A Quick Guide to Detoxifying Your Kitchen
Six Easy Changes You Can Make For Better Health
Hey, everyone!
Today’s post is about some simple things you can do to make your kitchen a cleaner, healthier place.
The unfortunate truth is that in the modern world, we’re exposed to a lot of toxins. I don’t think you need to become paranoid about this, but it makes sense to minimize your exposure where you have full control to do so. Your kitchen is one such place.
There are a few simple and impactful things that you can do, and I’ve listed them below with some practical tips on how to accomplish them.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions!
Myles
1. Swap Out Your Vegetable/Seed Oils For Healthy Oils
Industrial seed oils are one of the most harmful components of our modern diet. They’re terrible for our health, but because they’re the cheapest oils to produce they’re everywhere in restaurants and packaged foods.
Getting rid of these oils in your home kitchen will not only make you healthier, but it will make your food taste better! Naturally occurring oils like olive oil, butter, ghee, tallow, and the like are far better for you and far more delicious. So it’s a double win.
This is an easy swap to make. Start by getting some good olive oil for daily use, as well as some ghee or tallow for high-heat cooking. If you want to go deeper, check out the fats and oils guide I did for more information on which ones to choose and brand recommendations for each.
2. Get Rid Of Your Non-Stick Cookware
Non-stick cookware is largely a scam.
The vast majority of non-stick pots and pans are made with chemical coatings (which is what allows them to be non-stick). The problem is that a lot of these coatings have been shown to be toxic to humans, as they’re made with terrible endocrine-disrupting chemicals. While some modern companies claim to be free of the worst of these chemicals, the fact is that they are still coated with something, and there’s still a lot of uncertainty around whether the new chemical coatings they use are actually safe. There are a bunch of examples where companies claimed the coatings were safe, only to be proven wrong several years later. My default is to assume any chemical coating is bad.
These companies also claim that the coatings are safe as long as you don’t heat up the cookware beyond a certain point or scratch it with utensils. And let’s be honest— this is bound to happen eventually.
Non-stick cookware is also notoriously bad on performance. The inability to heat it above certain temperatures limits what you can cook, and the non-stick coating degrades over time. Your food won’t taste as good when you’re using non-stick cookware, and you’ll have to replace your pots and pans often.
The good news is that you can get nearly identical non-stick performance without any chemicals or durability issues. Stainless steel, cast iron, and carbon steel are the best options. Properly heating your pan before cooking will help ensure food doesn’t stick, and a well-seasoned carbon steel skillet becomes virtually as non-stick as the best pans out there over time. All while being extremely performant, durable, and entirely non-toxic!
If you really want a pan that has some out-of-the-box non-stick properties, make sure you go with a ceramic (aka non-toxic) pan like Caraway or XTrema.
If you want more specific recommendations for what cookware to buy and which brands to use, check out my cookware guide and minimalist cookware guide below.
3. Swap Plastic Cutting Boards For Wood Ones
Those little knife marks you see on plastic cutting boards produce shavings of microplastics that end up in your food. Not ideal!
The solution is to use wooden cutting boards instead. And the good news is that this is again a double upgrade— not only are wood boards better for you, they’re also more performant, more aesthetic, gentler on your knives, and safer.
I recommend getting one high-quality butcher block style wood cutting board for daily use, as well as a few Epicurean boards (which are lighter and dishwasher safe) for other tasks.
For brand recommendations and more info on how to maintain your wood cutting boards, check out the post below.
4. Get A Water Filter
A good water filter is one of the best investments you can make. Modern tap water has been found to contain everything from arsenic to glyphosate and much more. You drink and cook with water every single day, so a good filter will have a big impact.
I like Berkey filters, and if you want to go all-out, my friend Justin Mares recommends a whole-house filtration system from Radiant Life.
5. Use Glass Storage
An easy way to avoid unnecessary microplastic exposure is to use glass storage for your food. Caraway offers sets, but you can also buy plenty of glass storage options on Amazon.
Side note— if anyone knows of (or invents) a system that functions like restaurant-style deli containers (universal lid size, varied container size, stackable) that’s made from glass….I will be your first customer.
6. Upgrade Your Salt
Salt is the most important ingredient in cooking, and it’s one of the few ingredients you’ll use that touches virtually everything you cook. For that reason, I believe it makes sense to seek out the highest-quality, cleanest option available.
All salt comes from the ocean, if you go back far enough. The problem with most sea salt today is that it comes from modern oceans, which are highly contaminated with microplastics and pollutants. There’s good evidence to suggest that those toxins end up in our salt.
The solution is to seek out salt from ancient salt mines— places where oceans used to exist but no longer do, and are thus not touched by modern contaminants. My personal favorite for everyday cooking is Vera Salt. They source from a pristine ancient mine in Spain and conduct third-party testing for microplastics and heavy metals. I also like Only Salt for a coarse/flaky option.
Thanks for this great list!
Since you recommended Caraway glass storage containers, what are your thoughts about their ceramic coated cookware?
Also do you recommend avoiding seed oil as a seasoning oil (not cooking oil) for cast iron and carbon steel cookware? Or do you think trace amounts of cold-pressed options are ok as a seasoning polymer?
I’d expect there to be some basic human RCT evidence if they were as bad as claimed.
This one may be worth a read, or skim
https://www.the-nutrivore.com/post/a-comprehensive-rebuttal-to-seed-oil-sophistry