Toxic Cookware and Containers to Eliminate from Kitchen

Tossing out toxic cookware and plastic containers protects families from harmful endocrine disruptors.

### Eliminate Toxic Cookware and Containers for a Healthier Kitchen
* 🚫 There are dangerous cookware and storage containers in your kitchen that can harm your family, referred to as **"deadly disruptors."**
* 🔬 These disruptors often contain **endocrine disruptors** found in most plastics, which **mimic hormones** and negatively affect **development and brain function**.
* 🍳 Non-stick pans, especially those made with **Teflon**, are major offenders and should be replaced with **ceramic-based alternatives**, while aluminum pans should also be discarded unless **ceramic-lined**.
* 🥄 Stainless steel cookware is safe if used with **olive oil**, while plastic storage containers leach **harmful chemicals**, necessitating a switch to **glass alternatives**.
* 🛑 Cast iron and copper pans should be avoided due to their potential to **elevate iron levels** and cause **toxicity**, respectively.
* 🌱 Pre-packaged salad greens may look appealing, but their **extended shelf life raises concerns about chemical treatments** that disrupt the microbiome.
* 🥗 Instead, opt for whole vegetables, which can be **easily prepared at home**, and consider using fun salad spinners for convenience **without compromising health**.
* 🍊 Lastly, remember that valuable nutrients in citrus fruits are often found in the **discarded white pith**, encouraging a more mindful approach to food consumption.

The worst cookware and storage containers lurking in your kitchen to toss out right now. Alright. Why do I want you to throw out perfectly good kitchenware? And it's certainly not to create more landfill and waste money. But there are things in your kitchen you probably use every day that are poisoning you and your family. As you know, I call them deadly disruptors. And there are numerous deadly disruptors lurking in your kitchen right now. So these contain, for the most part, compounds that are called endocrine disruptors, sometimes called estrogen mimetics, sometimes called hormone disruptors. These are commonly found in almost all plastics. And we forget, plastics are a relatively new invention. Plastics did not exist until really after World War 2. And plastics are now so ubiquitous, they're in everything. Plastics, the vast majority of plastics, we now know contain these estrogen-disrupting chemicals.

And estrogen disruptors do exactly what they say. They mimic hormones, and they mimic hormones in ways that are incredibly detrimental to our child's development, to our development, to our brain, and we need to get them out of our lives because, quite frankly, we are disrupted. One of the first big offenders is non-stick pans. Now, not all non-stick pans are bad. But most of the pans, the early non-stick cookware made with Teflon. Teflon is P T F E and is a known endocrine disruptor. Make sure you never buy nonstick cookware that says Teflon. And you can still see them lining the store shelves. So put them down. Alternatives are the ceramic-based non-stick cookware. Sometimes they're called diamond cookware. Sometimes they're called ceramic cookware. In general, these are not using these P T F E compounds. But,

you should not feel safe to use metal utensils with this cookware. You'll see advertisements on TV. This cookware is metal safe. Just don't do that. And I'll get to what utensils you should use in a second. On the other hand, aluminum pans, unless they are lined with ceramic, you should throw them away as well. Because aluminum in itself is toxic to our brain. Aluminum foil, get rid of it. You should never line a baking pan with aluminum foil. Heat makes that aluminum penetrate into the foods you eat. Now, can you use aluminum as a tent when you're baking a roast or something like that or a piece of salmon? Yeah. As long as it doesn't come in contact with the aluminum foil. Use parchment paper. Parchment paper used to be the way all of us baked and covered something, it's really easy to find again.

Get rid of the aluminum. How about stainless steel cookware? Stainless steel cookware is great. Yes, you're right. It's a pain in the neck to clean if you don't take some alternatives such as adding olive oil to your pan. And you should be adding olive oil to your pan anyhow because remember the only purpose of food is to get olive oil into your mouth. Plastic storage containers. One of the things I think did us in was Tupperware parties. Little did we know that these plastic containers leach endocrine disruptors into our food. There are plenty of now glass containers that you can use to store food in. And we have a whole pantry full of glass containers. Plastic bags, plastic bags contain these endocrine disruptors. Instead of plastic bags, used paper bags. There are now lots of paper lunch bags on Amazon. When I was a kid, we took paper bags to school and our sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper.

You can still find wax paper, and it makes a great way of wrapping things. Butcher paper is readily available now. We need to get back to things we used 70 years ago that work just fine. If you must use plastic bags or containers, please only buy BPA and BPS-free plastic. Just seeing BPA-free is no longer enough. BPA is a known endocrine disruptor, but its replacements like BPS look to be just as mischievous. And obviously, don't buy your water in plastic containers. Don't buy anything in plastic containers. These things contaminate your food with endocrine disruptors. Now, throw away your cast iron pan unless it is ceramic-coated. Why? Iron ages us. And the last thing you want is additional iron in your body. And I can't tell you the number of patients who are healthily using their seasoned cast iron pan and have elevated iron levels in their blood when I look at them. And they're shocked.

And the first thing I do is have them throw away their cast iron skillet. And remarkably, their iron levels plummet to normal the next time I see them. Iron ages us. And the last thing you want to do is introduce additional iron. The same with copper. Copper pans, while gorgeous, leach copper into the food you're eating. And copper has to be very carefully balanced in our body with zinc. And so, people who are using copper pans or similarly have copper piping in old houses are at risk of actual copper toxicity. So, it's an easy thing to avoid: hang your copper pans on the wall and admire them, but please don't cook with them. How about utensils? I personally use wood utensils. I have drawers and drawers full of wood utensils. Wood luckily can't break through the linings of ceramic pans. Some of these plastic liners, metal absolutely can. If you're gonna use metal, look for the stainless steel.

