Hey Plastic, No Thank You.

What it comes down to... there is just no such thing as safe or healthy plastic options. BPA-free labeled plastic does not mean a safe or healthy plastic choice. Some BPA replacements are worse than BPA. There are thousands of possible chemicals, in all sorts of plastics that act just like BPA, called endocrine disruptors. These chemicals falsely tell the body's cells that the hormone estrogen is around, causing all sorts of troubling developmental and reproductive consequences. Some of these include altered functions of reproductive organs, obesity, changes to mood, learning disabilities, libido, infertility, birth defects, increased rates of several cancers… and the list goes on.

And the sneaky thing about plastic is, the more you use it (like your everyday "BPA-free" water bottle or lunch container), the more porous is becomes and the MORE chemicals it leaches into your water or food. Guaranteed. Yuck.

- If you think you’re safe because you’ve made the switch to BPA-free plastics, you might want to rethink your chosen alternatives. Unfortunately, the most common substitute for BPA is BPS, or bisphenol S, a chemical that has shown that its hormone-disrupting properties are just as potent as those found in BPA. The fact is, all plastics are composed of chemicals. If it’s not BPA or BPS, it could be BPC, BPE, BPF or BPG. Even worse, single-use plastic bottles used for water, juice and soda have been shown to release phthalates, another hormone disruptor.

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Because they’re all around us, we can’t completely remove our exposure to these chemicals, but we can make BETTER CHOICES. We can drink from GLASS bottles, jars or cups. My favorite are Mason jars! These are affordable and almost indestructible. Many manufacturers are making great "travel" glass bottles that are wrapped in silicon on the outside (less worry about breaking)! When we’re on the go, we can choose lightweight STAINLESS STEEL. For stainless steel bottles/canteens, make sure it is labeled as steel because many metal canteens without a label are made of aluminum… and we don't want that either.

- Another way to protect yourself from plastic poisons is to NEVER EAT OR DRINK OUT OF PLASTIC THAT HAS BEEN HEATED. Heating plastic significantly increases the amount of toxins it releases.

And of course, we can't forget the detrimental impact our plastic use has on our precious environment.

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