Like it or not, the kitchen is a place where most of us spend a decent amount of time preparing our daily nourishment. While we all have heard about the problems of nutrient-deficient food and excessive sugar consumption, we often overlook the damage of everyday environmental toxins. Many people mistakenly believe that toxins are a given and there is nothing we can do about them. But that’s not true. There are many ways we can eliminate our family’s exposure.
It’s important to first get a sense of just how many chemicals are now produced and used in society. Over the past 75 years, expansion of pharmaceuticals, synthetics, plastics, solvents and petrochemicals have exploded into the marketplace. Between 1970 and 1995, the volume of synthetic organic chemicals produced tripled, from about 50 million tons to around 150 million tons. Today we have nearly 84,000 chemicals allowed in commerce, the majority of which have not been tested for safety.
When a toxic chemical enters your body, it does not necessarily mean that it will cause harm, because your body has a built-in detoxification system to eliminate harmful compounds. The liver, intestine, kidneys, lungs, and brain all play important roles in transforming, conjugating, and transporting toxins out of the body. We know that a healthy body can handle a certain number of chemicals, but we don’t know what that number is — and it’s most likely different for everyone. But what we do know, is that today’s world exposes us to hundreds of toxins on a daily basis, and the rate at which new chemicals are introduced is likely to be faster that our bodies can adapt.
The research is clear that excessive toxin exposure can damage every aspect of our physiological function and plays a critical role in today’s chronic disease crisis. Toxins damage our bones, our organs, our DNA, our hormones, and modify our gene expression. They don’t act alone and can affect us through all stages of our life cycle.
Today I want to share some small but impactful changes that you can make to reduce your family’s toxin exposure right in your own kitchen.
Throw out non-stick pans - Toxic fumes from non-stick pans like Teflon occur when pans are used on high heat, particularly over 350 degrees Farenheight. The non-stick chemicals, called perfluoroalkyls, used on these pans break down and absorb into the foods we cook and eat. They are made using fluorine, an element that takes decades to break down in our bodies and has been shown to cause cancer in lab animals. Instead, choose 18/18 food grade stainless steel or cast-iron for stove-top cooking or glass, ceramic, or stainless steel for oven baking. Check out the film, The Devil We Know for a look into one of the biggest environmental scandals of our time.
Get rid of plastics - Plastic containers leach endocrine-disrupting chemicals like bisphenol-A (BPA) into the food and liquids we store then in, especially when heated. Recycle plastic water bottles and plastic storage containers and replace with glass or stainless steel. If you need to reheat foods do not use plastic steam bags or plastic containers often found in packaged frozen foods. Transfer food to glass or stainless steel and reheat.
Avoid Styrofoam - Like all plastics, Styrofoam is a petrochemical made of puffed polystyrene and benzene. It’s classified as a known hazardous substance, which is know to cause developmental, hematological, renal and immunological disorders. Styrofoam cups and to-go food containers are the most common places it interacts with our foods. When Styrofoam is combined with liquid and heat it’s especially toxic, but it’s also unhealthy with cold and dry food. Choose paper, glass, or stainless steel for transporting your foods.
Replace old cutting boards with deep cut marks - The more groves a cutting board has, and the bigger and deeper they are, the more area is available for trapping moisture and giving bacteria a place to proliferate. Plastic cutting boards are more likely to create cut grooves and can also contain many chemical additives that help create the boards texture, color, and stiffness. Two of these chemicals are BPA, a known endocrine disrupter, and triclosan, a probable carcinogen. The best non-toxic cutting boards are those made of solid hardwood that have no glue or cut marks.
Choose tea bags with paper liners - Recent studies have shown that micro and nano size particles are entering our bodies through tea bags. It has been shown that steeping a single plastic tea bag releases approximately 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics into a single cup of tea. Common sense says, this can’t be good for us and accumulated research shows that microplastics most likely drive disease through local tissue inflammation. I recommend avoiding plastic tea bags and sticking to unbleached paper bags or loose leaf options.
Avoid canned foods with BPA - Bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic estrogen found in the lining of food cans and is a known endocrine disruptor, which has the potential to affect virtually all aspects of the body’s metabolism and function. When you eat canned soup from a BPA coated container, you increase BPA levels more than tenfold. The EWG website reports which companies use BPA in they packaging. Some popular BPA-free brands include Amy’s, Harris Teeter's Simply Organic, Earth's Best, Health Valley, Native Forest, and Imagine.
Avoid large game fish high in mercury - This is the number one cause of mercury exposure in America due to air and water pollution setting in our oceans. Avoid big species of fish like king mackerel, marlin, orange roughy, shark, swordfish, tilefish, and tuna. Eating smaller fish lower on the food chain is best, such as wild salmon, wild flounder, trout, anchovies, or sardines.
Choose organic foods - From a toxic exposure standpoint, there’s no doubt organic foods are healthier. They protect us from consuming herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones. Check out the EWGs Shoppers Guide to Pesticides in Produce, which reports which produce have the highest pesticide load. It’s here you will find a single strawberry sample can harbor up to 22 different pesticide residues. Conventional meats and dairy foods are also high in environmental contaminants like synthetic growth hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides. Choose pasture-raised, organic, grass-fed varieties. Or better yet, get to know your local farmers who practice humane chemical-free farming, and buy directly from them.
Invest in a high-quality water filter - Water quality issues are very real in the United States. Under the 1976 Safe Drinking Water Act, only 91 contaminants are mandated to be regulated. The problem is, there are now over 85,000 approved chemicals on the market. Contaminants like fluoride, chlorine, lead, mercury, PCBs, arsenic, perchlorate, dioxins, nitrates, and microplastics are a few of the nastier contaminants that still manage to make it into our glasses. If you want safe clean water, invest in a water filtration system. Carbon filters are okay, but an even better option is a reverse osmosis filter or an under the counter multi-stage filter. A great water filter guide can be found at www.ewg.org.
Drink plenty of water - Once you’ve filtered your water, drink a lot of it! Not only does water keep your body and your cells hydrated, but it helps move waste products and toxins out of the body.
If you are interested in more detailed information on how to heal and protect your body from toxic environmental chemicals as well as an essential guide to optimal nourishment, grab a copy of my new book, Nourish Your Tribe.