myself since I’ve been going to more farmer’s markets and Marley has signed up for one of those CSA box programs.
Are Organic Foods Better for Weight Loss and Combatting Obesity?
While I asked myself these questions, I found myself tumbling down a pretty deep rabbit hole. It seems that I’m not the only one who wants to know if organic foods are better for weight loss. Coincidentally, there was a study published very recently in the Nature Communications journal that just happened to look into that exact point.
In fact, it didn’t just look into whether organic foods are better for weight loss than conventionally grown ones. It also looked into the impact of pesticides on obesity. I was stunned by the result. Like, full astonished-face-emoji-level stunned. 😲
What I Learned About a Common Pesticide
As it turns out, the animal study that was just published was examining chlorpyrifos. If that’s the first time you’ve heard the name of that pesticide, you’re not alone. I’d never heard of it before, either. That said, apparently, it’s really common in the United States, but it’s actually set to be banned. After what I’ve read, it can’t happen soon enough! After lots of long court battles, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is banning it in early 2022. This stuff is bad enough that it was banned for residential use 20 years ago because of its scary impact on low birthweights in babies and neurodevelopmental impairments in kids! Have you made the 😲 face yet?
If you’ve ever wondered if organic foods are better for weight loss, learn about the impact of chlorpyrifos on the body. According to the researchers, it not only promotes more food consumption, but it also suppresses thermogenesis in brown fat.
That means that eating foods that have that pesticide in them could be making it harder for you to lose weight and are simultaneously putting you at a higher risk of obesity! I don’t know about you, but the foods at my grocery store don’t say which pesticides were used to grow them, and they don’t have a “now chlorpyrifos-free” sticker on them. So, I’ve become very aware of the difference between those and pesticide-free ingredients for reaching my weight goals.
Even More About Organic Foods and Weight Loss
The new study also looked at dozens of other pesticides and herbicides and what they found was that they impact the brown fat cells in mice, too. To me, that says that whenever I can, I should aim for organic foods for the sake of my weight loss…and my health!
I can’t get it every time, but my main focus will be on the Dirty Dozen list put out by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). This year’s list is out already, and strawberries and spinach have topped it yet again. This list is my guide to the most important organic foods I need to buy for my weight loss, obesity prevention, and general wellness in areas we haven’t even proven yet.
