Have You Seen The News?

Most of you know I’m all about eating fresh foods, limiting your chemical exposures, yada yada yada. You know I don’t use canned goods anymore at home.  Well, listen to this one. The good people at the Silent Spring Institute, along with the Breast Cancer Fund, last week released a small study that showed that food packaging is the major source of exposure to BPA and DEHP in children and adults, and that a fresh food diet reduces levels of these chemicals by half, after just three days. Yowza.

To reduce your exposure to BPA and DEHP, try cooking at home with fresh foods and making some very basic changes in the kitchen, such as avoiding canned foods, choosing glass and stainless steel food and beverage containers, and not microwaving in plastic. You might also want to consider eating fewer meals out, and dining at places that use more fresh ingredients. I know it might be hard . . . trust me, years ago I had to break my daughter of a vicious Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup habit . . . . it takes time, and it takes imagination, but it can. be. done. And should.

Visit those sites for more information on the study, along with more practical tips on how to reduce your exposure, including this handy wallet card you can take to the market with you. And tell your friends. And if you’re inclined, call your legislators. These results aren’t just dramatic, they should serve as a call to action. Many lawmakers agree that BPA doesn’t belong in canned food or baby bottles, and the companies that make these products should be prepared to come up with safe alternatives – quickly. The study findings suggest that if manufacturers voluntarily reformulated their packaging to remove BPA and phthalates, or better yet, if these chemicals were banned from food packaging altogether, a large portion of the population would experience an immediate reduction in the levels of these chemicals in their bodies. And that’s never a bad thing.

© 2011, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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