We Took The Plunge For Our Health
- Jane Wheeler
- Jun 18
- 6 min read
We did it! We chucked out our plastic dishes and containers, yes even Tupperware.
(It was a grim day).
Gone are the plastic storage containers, the empty yogurt containers, and the fast food useful trays. We still have a couple things to figure out but we are heading to as much plastic free as possible. You may want to know why we have switched to glass or metal, keep reading.
As most of you are aware, my health journey of the past 8 months has been a little wild.
I mean why me? What was there I might be doing that could contribute to any health weakness? I worked in the health industry I knew a lot of do’s and don’ts. I started reading, asking, studying and a few things came up, both good and bad.
Before I get into the plastic part, can I simply mention that I have never seen so many health problems, cancers, repeated colds and flus and what is with the digestive issues? It is kind of nuts what people are having to face. Why?
I had a friend ask me, is it the food, the air, drugs, the water? I answered: yes.
It’s all of it. The world of today is not the world of 60 years ago. Our family growing up, rarely ate out. Fast food was not a thing in our home unless it was a very special occasion, maybe 2-3 times a year. Water was not bottled. Koolaid was the drink of choice and not that sugar-free crap of today. (Sorry I feel very strongly about pretend cancer causing sweeteners, please do not use them).
Our bodies have not kept up with our world. I do not mean evolution, I mean our gutt bacteria and enzymes. We do not eat the same, we skip meals, the food is not the same, and we are not making healthy food inside our bodies.
Our bodies were designed to take care of themselves. We have this unique immune system, kick started by breast milk if we were so fortunate to get that. Colostrum is in moms milk for the first 2-5 days after birth. Colostrum is the antioxidants and antibodies needed to get a babies immune system off to a good start.
If you need to regulate, meaning boost or slow down, your immune system, bovine (cow) colostrum can be purchased. Talk to a health professional to see if it’s a fit for you.
Our bodies are designed to produce and continue to produce bacteria’s, enzymes, antibodies, antioxidants. But if we get sick like a long term chronic illness, a flu especially a bad both ends going kind of flu, you can expel a lot of “good stuff out with the bad”. As we age we loose some of our good inside stuff. Do yourself a favour buy a bottle of digestive enzymes for your stomach.
First let me talk about the food. A lot of us live fast paced, grab food and go. When was the last time you sat and ate together at your family table? Grabbing food that is “fast” prepackaged, microwaveable, processed… not our best food choices to give us nourishment. I would even throw out - we are the walking undernourished even though we are not a “skinny” generation.
I have not had a microwave for years, the microwave basically kills the nutrition in the food. If you decide not to give up your microwave please hear me on this one- no microwaving in plastic containers! The plastic leaches into the food.
Too much processing in our food, too little old fashioned homemade cooking, less from our own gardens, relying instead that the grocery store has the best. I am stunned when I make something homemade and someone says “you can actually make that?” What they mean is, beside a mix in a box, you can make that? We had a lady tonight comment on “homemade cupcakes” - you know the Duncan Hines ones. If it comes in a box that is not homemade cooking. All processed foods copy original homemade foods, foods made from scratch.
In a study that I completed for a health course I took, they compared spinach. It was regular store spinach to organic farmed spinach. It took 9 grocery store spinach’s to equal the vitamins and minerals in 1 organic spinach. “9” No one is going to eat 9 spinach plants but they might eat a good portion of one, which one should it be?
Our farmers have laws and regulations so strict now, they have to spray for many things, the ground has been leached of goodness. The plants get their goodness from the ground. A great gardener will feed their soil to build it up and give it nutrients for the plants. A good choice if you do not have a garden is to buy at Farmers Markets! Growing your own is by far the most satisfying. Or buy directly from gardeners and farmers. Ask about chemicals and sprays - you do not want them on your food.
Before I get to plastics can I please mention this tip from my Oncologist. He asked me if I eat yogurt. I replied, “every day.” He said I bet you like the thick Greek yogurt stuff. I told him mine is not thick, because there is corn in a lot of yogurts that I cannot have. He said “good, because the thick stuff has all the good bacteria drained off of it. You want the thinner yogurt AND you want the liquid in it- do not pour it off!" He went on to say that he makes his own yogurt every night and has for 10 years. He suggested an instant pot with a yogurt setting or a yogurt maker. He said that a lot of peoples digestive issues would be cleared up by making their own yogurt. It contains enzymes, pre-biotics, probiotics and beneficial bacteria’s your guts needs. The pre and pro biotics mentioned on your store bought yogurt are not enough to do anything… sorry to burst that bubble.
I ordered a yogurt maker and some starter online. For the starter you need to get the ones with the most strains, meaning the ones with the most different “kinds” of bacteria. I picked up one locally but it had sugar and maltodextrin in it. I threw it away, those are not necessary at all.
To make yogurt… measure out the milk add the starter, whisk it briefly, plug the machine in and push the on button. In the morning, 12 hours, I take the metal container out and put it in the fridge for a couple hours. Viola! Homemade, healthy for you yogurt. I would offer the advice to start slowly with the yogurt, 1/2 cup to begin for a few days so your body adjusts to it. You can flavour or sweeten with maple syrup or fruit and eat. I actually eat mine plain or put it in a smoothie.
I will add that a tablespoon of (homemade if you can) sauerkraut a day will also be beneficial for you gut health. (Try the farmer’s market for non processed ones).
Okay, plastics. There have been many many studies on this, they are finding in autopsies that there is a significant amount of plastic pieces, small hardly can see pieces, called microplastics inside people’s bodies. Amazingly a great amount of it is found in people’s brains, lungs, blood, semen, breast milk and even in placentas. Basically these little pieces of plastics are sticking all over our bodies directly affecting our health and including some cancer links plus a new study looking into a link for Type 2 Diabetes.
A study of “healthy” people in the Netherlands found that 17 of 22 of them had these plastic particles in their blood.
There is a direct link to cardio health and strokes because the little plastic pieces get stuck and tear up the arteries and the plaque then sticks to those areas. That equals narrowing of the arteries. It’s a huge problem- micro plastics in our bodies.
Here’s something to consider- black earl grey tea is very healthy for you, as is matcha. The kicker is, tea bags. Yes teabags are made of paper but they are sprayed with a bit of plastic to enable them to hold together. Pour boiling water on plastic and what happens…it melts.
Plastics are found in almost everything. From food, to food storage bags, to cosmetics and body care products. We ingest them, slather in them and here’s a circle for you… we excrete some they go into the sewer, gets thru waste treatment plants and that water is used to water agricultural land… yup it’s used to water our food and the food absorbs the water and plastics, a nice tidy little circle.
In 2020, Italy found microplastics in everyday fruits and vegetables, probably from both the water and some fertilizers that are slow release - they are sprayed with plastic to slow dissolving.
It has been estimated that people could be ingesting up to a credit card size amount of plastic per week. Now that’s going to vary depending on the person. But still, it is enough to wake us up, shake us up and start looking at our options because ingesting plastic is NOT good for us. We can choose what we buy, how we buy and how we store our food, even how we cook our food. We get to make decisions for our health and that of our families by being proactive in our decisions. As long as we "know" we can act for our best health.
Need more info? Search “microplastics “
Or go to some of these links.
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