The last thing you want to use is plastic utensils. That plastic, particularly if you're cooking with them, is gonna leach into the food and you're going to eat endocrine disruptors, which I assure you, you don't want to do. Finally. And this is something I think all of us should be aware of. All of us love convenience. And there's nothing easier than coming home from work, stopping by a store, and buying some packaged pre-washed salad greens. I mean, what could be better? It's been washed for you. It's been double washed. But recently I decided to do an experiment. Some of you may remember my experiment with Costco strawberries versus the farmers market years ago. And I bought a big package of Costco organic strawberries and I bought some organic strawberries simultaneously at the Santa Barbara Farmers Market. And I put them in the refrigerator.

After about three days, the farmers' market organic strawberries were covered with mold. The Costco strawberries sat there in my refrigerator for a month looking as pristine as the day I bought them. Now that makes me wonder, if a self-respecting fungus or mold wouldn't want to eat those strawberries, what the heck was on them that prevented that from happening? So just this past few weeks, I've done an experiment with prepackaged salad mixing. And I've done them in bags and I've done them in plastic containers. And I've put them in my refrigerator, now going on 2 1/2, we're about to finish 3 weeks. And all of those packages look as pristine as the day I bought them. If mold and funguses and other things that want to eat your food won't eat your food even after three weeks, then why would you want to put that food in your mouth?

Because these things have been treated with chemicals that don't have to be displayed on a label, that disrupt the microbiome that's on these vegetables in the first place. And you don't want microbiome-disrupting chemicals in you swallowing these things. Plus, they come in plastic containers. What's the option? Buy your food whole, buy the lettuce whole, buy your broccoli whole. Take it home. It will take you an instantaneous second to chop up that head of lettuce. Throw it in a salad spinner. I have two salad spinners. One is a pump-action one, and when you're really having a bad day, there's nothing better than pumping on that salad spinner to get your aggression out. The other, I have a pulling salad spinner, and it's really fun to start the engine and watch it spin. It'll get the water out. You won't have any storage issues. You can put it in a glass container if you're done.

And let's start really thinking about what convenience means. It may be very convenient to pick up these bags in plastic. But the way they have made these foods shelf-life stable, quite frankly, scares me to death. And it ought to scare you to death. Convenience is not worth harming your gut microbiome, harming you from endocrine disruptors. We don't wanna be disrupted and get yourself a couple salad spinners and have fun. I think you're gonna love this one. Believe it or not, some of the best ingredients, nutrients in citrus, are actually in the white pith. That's the stuff that you peel off and throw away.

WORST Cookware Lurking In Your Kitchen to Toss Right NOW | Dr. Steven Gundry

Dr. Steven Gundry is a pioneer in nutrition research and one of the world's top cardiothoracic surgeons, He has spent the past 25 years helping people restore their health by optimizing diet and lifestyle choices alone. Based on his many years of research, Dr. Gundry founded the wellness brand Gundry MD where he personally tests the efficacy of every formula he collaborates on.

Dr. Gundry is also the author of four New York Times best-selling books including The Plant Paradox™ which details his famous lectin-free diet, Plant Paradox: Quick & Easy, Longevity Paradox, Energy Paradox, and two lectin-light cookbooks. 

Dr. Gundry’s latest book, Unlocking the Keto Code,  reveals the key to longevity is optimizing mitochondrial uncoupling and shares simple dietary tips to do this. 

For more information, sign up for his free newsletter at drgundry.com, subscribe to the Gundry MD Youtube channel,  follow @drstevengundry and @drgundrypodcast on Instagram, and @drgundrypodcast on TikTok. 


The Dr. Gundry Podcast

Toxic Cookware and Storage Containers to Ditch

Many common kitchen items, especially plastics, contain endocrine disruptors that mimic hormones and can harm development.

Non-stick pans, particularly those made with Teflon, are major offenders and should be avoided.

Instead, opt for ceramic-based or diamond cookware as safer alternatives.

Metal utensils should not be used with certain cookware, despite advertisements claiming they are metal safe.

Aluminum pans and foil are toxic and should be avoided, with parchment paper recommended as an alternative.

Stainless steel cookware is a good option, and plastic storage containers should be replaced with glass ones to avoid endocrine disruptors.

Tips for Healthier Cooking and Food Storage

Wax paper and butcher paper are effective alternatives to plastic.

Avoid BPA and BPS in plastic containers, and eliminate the use of plastic altogether.

Ditch cast iron and copper pans to prevent elevated iron and copper levels in the body, and opt for wooden utensils instead.

The Dangers of Plastic Utensils and Pre-Packaged Food

Plastic utensils can leach harmful chemicals into food, acting as endocrine disruptors.

The author's experiment with Costco and farmers market strawberries revealed that the former had a longer shelf life, raising questions about the chemicals used.

Similarly, pre-packaged salad greens remained pristine in the refrigerator for weeks, prompting the author to question the safety of consuming such food.

The Importance of Buying Whole Vegetables

Chemicals on pre-packaged vegetables disrupt the microbiome and come in plastic containers.

Buying whole vegetables and chopping them at home is a quick and effective alternative.

Using salad spinners can make the process fun and efficient, while also avoiding the negative effects of shelf-life stable foods.