This One Thing You Are Likely Ingesting Every Day May Be Wreaking Havoc On Your Mental Health

We’ve all heard it before: you are what you eat. It may be common knowledge for most that our diets have a profound effect on both our physical health and our wellbeing, but even those of us who are “doing all the right things” with our diet may still be suffering from food-induced mental health issues–from brain fog and fatigue to anxiety and depression. 

One of the main reasons our diet is so influential to our mental state is because the gut is commonly considered our “second brain”–it has a direct connection to our first brain in our skulls via the vagus nerve.

In addition to that, 70 percent of our immune system is in our gut and 95(!) percent of serotonin (the feel-good hormone) is found in the gut.

A healthy gut microbiome is an integral foundation to maintaining not just your overall well-being, but for ensuring a balanced production of your mood-boosting resources. 

There’s one likely culprit causing disruption to the homeostasis of your gut. And if you’ve never heard of glyphosate, the odds are you’re ingesting it on a daily basis. It’s vital to understand that this is one of the worst microbiome aggressors, and thus one of the biggest contributing factors to society’s collective mental health deterioration. 

What is glyphosate? 

Glyphosate was originally patented as an antibiotic, and it’s the main chemical in the herbicide Roundup (and in most herbicides). The World Health Organization has classified it as a “probable human carcinogen.” It’s even been ruled in court as a human carcinogen that causes Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. 

Sadly, this nasty chemical is everywhere. It’s sprayed on GMO crops (think soybeans, corn, canola, beets, to name a few). It’s used on Non-GMO crops too, usually as a drying agent on wheat, barley, and oats. Basically, it’s found in 75% of our food supply. It gets in the cell of the plant and it can’t be rinsed off or cooked out.

Many products, especially cereals marketed to children have been found to contain unsafe levels of glyphosate. It is also sprayed on public spaces, like parks and playgrounds. That means our kids are playing in it and our furry family members and walking all over it! It’s in our food supply, air, water — it’s insidious, virtually impossible to avoid.

The effects that glyphosate-based herbicides have on humans has been known to induce neurobehavioural impairments, and studies have proven that sub-chronic and chronic exposure to this toxin can drastically increase anxiety and depressive-like behaviors.

If you’ve experienced chronic issues with any of the below, it’s possible that glyphosate is part of the problem:

• Brain fog
• Fatigue
• Cravings for sugar and carbs
• Anxiety 
• Depression
• Inflammation
• Chronic diarrhea or constipation
• Gas or bloating
• Poor immune system
• Skin rashes (especially acne, eczema, and rosacea)
• Arthritis and joint pain
• Autoimmune disease

How do we reduce exposure to glyphosate? 

Here are a few things you can start doing now to combat the effects of glyphosate and diminish future exposure:

• Eat organic as much as possible
• Avoid processed foods
• Use filtered water that will remove this chemical (I love the Berkey filter system and it’s not super expensive!)
• Use a daily supplement that has been clinically proven to remove glyphosate from the body

Author: Sonia Magruder, Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach

To learn more about how you can fend off this toxic chemical, and for a discount code for the supplement proven to remove it from the body, please contact Sonia Magruder at soniam@magrudergroup.com, or connect via social media and send a direct message on Facebook or Instagram.