We are what we eat; we are what our parents ate; and we are what our food ate. I’ve been told to eat healthy for as long as I can remember, but what is eating healthy in America?

When people think of healthy foods in America, they think of fruits, vegetables, and protein rich meat. These foods, when they are organic, are great for you, but the problem is finding food that is organic.

According to the NONGMO Project website, “In North America, over 90% of our food contains GMOs” (Genetically Modified Organisms).

What are GMOs? The five most common GMO products are corn, canola, soy, cotton and sugar beets. The purpose of GMOs is to give crops potent herbicides and pesticides to reduce the amount of chemicals sprayed on the crops, to increase a certain nutrient in a food, or to give a plant the ability to survive in a foreign environment.

The vision scientists have for GMOs is to have a inexpensive crop that can grow in very large quantities, anywhere. GMOs could mean cheap food for hungry countries. Ideally, GMOs can be very useful for feeding the growing human population. The set back is many GMOs are very harmful to people.

The first GMOs were released into our market a little over 20 years ago, so the long term effects are still a mystery to scientists. The flip side is that for something that has only been around for 20 years, a surprising amount of damage has been done.

In the article  “The ultimate purpose of GMOs” the author says, “GMOs are implicated in a staggeringly large number of ailments, including organ failure, autism, allergies, asthma, sterility, infant mortality, digestive disorders, bowel disease, Crohn’s disease, constipation, kidney disease, heart disease and more.” With so many different problems occurring, eating GMOs is becoming a major concern.

The main herbicide in almost every GMO is Roundup. Roundup is manufactured by  Monsanto (a large GMO company). The main chemical in Roundup is Glyphosate. GMO farms have been spraying Roundup routinely on their crops for 20 years. According to an article published by EcoWatch,  “15 health problems linked to Mosanto’s Roundup,” Roundup has been linked to “ADHD, Alzheimer’s, anencephaly, autism, various birth defects, brain cancer, cancer, Celiac disease, colitis, depression, diabetes, and many other diseases.”

The environmental impact of Monsanto’s Roundup is devastating as well. When farmers drench their fields in Roundup, the wind will blow it into the surrounding environment, and the rain will runoff from the farm back into the water supply. Animals then get Roundup from eating the plants and drinking the water. Just like mercury poisoning in fish, Glyphosate is becoming apparent in ecosystems everywhere.

Farm animals even suffer from consumption of Glyphosate. In an article published on The Ecologist the author tells of a pig farmer who changed from GMO  to GMO-free feed. The farmer stated, “When using GMO feed I saw symptoms of bloat, stomach ulcers, high rates of diarrhea… but when I switched [to non GMO feed] these problems went away, some within a matter of days.” The pigs he raised on GMO feed had severe birth defects, deformed spines, and back legs that didn’t work. Farmers kill the pigs born like this.

It used to be that grass fed cows were as organic as you could get, but that isn’t the case anymore. According to the article “GMO, Glyphosate residue in grass fed beef and you,” “There are no regulations about glyphosate use in non-organic grass fed beef production.” That means that even though a label may say grass fed and no hormones added, it will still have Glyphosate. For Glyphosate free milk or meat you have to search for the labels that say organic.

Why are GMOs still our main food supply? The answer is time.

Monsanto and other GMO food companies use the defense that studies aren’t conclusive because there is only 20 years of research on the topic. With time, more cases of health problems, mental and physical will arise, and, hopefully, there will be a change.

Five countries are outright banning all Monsanto products. These countries include France, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Chile, and South Africa. South Africa has 12 million starving people and decided that Monsanto’s “Super Crop” products would ultimately be more harmful than good. There are 35 countries in the EU that ban all GMO food.

In May 2015, cities around the world participated in March Against Monsanto.  Frederick, Maryland was among these.  This is a good move in the direction of removing GMO’s from our food.

Stay clear of GMOs whenever possible. If what you’re eating doesn’t say organic, then it’s not, even if it’s produce or meat. Even meat claiming to have no artificial hormones or preservatives may still have GMOs.

Eating a balanced organic diet won’t just keep you looking good. It will help you feel better.  “Nutritional formulas effectively treat ADD, bipolar disorder, anxiety and depression,” assert researchers in the article “Nutritional approaches to and diets safely cure mental illness.”

Your stomach is practically a second brain. If a person is undernourished, it not only affects the body, also it can do serious harm to the mind.