What are forever chemicals?

We learn more each day that modern conveniences come at a cost. As health and wellness coaches, we address this everyday with our clients. We try to help them create healthy habits and use the best products possible. The use of technology, the environment, and items we use for daily convenience can be very harmful to our health. Our bodies were designed to be in nature, eating real whole food, and drinking fresh clean water. We’ve seen chemical companies like 3M create man-made products that are used in everyday products that are making us sick and killing us. These are termed by the EPA (environmental protection agency) as “Forever Chemicals.”
Forever chemicals are synthetic man-made substances that do not occur naturally, and they never break down in nature or in our bodies. They were designed to solve modern day problems for the products we use daily. The problem is they are now being shown to make us sick by disrupting our hormones, harming our reproductive and immune systems, and are linked to cancer. These chemicals are classified as PFAS and PFOAs (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances). They have strong carbon-fluorine bonds that make them resistant to degradation and thus highly persistent in the environment. Industry uses PFAS to make a wide variety of products such as apparel, paper, plastics, and food packaging. They are used in most commercial products these days. It’s what makes carpet stain resistant or a pan non-stick (Teflon). Most modern blended clothing have these chemicals in them, as consumers want wrinkle free or easy iron items.
Every time we wash our clothes, these fibers and chemicals leach out of these products and make their way into our environment and water supply. Unfortunately, it’s in our shampoo and laundry detergent as well. It doesn’t stop there though, think about our food packaging. They use these chemicals in microwave popcorn bags, pizza boxes, candy wrappers, and all fast-food packaging. The list of products and uses never ends! What is “new car smell” after all?
How do you protect yourself, and what should you do?
We must start rethinking what products we use. We coach our clients to start using glass to drink from instead of plastic. Install water filters for drinking water and shower heads. Ditch the non-stick pans and switch to traditional copper and iron pots and pans. Don’t microwave anything plastic or in fast-food containers (use glass or porcelain). Eat real whole foods that you prepare yourself. Try and find the best beauty products that have minimal natural ingredients. Take the time to read labels and be proactive with the products you use daily. If you’d like help in taking these steps, please contact us. We’re all in this together! ◆
For further health coaching on this topic and more, contact us at FastEatLive.com