01 - Living My New Norm After Surviving Breast Cancer
Walking is something many of us do without thinking, how walking can promote and even lower our risk of breast cancer so, get out there and walk and take of advantage of walking and the health benefits it offers.
01 - Living My New Norm After Surviving Breast Cancer
Towards a Plastic-Free Cup of Tea
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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Hi, my name is Sherry and welcome to my podcast, silver Tea, and this episode is about tea and plastic. Yes, you heard it right Tea and plastic. I have been reading that there are some companies tea companies that are making their tea bags out of plastic. I want to talk about some of the health concerns that come with that and some alternatives. So please stay tuned, hi and welcome back.
Speaker 1:Yes, you heard in my introduction that I am going to talk about tea and plastic and you are probably wondering how did I end up with plastic in my tea? I was wondering the same thing when I was reading about there are some companies out there that are making their tea bags out of plastic, and I was also wondering what is plastic made out of? So I decided to do my research and, please, I will provide as much information as I can of all the research information down below in the description box. Okay, let's start with what is plastic made out of? Plastic is made out of natural resources, of. Plastic is made out of natural resources like crude oil, natural gas, renewable materials. So I want to talk about the health issue that comes with that, but first let me address how did the plastic get in my tea. Okay, you get your nice hot cup of water, you put your tea bag in there. Depending on what company you you you will have to look on a packaging of the tea bag or the box to see if this, whatever company you're using or whatever whoever is making your tea. I use Twining and you will find the information about your teabag. My teabag that I use which I don't have it with me right now is by Twining and it is compostable. So I have compostable tea bags with the tea in it, and I also the box that the tea bags came in is also recyclable. So now I'm gonna go back to again how did this plastic end up in my tea?
Speaker 1:So when I put the tea bag in there, my tea. So when I put the teabag in there and it's made out of plastic, the plastic leaches off into the hot water. A lot of times the plastic leaches off into or onto whatever liquid that is in or, depending on where the plastic is located. It leaches off into these things because of temperature. It's temperature sensitive and whenever the temperature goes up or go down, the plastic leaches off into that whatever is in. And so I am a tea lover and I saw that tea and plastic and I said, oh no. I got to run in the kitchen right away, grab the box, the twining thatining that my tea bags came in, and I said, okay, what is this? What is it made out of? 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 this tea bag was made out of by just looking on the box. Bag was made out of by just looking on the box. So just look on your box. If you're, if you're, um, don't know how to locate this information, just look on your box, you'll find it.
Speaker 1:So I want to talk about the health concerns that comes along with ingesting teabags. Now, there are several ways that plastic can enter into your body, and so we want to make sure. Again, I want to say there are several different ways that plastic can enter into your body and I want to talk about the three ways that I thought were interesting and also important. So, some of the health concerns that we're dealing with today. The researchers are really just now kind of understanding the importance of why we should be raising the open arms about our exposure to too much plastic, because I remember seeing I don't know. It was one of those nature channels where they were talking about the sea life and how these bags are just floating around in the water and so, and and I forgot to say this is because I think it's important, so I'm gonna touch on this part when we are steeping, I'm just talking about my tea bags, okay, when I'm steeping my tea in a hot cup of water and this nano plastic is leaching into my water. I was reading and there was two different types of plastic that they talked about. They talked about about the, the micro, the micro plastic, and they talked about the nanoplastic.
Speaker 1:And the nanoplastic is the most concerning one for a lot of the researchers. And why is that, you're probably wondering. Because the nanoplastic is so small that it can enter into. Because the nanoplastic is so small that it can enter into the human cell and disrupt the DNA activities in our cell. That is kind of scary, isn't it? And what happens when it does that? Kind of scary, isn't it? And what happens when it does that? Well, it can lead to diseases like heart disease, lung disease, it can disrupt your digestive system, but the one that also caught my attention is cancer. So it can enter into the cell, the human cell, down to the nucleus, and disrupt the DNA activity and that can be due to the nanoplastics in there causing oxidative stress and causes DNA damage, leading to the death of the human cell that it has entered into, killing the cell cell that it has 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 your bloodstream. Research has found again I will post that below that DNA can be found in our organs and in our tissue.
