Living Simply...what's in YOUR cabinet?

Here’s another on my series of simple living and getting back to basics. Today, I’m gonna talk about something you may well have in your kitchen that is absolutely TOXIC! Yes, and before you look any further into all the other things that may be causing you to have health issues…let’s take a look into your cabinets for this one! And here’s why…

 

When I was newly married, I received a wedding gift that I wasn’t the most thrilled with, but I am sentimental and thought I’d go ahead and keep and use them. After all it was a wedding gift, right? Within a few years, I became exhausted most of the time. I didn’t realize what was happening to me and of course, being in my 20’s my doc had no real reasons, either. They always talk about what my diet might be. Well…having been a lifelong natural/health food type person loving fruits and veggies from childhood and growing our own most of the time in sunny Southern California I had an edge on what folks are only realizing now. I wasn’t much for junk food, although I do remember a couple of times in my teens, due to hormonal fluctuations and what not, ~wink~ I did enjoy a bag of chips now and then. I began by researching health food books as I always was up on this from college, looking to find why I was so fatigued. I had thought perhaps I was having trouble with low blood sugar so worked with that idea. But, I realized that there was something kind of yucky in my food after cooking and so…I finally brought myself to throw away my wedding gift. Have you guessed it yet? Yep…it was a set of nonstick pans. That nasty Teflon was coming off in my food as black flakes. For a long time I thought it was just black pepper! I often wonder how much I ate of that stuff before realizing it. And yes, before you ask…I used wooden/plastic spoons. I had always used wooden spoons because my grandpa from Italy had made me a set for when I was grown! So out with the new and back to the old…I took out my grandma’s cast iron skillets. Within a few months, I was feeling more active and just fine again.

This will give you an idea on how great cast iron skillet cooking is for you! I had my daughter when I was 35, eldest son when I was 37 and youngest son when I was almost 41! I did great through my pregnancies and I’ll tell you why. First, with my daughter they started giving me prenatal vitamins. My doc became upset with me because I wasn’t gaining weight as I should. I told him although I had chalked it up to being nauseated in my first trimester, by the second, I was realizing I felt fine every morning until I took my prenatal pill. I had them run a test on me to check my blood levels. Come to find out, I was high in iron and didn’t need the prenatal vitamins because they were causing the nausea due to too much iron! I already had all of the good vitamins and minerals I needed for a healthy pregnancy. I asked the doc about it and he said that most women in our modern society are anemic, especially during pregnancy. Hmmm…doc said my good iron was due to those iron skillets of my grandma’s! Btw…during all my pregnancies I was on hands and knees mopping floors, driving vehicles, working with horses, training dogs, etc. basically…I was full of energy and doing everything…when most younger women were exhausted, uncomfortable, etc.

 By the time I was pregnant with my second child, my doc’s nurse asked me if I would teach a class for her on nutrition! She was simply amazed at how my blood levels were so good and I had no problems at my age, throughout my pregnancies when so many of their young women were having so many health issues. This was asked of me again, during my pregnancy when I was 40yrs. old! Of course, I had to turn her down as I lived about an hour drive from town.

I had a dear friend remind me of this the other day when we got to talking about nonstick and cast iron skillet cooking and had really totally forgotten how the change affected me. Now…the next thing I’ll talk about is care of those skillets. Grandma knew how to keep them “nonstick” for her day…but that along with many other things has been lost in our modern throw away, easy peasy, nonstick society! ~wink~ So, if you’re not feeling your best or if you are anemic and have nonstick pans…you may want to toss them out and get cast iron. You can throw away those iron pills as well! Oh…and aluminum pans are not good, either…best option is tempered glass or Stainless Steel.

 

Happy Trails,

Elvira