January 31, 2025 • 33 mins
This episode highlights the alarming presence of plastic in tea bags and the associated health risks of micro- and nanoplastics. Listeners learn about the composition of commonly used tea bags, alternative brewing methods, and strategies to reduce plastic exposure in daily life.
• Exploring the health concerns of plastic in tea
• Understanding how plastic leaches into beverages
• Identifying alternative methods and products for brewing tea
• Discussing the role of plastic in consumer goods
• Encouraging lifestyle changes to minimize plastic exposure
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, my name is Sherry and welcome to my podcast,
silver Tea, and this episode isabout tea and plastic.
Yes, you heard it right Tea andplastic.
I have been reading that thereare some companies tea companies
that are making their tea bagsout of plastic.
(00:22):
I want to talk about some ofthe health concerns that come
with that and some alternatives.
So please stay tuned, hi andwelcome back.
(00:56):
Yes, you heard in myintroduction that I am going to
talk about tea and plastic andyou are probably wondering how
did I end up with plastic in mytea?
I was wondering the same thingwhen I was reading about there
are some companies out therethat are making their tea bags
out of plastic, and I was alsowondering what is plastic made
(01:20):
out of?
So I decided to do my researchand, please, I will provide as
much information as I can of allthe research information down
below in the description box.
Okay, let's start with what isplastic made out of?
Plastic is made out of naturalresources, of.
(01:46):
Plastic is made out of naturalresources like crude oil,
natural gas, renewable materials.
So I want to talk about thehealth issue that comes with
(02:16):
that, but first let me addresshow did the plastic get in my
tea.
Okay, you get your nice hot cupof water, you put your tea bag
in there.
Depending on what company youyou you will have to look on a
packaging of the tea bag or thebox to see if this, whatever
company you're using or whateverwhoever is making your tea.
(02:36):
I use Twining and you will findthe information about your
teabag.
My teabag that I use which Idon't have it with me right now
is by Twining and it iscompostable.
So I have compostable tea bagswith the tea in it, and I also
(03:02):
the box that the tea bags camein is also recyclable.
So now I'm gonna go back toagain how did this plastic end
up in my tea?
So when I put the tea bag inthere, my tea.
(03:25):
So when I put the teabag inthere and it's made out of
plastic, the plastic leaches offinto the hot water.
A lot of times the plasticleaches off into or onto
whatever liquid that is in or,depending on where the plastic
(03:47):
is located.
It leaches off into thesethings because of temperature.
It's temperature sensitive andwhenever the temperature goes up
or go down, the plastic leachesoff into that whatever is in.
(04:10):
And so I am a tea lover and Isaw that tea and plastic and I
said, oh no.
I got to run in the kitchenright away, grab the box, the
twining thatining that my teabags came in, and I said, okay,
what is this?
What is it made out of?
(04:31):
I was able to look it up.
Look it right on the box.
I would give you put a video up.
I was able to locate what thistea bag was made out of by just
looking on the box.
Bag was made out of by justlooking on the box.
So just look on your box.
If you're, if you're, um, don'tknow how to locate this
information, just look on yourbox, you'll find it.
(05:03):
So I want to talk about thehealth concerns that comes along
with ingesting teabags.
Now, there are several waysthat plastic can enter into your
body, and so we want to makesure.
Again, I want to say there areseveral different ways that
plastic can enter into your bodyand I want to talk about the
(05:23):
three ways that I thought wereinteresting and also important.
So, some of the health concernsthat we're dealing with today.
The researchers are really justnow kind of understanding the
importance of why we should beraising the open arms about our
(05:48):
exposure to too much plastic,because I remember seeing I
don't know.
It was one of those naturechannels where they were talking
about the sea life and howthese bags are just floating
around in the water and so, andand I forgot to say this is
(06:13):
because I think it's important,so I'm gonna touch on this part
when we are steeping, I'm justtalking about my tea bags, okay,
when I'm steeping my tea in ahot cup of water and this nano
plastic is leaching into mywater.
I was reading and there was twodifferent types of plastic that
(06:37):
they talked about.
They talked about about the,the micro, the micro plastic,
and they talked about thenanoplastic.
And the nanoplastic is the mostconcerning one for a lot of the
researchers.
(06:57):
And why is that, you'reprobably wondering.
Because the nanoplastic is sosmall that it can enter into.
Because the nanoplastic is sosmall that it can enter into the
human cell and disrupt the DNAactivities in our cell.
That is kind of scary, isn't it?
(07:20):
And what happens when it doesthat?
Kind of scary, isn't it?
And what happens when it doesthat?
Well, it can lead to diseaseslike heart disease, lung disease
, it can disrupt your digestivesystem, but the one that also
(07:41):
caught my attention is cancer.
