Creating a Non-Toxic Kitchen

The kitchen is the heart of the home—where your family spends much of its time congregating around family meals.

As you are cooking, do you actually think about what you are using?

In a lot of ways having a non-toxic kitchen is just as important as WHAT you’re eating.

You could be taking all of these steps to eat healthy, detoxifying foods, but you also need to ask the question, “what am I cooking these foods in, what am I using to store leftovers in?”

Here’s why I think you should ask this question. If you are putting in a lot of effort into detoxifying your life, to eating healthily, to losing weight, you want all this effort you’re making to really pay off, right? You don’t want anything to negate or undo all your hard work?

So why would you continue to use plastic food containers, plastic drink bottles, non-stick aluminium cookware, and cleaning products that are filled with endocrine disrupting chemicals and that aren’t supportive of your health goals?

Let’s start with the “biggie” plastics, as this is a simple and cheap way to start reducing the toxic load in your kitchen today.

Given plastics can take up to 450 years to break down in our oceans, this is a great step to take for the longevity of our planet too!

Many of us don’t realise just how much plastic we have in our house. If you were to open up all the cabinets and drawers, and take a look you would typically find; lunch boxes, spatulas, pasta strainers, mixing bowls, plastic cups, food storage containers, and on and on and on. 

I don’t know if you have ever tallied the average number of plastic items that you have in your kitchen but I’d wager to say that’s it’s probably more than in any other room in our house? 

I certainly know it was for me when I first did this exercise! I was horrified!

Plastics are made up of a string of polymers and chemicals that determine its qualities; hard, soft, flexible, clear, coloured, or opaque, etc. Each manufacturer uses a proprietary “recipe” to create the plastic and isn’t required to disclose what ingredients are used in them.

Plastics contain:

• PETE or Polyethylene terephthalate; this is usually in plastic juice bottles, peanut butter, tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, etc.

• Polycarbonate; the kind of plastic your food processor bowl is made of. Polycarbonate is the most durable, and is therefore used in everything from children’s drinking cups, to food processor bowls, blender carafes and sturdy food storage containers.

• PCV; this includes DEHP with phthalates (a group of chemicals) which can make up 30% of PVC. Phthalates enter our food and drinks by leaching into them from packaging, processing equipment, microwaving plastics. These are mainly found in softer plastics like cling wrap, some plastic squeeze bottles, and cooking oil bottles.

• PS - or Polystyrene; used in Styrofoam food trays, disposable cups, egg cartons, carry out containers. 

• BPA; an industrial chemical used mainly in the production of polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins. It is used to prevent preserved or canned foods from developing a metallic or plastic taste. It is also used as an inner lining in most canned foods, and is in reusable food and drink containers.

Why should we avoid these?

As an example, BPA is an Endocrine Disrupting Chemical (EDC) which means it interacts with our body’s hormones. It has the ability to block or mimic natural estrogen in the body, which can disrupt the entire endocrine system.

Not great if you are a women, hey?

Even low-dose exposure to BPA may produce a wide variety of health problems, including:

• obesity;

• altered liver function;

• aggressive behaviour; early onset of puberty;

• hormone-dependent cancers such as prostate and breast cancer;

• and lower testosterone levels and sperm production.

Then you apply heat! When hot, oily, acidic sauce comes in contact with a plastic food storage container, the physical lines between the plastic and the food is blurred, and the result is that some of the reddish orange pasta sauce migrates into the physical structure of the plastic.

What you’re seeing is pasta sauce inside the plastic. This is why it doesn’t wash off in the dishwasher; it’s not on the plastic, it’s in the plastic!

The inverse of this is that because that physical line of where the sauce ends and the plastic starts is blurred, you’re also going to end up with plastic molecules in your sauce. 

The reason this is such a big deal is that it turns out that many of the chemicals that are released through exposure to heat, oil, acidity, and abrasion, or a combination of them, are endocrine disrupting. 

This endocrine disrupting process is a big bloody deal!

These toxins we are exposed to on a daily basis are one of the reasons many people struggle with weight. In fact, it could be a MAJOR reason as to why you are not losing weight.

When it comes to food contact, no plastics are truly safe. There are ones that are considered somewhat safer, but not totally safe. You need to ask yourself the question, “is it easier and safer to simply move away from plastics where they come in contact with food?” 

Seven simple steps you can take

1. Stores like IKEA, Target as well as online retailers like Amazon have hundreds of inexpensive glass storage containers. My personal favourites are Ball Mason jars, which are inexpensive and easy to find. They’re perfect for traveling, and they’re perfect for storing all of your dry goods like beans and your lentils.

“There are too many people counting calories, not enough people counting chemicals.”

2. The Shop Naturally website have a range of non toxic glass food storage containers, which are often discounted.

3. You can wash and re-use glass food jars that previously held your sauerkraut or whatever else that you’re eating; jam jars, pasta sauce jars, etc.

4. Swap out plastic water bottles for either glass or stainless steel, which are easier to find these days. Companies like Klean Kanteen water bottle, are available everywhere these days.

5. Ditch the plastic utensils and instead use ones made of wood, bamboo, or other nontoxic ingredients.

6. Buy some beeswax wraps which I use to wrap perishable food in the fridge, or for the kid's school lunches.

7. When you cook with aluminium, small amounts of it can leach into your food. Aluminium has been linked to dementia and Alzheimer’s. Invest in a chemical-free pan or pot, choose the one you use the most in the kitchen. For my cookware, I’ve been using Green Pan for many years as they are leading experts in healthy ceramic non-stick pans. Recently while I was testing and trialing new recipes for the 30-Day Mojo Detox and we invested in a new cookware set, Lagostina stainless steel lined copper cookware. Mamavation rate them as one of the least toxic, and I haven’t been disappointed.

We don’t have to be perfect. It’s impossible to completely eliminate our exposure to chemicals and live a modern life. It’s all about balance and just making sure we’re moving in the right direction.

Always remember that every little change made today will make a big difference in the cumulative exposure to these chemicals over time. I encourage you to celebrate each and every switch out to a product less toxic.

If you would like