Denby Royal, Opinion contributor Published 5:00 a.m. ET Feb. 5, 2020

I bought into the marketing, manipulation and misinformation about organic food vs. GMOs, and sold it to my clients. Then it all came crashing down.

For years, I was deeply embedded in the wellness world in my own life. Then I decided to work in the industry as aholistic nutritionist,praising and promotingthe newest alternative health treatments and products.

But not only was I unable toback it all up, I was dripping with self-righteousness over my lifestyle.

At the time, I thought my credentials were sufficient. In Canada, where I live, there is noprofessional governing organization for holistic nutritionists and I had only a year of education before I was certified in 2015 nowhere near what it takes toqualifyas a medical practitioner. My program discouraged us from sayingtreat," "cure," "heal" or "preventwhen addressinghealth-related issues. Although I was very careful to abide by these guidelines, many others in wellness are not.

Clients came to melooking for advice on meal plans, supplement recommendationsand general guidelines on how to live a more natural and holistic life. They would usually have a specific issue they wanted to address, such as increasing energy levels, sleeping betterand coping with food intolerances. Clients filled out a detailed form about their dietary and lifestyle habits, and I had themchartto see how they were eating in a week.

Sometimes I hadone-time consultations where I would assess the individual needs of each client and provide them with a comprehensive lifestyle and nutritional plan, including a meal plan and anysupplements I recommended. Other clients I saw more often.

A shopper walks by the produce section in August 2012 at a Nashville, Tennessee, store.(Photo: Samuel M. Simpkins/The Tennessean, Gannett)

My work as a holistic nutritionist "holistic" because I was trying to improve clients' health by addressing the "whole person," including their mind, body and spiritwas primarily online.I had a successful blog, but found prospective clients primarily through an Instagram account I started in 2014, when I was in nutritional school. Keeping up my image of wellness online was crucial to my business.

During this phase, a meal in my home would have included only organic and non-genetically modified organisms (non-GMO) foods. I thought this wasthe best way to rid your diet of toxins and pesticides. In reality, this isnt quite the case. The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a list of synthetic substances that organic growers are permitted to use on their cropsand still maintain their organic label.

Marketing thatorganic food is cleaner isall around us. Just take a look at the campaign Skip the Chemicals. Itencourages consumers to fear the scary-sounding names of chemicals and adopta better-safe-than-sorry attitude toward their food. Ultimately, though, itsteers consumers towardmore costly organic foods, although there is no evidence that organic foods are more nutritious.

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The Dirty Dozen list is another marketing ploy. Not only did I have this list stuck to my fridge at home,I also encouraged my clients to download and share it. Using pesticide residue data from the USDA, itranks food by the levels of detected pesticides to generate a list of the top 12 fruits and vegetables consumers should avoid in their conventional versions.

Take strawberries, which topped the list in 2018. The USDA published test results on tens of thousands of nonorganic fruit and vegetable samples across the country.Most of the samples of strawberries showed residues of at least one kind of pesticideand, in one sample of strawberries,22 different pesticide residueswere detected but that doesnt mean the pack ofstrawberries you buy at the grocery store will have 22 pesticides.

"Remember, though, that the presence of a residue is not equal to the presence of risk! wroteJoe Schwarcz, director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society. What matters is not the variety of residues detected, but whether these are in excess of the amounts regulatory agencies deem to be safe." In fact, there are "virtually no cases in which the levels deemed to be safe are exceeded.

But this important contextual information isn't included. After all, scared consumers send donations.

A 2011 study in The Journal of Toxicology foundthat the levels of residuedetected are 1,000 to 30,000 times belowthe Environmental Protection Agencys already conservative safety limits (known as tolerances).Nonorganic versions of these foods are incredibly safe for us to eat.

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Don't underestimate the influence that labels can have. One example of deceptive marketing is slapped on roughly 61,000 food productsthe little butterfly seal from the Non-GMO Project. This perpetuatesthe false idea thatGMOs are unsafe. Its gotten so ridiculous that products like salt, which has no genes, are labeled non-GMO. Youll see this label on other goods like lettuceand blueberries, even though genetically modified versions of these products dont exist in the marketplace.

I was baffled to learn thatgovernment agencies,international health organizationsand thescientific community haveaffirmed the safety of genetically modified foods.But the science position is losing people's hearts and minds. A 2015 Pew Research Center surveyfound that only 37% of the general public believed that genetically modified foods were generally safe to consume, versus 88% of American Association for the Advancement of Sciencescientists polled.

A variety of dietary supplements in Philadelphia, in June 2013.(Photo: J. Kyle Keener, USA TODAY)

What prompted me to start looking into genetically modifiedfoods was the uncertainty I was encountering with my clients.

Many of them were missing the basics: sleep, water,fruits and vegetables. They were also avoiding real food out of a fear of GMOs and taking a multitude of supplements(a $35 billion business in the United States)to replace missing nutrients. My clients were confused by the contradictory information they were getting on the internet.

I started looking into the sources of my sources, only to find anecdotes being presented as evidence andantiquated, and outdated studies being used to confirm biases.

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I also found myself sacrificing my general quality of life to justify the heavy financial burden of eating organic. I was eating beyond my means andchoosing organic avocados over occasional meals out with friends. Striving to live up to the idealnatural and holistic lifestyle started to take a toll on my well-being.

In 2017, I eventually made the difficult decision to turn away from the fad-dietand corporation-hating lifestyle I was living and ended my business. My intention is not to demonizethe organic food industry I simply incorrectly believed that my dogmatism against toxins and pesticides wasbased on solid science. But I was actually rejecting science. I sought out media that only confirmed my preexisting bias.

Do what I wish I had donesooner and open yourself up to the research. Dont take the word of a parent you met at your kids soccer practice or from a theory you overheard in yoga. Choose based on facts. Your pocketbook and peace of mind will thank you.

Denby Royal is a writer and former holistic nutritionist working in fashion. She lives in British Columbia, Canada.

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From snake oil to science: I peddled 'clean' eating, wellness until I learned the facts - USA TODAY