So it can enter into the cell,the human cell, down to the
nucleus, and disrupt the DNAactivity and that can be due to
(08:03):
the nanoplastics in therecausing oxidative stress and
causes DNA damage, leading tothe death of the human cell that
it has entered into, killingthe cell cell that it has
(08:24):
entered into, killing the cell,the cell itself.
So there are several ways that,like I said, so you can ingest
it, it can get into yourbloodstream.
Research has found again I willpost that below that DNA can be
(08:47):
found in our organs and in ourtissue.
So ingesting the plastic, it'snot anything we want because of
what I just explained.
And also, you go and you dotakeout and what is the food in
(09:11):
Plastic Temperature?
It's hot Leaching Nanoplastic.
So I have been on a singlemission and journey for myself
and that's to limit my exposureto plastic, and I'll talk about
(09:34):
some of the ways I'm doing that.
Number two I want to stay ontrack.
Stay on track.
The second way that our body,our plastic, can enter into our
body, is through absorption.
That's right, absorption.
(09:54):
Now we buy skincare, we buyshampoo and some of those
containers are made out of what?
Yes, plastic.
And guess what's happening whenthe temperature is going from
(10:16):
hot to cold to cold to hot,chemicals are leaching from the
plastic into our skincare.
And guess what we do?
I'm going to use lotion, forexample.
We take the lotion, we rub iton our skin and our body absorbs
it.
(10:36):
It ends up.
It will end up in ourbloodstream.
So so oxidative stress happens.
Now I won't say it happens allthe time, but that's one of the
possibilities and expectationsyou can have.
(10:56):
That can happen due to plasticexposure to plastic and plastic
exposure to plastic and plasticentering into your bloodstream
through absorb, throughabsorbing the nanoplastic.
That's number three.
That's number two.
(11:18):
Sorry, number two.
I need to stay focused becauseI got so much going on in my
mind.
So number three is we inhale it.
Now I made it number three onlybecause I don't know when I am
(11:41):
in a room and I'm exposed to theair being contaminated with
plastic.
I don't know when that is.
I mean, I guess maybe some ofthe dust that we see floating
around is probably from someplastic somewhere that kind of
(12:04):
just started floating in the air.
That's more to be discussed,but those are the three ways
that plastic and nanoplasticscan enter into our body.
Now I don't feel that plasticcan be avoided in our life.
(12:30):
Plastic is in everything.
I mean down to our clothes, thematerials, the fabrics.
Plastic is in everything.
There's no way to avoid it,you're just going to run into it
.
So what I single-handedlytrying to do with myself is
(12:55):
limit my exposure to plastic byusing or purchasing or changing
to alternative materials andmethods.
Hi, I hope you're enjoying mypodcast.
So far, the way you can help mypodcast is to hit that like
(13:17):
button and that subscribe buttonand you will be notified when I
release new and excitingpodcasts.
Thank you, and enjoy the restof the podcast and methods.
Because, for example, in thekitchen.
I want to start with thekitchen because I love being in
(13:40):
the kitchen and I love cooking.
So let's just talk about what'sin our kitchen.
We have, and some people don'tlike to wash dishes.
So what they do?
They buy plasters, spoons,forks and knives.
Well, I decided that.
I decided oh, sorry, he'sgetting so excited I hit the mic
(14:03):
around, slapped the mic arounda little bit.
Um, I decided that I wanted Iwould not buy plastic spoons,
forks and knives.
I used the metal spoons, knivesand forks.
That's one of the ways Idecided to limit my exposure to
(14:25):
plastic.
I also decided another way tolimit my exposure to plastic is
to kind of find a replacement tothe plastic in my cooking
(14:52):
utensils.
So my cooking utensils.
Sometimes you got the spatula.
It's made out of a plastic andthe alternative I like to use is
either silicone.
Silicone can handle hightemperatures and does not melt.
(15:17):
Now I have experienced having aplastic spatula and I want to
put it in the pan to turnsomething over.
I did notice that plastic wouldmelt a little bit.
So silicone can take the highertemperatures and it does not.
I repeat, it does not leach offany chemicals into your food.
(15:42):
So that's what I like aboutsilicone.
So I mean, just let me give youan example of the silicone.
This is a special mix I stir andI'll cook with too.
So I will maybe scrub some eggsin the morning time, so I'll
cook with this.
So this is something I have inmy kitchen that I'm slowly
(16:04):
replacing anything plastic withit.
I also like to use, change itinto wood.
I always like wood.
There's something about wood.
I just kind of like it.
Wooden spoons, stirring, neverworry about anything leaching
(16:24):
off.
It's made out of wood.
There's no plastic, crude oilor natural gases in your wooden
spoons or your silicone spoons.
Now I I'm kind of upset withmyself because I don't know why
I did not lead with this.
Alternatives to drinking yourtea.