Speaker 1:So ingesting the plastic, it's not anything we want because of what I just explained. And also, you go and you do takeout and what is the food in Plastic Temperature? It's hot Leaching Nanoplastic. So I have been on a single mission and journey for myself and that's to limit my exposure to plastic, and I'll talk about some of the ways I'm doing that. Number two I want to stay on track. Stay on track.
Speaker 1:The second way that our body, our plastic, can enter into our body, is through absorption. That's right, absorption. Now we buy skincare, we buy shampoo and some of those containers are made out of what? Yes, plastic. And guess what's happening when the temperature is going from 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, for example. We take the lotion, we rub it on our skin and our body absorbs it. It ends up. It will end up in our bloodstream. So so oxidative stress happens.
Speaker 1:Now I won't say it happens all the time, but that's one of the possibilities and expectations you can have. That can happen due to plastic exposure to plastic and plastic exposure to plastic and plastic entering into your bloodstream through absorb, through absorbing the nanoplastic. That's number three. That's number two. Sorry, number two. I need to stay focused because I got so much going on in my mind. So number three is we inhale it. Now I made it number three only because I don't know when I am in a room and I'm exposed to the air being contaminated with plastic. I don't know when that is. I mean, I guess maybe some of the dust that we see floating around is probably from some plastic somewhere that kind of just started floating in the air. That's more to be discussed, but those are the three ways that plastic and nanoplastics can enter into our body.
Speaker 1:Now I don't feel that plastic can be avoided in our life. Plastic is in everything. I mean down to our clothes, the materials, 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-handedly trying to do with myself is limit my exposure to plastic by using or purchasing or changing to alternative materials and methods. Hi, I hope you're enjoying my podcast. So far, the way you can help my podcast is to hit that like button and that subscribe button and you will be notified when I release new and exciting podcasts. Thank you, and enjoy the rest of the podcast and methods.
Speaker 1:Because, for example, in the kitchen. I want to start with the kitchen because I love being in the kitchen and I love cooking. So let's just talk about what's in our kitchen. We have, and some people don't like to wash dishes. So what they do? They buy plasters, spoons, forks and knives. Well, I decided that. I decided oh, sorry, he's getting so excited I hit the mic around, slapped the mic around a little bit. Um, I decided that I wanted I would not buy plastic spoons, forks and knives. I used the metal spoons, knives and forks. That's one of the ways I decided to limit my exposure to plastic. I also decided another way to limit my exposure to plastic is to kind of find a replacement to the plastic in my cooking utensils. So my cooking utensils.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you got the spatula. It's made out of a plastic and the alternative I like to use is either silicone. Silicone can handle high temperatures and does not melt. Now I have experienced having a plastic spatula and I want to put it in the pan to turn something over. I did notice that plastic would melt a little bit. So silicone can take the higher temperatures and it does not. I repeat, it does not leach off any chemicals into your food. So that's what I like about silicone. So I mean, just let me give you an example of the silicone.
Speaker 1:This is a special mix I stir and I'll cook with too. So I will maybe scrub some eggs in the morning time, so I'll cook with this. So this is something I have in my kitchen that I'm slowly replacing anything plastic with it. I also like to use, change it into wood. I always like wood. There's something about wood. I just kind of like it. Wooden spoons, stirring, never worry about anything leaching off. It's made out of wood. There's no plastic, crude oil or natural gases in your wooden spoons or your silicone spoons. Now I I'm kind of upset with myself because I don't know why I did not lead with this.
