11 Easy Choices to Living a Healthy ‘Plastic-Free’ Life

Living a healthy lifestyle goes way beyond clean eating and exercising. You may cut down on the carbs and increase the proteins, you may increase your greens, you may incorporate super foods into your diet, you may workout in the gym or do yoga BUT have you made any changes in your life to keep your body free of toxins and chemicals?

There was a time we would all worry about how safe our drinking water was. Today, after all the technology advancements, we can be assured that the water we are consuming is purified and filtered, and free of most germs and chemicals. But really how safe is the purified water in your or your kids’ water bottles?

If you look around and notice, you will see that most people carry PLASTIC water bottles. Be it to the gym, for a walk, to work or to school, plastic bottles is what you see everywhere. Our exposure to plastic has drastically increased in the past few decades.

Overuse of plastic is not limited to plastic bags only anymore. Disposable plates, spoons and cups, snack boxes, water bottles, food storage boxes, toiletries, makeup, toys and many other items made of plastic, have all become a part of our daily life.

Cumulative use and exposure to so much plastic can cause adverse effects on our health and lives. Let’s not forget, it is a huge threat to our environment and planet too!

Research indicates that almost all plastics may release chemicals if they are heated, scratched or overused. You may have seen that a few baby and kids products made of plastic come with a ‘BPA-free’ tag. BPA (bis-phenol) is a weak synthetic estrogen that can be found in most hard plastics.

BPA can be found in water bottles, sippy-cups, tin foods, baby formula can linings, cashier receipts, toys and more. Over exposure to this hormone-disrupting chemical can lead to anxiety, hyperactivity, depression, breast cancer and infertility. Unfortunately, BPA is present in almost all toys today and these toys are NOT ‘BPA-free’ unless mentioned. Apart from BPA, plastic may contain other harmful toxins and carcinogens too.

Being convenient and economical, it is almost impossible to avoid all plastic products. The least we can do is try to use it minimally and use other substitutes in place of plastic. A few small changes in our daily lives will go a long way in living a healthy and clean lifestyle.

1. Store water in glass bottles at home instead of plastic. (pretty bottles, win win!)
2. Replace all gym/school plastic water bottles with stainless steel bottles.
3. Avoid canned foods and try to use fresh foods if available.
4. Replace your plastic crockery/cutlery with glass or stainless steel. Your child does not need that cute Dora/Spiderman plastic plate and cup. Teach them young about the ill-effects of plastic on their health.
5. Store food and leftovers in glass containers. It is easier to re-heat it in the same glass container. PLEASE DO NOT cook or re-heat in plastic containers.
6. Try to use disposable paper plates and cups instead of plastic disposables.
7. Use ‘BPA-free’ baby bottles, sippy cups, toys and other baby products.
8. Please DO NOT boil your baby’s plastic bottles in hot water to sterilize them. You are only exposing them to more toxins by doing this.
9. Try to replace plastic feeding bottles with glass feeding bottles.
10. Avoid handling cashier receipts. You do not need to take that restaurant or grocery bill home. Please ensure your KIDS do not touch these receipts.
11. Try to introduce wooden blocks and toys to your children in place of the plastic toys.

The least we can do to protect our health and environment is to make these small lifestyle changes. Also, it is our responsibility to teach our children the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. If we start them young, this thought will become a habit, and they will grow up to become health conscious and responsible adults.
Wishing you all good health and happiness always!

References –
www.breastcancer.org

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  Minali Bajaj-Syed is an Indian, born and settled in Kuwait. Having lived in Kuwait, India and the United States, She has had the opportunity to experience a diverse set of cultures. She thus, considers herself a global citizen. She is always learning, evolving and trying to spread some positivism. On most days, she is a mother to two kids and a food blogger on Instagram @cinnamon_cardamom.