Tips for Estrogen Detox - Part 2
Plastic
Most plastics until just recently contained a chemical known as bisphenol-A, a potent xenoestrogen (substance that mimics estrogen and binds to estrogen receptors in our body). The main concern with this type of estrogen in our environment is most prevalent when the plastic is heated, causing the bisphenol-A to leach into whatever food or liquid contained. To put it in perspective, one Dartmouth University study showed that plastic wrap heated in a microwave with vegetable oil had over 500,000 times the amount of xenoestrogen required to stimulate breast cancer cells to grow in a test tube. !! This should have us jumping out of our chairs!
Plastic has been convenient and useful to us over the last 50 years. But the truth is...we would be better off without it. Reusable glass and aluminum are a far better choice than plastic in your kitchen and body care products. Not to mention the enormous amount of waste plastic packaging creates and the current struggles we are having with dumping our recycling and trash worldwide.
So here is what you can do:
- Don’t rely on plastic bottles for drinking water, use reusable aluminum or glass bottles. Disposable water and soda bottles may have been heated as they sit on trucks, dramatically increasing the amount of dangerous chemicals that leach into the beverage.
- Do not heat food in plastic containers; this includes all prepared frozen foods and leftovers cooked in the microwave. Dump it onto a plate or into a glass container first!
- Purchase baby bottles and pacifiers as well as other plastic essentials from companies that advertise no Bisphenol-A.