(16:47):
If you do find out that thecompany that you are using
enjoying your tea from is makingtheir tea bags out of plastic,
you can still use the samecompany, but maybe consider
buying loose leaf if they haveit, or try another company.
(17:12):
You might find that you likesomething there better.
So I would suggest using thestainless steel infusion tea
balls Like so this is a.
This is kind of cute, I reallylike it.
(17:34):
Just give me this is a.
So the stainless steel infusiontea balls, and it's kind of
cute.
That's why I decided that Iwanted to use this one, because
I ordered this box and it hadall these different shapes in
(17:55):
there.
But I really really like thisone because it's the shape of a
tea kettle, so you can have yourloose leaf tea, scoop it up,
stick it in there and you cannow drop it in your hot water to
(18:16):
steep your tea, because youknow, some try to get this here.
Some tea requires a certaintemperature green tea, matcha
tea, black tea they they requirea certain temperature herbal
teas.
So, um, whatever your tea, yourtemperature, your tea will be,
(18:38):
you're still going to have theplastic if you're using plastic,
plastic tea bags Leaching offinto your tea.
So that was, that was one way.
The other way Is I really dolike this and you can also get
(18:58):
these.
You don't have to necessarilyuse the stainless steel ones.
You can also use the siliconeInfusion I just thought is here
to use in the stainless steelones.
You can also use the siliconeinfusion infusion balls.
You know it's driving me crazybecause it's not on here, but
anyway, I'm not going to getcaught up in that.
Okay, because I'm about to.
(19:19):
Um, they also have the siliconeinfusion balls you can use as
well.
I don't have the siliconeinfusion balls, but I do have
the silicone infusion tea bag.
(19:41):
This is all silicone.
You take the bottom off, youget your little spoon scooper,
or I have another one.
I didn't bring it in here toshow it to you, but I have
another spoon.
It's like a.
(20:03):
I think it's a one teaspoon andif anybody remember when
Teavana was around, I still havethe spoon from Teavana.
I loved Teavana was around.
I still have the spoon fromTeavana, I loved Teavana, but
anyway, a day dreaming aboutTeavana, let me stay on topic so
(20:24):
you can scoop up your looseleaf in this wedding spoon and
then put it into here into yoursilicone teabag.
And just put it into here intoyour silicone tea bag and just
close it up and drop it in yourhot water and steep and get you
a nice cup of tea.
Now that's for the tea, that'sfor the tea.
(20:48):
And I did talk about cookingutensils, utensils in your house
, in your home.
We talked about the wood andthe silicone also.
I uh, I think it was last yearI decided that I want to try to
switch some of my storagecontainers.
When, when I'm done, I want toput my food away, I decided to
(21:13):
buy glass containers and try tostart limiting using plastic
containers to put food in therefrigerator.
So here is a nice little flutedglass.
It has a plastic top.
But again, like I said, we'renot going to be able to truly
(21:37):
get rid of plastic, but we canlimit the exposure to it.
So the container is glass, thetop is plastic, but I have seen
the tops of the bowls wherethey're glass.
You still have these silicone.
The tops of the bowls were theyglass.
You still have these siliconeor plastic tops that clamp the
(21:59):
top down onto the glass bowl,the glass container, um, so I
this is another cherry on herjourney to trying to limit my
use of plastic as much as I can.
(22:21):
Let's put this over here.
I actually like the littlestainless steel, even though the
silicone tea bags have becamemy favorite, but yeah, so they
even just came with a littleplate that you, you can just sit
it on.
It's really cute.
I think it's really really cute.
(22:42):
So you take it out and you justput it right on here and just
let it sit.
So I just keep showing that off.
I'm sorry, I like it, I do, Ireally do.
I like it a lot.
So it's me, with my crazythings, just started replacing
(23:14):
my skincare containers withglass containers.
So when I buy my skincare andwhen I get it, the first thing I
do as I'm using it because ifit's sitting somewhere I try to
keep it in a nice cool locationso that way it does it's not
(23:37):
exposed to up and downtemperatures again, because
you're worried about it reachingoff into your um, into your
skincare products.
So this one I got this.
This is made out of glass there.
You see that that it's nice.
It's nice textured.
I also got two of them becauseI was trying to figure out which
one I like, alright, so I'mgoing to tell you a little
(23:59):
secret.
I actually had it in this onefirst.
Then this one came and I likethe way it looks.
I think it's really cute.
So it has a wooden top Both ofthem are wooden tops, made out
of wood and it has this siliconering on the inside that cause
(24:20):
it to seal, just seal it closed.
So good, so I I do.
I really absolutely love thisone.
So I I use this to um, put mylotions in.
I couldn't imagine I'm tryingto figure out how I will buy the
silicone containers for myshampoo in the shower, because
(24:45):
could you imagine trying totrying to hold a glass jar in
the shower?
