Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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Hello, I just had a conversation with a well-known doctor; the long and the short of it is that he thinks that I have poor adrenal function due to environmental toxins, and arsenic in particular. He thinks that I must eat a terrible diet; but I insisted that I do better than most here in the USA.

I usually eat "whole" foods: meat, vegetables, lots of legumes, and tap water. I mostly stay away from sweets and grains.

His opinion is that I need to be eating "organic" foods, among other things. He mentioned chicken (of which I eat copious amounts) as a particular source of arsenic.

Arsenic in the diet is very un-paleo, so what are the best ways to get this and other environmental toxins out of my diet?

flag	asked Apr 29 2011 at 21:26 Rice Flour Cookies 85●5

	Is this only based on talking to you? – Matt Apr 29 2011 at 22:17
	The physician did enlighten me about how arsenic is a deliberate additive to chicken feed. The reason I'm posting here is because I know very little about shopping for food from the angle of looking to minimize toxin loads. There is much hearsay about the "organic" food label being misapplied. I hope to be pointed to reliable information. – Rice Flour Cookies Apr 30 2011 at 0:19

Forrest · Answer 1 · 2011-04-29 22:21:54Z UTC

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1) Contaminated water.
2) Contaminated seafood and kelp.
3) Vindictive spouse.

answered Apr 29 2011 at 22:21

Forrest
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I used to love to eat seafood; salmon was one of my favorite foods; which I have been told recently is frequently loaded with environmental toxins. – Rice Flour Cookies Apr 30 2011 at 0:20

Thumper · Answer 2 · 2011-04-29 21:41:25Z UTC

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Do you know what your source of tap water is? What I mean is...is it well water? Well water can have quite high concentrations of arsenic.

answered Apr 29 2011 at 21:41

Thumper
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	I'm living in an apartment now. However, during the time that I had the illness that prompted this research, I lived in many different places thousands of miles apart. – Rice Flour Cookies Apr 29 2011 at 21:47
	However, come to think of it, I remember having well water from age 5 to about 16. However, none of my family and siblings who lived with me have the same illness. – Rice Flour Cookies Apr 29 2011 at 21:48
	The well water was from years before the illness began – Rice Flour Cookies Apr 29 2011 at 21:50
	well -since arsenic is rapidly eliminated from your body through your urine - it wouldn't be around from that long ago. You would need a very high dose of arsenic for it to have an effect. I would have to question the arsenic conclusion that this doctor came to - it just sounds fishy to me. – Thumper Apr 29 2011 at 22:45
	do you live in an area that could reasonably have a problem with arsenic? (is there a mine (active or not) nearby, heavy industry, petroleum exploration, drilling or processing?) – Thumper Apr 29 2011 at 23:14

tartare · Answer 3 · 2011-04-29 22:39:08Z UTC

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well, i have to agree with the doc about the organic foods, particularly higher quality chicken. Supermarket chickens are raised in really lousy ways and I wouldn't be in the least surprised if they contained arsenic and also ammonia.

Legumes aren't really Paleo either.

after watching "Gasland", which i will go on and on annoyingly about until all you people see it too, I would not be surprised if there was arsenic your tap water, depending on where you live in the US.

answered Apr 29 2011 at 22:39

tartare
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i'm going to play a bit of a s**t disturber here and point out that the arsenic concentration in the chicken would not change organic vs. not; simply because they would both be ingesting the same source water (as far as I know, organic chickens do not drink filtered water) – Thumper Apr 29 2011 at 23:11

But I have to follow up and say I am for eating organic (and eat 90% organic) - just not for environmental contaminant reasons. – Thumper Apr 29 2011 at 23:13

fair enough. I still dont want to eat birds that live with the concentrations of ammonia present in those hen warehouses though. – tartare Apr 29 2011 at 23:18

no wait, you're apparently wrong, arsenic is a deliberate additive added to chicken which has nothing to do with the water they drink. It's used to kill parasites. nytimes.com/2006/04/05/dining/05well.html – tartare Apr 29 2011 at 23:20

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moral to this story I think is go to the farm your buying your chickens from! – Thumper Apr 29 2011 at 23:26

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Thomas Seay · Answer 4 · 2011-04-29 22:40:08Z UTC

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I am going to call "BS" on your well-known doctor. Celebrity doctors have one thing in common with most celebrity trainers. They feel compelled to say something different to distinguish themselves from other doctors/trainers. Want to get environmental toxins out of your food? Go live in one of those germ-free bubbles.

answered Apr 29 2011 at 22:40

Thomas Seay

	Thomas, I'm with you on this one - it seems pretty fishy to me - especially since arsenic rapidly disappears from the body through urine, so having a problem with arsenic to the degree this doctor suggests it would have to be a high dose of arsenic – Thumper Apr 29 2011 at 22:43
	blogs.artvoice.com/avdaily/2011/04/07/… heavy environmental poisoning is rampant and underreported. – tartare Apr 29 2011 at 22:56
	gaslandthemovie.com – tartare Apr 29 2011 at 23:00
	downvoted because i think "Want to get environmental toxins out of your food? Go live in one of those germ-free bubbles." is ridiculous. There are ways to keep these toxins out of food and those ways are called "legislation". Arsenic, for example, as I just learned because of this thread way an additive widely administered to poultry for years (not sure how much it's still used) to kill parasites and "promote growth". – tartare Apr 29 2011 at 23:25
	The man is not a "celebrity" doctor. He is simply a well-known physician, to whose web site I have been pointed to many times on various health forums on the internet. – Rice Flour Cookies Apr 30 2011 at 0:22

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How to avoid arsenic in the diet (and elsewhere)?

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