As the mom of a 10-month old, I've begun introducing solid foods over the past three months by encouraging my kid to eat anything from squash to black beans. I'll admit that, as a working mom, cutting corners is sometimes my lifeline to sanity and one of those cuts is to use canned foods instead of starting from scratch every meal.
The problem is most canned foods contain BPA, the estrogenic chemical I've been trying avoid since the birth of my son by purchasing BPA-free baby bottles, sippy cups and just about everything else. I thought I was doing so well just by ridding my house of the clear plastic containers and only purchasing glass or stainless steel bottles and cups.
My concern for my son comes from the fact that BPA has been linked to prostate cancer, obesity, cardiac disease and lowered sperm counts. On top of that, I am also concerned about the links between BPA and increased breast cancer risk for myself, my young nieces, my friends' baby girls and the little girls in my neighborhood.
I've decided to kick the can for the month of July to tell canned food companies that until they get the BPA out of their products, I’m willing to take a pass on purchasing their foods.
I’m committing to reworking the recipes and adding a little additional time to the nightly food preparation to see how easy (and hard!) it is to try to go BPA-free for the next month. Luckily, I've got an abundance of fresh produce at my fingertips to help me in this journey, but I admit I'm nervous that the amount of time this could add to my nightly schedule might make kicking the can harder than I'd like to think. How am I going to re-work that chili recipe, what about the baked beans that I always bring to our neighborhood cookout?
I know avoiding canned food for a month will impact my family's BPA levels. A study from the Breast Cancer Fund and Silent Spring Institute published this spring found that when families ate fresh food—not canned or packaged in plastic—for three days, their BPA levels dropped an average of 60 percent.
More than anything, I'm committed to kicking the can in July because I want to send a strong message to canned food manufacturers that we shouldn't have to worry about chemicals in our food when we serve dinner to our families. In the long run, we can't shop our way out of this problem. We all deserve a safe and healthy future no matter where we shop, how much time we have to cook and whether we happen to know about BPA in canned foods.
I hope that you’ll follow my lead and join me in the coming month by kicking the can yourself.
P.S. Need tips on how to kick the can this month? Visit our website, which will give you simple ideas on how to replace canned foods with BPA-free alternatives.
I've been can-free for about 5 years now. I started by making a commitment to eliminate as much processed food from my diet as possible. I make green smoothies and fruit smoothies, drink raw milk, eat organic produce and pasture-raised meat and eggs bought from a local farmer. I buy vegetables from farmer's markets in season and from health-food grocery stores out of season. It is more expensive, but I've only missed 2 days of work from illness and at almost 60-years old, I take no prescriptions. This year I have become an "urban farmer" with vegetable beds and chickens for fresh eggs. I'm glad for this opportunity to let supermarkets and agri-business know about the changes we are making in how we eat.
Posted by: Connie Meadows | July 13, 2011 at 09:20 PM
I've been switching over to non-can foods in the past year and it has been easier than I thought it would be. I buy garbanzo and black beans in bulk and cook them in my slow cooker (crock pot). You can find recipes by Googling them. I buy tomatos and sauce in glass or in the aseptic containers (like juice boxes).
Posted by: Andrea Reid | July 12, 2011 at 07:16 PM
Fresh is best, but you can now purchase a lot of items in cartons, instead of cans. (Like soup and some tomato products.) Also, the tomato sauce products in glass jars from Italy are excellent.
Posted by: Mona Verducci | July 12, 2011 at 10:44 AM
Congrats Barbara for being can-free for 2 years, that is a huge accomplishment. Thanks for sharing your tips with the rest of us!
Posted by: Melissa | July 12, 2011 at 08:49 AM
Thanks so much Jessica for blogging and tweeting about your journey to kick the can, good luck this month!
Posted by: Melissa | July 12, 2011 at 08:47 AM
I have been can free for more than two years, since I received a diagnosis of breast cancer. It is easy for me as I always loved fresh vegetables and fruit. The only really time consuming thing I had to change was to prepare beans from the dried form, find only organic vegetables/fruits, and purchase grass fed meats over the internet.
Posted by: Barbara Haplea | July 12, 2011 at 08:25 AM
I am really up for this. Great idea. I've blogged about it on Chemo Chic:
http://chemochic.blogspot.com/2011/07/bpa-join-revolution.html
and will tweet regularly throughout July
@itsjessyjones
I really hope this makes the supermarkets sit up and take notice - they're the ones with real power over manufacturers.
Posted by: Jessica Jones | July 12, 2011 at 03:45 AM