Oh no, thank you.
So, yeah, not doing that.
So I'm going to put this overhere.
So I haven't started replacingmy shampoos yet, but I have
(25:11):
started with my skincareproducts.
For the lotion, so I did showyou and you gotta be careful,
just because it kind of itdoesn't really seal.
I think it's because it'slotion, so it gets a little.
This makes it a little slippery, so I kind of pick it up from.
I am gonna try to buy thecontainers that have the lids
(25:34):
that screw on with the threadedtops.
You can just screw it on withthe metal or the silicone tops.
So I'm working on that.
So maybe I'll do a second, asecond episode, like maybe a
part two of this one with thewith the threaded tops that you
(25:57):
can just screw right on.
And back to the kitchen again.
Again, I am me in this kitchen,right, so I already know a lot
of us have if they don't havethe plastic cups, because a lot
of us like to use plastic cups.
Again, we don't want to washdishes, we want to.
(26:20):
Well, I just usually throw itout and go, you're done.
But this is what the problem isnow.
We just too much plasticeverywhere, and so I decided
that I wanted to.
Well, I decided a while agothat I do not want to use a lot
(26:42):
of plastic, so I stopped buyingthe plastic cups, I stopped
buying paper plates and onlyusing glass plates and glass
glasses and ceramic cups.
Now a lot of us already areahead of the curve on this.
(27:08):
One is because we already haveglasses in our kitchen to begin
with and I also like these.
Um, I think we now I got thisfor walmart and it was a cute
little whole set.
Uh, they had blue, they hadsilver and I really, really like
(27:29):
these cups.
I think they're great fordrinking something cold.
So metal, a lot of people.
You can get your drink on too,the mule drinks.
I've never had those drinks,but anyway, that's that.
So that is the kitchen, that isskincare and I'm just hoping in
(27:56):
the future.
But you know, glass bottles havebeen around for a long time.
Right, you know they've beenaround for a while and, um, I
remember as a kid we would go toGeorgia and see my family and
we would see that they had like5 cents or 2 cents or whatever
it was.
We can return these bottles.
(28:18):
And I was thinking to myselfthe other day could we make the
2 liter soda bottles out ofglass?
Well, I did some research andthey said, well, yes, you can,
but very heavy, that might be aproblem.
So I don't think I would wantthis in a two liter size.
(28:41):
I'm trying to drink a niceglass, a glass soda.
So they did talk about thesilicone.
But the problem with thesilicone if you got it in a 2
liter.
It sad thing is, silicone isnot recyclable.
You can't recycle silicone.
(29:03):
So, although it's healthierchoice than plastic, you can't
recycle silicone.
But the thing about silicone isnot leaching off any chemicals
into whatever product that wehave in it.
Yep, so it was just a thought,I just wanted to throw it out
(29:25):
there.
It's like the mind of Sherry,it's crazy.
But this one, I can take acouple of these little
Martinelli's cute little bottleswith the metal lids.
I just bought this the otherday because I used to buy these
many years ago when my son washe was small.
(29:47):
I lived in California.
They had these and I loved them.
I thought they were great.
So anyway, again, just to sharewith you.
I just thought it was somethingcute, I just wanted to show it
to you.
But again, we're talking aboutchanging of our material from a
(30:08):
plastic to another alternativein.
Glass and silicone are some ofthe alternatives that you can
use.
Alright, so I said glass andsteel.
So some of the alternativesthat we can use is glass,
(30:29):
silicone and metal Like a andmetal Like a stainless steel
metal.
So that's something to thinkabout.
So if you're looking for a goodcup of tea, try to use loose
leaf.
Or try to find a company thathas compostable tea bags.
(30:52):
Or try loose leaf tea and useone of these infusion that's
made out of metal or silicone,right.
So this is an option, so youcan still get yourself a A nice
hot cup of tea.
(31:15):
Yeah, nice hot cup of tea.
So I just want to say this Justplease remember we are never
going to have plastic Out of ourlife.
At least, I hope one day wewill, but maybe not in my
lifetime, because we got way toomany things we even have like
(31:40):
plastic in the medical devicesthat are now out there today
that maybe doing surgeriesthey're using plastic and it can
end up in your body Because itleeching off from the medical
device they were using the IVtubes.
(32:02):
So we're a long way from beingplastic free.
I just know that much.
We're a long way from beingplastic free.
So I don't think we're going toever be rid of plastic, but we
are going to.
I am going to try my best tolimit my exposure to plastic as
(32:25):
much as I can, and I will adviseyou to do the same.
So, and I will advise you to dothe same.
So I want to say this, mylisteners, if you like what you
heard, my listeners and myviewers.
I don't want to forget about myviewers.
If you like what you heard,please hit that follow button,
(32:48):
the like button and that bellnotification button and you'll
be notified when new andexciting episodes are released.
