More on cooking....

One thing I forgot to add about Teflon was that the additive of PFOA is now found in nearly ALL human samples (including cord blood). It does not biodegrade and is excreted only slowly.

The guy who gave this lecture was Stuart Freedenfield, MD, Medical Director for Stockton Family Practice in Stockton NJ. He was very straightforward and presented a pretty dismal case really about our environment. But, all you can do is make the changes slowly, as feasible in your own family.

He recommends the following cookware instead of Teflon:

Stainless Steel
Cast Iron
Ceramic Titanium
Porcelain Enameled Iron
Anodized Aluminum (unless your child has heavy metals, then you may want to be cautious with this)

I personally use All-Clad and it does have aluminum core with stainless steel on the outside. I believe this to be safe as what is touching your food is the stainless. If someone has different data, please share. Although I really don't want to replace my pans, I love them and they were a wedding gift. But, I guess I would rather know....

Another option is glass although I have not seen those pots and pans around in a looong time, like circa 1980. Remember the commercials where you got to see the water boil? Maybe we could find some at garage sales, lol.

Also, see my earlier posts on plastics....more bad news though. Per the class at DAN!, no plastic is smart plastic. Gulp....So, we have been using our Corelle plates for the kids instead of their Spiderman and Princess melamine coated junk or even the Tupperware stuff. I know, this has been a rough week for my kitchen. He advocated using the Kleen Kanteens with the sippy adapters instead of plastic sippy cups. You can order them online or at REI. He does go on to say "Avoid PVC containing plastics. The following are OK to use:"

Clear wrap, not saran
Glad Cling Wrap
Hefy One-zip slider bags
Hefty Baggies
Ziplock and Gladlock bags and containers
Rubbermaid Chuggable bottles or the Stainless Steel Kleen Kanteens and visit http://www.newbornfree.com/ for baby bottles.

Never microwave in plastic, ever. Do you know what "microwave safe" means? It means the plastic will not melt in the microwave. It does not tell you a thing about what is leeching into your food. And, you don't even want to heat something on class or ceramic and then put that onto a plastic plate (oops). Heat and plastic should not mix. Yes, there will be a run on pyrex sets with the lids here in Gilbert as I need to stock up apparantly. Speaking of microwaves, you should only heat in the microwave, never cook. 'Nuking something for 30 seconds is very different from cooking a casserole in there. You should not be using the microwave to cook.

On to Shari's question about baking sheets. My future plans include using parchment paper to bake on. But, I did a quick internet search and did see stainless cookie sheets.

This guy also covered controlling pests, water in your home both drinking and showering, sleepwear, organic foods, etc. I will be covering more as I do more searching and can provide more data for you.

I am so morose, I have to get rid of my wonderful griddle that goes on my stove AND my electric griddle and my George Foreman grill!!! I actually used my All Clad pans this morning to make pancakes, it just wasn't the same. But, I will adapt! I will find a new source and will post it here when I do. We just have to look at some of the older ways of doing things, like glass and cast iron (unless you have a smooth top stove like I do - it came with the house, not my choice....). Glass good, plastic bad. It gets more challenging with a 5 and 2 year old dropping things around here, which is why I love Corelle. I am running to the outlet for more this week as a matter of fact. We can do this, we can get rid of this stuff that is not benefiting our health and can make the changes that will give our kids a healthier future. Most of our toxic exposure comes from our homes so we clean that up and our kids will be so much better even when they do get the exposure out in the community. The less toxic burden, the more efficient their immune systems can be. If you have a child on the spectrum this is even more important for them but also remember, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. You probably are doing a huge favor to yourself and their siblings by cleaning these things up too, even if you are not symptomatic like your child may be....

Next up - meat and how it is packaged and more on going organic......but I need to run before this post becomes a novel. Stay tuned.....