Cookware Dangers

Are you eating your cookware?

Most people are aware of air pollution, water pollution and the danger of household chemicals. Studies are now showing certain cookware can also be polluting our bodies. Below are just some of the examples of how "traditional" cookware can be hazardous to you and your family's health.

Have you ever tried to make recipe exactly like someone else and it tasted different? It is because cookware can take on flavors of foods. Have you ever tasted metal or your food tastes like chemicals? There is a reason! You could be are eating your cookware. Sound delicious and healthy?

Change your cookware, change your life!

Non-Stick Cookware

Public Service announcement! If you care anything about your health, toss all non-stick cookware. Don't even save that one you like to make eggs in. I'm watching you... go on now!

Honestly folks- I cannot say enough about how important this is to your health! I know it's easy to clean up after making eggs, but is it worth your health? I do have a clean and easy solution.

Did you know if you have a pet bird, the fumes from non-stick cookware can kill it? Link to explain. If non-stick fumes can kill pet birds, what happens to us when we cook our food on it?

Cancer and health risks increase when there are links to non-stick, check this info from American Cancer Society.

If that isn't enough to convince you, consider the reality that many non-stick pans have an aluminum undercoat. This is a double whammy! Not only are you ingesting the chemical coating from your cookware when it burns, you are now potentially munching on an aluminum core when you see scratches. Great? Now you can worry about brain health too... Check out aluminum info in the storage section.

If you want to know if your cookware is toxic- contact me. and we can do a test on it.

Cast-Iron

Iron is a porous metal and acid foods react with iron. There are two types of iron - ferrous iron which comes from our foods and helps make red blood cells and ferric that comes from cast iron.. Iron toxicity can occur in some individuals over time as ferric iron can accumulate in our body contributing to joint pain/arthritis, GI issues, depression, impotence, early menopause, and other issues. Also, there is evidence that too much iron in the blood can lead to an increase in cancer. Excess iron is "aging" (no need to make this faster than it has to be!)

Pros: stays hot, doesn't need typical washing , durable.

Cons: grease can turn rancid (oxidized fat), reacts with acids in foods, possible iron overload, heavy, can rust if not cared for, taste of metal in foods plus you are ingesting it!

Aluminum/Anodized

Aluminum, what can I say? NOOOOOO! Check out my food storage section about the dangers of aluminum in cooking and storing.

The sale of aluminum cookware is prohibited in Germany, France, Belgium, UK, Brazil and Hungary etc.

There's no reason for pro or cons to offer. The answer is no!!!!

Glass and Enamel/Ceramic Coating

PFOA free but contains questionable chemical components called "nanoparticles". These chemical particles are smaller than PFOAs and absorbs easier into our bloodstream. Also, be careful of glass or ceramic (especially if it chips) as it may contain lead.

Pros: ceramic holds heat.

Retail Grade Stainless Steel

There are many grades of stainless steel. Retail grade stainless steel cookware is made from different alloys including scrap metal. Plus, commercial grade steel is recycled. Stainless steel may look alike but its properties aren't always the same!

Pros: No coating, can cook with metal utensils

Cons: Can leach nickel, chromium, copper or aluminum (if metal is porous). Does not heat up well (needs copper or aluminum layers built in), uneven heat distribution (if not made with full body construction), burns, sticks and is difficult to clean. Scratches in stainless steel may open pores and allow aluminum to leach into you food. See scratches in your stainless steel? Throw it away.

What's the best?

Metal on metal is best. Only use metal utensils! No more plastic spatulas (yuck)! The highest quality cookware made with a super high-grade, non-reactive stainless steel surface. ( Commercial grade steel will react and leach metal into your food) I endorse a product unique that is non- corrosive, non- reactive, scientifically constructed to cook without water, in an oxygen free environment, at low temperatures so your food retains 93 percent of the nutritional value. Tasting food without chemicals and heavy metals, is a night and day difference. I'm happy to do a simple, interactive toxicity to check the safety of your cookware.

I can't say enough great things about the cookware system I use. It makes our food taste better, cuts cooking time in half, retains up to 90% of the nutrition value, USA made and has lifetime warranty. It is truly an investment in your families health.

More about my passion for non-toxic clean eating

My neighbor recently nicknamed me “Pots”, and I like it! And I love it when I get photos of food from friends they make and changes they’ve started. Lots of people have been asking me about my Happy Carrot business, and want to know more about what I am doing and my purpose beyond nutrition education.

As a woman that is passionate about optimal health, I believe that cookware should be the absolute most important appliance in the kitchen. We spend tens of thousands of dollars on lighting, ranges, refrigerators that don’t touch our food, yet we spend $20 on a pan that is the last thing that touches our food before we eat it? We invest in organic food, but then cook and serve it in a toxic dish. High quality cookware is an absolute must if you truly want to make changes to your family’s health. Studies show thyroid issues, cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, cancers, inflammation, immune issues, hormone disruption and imbalance may be linked to chemicals and heavy metals that are in our cookware. Trouble losing weight and keeping it off? Your cookware can play a role in this!

Here are some facts:

🥕We can lose up to 90 percent of the value of our food by how we cook it (Why shop at a fancy grocery store and spend $600 on high quality food, when you get about $75 dollars of nutrients after you cook it?)

🥕Our food reacts with the surface we cook on. This includes the most expensive “non-stick” at the nicest store. This includes stainless steel, cast iron and ceramic (even the fancy ones). If your pot, pan, baking dish, crock pot, instant pot, air fryer or serving dish has a coating it is NON-STICK (including the new technology).

🥕WATER, OXYGEN and HEAT are our enemies of the food we eat. If you have questions, I can explain to you or you can look on my website.

🥕The average household income for the cooking system I affiliate with is $50,000 dollars annually.

🥕I save around $600 dollars per year on my energy bill by not using the oven, not including the money saved by decreasing time spent cooking.

🥕I'm frugal (if you know me, you know this to be true). I return most everything and experience buyer’s remorse often. But I absolutely believe my cookware was the best investment to my family’s health.

🥕Many of my great friends and health professionals have bought cookware from me because they all are advocates that food is medicine and medicine is food. And they love their cookware! BTW - I have some "owners" who have parents that bought it 30-40 years ago and still use it!

🥕It's popular in over 60 countries in the world and is made In the USA.

🥕The real joy for me comes when I am able to see change in my owners for a lifetime, not just thirty days. They are changing the habits of everyone in their family because food tastes better when you aren’t eating your cookware.

Change your cookware, change your life is a real thing to this dietitian. My value goes beyond tools, I offer education for change.

Thank for listening and happy cooking!

Kelly “Pots” Clark, RDN