So until next time, rememberthis early detection is the best
(33:08):
detection.
So please get your annualmammograms done.
If you got them done, schedulethem for next year and if you
haven't gotten it done, make anappointment.
So until next time, have a nicecup of plastic free tea.
Hi, my name is Sherry and welcome to my podcast,
silver Tea, and this episode isabout tea and plastic.
Yes, you heard it right Tea andplastic.
I have been reading that thereare some companies tea companies
that are making their tea bagsout of plastic.
(00:22):
I want to talk about some ofthe health concerns that come
with that and some alternatives.
So please stay tuned, hi andwelcome back.
(00:56):
Yes, you heard in myintroduction that I am going to
talk about tea and plastic andyou are probably wondering how
did I end up with plastic in mytea?
I was wondering the same thingwhen I was reading about there
are some companies out therethat are making their tea bags
out of plastic, and I was alsowondering what is plastic made
(01:20):
out of?
So I decided to do my researchand, please, I will provide as
much information as I can of allthe research information down
below in the description box.
Okay, let's start with what isplastic made out of?
Plastic is made out of naturalresources, of.
(01:46):
Plastic is made out of naturalresources like crude oil,
natural gas, renewable materials.
So I want to talk about thehealth issue that comes with
(02:16):
that, but first let me addresshow did the plastic get in my
tea.
Okay, you get your nice hot cupof water, you put your tea bag
in there.
Depending on what company youyou you will have to look on a
packaging of the tea bag or thebox to see if this, whatever
company you're using or whateverwhoever is making your tea.
(02:36):
I use Twining and you will findthe information about your
teabag.
My teabag that I use which Idon't have it with me right now
is by Twining and it iscompostable.
So I have compostable tea bagswith the tea in it, and I also
(03:02):
the box that the tea bags camein is also recyclable.
So now I'm gonna go back toagain how did this plastic end
up in my tea?
So when I put the tea bag inthere, my tea.
(03:25):
So when I put the teabag inthere and it's made out of
plastic, the plastic leaches offinto the hot water.
A lot of times the plasticleaches off into or onto
whatever liquid that is in or,depending on where the plastic
(03:47):
is located.
It leaches off into thesethings because of temperature.
It's temperature sensitive andwhenever the temperature goes up
or go down, the plastic leachesoff into that whatever is in.
(04:10):
And so I am a tea lover and Isaw that tea and plastic and I
said, oh no.
I got to run in the kitchenright away, grab the box, the
twining thatining that my teabags came in, and I said, okay,
what is this?
What is it made out of?
(04:31):
I was able to look it up.
Look it right on the box.
I would give you put a video up.
I was able to locate what thistea bag was made out of by just
looking on the box.
Bag was made out of by justlooking on the box.
So just look on your box.
If you're, if you're, um, don'tknow how to locate this
information, just look on yourbox, you'll find it.
(05:03):
So I want to talk about thehealth concerns that comes along
with ingesting teabags.
Now, there are several waysthat plastic can enter into your
body, and so we want to makesure.
Again, I want to say there areseveral different ways that
plastic can enter into your bodyand I want to talk about the
(05:23):
three ways that I thought wereinteresting and also important.
So, some of the health concernsthat we're dealing with today.
The researchers are really justnow kind of understanding the
importance of why we should beraising the open arms about our
(05:48):
exposure to too much plastic,because I remember seeing I
don't know.
It was one of those naturechannels where they were talking
about the sea life and howthese bags are just floating
around in the water and so, andand I forgot to say this is
(06:13):
because I think it's important,so I'm gonna touch on this part
when we are steeping, I'm justtalking about my tea bags, okay,
when I'm steeping my tea in ahot cup of water and this nano
plastic is leaching into mywater.
I was reading and there was twodifferent types of plastic that
(06:37):
they talked about.
They talked about about the,the micro, the micro plastic,
and they talked about thenanoplastic.
And the nanoplastic is the mostconcerning one for a lot of the
researchers.
(06:57):
And why is that, you'reprobably wondering.
Because the nanoplastic is sosmall that it can enter into.
Because the nanoplastic is sosmall that it can enter into the
human cell and disrupt the DNAactivities in our cell.
That is kind of scary, isn't it?
(07:20):
And what happens when it doesthat?
Kind of scary, isn't it?
And what happens when it doesthat?
Well, it can lead to diseaseslike heart disease, lung disease
, it can disrupt your digestivesystem, but the one that also
(07:41):
caught my attention is cancer.
So it can enter into the cell,the human cell, down to the
nucleus, and disrupt the DNAactivity and that can be due to
(08:03):
the nanoplastics in therecausing oxidative stress and
causes DNA damage, leading tothe death of the human cell that
it has entered into, killingthe cell cell that it has
(08:24):
entered into, killing the cell,the cell itself.
