Plastics may be great for consumer. But they are NOT meant to be consumed.
With today’s busy lifestyle, more people are reaching for packaged foods, and most of these are introducing small amounts of chemicals into the foods they touch. Whether it is the fast food burger in a foam box, raw meats on a Styrofoam (made from toxic styrene) tray in the supermarket, or drinks that now come in plastic instead of glass bottles, unwanted chemicals are entering our digestive tracts, and getting into our bloodstreams. Now scientists and doctors are starting to take notice. Higher rates (and earlier ages of victims) of cancers and neurological diseases are starting to be noticed in areas where packaged food is the norm. While the big food companies may argue that this is untrue, there is certainly no chance that these chemicals like BPA (BisPhenol-A) are “health foods”. As a consequence, it makes sense to take some simple measures to reduce our exposure.
Action Items to keep plastics out of your body:
- Buy fresh food, whenever you can. Try your local farmer’s markets, or at least get to know the people behind the fish and meat counters at your grocery store. Have them wrap it in wax paper.
- Buy small quantities, so you won’t have a fridge full of left-overs. Remember the best way to keep food fresh is to leave it in the store!
- Learn to cook. You will save money, and save your health. You will also save time. Watch Jamie Oliver’s 15 minute meals on YouTube; you will learn how to make something nutritious from scratch in less time than it takes to go out (or order in) for “fast” food.
- Don’t buy landfill along with your groceries. Today’s foam trays, plastic containers, and packages all end up in next week’s garbage. Far better to have foods wrapped in paper, foil, or cardboard boxes, and to buy liquids in glass containers. To complete the green concept, take your own cloth bags to the store, instead of using any plastic ones. You will be amazed at the reduced output when you just buy the product and not the containers.
- Throw out your non-stick pans, plastic utensils, and storage containers. Use stainless steel-lined pots and pans, and glass or steel storage containers.
- Use water for your main drink. It’s a lot cheaper than sodas and juices. Besides, you don’t have to carry tap water home! If your tap water tastes poorly, consider a reverse osmosis water filter. To make it look more appetizing, fill old wine bottles with water, and leave them to chill in the fridge. If you do enjoy fizzy water, seek out those that still come in glass containers.
- Time counts. If you do need to bring some foods home in plastic containers, transfer them to dishes immediately. If some of it is to be saved for later, put it in a glass container. Try not to eat from (or store food in) original plastic containers.
- When you absolutely need to use plastic at times, make sure it is the “hard” kind, not the soft opaque version; the opaque one is much easier to scratch with utensils, and much more likely to leech chemicals into its contents, especially when heated for cleaning.
While we can’t control all of the chemicals that touche our foods, we can certainly take these simple measures to fight back.