4 Tips for Ridding Your Kitchen of Toxins

While you may think of wiping down countertops and mopping the floor as sufficient cleaning for your kitchen, but even greater improvements can be made. While products used to clean the kitchen can cleanse the area of bacteria and dirt, they work at the cost of chemical contamination. Taking simple steps to remove harmful products and components can help ensure you are keeping your body as clean as your kitchen surfaces. Below are 4 tips for cleaning without the toxins.

We know some foods contain contaminants. But so too do some cooking products and tools. That plastic you store your leftovers in could be leeching hormone-altering toxins into your food. Your non-stick cookware could similarly be leaving behind a lot more than flavor, it could be making you sick.

Fortunately, cleaning up your kitchen doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive.

• 1. Buy organics – Probably one of the easiest ways of limiting your toxic exposure in the kitchen is to buy organic produce. Fruits and vegetables are often sprayed down with a chemical bath of toxins to keep pests off and create larger, more profitable produce. Buying organic means these toxins won’t be coming into your home, let alone your body.

• 2. Eliminate plastics – Plastics contain all sort of unnatural compounds. Bisphenol-A (BPA) is one of the more well-known toxins, which has hormone-altering effects that could increase your risk of various forms of cancer while leading to early maturation in girls. Just eliminating plastics altogether can significantly clean up your kitchen. Use glass for food storage and serving whenever possible.

• 3. Make your cleaning clean – Bleach and other harmful chemicals really have no place in your kitchen. There are numerous “green” cleaning products on the market, but you can also make your own. Baking soda and vinegar are perhaps two of the most versatile cleaning agents to have in the kitchen. Use them for everything from washing produce to scrubbing the sink.

• 4. Don’t use non-stick pans – If you’re still cooking with non-stick pans, it’s time to ditch them. Many of the chemicals used in their production have been linked to ill health effects. PFOA, for example, is a likely carcinogen and can be released from the surface of the pan when it is heated.

A clean kitchen isn’t only one that sparkles or one that is free of crumbs—it’s one that promotes total health, from the foods consumed to the cleaning products used.