So there are several ways that,like I said, so you can ingest
it, it can get into yourbloodstream.
Research has found again I willpost that below that DNA can be
(08:47):
found in our organs and in ourtissue.
So ingesting the plastic, it'snot anything we want because of
what I just explained.
And also, you go and you dotakeout and what is the food in
(09:11):
Plastic Temperature?
It's hot Leaching Nanoplastic.
So I have been on a singlemission and journey for myself
and that's to limit my exposureto plastic, and I'll talk about
(09:34):
some of the ways I'm doing that.
Number two I want to stay ontrack.
Stay on track.
The second way that our body,our plastic, can enter into our
body, is through absorption.
That's right, absorption.
(09:54):
Now we buy skincare, we buyshampoo and some of those
containers are made out of what?
Yes, plastic.
And guess what's happening whenthe temperature is going from
(10:16):
hot to cold to cold to hot,chemicals are leaching from the
plastic into our skincare.
And guess what we do?
I'm going to use lotion, forexample.
We take the lotion, we rub iton our skin and our body absorbs
it.
(10:36):
It ends up.
It will end up in ourbloodstream.
So so oxidative stress happens.
Now I won't say it happens allthe time, but that's one of the
possibilities and expectationsyou can have.
(10:56):
That can happen due to plasticexposure to plastic and plastic
exposure to plastic and plasticentering into your bloodstream
through absorb, throughabsorbing the nanoplastic.
That's number three.
That's number two.
(11:18):
Sorry, number two.
I need to stay focused becauseI got so much going on in my
mind.
So number three is we inhale it.
Now I made it number three onlybecause I don't know when I am
(11:41):
in a room and I'm exposed to theair being contaminated with
plastic.
I don't know when that is.
I mean, I guess maybe some ofthe dust that we see floating
around is probably from someplastic somewhere that kind of
(12:04):
just started floating in the air.
That's more to be discussed,but those are the three ways
that plastic and nanoplasticscan enter into our body.
Now I don't feel that plasticcan be avoided in our life.
(12:30):
Plastic is in everything.
I mean down to our clothes, thematerials, the fabrics.
Plastic is in everything.
There's no way to avoid it,you're just going to run into it
.
So what I single-handedlytrying to do with myself is
(12:55):
limit my exposure to plastic byusing or purchasing or changing
to alternative materials andmethods.
Hi, I hope you're enjoying mypodcast.
So far, the way you can help mypodcast is to hit that like
(13:17):
button and that subscribe buttonand you will be notified when I
release new and excitingpodcasts.
Thank you, and enjoy the restof the podcast and methods.
Because, for example, in thekitchen.
I want to start with thekitchen because I love being in
(13:40):
the kitchen and I love cooking.
So let's just talk about what'sin our kitchen.
We have, and some people don'tlike to wash dishes.
So what they do?
They buy plasters, spoons,forks and knives.
Well, I decided that.
I decided oh, sorry, he'sgetting so excited I hit the mic
(14:03):
around, slapped the mic arounda little bit.
Um, I decided that I wanted Iwould not buy plastic spoons,
forks and knives.
I used the metal spoons, knivesand forks.
That's one of the ways Idecided to limit my exposure to
(14:25):
plastic.
I also decided another way tolimit my exposure to plastic is
to kind of find a replacement tothe plastic in my cooking
(14:52):
utensils.
So my cooking utensils.
Sometimes you got the spatula.
It's made out of a plastic andthe alternative I like to use is
either silicone.
Silicone can handle hightemperatures and does not melt.
(15:17):
Now I have experienced having aplastic spatula and I want to
put it in the pan to turnsomething over.
I did notice that plastic wouldmelt a little bit.
So silicone can take the highertemperatures and it does not.
I repeat, it does not leach offany chemicals into your food.
(15:42):
So that's what I like aboutsilicone.
So I mean, just let me give youan example of the silicone.
This is a special mix I stir andI'll cook with too.
So I will maybe scrub some eggsin the morning time, so I'll
cook with this.
So this is something I have inmy kitchen that I'm slowly
(16:04):
replacing anything plastic withit.
I also like to use, change itinto wood.
I always like wood.
There's something about wood.
I just kind of like it.
Wooden spoons, stirring, neverworry about anything leaching
(16:24):
off.
It's made out of wood.
There's no plastic, crude oilor natural gases in your wooden
spoons or your silicone spoons.
Now I I'm kind of upset withmyself because I don't know why
I did not lead with this.
Alternatives to drinking yourtea.
(16:47):
If you do find out that thecompany that you are using
enjoying your tea from is makingtheir tea bags out of plastic,
you can still use the samecompany, but maybe consider
buying loose leaf if they haveit, or try another company.
(17:12):
You might find that you likesomething there better.
So I would suggest using thestainless steel infusion tea
balls Like so this is a.
