Aug 14/22 - How to cook SAFELY…are you baking toxins into your foods?

The biggest pot I've ever seen!
At a market in the French countryside
Aug 2022

April 14 How to cook SAFELY…are you baking toxins into your foods?
This week in the countryside of France!

I do my best to stay away from toxic things… I don’t smoke, I don’t put on chemical laden body care or makeup BUT I realized something crazy after a month staying at the castle in France…they have OLD frying pans! I’ve been ingesting toxins for over a month from old toxic non-stick pans that I’m sure were made way before 2013 when the laws changed!

Do you remember when this story about DuPont came out?

Watch the 2018 movie 'Dark Waters' (Netflix) starring Mark Ruffalo that tells the real-life story of Rob Bilott, the lawyer who took on chemical giant DuPont after discovering that the company was polluting drinking water with the harmful chemical PFOA. It’s a really good movie and very eye opening!!

It will make you question more than just what pans you are using but how the many products we buy are marketed to make money over protecting our health. Of course, they claim Teflon pans made since 2013 are PFOA-free and pose virtually no health risk but I don’t know if I trust that?? What if the “new” non-stick turns out to be just as toxic 10 yrs from now? Do you know how many things are banned in certain countries for their toxicity and still available in other countries? That might be a whole other blog it’s such a big topic but this blog is about cookware. 

These are the pans at the castle, the top one was still probably prior to 2013
The bottom pan was a HELL NO, it just looks toxic!

So what is the safest cookware to use? Non Stick? Cast Iron? Ceramic? Stainless Steel? Copper?
Eliminating toxins whenever we can helps so definitely take a look at what you are cooking your food in.  Here’s my take on what’s out there…


Aluminum Cookware
Faberware has a Diamond Max non stick technology constructed from aluminum, right there that's a HELL NO! Aluminum is a well established neurotoxin! How is this even on the market??


Copper Cookware
while some copper is essential to your health, this has to be too much! You never know how much is leaching into your food and too much is TOXIC to your body! So this is a no!


Ceramic
this one is questionable as it depends on the manufacturer and the glaze. The clay used in ceramics may contain lead which is a dangerous heavy metal. I would just stay away altogether. Remember DuPont said their “Teflon” was safe, the trust is gone for me! This is a no as well.


Cast Iron
a YES for me! Not only is cast iron completely safe to use but in a world of iron deficient people, the iron that your body will receive from cooking in a cast iron pan will also benefit your health. I find cast iron the BEST to use. Yes, it takes time to get used to cooking with it but once you do you will never go back to anything else!


Stainless Steel
another great option! Non toxic, its durable, heats quickly but again you will need to learn how to cook with it as food will stick if you don’t keep it moving or have liquid in your pan etc. 


Glass and Silicon
I wanted to touch on this for baking, not so much for “cooking” but yes glass and silicone are amazing for baking so throw out all those non stick muffin pans and get stainless steel cookie sheets and use silicone baking mats and bake your cakes in glass dishes.

Stoneware
I think stoneware is amazing and the castle I stayed at did have stoneware thank goodness and it can be used on an induction burner which was great! LeCreuset is a company based in France that has cookware you can trust. It’s expensive but it will last! 


So take a look at the pans you are using now, I bet some of you have pans over 10yrs old and chances are they were made with toxic materials so buy the best you can afford! When you use something often (daily if you cook a lot)  it’s easier to justify the cost. 


Do your body a favour and start to really look at the toxic burden you are putting on your health and reduce your intake wherever possible! 

Thank you for following my journey to writing a book series!
Stay balanced,
LeeAnna