We get stronger and healthier from eating plants that struggle. We’re not protecting ourselves from biopesticides so much as sensing plants’ stress levels in our food. One implication is that modern agriculture, which often prevents plant stress with pesticides and ample watering, produces fruits and vegetables with weak xenohormetic signals. “I buy stressed plants,” Sinclair says. “Organic is a good start. I choose plants with lots of color because they are producing these molecules.” Some argue that xenohormesis may explain, at least in part, why the Mediterranean diet is apparently so healthful. It contains plants such as olives, olive oil, and various nuts that come from hot, dry, stressful environments. Eating food from plants that have struggled to survive toughens us up as well. Resilience isn’t completely inherent to your body; it’s cultivated by outside stimuli. And some of those stimuli just happen to be mildly noxious, slightly stressful chemicals in plants. nautil.us/issue/15/turbulence/fruits-and-vegetables-are-trying-to-kill-you
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 13:01:20 +0000
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