On your journey into optimal health and wellness, one of the easiest ways to be successful is to be equipped with the right tools. From what food you have in your fridge or cupboards, to what tools can be found in your kitchen, all of these make a huge difference where the quality of your choices is concerned. We cannot eat what we do not have.
We cannot make or create new meals if we don’t have the right tools. Therefore for optimal health, we really want to bring the best of Mother Nature in the form of natural food, with the best of modern technology to help us make the most of our food, without sacrificing its nutritional or taste quality.
In a past article I shared with you that the choices we make at a grocery store, which directly influence what we bring home, lay the foundation for optimal health. In a recent article I shared with you 5 small kitchen appliances that can help you make successful, healthy meals. Both of these resources, along with the numerous articles on tips for optimal health and nutrition on this site can help you along your journey. But while acquiring new habits, knowledge and items is great, we need to balance it out with removing all that which no longer serves us. The food normally takes care of itself, for the more we bring in optimally healthy options, the more we do not make the time or room for other foods. When it comes to our kitchen however, we need to physically do some cleaning and rearranging.
Spring is not the only time that is good for some cleaning. Any time of the year, any moment presents a perfect opportunity to shed what no longer serves us. The hardest part is being assertive enough to take the step to commit to change. Once you do that, the rest follows easily, fitting into place to match your new perspective and way of life. To help you along on your journey, here are 3 kitchen tools that are not a vibrational match for optimal health.
1. Microwave
As you may have guessed the microwave is one of the first small kitchen appliances to go, if we are interested in optimal health. Many people today have come to rely on these machines, thinking their life would cease functioning if they did not have one. This rings somewhat true, only if you depend on processed food. Whole, natural, homemade meals never need a microwave. Any homemade meal, can almost always be quickly warmed up on the stove or in a toaster oven. At first, most of us will begin to think of all the ways that we surely could never survive without a microwave, but if we just take the step and get rid of it, it is amazing how quickly we readjust and adapt to new, healthier habits. People have survived in the past, and still do to this day without microwaves just fine. Once we cut the chords of reliance on these units, it quickly becomes second nature to live without one. Not having a microwave can even give you more inspiration to work with homemade meals and restructure your time, knowing you cannot fall back on processed food from a microwave.
As for the few minutes of time that this may add, I hope that if we are serious about optimally healthy lives, then I do not need to convince you of slowing your life down, if only just a tad. While the right nutrition is important, it is but one part of optimal health. Having a rushed, hectic or stressful life needs to be seriously addressed if we are serious about enjoying the benefits of optimal health. Equally so, with today’s ample research on the harmful effects of microwaves on our food and energy space within the home, it should be a no-brainer when it comes to letting it go. Even without any external proof, when we look within, we just “know” that there is something not quite right about what a microwave does to the quality and safety of our food.
2. Coffee Maker
Another kitchen appliance one will start looking at parting ways with along their optimal health journey is the coffee maker. When we eat clean, natural, wholesome food that is based on fresh plant foods, we have better energy levels automatically. The domino effect of eating optimal nutrition is that we tend to sleep better, have less cravings, among many other positive effects, and thus no longer need external stimulants to keep us going. We reignite our body’s natural state of being, which is to not be dependent on a stimulant to get us through the day or provide any other artificial feeling.
As with the microwave, thinking of letting this appliance go, may create some anxiety. However, it is amazing how fast we adapt and adjust to a new way of being, when the option for straying off of our path is no longer there. If you consider coffee a treat, it does not mean that you can never have it again. High quality, natural, organic coffee straight from the bean, without unhealthy additives like sugar or dairy, can definitely be enjoyed from time to time. There are easy ways to make it without a coffee maker too. The bottom line is that the modern coffee routine, especially after the additives we put into it, is not part of an optimally healthy lifestyle. The more consciously we nourish ourselves, the more we realize that balanced energy and vitality are the body’s natural ways of existing. Nothing beats having an unaltered, conscious mind, free of any kind of obvious stimulants. Hence give the coffee maker away, to enjoy the best of your being each day.
3. Non-Stick Cookware
Teflon-based, non-stick cookware has been a hot topic, especially for the past decade. By now most people who are health conscious are aware of the blatant dangers of using teflon cookware. You can read the following article I wrote in the past, if you would like a summary or review of the dangers of teflon. When we heat or cook our food using such cookware, especially if the material is scratched, it gives off harmful chemicals. In fact, when the Environmental Working Group (EWG) tested coated pans, they found that the pans reach temperatures that produce toxins in 2 to 5 minutes on a typical household stove. The chemicals are ones that Dupont—the maker of Teflon—has acknowledged kill hundreds of pet birds each year and cause the flu like “polymer fever” in humans.
When this became more mainstream knowledge, many companies chose to advertise that their products are teflon-free and that they use a different kind of non-stick technology. Due to the fact that products such as pots and pans do not require any kind of official ingredient labels, like food or personal care products, we can never be really sure of what is in them. Even the best of companies may be outsourcing their production lines to countries that have had an unsatisfactory track record when it came to other chemical contaminations. To date, regardless of what companies or governments claim, no guaranteed safety has been established when it comes to non-stick cookware. Neither has a full disclosure of ingredients used taken place, not that it may be of much use as many regulating bodies today, like the FDA constantly allow harmful ingredients to be incorporated into our everyday food and products.
Therefore even though it is claimed that the new technology pots and pans do not contain the perfluorochemicals that made Teflon infamous, for those interested in optimal health this is simply not enough. We will not be the guinea pigs only to be told in the future, “we’re sorry – we didn’t know any better”. Anyone on a conscious path of taking their health seriously simply knows to avoid any and all synthetic chemical exposure as much as possible. The best part is that many alternative cookware options exist today. From cast iron, to stainless steel there are many healthier options to choose from. Secondly, I for one know for a fact that the food sticking issue has been greatly over played. The truth, as any chef knows, is that if cooking foods based on oil, no sticking will occur if the oil is properly pre-heated. Cast iron pans on the other hand, can provide naturally non-sticking surfaces.
Conclusion
When we clear out the old, we make way for the new. Just as in every other area of our lives, so too on our health and wellness journey we need to stay conscious of and open to changes that can help propel us forward. Growth, expansion and personal evolution takes place when we are willing to embrace change and be flexible to new opportunities. Be bold, be courageous and take steps towards making your journey the best ever.
Yes, you may have been used to doing something a certain way for years, you may have a whole routine carved out that works on a surface level, while deep down you know you should do away with. Don’t get stuck in a comfort zone you have grown out of. Take steps today to make your home, your body and your life match the intention of optimal health you are seeking.