Eating For Health

Who doesn’t like some fast food?   It is so easy to drop in any fast-food establishment and grab a bite to eat, either for a meal or for a quick snack.   But are you getting more than food at a fast-food restaurant?   Consumer Reports and others are reporting along with your food, you could be getting some dangerous chemicals found in the containers and wrappers.   What are these dangerous chemicals? Consumer Report testers found PFAS chemicals in many different types of fast-food packaging.   PFAS stands for “per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances “or PFAS.    These chemicals were actually invented in 1938 when Roy Plunkett found a chemical that lasts a very long time and a chemical “resistant to heat, water, oil, and corrosion”.   That is why PFAS chemicals are called “forever chemicals”, they last a long time and don’t break down.   There isn’t just one PFAS chemical, but over 9,000 different ones. Why do Fast Food places use these ch...

Eggs – who hasn’t heard that eggs are high in cholesterol and we should limit how many eggs we eat?   Because of this, many of us have cut back on how many eggs we consume.   But what does the latest research show?   Gluten free – one of the latest fads in eating.   One can hardly buy a packaged good without seeing “gluten-free” on the label.   But are gluten-free foods good for your health?   Do you really need to be concerned about gluten?    Did you read my blog last week about how much plastic we are consuming each week in our foods and beverages?   This week I took a look around the kitchen and was surprised to see how many foods that used to be in glass or cardboard, are now in plastic.   Are there ways to cut back on plastic?   Let’s look at each of these topics. Enjoy those eggs Eggs are much maligned – we have been scared for years about eating too many eggs. But for those of us who love eggs, there is good news...

Are you eating plastic every day?   Most people have never even thought about how much plastic they are consuming each day, each week, each month.   Consumer Reports has a great article, How to Eat Less Plastic .   In the article it notes, “Each of us might ingest up to a credit card’s worth of plastic weekly through food and water”.    Kind of alarming since most of us never think about eating plastic and that we might be getting plastic in the foods we eat and from the water we drink. How much plastic are we ingesting? Besides the credit card reference, an article in Environmental Science & Technology, discussed “Human Consumption of Microplastics”.   They estimate that our annual consumption of microplastics from foods and drinking water “ranges from 39000 to 52000 particles”.   Those of us who rely on water from plastic bottles ingest another 90000 microplastics each year.   Interestingly, even those who consume only tap wate...