Speaker 1:Alternatives to drinking your tea. If you do find out that the company that you are using enjoying your tea from is making their tea bags out of plastic, you can still use the same company, but maybe consider buying loose leaf if they have it, or try another company. You might find that you like something there better. So I would suggest using the stainless steel infusion tea balls Like so this is a. This is kind of cute, I really like it. Just give me this is a. So the stainless steel infusion tea balls, and it's kind of cute. That's why I decided that I wanted to use this one, because I ordered this box and it had all these different shapes in there. But I really really like this one because it's the shape of a tea kettle, so you can have your loose leaf tea, scoop it up, stick it in there and you can now drop it in your hot water to steep your tea, because you know, some try to get this here.
Speaker 1:Some tea requires a certain temperature green tea, matcha tea, black tea they they require a certain temperature herbal teas. So, um, whatever your tea, your temperature, your tea will be, you're still going to have the plastic if you're using plastic, plastic tea bags Leaching off into your tea. So that was, that was one way. The other way Is I really do like this and you can also get these. You don't have to necessarily use the stainless steel ones. You can also use the silicone Infusion I just thought is here to use in the stainless steel ones. You can also use the silicone infusion infusion balls. You know it's driving me crazy because it's not on here, but anyway, I'm not going to get caught up in that. Okay, because I'm about to. Um, they also have the silicone infusion balls you can use as well. I don't have the silicone infusion balls, but I do have the silicone infusion tea bag.
Speaker 1:This is all silicone. You take the bottom off, you get your little spoon scooper, or I have another one. I didn't bring it in here to show it to you, but I have another spoon. It's like a. I think it's a one teaspoon and if anybody remember when Teavana was around, I still have the spoon from Teavana. I loved Teavana was around. I still have the spoon from Teavana, I loved Teavana, but anyway, a day dreaming about Teavana, let me stay on topic so you can scoop up your loose leaf in this wedding spoon and then put it into here into your silicone teabag. And just put it into here into your silicone tea bag and just close it up and drop it in your hot water and steep and get you a nice cup of tea. Now that's for the tea, that's for the tea.
Speaker 1:And I did talk about cooking utensils, utensils in your house, in your home. We talked about the wood and the silicone also. I uh, I think it was last year I decided that I want to try to switch some of my storage containers. When, when I'm done, I want to put my food away, I decided to buy glass containers and try to start limiting using plastic containers to put food in the refrigerator. So here is a nice little fluted glass. It has a plastic top. But again, like I said, we're not going to be able to truly get rid of plastic, but we can limit the exposure to it. So the container is glass, the top is plastic, but I have seen the tops of the bowls where they're glass. You still have these silicone. The tops of the bowls were they glass. You still have these silicone or plastic tops that clamp the top down onto the glass bowl, the glass container, um, so I this is another cherry on her journey to trying to limit my use of plastic as much as I can.
Speaker 1:Let's put this over here. I actually like the little stainless steel, even though the silicone tea bags have became my favorite, but yeah, so they even just came with a little plate that you, you can just sit it on. It's really cute. I think it's really really cute. So you take it out and you just put it right on here and just let it sit. So I just keep showing that off. I'm sorry, I like it, I do, I really do. I like it a lot. So it's me, with my crazy things, just started replacing my skincare containers with glass containers.
Speaker 1:So when I buy my skincare and when I get it, the first thing I do as I'm using it because if it's sitting somewhere I try to keep it in a nice cool location so that way it does it's not exposed to up and down temperatures again, because you're worried about it reaching off 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 because I was trying to figure out which one I like, alright, so I'm going to tell you a little secret. I actually had it in this one first. Then this one came and I like the way it looks. I think it's really cute. So it has a wooden top Both of them are wooden tops, made out of wood and it has this silicone ring on the inside that cause it to seal, just seal it closed. So good, so I I do. I really absolutely love this one.
