Utensils, cooking, food choices... Toxins are everywhere and have a significant impact on our health and wellbeing. But this is not inevitable! With a few simple changes, you can reduce your exposure to toxins.
4 tips to Reduce exposure to toxins in your kitchen
1. REDUCE OR ELIMINATE PROCESSED FOODS
Processed foods are ready-made foods that usually have a long list of ingredients.
These kinds of foods often contain artificial ingredients because they need to stay on the shelves and in your cupboards for a long time.
Processed foods are food such as:
bakery products - cookies, muffins, cakes
sugary drinks - sodas, juices
candies
sauces, dressings and gravies
processed meats & fish- sausages, burger, hot dogs
frozen foods - pizzas, pasta
sweetened breakfast cereals
potato chips & all kind of salty snacks
2. REDUCE OR AVOID OVERCOOKING
Foods cooked in boiling water, grilled, cooked in a pressure cooker, cooked in the oven at a high temperature or on the barbecue are most of the time foods that are overcooked.
A food that has developed a brown, crispy color that has lost its bright color is a food that has developed toxins and lost its nutritional value.
We can make our food unhealthy just by the way we prepare them by cooking them at high temperatures. I recommend to vary the cooking methods on a daily basis and adopt gentle steam cooking for your vegetables in order to enjoy the benefits of food.
3. AVOID FOODS RICH IN PESTICIDES
Choose organic foods as much as possible to reduce your exposure to pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides... Pesticides tend to interfere with our hormones.
Choosing organic food is not only good for the environment, but also for your health. It is not always budget friendly to buy organic vegetables and fruits but you can check the dirty dozen of your country and avoid the ones listed. It will help you avoid those toxins and keep your budget under control.
4. REDUCE THE PLASTIC IN YOUR CUPBOARDS
Avoid plastic water bottles. Numerous studies have shown that they often contain more toxins than tap water. You can invest in a water filter to remove any residue and taste. You can also check the quality of your city's water and maybe you don't even need a filter!
Replace your plastic utensils with wooden or glass utensils. With wear, cutting boards, spatulas, tupperware deposit small debris in your food and in your body. Those debris can release estrogenic chemical that mimic our natural hormones and cause many adverse health effects.