This is kind of cute, I reallylike it.
(17:34):
Just give me this is a.
So the stainless steel infusiontea balls, and it's kind of
cute.
That's why I decided that Iwanted to use this one, because
I ordered this box and it hadall these different shapes in
(17:55):
there.
But I really really like thisone because it's the shape of a
tea kettle, so you can have yourloose leaf tea, scoop it up,
stick it in there and you cannow drop it in your hot water to
(18:16):
steep your tea, because youknow, some try to get this here.
Some tea requires a certaintemperature green tea, matcha
tea, black tea they they requirea certain temperature herbal
teas.
So, um, whatever your tea, yourtemperature, your tea will be,
(18:38):
you're still going to have theplastic if you're using plastic,
plastic tea bags Leaching offinto your tea.
So that was, that was one way.
The other way Is I really dolike this and you can also get
(18:58):
these.
You don't have to necessarilyuse the stainless steel ones.
You can also use the siliconeInfusion I just thought is here
to use in the stainless steelones.
You can also use the siliconeinfusion infusion balls.
You know it's driving me crazybecause it's not on here, but
anyway, I'm not going to getcaught up in that.
Okay, because I'm about to.
(19:19):
Um, they also have the siliconeinfusion balls you can use as
well.
I don't have the siliconeinfusion balls, but I do have
the silicone infusion tea bag.
(19:41):
This is all silicone.
You take the bottom off, youget your little spoon scooper,
or I have another one.
I didn't bring it in here toshow it to you, but I have
another spoon.
It's like a.
(20:03):
I think it's a one teaspoon andif anybody remember when
Teavana was around, I still havethe spoon from Teavana.
I loved Teavana was around.
I still have the spoon fromTeavana, I loved Teavana, but
anyway, a day dreaming aboutTeavana, let me stay on topic so
(20:24):
you can scoop up your looseleaf in this wedding spoon and
then put it into here into yoursilicone teabag.
And just put it into here intoyour silicone tea bag and just
close it up and drop it in yourhot water and steep and get you
a nice cup of tea.
Now that's for the tea, that'sfor the tea.
(20:48):
And I did talk about cookingutensils, utensils in your house
, in your home.
We talked about the wood andthe silicone also.
I uh, I think it was last yearI decided that I want to try to
switch some of my storagecontainers.
When, when I'm done, I want toput my food away, I decided to
(21:13):
buy glass containers and try tostart limiting using plastic
containers to put food in therefrigerator.
So here is a nice little flutedglass.
It has a plastic top.
But again, like I said, we'renot going to be able to truly
(21:37):
get rid of plastic, but we canlimit the exposure to it.
So the container is glass, thetop is plastic, but I have seen
the tops of the bowls wherethey're glass.
You still have these silicone.
The tops of the bowls were theyglass.
You still have these siliconeor plastic tops that clamp the
(21:59):
top down onto the glass bowl,the glass container, um, so I
this is another cherry on herjourney to trying to limit my
use of plastic as much as I can.
(22:21):
Let's put this over here.
I actually like the littlestainless steel, even though the
silicone tea bags have becamemy favorite, but yeah, so they
even just came with a littleplate that you, you can just sit
it on.
It's really cute.
I think it's really really cute.
(22:42):
So you take it out and you justput it right on here and just
let it sit.
So I just keep showing that off.
I'm sorry, I like it, I do, Ireally do.
I like it a lot.
So it's me, with my crazythings, just started replacing
(23:14):
my skincare containers withglass containers.
So when I buy my skincare andwhen I get it, the first thing I
do as I'm using it because ifit's sitting somewhere I try to
keep it in a nice cool locationso that way it does it's not
(23:37):
exposed to up and downtemperatures again, because
you're worried about it reachingoff into your um, into your
skincare products.
So this one I got this.
This is made out of glass there.
You see that that it's nice.
It's nice textured.
I also got two of them becauseI was trying to figure out which
one I like, alright, so I'mgoing to tell you a little
(23:59):
secret.
I actually had it in this onefirst.
Then this one came and I likethe way it looks.
I think it's really cute.
So it has a wooden top Both ofthem are wooden tops, made out
of wood and it has this siliconering on the inside that cause
(24:20):
it to seal, just seal it closed.
So good, so I I do.
I really absolutely love thisone.
So I I use this to um, put mylotions in.
I couldn't imagine I'm tryingto figure out how I will buy the
silicone containers for myshampoo in the shower, because
(24:45):
could you imagine trying totrying to hold a glass jar in
the shower?
Oh no, thank you.
So, yeah, not doing that.
So I'm going to put this overhere.
So I haven't started replacingmy shampoos yet, but I have
(25:11):
started with my skincareproducts.
For the lotion, so I did showyou and you gotta be careful,
just because it kind of itdoesn't really seal.