Speaker 1:So I I use this to um, put my lotions in. I couldn't imagine I'm trying to figure out how I will buy the silicone containers for my shampoo in the shower, because could you imagine trying to trying to hold a glass jar in the shower? Oh no, thank you. So, yeah, not doing that. So I'm going to put this over here. So I haven't started replacing my shampoos yet, but I have started with my skincare products. For the lotion, so I did show you and you gotta be careful, just because it kind of it doesn't really seal. I think it's because it's lotion, 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 the containers that have the lids that screw on with the threaded tops. You can just screw it on with the metal or the silicone tops. So I'm working on that. So maybe I'll do a second, a second episode, like maybe a part two of this one with the with the threaded tops that you can just screw right on.
Speaker 1: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 have the plastic cups, because a lot of us like to use plastic cups. Again, we don't want to wash dishes, we want to. Well, I just usually throw it out and go, you're done. But this is what the problem is now. We just too much plastic everywhere, and so I decided that I wanted to. Well, I decided a while ago that I do not want to use a lot of plastic, so I stopped buying the plastic cups, I stopped buying paper plates and only using glass plates and glass glasses and ceramic cups.
Speaker 1:Now a lot of us already are ahead of the curve on this. One is because we already have glasses in our kitchen to begin with and I also like these. Um, I think we now I got this for walmart and it was a cute little whole set. Uh, they had blue, they had silver and I really, really like these cups. I think they're great for drinking 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 is skincare and I'm just hoping in the future.
Speaker 1:But you know, glass bottles have been around for a long time. Right, you know they've been around for a while and, um, I remember as a kid we would go to Georgia and see my family and we would see that they had like 5 cents or 2 cents or whatever it was. We can return these bottles. And I was thinking to myself the other day could we make the 2 liter soda bottles out of glass? Well, I did some research and they said, well, yes, you can, but very heavy, that might be a problem. So I don't think I would want this in a two liter size. I'm trying to drink a nice glass, a glass soda.
Speaker 1:So they did talk about the silicone. But the problem with the silicone if you got it in a 2 liter. It sad thing is, silicone is not recyclable. You can't recycle silicone. So, although it's healthier choice than plastic, you can't recycle silicone. But the thing about silicone is not leaching off any chemicals into whatever product that we have in it. Yep, so it was just a thought, I just wanted to throw it out there. It's like the mind of Sherry, it's crazy.
Speaker 1:But this one, I can take a couple of these little Martinelli's cute little bottles with the metal lids. I just bought this the other day because I used to buy these many years ago when my son was he was small. I lived in California. They had these and I loved them. I thought they were great. So anyway, again, just to share with you. I just thought it was something cute, I just wanted to show it to you.
Speaker 1:But again, we're talking about changing of our material from a plastic to another alternative in. Glass and silicone are some of the alternatives that you can use. Alright, so I said glass and steel. So some of the alternatives that we can use is glass, silicone and metal Like a and metal Like a stainless steel metal. So that's something to think about.
Speaker 1:So if you're looking for a good cup of tea, try to use loose leaf. Or try to find a company that has compostable tea bags. Or try loose leaf tea and use one of these infusion that's made out of metal or silicone, right. So this is an option, so you can still get yourself a A nice hot cup of tea. Yeah, nice hot cup of tea.
Speaker 1:So I just want to say this Just please remember we are never going to have plastic Out of our life. At least, I hope one day we will, but maybe not in my lifetime, because we got way too many things we even have like plastic in the medical devices that are now out there today that maybe doing surgeries they're using plastic and it can end up in your body Because it leeching off from the medical device they were using the IV tubes. So we're a long way from being plastic free. I just know that much. We're a long way from being plastic free. So I don't think we're going to ever be rid of plastic, but we are going to. I am going to try my best to limit my exposure to plastic as much as I can, and I will advise you to do the same. So, and I will advise you to do the same.
Speaker 1:So I want to say this, my listeners, if you like what you heard, my listeners and my viewers. I don't want to forget about my viewers. If you like what you heard, please hit that follow button, the like button and that bell notification button and you'll be notified when new and exciting episodes are released. So until next time, remember this early detection is the best detection. So please get your annual mammograms done. If you got them done, schedule them for next year and if you haven't gotten it done, make an appointment. So until next time, have a nice cup of plastic free tea.