I think it's because it'slotion, so it gets a little.
This makes it a little slippery, so I kind of pick it up from.
I am gonna try to buy thecontainers that have the lids
(25:34):
that screw on with the threadedtops.
You can just screw it on withthe metal or the silicone tops.
So I'm working on that.
So maybe I'll do a second, asecond episode, like maybe a
part two of this one with thewith the threaded tops that you
(25:57):
can just screw right on.
And back to the kitchen again.
Again, I am me in this kitchen,right, so I already know a lot
of us have if they don't havethe plastic cups, because a lot
of us like to use plastic cups.
Again, we don't want to washdishes, we want to.
(26:20):
Well, I just usually throw itout and go, you're done.
But this is what the problem isnow.
We just too much plasticeverywhere, and so I decided
that I wanted to.
Well, I decided a while agothat I do not want to use a lot
(26:42):
of plastic, so I stopped buyingthe plastic cups, I stopped
buying paper plates and onlyusing glass plates and glass
glasses and ceramic cups.
Now a lot of us already areahead of the curve on this.
(27:08):
One is because we already haveglasses in our kitchen to begin
with and I also like these.
Um, I think we now I got thisfor walmart and it was a cute
little whole set.
Uh, they had blue, they hadsilver and I really, really like
(27:29):
these cups.
I think they're great fordrinking something cold.
So metal, a lot of people.
You can get your drink on too,the mule drinks.
I've never had those drinks,but anyway, that's that.
So that is the kitchen, that isskincare and I'm just hoping in
(27:56):
the future.
But you know, glass bottles havebeen around for a long time.
Right, you know they've beenaround for a while and, um, I
remember as a kid we would go toGeorgia and see my family and
we would see that they had like5 cents or 2 cents or whatever
it was.
We can return these bottles.
(28:18):
And I was thinking to myselfthe other day could we make the
2 liter soda bottles out ofglass?
Well, I did some research andthey said, well, yes, you can,
but very heavy, that might be aproblem.
So I don't think I would wantthis in a two liter size.
(28:41):
I'm trying to drink a niceglass, a glass soda.
So they did talk about thesilicone.
But the problem with thesilicone if you got it in a 2
liter.
It sad thing is, silicone isnot recyclable.
You can't recycle silicone.
(29:03):
So, although it's healthierchoice than plastic, you can't
recycle silicone.
But the thing about silicone isnot leaching off any chemicals
into whatever product that wehave in it.
Yep, so it was just a thought,I just wanted to throw it out
(29:25):
there.
It's like the mind of Sherry,it's crazy.
But this one, I can take acouple of these little
Martinelli's cute little bottleswith the metal lids.
I just bought this the otherday because I used to buy these
many years ago when my son washe was small.
(29:47):
I lived in California.
They had these and I loved them.
I thought they were great.
So anyway, again, just to sharewith you.
I just thought it was somethingcute, I just wanted to show it
to you.
But again, we're talking aboutchanging of our material from a
(30:08):
plastic to another alternativein.
Glass and silicone are some ofthe alternatives that you can
use.
Alright, so I said glass andsteel.
So some of the alternativesthat we can use is glass,
(30:29):
silicone and metal Like a andmetal Like a stainless steel
metal.
So that's something to thinkabout.
So if you're looking for a goodcup of tea, try to use loose
leaf.
Or try to find a company thathas compostable tea bags.
(30:52):
Or try loose leaf tea and useone of these infusion that's
made out of metal or silicone,right.
So this is an option, so youcan still get yourself a A nice
hot cup of tea.
(31:15):
Yeah, nice hot cup of tea.
So I just want to say this Justplease remember we are never
going to have plastic Out of ourlife.
At least, I hope one day wewill, but maybe not in my
lifetime, because we got way toomany things we even have like
(31:40):
plastic in the medical devicesthat are now out there today
that maybe doing surgeriesthey're using plastic and it can
end up in your body Because itleeching off from the medical
device they were using the IVtubes.
(32:02):
So we're a long way from beingplastic free.
I just know that much.
We're a long way from beingplastic free.
So I don't think we're going toever be rid of plastic, but we
are going to.
I am going to try my best tolimit my exposure to plastic as
(32:25):
much as I can, and I will adviseyou to do the same.
So, and I will advise you to dothe same.
So I want to say this, mylisteners, if you like what you
heard, my listeners and myviewers.
I don't want to forget about myviewers.
If you like what you heard,please hit that follow button,
(32:48):
the like button and that bellnotification button and you'll
be notified when new andexciting episodes are released.
So until next time, rememberthis early detection is the best
(33:08):
detection.
So please get your annualmammograms done.
If you got them done, schedulethem for next year and if you
haven't gotten it done, make anappointment.
So until next time, have a nicecup of plastic free tea.
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